Ramblings on the Maratac 9290 and other 'illuminated' gear...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbouX88xbKI

http://www.countycomm.com/9290.html

Howdy folks quick review of the Maratac 9290 LED flashlight and other thoughts.

I am always looking for new and better ways to do things. Don't think I will give up my BlackHawk Gladius for a go to flashlight, but the 9290 has taken the place of it for my EDC (every day carry) light.

I purchased two of these from CC awhile back and they are really a great flashlight.

I really like that it is smaller than a 2 cell CR123a, uses a SINGLE AA battery and is more powerful than any pocket light I own.

I wore a large holster for the Gladius on my belt that probably alerted "those in the know" that I am of the "tactical mindset" . Now I carry my flashlight concealed as well!

As an aside, a few years back when the "tactical knives" came on the market with those pocket clips, the tell tale clips were being worn by everyone. I soon realized as I was saying to myself, "that guy has a knife and probably has other means of defense as well", others were doing the same to me!

I do not want to appear as a threat to anyone as I prefer the "gray man" approach. No need to raise the eyebrows of law enforcement or bad guys. When you have really screwed up and a bad guy targets you, you want them to be shocked that you are deploying a weapon on them.

Like I said, if the bad guys are targeting you, then you have screwed up on situational awareness or ignored your "spidey sense".

To condense the above, sheeple do not carry flashlights, knives or other things on them, so look like everyone else but don't look like "easy pickings" for a bad guy either. Also, don't look like the "bad guy" or "person of intrest" to the cops either!

So my 9290 now allows me to carry a "whole lotta flashlight" in a very compact and concealable package.

As for the flashlight, it is very well made and works as the video describes. I did have to return one of my 9290's for a failure of the switch after a few weeks of use. However, if you have any problems with any of County Comm's gear they will make it right. To be fair I have had problems with a Surefire once right of the box and they made it right as well.

Occasionally gear will fail, but as long as a company will make it right with their customers, then I can't fault them.

I wish they would have included a belt or pocket clip to attach it to a hat. It seems light enough that one could use it in that manner. Also missing is the strobe feature, but the 190 lumens will git-r-done.

I have a flashlight that gives me twice the light of my other lights, with similar run times, with one AA battery. Now I do not feel guilty when I have to run the light for long periods. AA batteries are CHEAP and it is my standardized battery for 97% of all my battery powered gear. Standardization makes logisitics EASY!!!

Hopefully I will have a detailed comparrison/review of the Blackhawk Gladius (the light which I judge all others by aka my yardstick) with the Leatherman Serac (the single CR123A version), and the Maratac 9290 someday soon.

For those that want to know my opinion of the 3, I can tell you that the tactical winner is still the Gladius (gotta love that strobe feature as well as easily adjustable light levels).

The overall winner is the Maratac 9290 with its 190 lumens light and compactness as well as price and affordibilty to operate.

The Leatherman Serac is a great work light as it is light enough to clip on your hat and bright enough to do most things, however the Serac cycles from its lowest brightness setting to the maximum. This makes it not a very good choice for a tactical flashlight as the 10-20 lumens when you first hit the switch may not blind the bad guys.

You want the Bad Guy's Reaction to be, "Ohhhhh my frickin' retina, you seared my frickin retina, OWWWWW I can't see!!!!!!!" not, "What a pathetic light, you were not trying to go all bad ass on me were you? The doctor's penlight in the prison hospital was much brighter and, unlike yours, would actually dilate my pupils!"


Later,
ZA