# Streamlight Waypoint Spotlight Thoughts



## chris23 (Jul 18, 2010)

Hey guys, I recently bought a streamlight waypoint spotlight last week and wanted to post some pictures and initial thoughts on it. First off I've never done a review before so bear with me please

I haven't used it outside yet since I want to take it to the park where it's pitch black and do some comparing with all my lights together. Hopefully I'll get some outdoor pictures tomorrow night and update this post with those. 
Note: I have no idea how to add images right into the post so here's a link to my flickr account with 14 pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157624531348854/

The pictures show the size of the waypoint, which I think it is very good if you need to grab something quickly and run outside or something, compared to the stanley HID it's small, and lighter. Although the weight of the waypoint is manageable, it did surprise me when I picked it up, I thought the batteries were already in it but they weren't. So I added the 4 - c cell batteries and the weight increased! The waypoint has three different modes, low, high, and strobe. It uses a c4 led and in the picture of the back of the box you can see the graph for the runtime. So far I haven't used it outside but at nightime inside it looks impressive, although when I first turned it on during the day I wasn't impressed at all and thought it was a waste of money; that opinion has changed dramatically and I think this is a good buy. 

Regarding the body of the spotlight it is easy to hold, having a rubber part where your palm goes, so it fits good in my hand. One thing I don't like about it is that to put the batteries in you have to unscrew a thumb-type screw on the back to get the cover off, I was able to do this without a screwdriver but it's still an annoyance, I suppose it needs this since it uses big c cell batteries and they would probably push the back cover off easily?; I would have prefered it to be rechargable like my stanley HID but it's not, so I bought a 12 pack of c-cells at home depot for around $11 bucks, one thing good about this light is you can plug it into your car power, and the connection for that is on the bottom. 

What makes this light very nice though is the stand it has on the top, allowing you to set it down and illuminate an area you want so you don't have to hold it, I counted 16 'clicks' different positions the stand will move into, so you can change the angle of the light. It also has a lanyard that comes attached and a little plastic piece on the bottom of the lanyard which I'm assuming is for weight?, It seems like maybe it's there to tighten the lanyard up on your wrist, but when I tried to do this I found it quite difficult.

On top of the light there's a little metal hook which I assume is so you can hang it on the wall, but you could probably attach a longer lanyard to that and another part of the light so you can carry it on your shoulder kinda like I did with the stanley HID, in the pictures you can see I put the light into my cargo pocket in my pants, and while it was difficult to fit in I think that would be a fine carrying place for it if you want it with you but out of the way, and you can take it out of the pocket easier than getting it in. Also in the pictures you see the size comparison of the waypoint with the stanley HID, surefire m6, surefire lx2, streamlight microstream, fenix pd20, streamlight argo hp headlamp,and some cr123 batteries.

Another thing to note is the waypoint did not come with any kind of instructions, which I wish it had, overall this seems like a quality spotlight for $60 bucks and I think the stand is going to come in very handy, main reason I bought this was I needed something for long range, and I was originally going to buy a streamlight super tac but got this instead, now I don't know if I should still get the super tac or how it would perform compared to my other lights, so if anyone has a recommendation of weather I should buy that light let me know please!

Like I said I'm going to try and get some outdoor shots uploaded soon, I just have to research what modes to set my camera to regarding the iso and all that, and if anyone can help me out with how to post images directly into my post I'd appreciate that, I read on here that the pictures have to be 800 x 800 pixels max?,
thanks everyone,
Chris


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## chris23 (Jul 19, 2010)

Hey guys, so I went to the metro parks tonight and tried to get some beamshots but I found it difficult to do that and the couple pics I took sucked, so I won't be bothering with beamshots at all, I think you really need to be there in person to see a lights true brightness; here are my impressions though from tonight:
I love going to the metro parks here in Ohio at nighttime because their pretty much completely pitch black (save for an outhouse building somewhere or something), so when I drive there I use the fog lights and headlamps, then occasionally the brights when there's no other cars around, and just driving into the park your engulfed by blackness and it makes you feel pretty vulnerable, but since I had all my lights with me I felt better
I brought my stanley HID, streamlight waypoint, surefire lx2, M6, g2 incan. (with 120 lumen bulb), fenix pd20 r2, and streamlight argo hp headlamp, earlier in the day I had gone to the park and did some scouting of locations, I chose 3 locations and visited those again tonight. Me and my lights have been, in one word 'deprived' of their full potential until tonight. All my lights did awesome, but the stanley HID was a monster, even the huge fields weren't big enough, and the surefire m6 was pretty insane also, the waypoint is a great spotlight and goes out a really far distance, able to see the beam in the air and everything just fine, so at $60 bucks I would recommend everyone pick one of these up if possible, it's just a great little light to add to your collection, will be useful for camping with the stand too. I'm going to post 4 more pics of the area's I went to today so you get an idea of where I tested these out at. I almost waited until tomorrow to post this since I'm going to bed soon to get up at 3:40 a.m., but I thought to myself there's probably someone who will read this in the middle of the night, so if anyone's planning on picking up a waypoint let me know, because I'd like to hear your impressions when you get it. Another funny thing from tonight, people go biking in the parks and sit outside (metro parks are pretty huge, roads run through them too), but I know there were a couple people sitting outside that prob. wondered what the h*ll I was doing!; also since I've talked about my other lights, one last thing is even though I had the lanyard on my m6 and it snug around my wrist, the lanyard came off the light and it fell on the ground somehow!, lights fine, but I don't know if I can trust that lanyard too much, 
here's the link to extra pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157624541148680/


see ya, 
Chris


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## Patriot (Jul 20, 2010)

The write-up on the Streamlight sounds great! I've had the chance to hold one but it was broad day light, so didn't get to use it. 


With regards to the lanyard, it's a really bad design when combined with the M6's lanyard ring. It's very easy for it to angle just the right way to cause it to release and it's a known issue. Use any good quality gate clip or snap but don't rely on the stock snap in conjunction with the ring. Sorry to hear that you got bit by that one.  I wish that more M6 owners were aware of it.


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## zombieguy85 (Aug 12, 2010)

ok does any one have any beam shots of this spotlight


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## Graybeard (Jan 10, 2012)

My thanks to Chris for this review. I was looking for a decent spotlight under $75 and even though I would have preferred rechargeable, reviews elsewhere that praised battery longevity for this one helped ease the decision. I still may pull the trigger on the Coleman 530 lumen rechargeable one down the road though.


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## Mr. Tone (Jan 11, 2012)

I, too, have the Waypoint and like it a lot. It throws further and tighter than my Thrunite Catapult V3 neutral white. I like the form factor, long runtimes, and the ability to run off 12 DC if needed. I have always thought of Streamlight as a great manufacturer. There is a reason why so many law enforcement and military agencies use Streamlight and Surefire so much.


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## Graybeard (Jan 12, 2012)

Thanks for the additional information, Mr. Tone. I wasn't familiar with the light you mentioned and the video I found while searching for it coupled with your remarks has me kind of excited now. :thumbsup: I'm not quite the light aficionado that most of the people here are but I appreciate a good one nonetheless and yes, I'll probably "play" with it some for awhile.


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## Mr. Tone (Jan 12, 2012)

I have several thrower LED lights and this is a good one. I don't know if it helps but this also outthrows my Dereelight DBS V3 with a neutral white XR-E in it. When I put the aspherical head on the DBS then it appears to be a little brighter than the Waypoint but definitely not with the reflector. So in order of brightest(by eye) I would rank my LED throwers like this. Dereelight DBS V3(XR-E) with aspheric head, Streamlight Waypoint, Thrunite Catapult V3, and Dereelight DBS V3(XR-E) with reflector. That is from brightest hotspot to least.

I also have a couple of HID spotlights. I have a Titanium Innovations N30 and also the Titanium Innovations Mega Illuminator. They are really impressive but the Waypoint is much more practical for quick on/off spotlighting like you would do in night hunting, etc.


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## Graybeard (Jan 25, 2012)

Received mine and love it. I like the feel in my hand along with the balance considering the bulk of it is above the handle as it's configured so the body kind of rests on your hand as you hold it. I can see the smoke coming out of a neighbor's chimney down the street almost 100 yards away and caught an owl in a tree a couple of houses down from us even though the reflection from its eyes helped. Considering the price point, I'm pretty happy.

It's my first light where I can clearly see the actual beam(Without cigarette smoke) and if I can figure out some camera settings, I'll post some beam shots. I'm waiting for the first raccoon to visit the yard sometime in the next couple of months so I can see how it reacts to the strobe function. It would be nice if I could use something beside a hose to get the suckers out of here. Our coons are pretty bold though.


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## Mr. Tone (Jan 25, 2012)

Yes, the balance and form factor feel really good to me as well.


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## JBrown50601 (Nov 4, 2012)

I have one and I love it I also have a stinger. The waypoint has a little bit of a farther throw than the stinger but it is a spotlight after all


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