Streamlight Polytac for Xmas

flatline

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Earlier this year I was looking for a yellow SureFire G2. Never found it, but I put a Streamlight Polytac on my "save and compare" list at that time and then never removed it.

Fast forward to Xmas morning...here it is!

I never actually intended to get the Polytac, but now that I've got it I'm pretty impressed with it. It's the 2-mode model that claims 275L and 14L modes, but while the 275L seems plausible, I suspect the 14L is closer to 40L. It seems brighter than my 33L HDS setting and pretty close to the 50L Malkoff drop-ins I have. Output seems the same whether I have 2 CR123A's in it or a 16340 in it.

The "ten tap" programming is pretty simple. The light defines 3 mode groups: H->Strobe->L, H only, and L->H. To advance to the next group, quickly press and release the switch 9 times then hold the switch until the light turns off. I did this twice in order to use the L->H group.

The beam is pretty nice and is relatively artifact free. There is a distinct hot spot, but it's pretty large so the light is a moderate thrower at best (typical for this size flashlight). The tint looks more like a neutral white than a cool white, but I don't see the color temp advertised on the package anywhere.

I've never seen it listed as a potential P60 host, so I'm guessing that if the module ever fails, I probably won't be able to replace it with a P60-style drop-in. I tried to remove the head, but it must be glued or something. Clearly they never anticipated that someone might want to remove the clip since it's between the head and body.

The plastic body is very comfortable to hold. Grippy without being tacky. Subjectively, it feels better in my hand than the G2 does.

Anyways, those are my impressions of it. It was a nice surprise this Xmas morning.

--flatline

ps. if the head does come off and it can be made to accept a P60 drop-in, I'd love to hear about it!
 

bykfixer

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Dust in the Wind
The polytac is a fairly nice little light. I programmed mine for lo/hi but like the idea you can tailor it in other ways.

Far as a P60, Streamlight products as a rule are not compatible with other engines. Heck, they are mostly incompatible with other Streamlights save a tailcap or a clip here and there.

I keep a Polytac on a couple of tables in my den to light up small objects like coins or read those tiny little instruction books that come with electronics.
 

hsa

Enlightened
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Nov 21, 2015
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Terre Du Lac, MO.
Just keep it like it is and the longer you have it the more you will like it. Yours is way better than mine because it is yellow. I got mine for christmas a couple of years ago and it is one of my favorites. I recently got a Pelican 7600 and it is bigger, better and goes way faster but I still grab and use this one more.
 

flatline

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Oh, I have no intention of modifying it unless it stops working.

I searched around and there doesn't seem to be much discussion on the forums about Streamlight products. Is there some reason that the flashaholic community doesn't pay much attention to Streamlight products? Or am I just not looking in the right places?

--flatline
 

flatline

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Here's a curiosity: the packaging clearly says that the 3rd group mode is Low -> High. But after my son insisted that he saw 3 distinct modes, we took it into a dark room with some other flashlights for reference. After a few minutes of experimentation, I am now convinced that the 3rd mode group really is L-M-H.

I tried to estimate what the medium output was, but most of my lights are sub-100L. Here are the comparisons I could make via ceiling bounce:

1. Malkoff M61 (rated 325L, cool): Polytac High is visually indistinguishable via ceiling bounce except by tint. Polytac Medium is visibly dimmer.

2. Malkoff M61 219B (rated 225L, hi cri, warm): Polytac High is visibly brighter. Polytac Medium seems about the same, but the dramatic difference in tint makes this hard to gauge.

So, if I didn't have the packaging to go by, based on comparisons to my other lights, I would have guessed that the Polytac High is around 300L, the Medium is around 200L, and the low is somewhere between 30L and 50L.

I did notice that the Polytac HP is advertised as having L-M-H for group 3. Is it possible that they're using a newer driver on the regular Polytac but forgot to update the packaging?

--flatline
 

flatline

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Jul 6, 2009
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Tennessee
I've been here for almost 10 years and I've never bothered to figure out how to post pics. I'll see what I can do.

In the meantime, if you go to the big river site and search for "yellow polytac" your first search result should be the Streamlight 88853 which is what I have.

I went to streamlight's site and looked up the documentation for the polytac and it says the current polytac is a 3-mode with a High of 600L that quickly descends to 300-ishL, a Medium of 260L, and a Low of 35L. That doesn't match the packaging my light came with, but it seems pretty close to the behavior I'm seeing (especially the 35L Low mode).

--flatline
 

Phaserburn

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Mar 30, 2003
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Connecticut, USA
The polytac makes a good glove box light; plastic for holding in winter with bare hands, lithium primaries for fuel.
 

LightObsession

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 12, 2004
Messages
1,385
I picked up a black two mode tonight at Field and Stream for $19.99.

It was their last one, on a mis-marked peg and the guy gave it to me for the mis-marked price, since they stopped stocking them.

I don't care for the cool tint, but I do like the forward clicky switch and momentary operation.

So far, I like the clip for back pocket carry.
 
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