THE OFFICIAL SITE OF EXTREMEBEAM

Fact or Fiction? The Science of Light for an ExtremeBeam

By Antonio Sunbae

…..”A Shinning Light in the face of darkness” is the mysterious slogan for one of the finest sporting light companies in the world today, called ExtremeBeam. I’ve been testing this high-end tool-light maker’s lights for 3 years now and have a good idea that they really know their stuff.

The latest models released show a quality of craftsmanship that I expected from them…But what I didn’t expect was them to match great engineering with affordable pricing. That was a Very pleasant surprise. I’ve been field-testing a few of their latest models which have caught my eye for both quality and price.

The first is the SX21R Ballistic aluminum body 300+lumen LED light. First off, this small light was brighter and tougher than any light its size that I’ve tested from any of the top brands. The top range nearly 1000 feet. But what makes this light unique is that you can twist the head ½ turn and spread the beam wide. And with 4mm thick wall It’s about the most durable light I’ve has opportunity to use. The SX21R is also very efficient on batteries with a runtime on high mode of over 7 hours. The SX21R Ballistic came with a handy lanyard which is great for guys like me who in their older age tend to drop things. That being said, the SX21R isn’t likely to suffer from any drop I would subject it to, as they are dropped 10 meters for trial testing by the company. Finally this light can go diving to depths of 60 feet….. Just in case you do drop it in that lake…

The second light which I found very interesting is the Aluminum and Poly made, OSR-800 headlight. It’s a small head-wearable model. But the 160 lumen focusable beam is presently the brightest head wearable micro-light I’ve ever seen. The beam shines to 550 feet, but can be spread wide with the simple touch of a finger. It has 2 brightness modes and a bicyclists flash mode for up to 24 hours of non-stop use. You can dim it down to read a map without blinding yourself, or brighten it up to shine to the top of a mountain. And by depressing and holding the power button while the light is on, it enters into an emergency S.O.S. flash mode which can easily gain the attention of airplanes or rescuers thousands of feet up.

The fit is comfortable and the light swivels up or down nicely with detented clicks. All this, and the best surprise was the price. It cost me 1/3 of what I have to pay for the closest competitor. It’s a good light for camping, hiking, or any other time a comfortable hands-free light is needed…And at under $30, it’s a light anyone can enjoy. So far… I haven’t found its equal.

The last light of my review was the biggest surprise. A 1090 ft range light without the high price tag. “Reasonable pricing” is what I would normally look for among craft-made sporting lights. ExtremeBeam’s new 315 lumen M4 Scirrako is an aluminum crafted masterpiece that took me by surprise. This M4 cost about $50 and outperformed every other brand light I own for under $300. It has 3 modes of operation; 1 bright, 1 dim for close range, and one flash setting for over 20 hours of runtime. And did I mention… like all of the rest of their models, it has a rechargeable kit available and sold separately if you want it. And that kit even comes with the car adapter included inside….Very nice!

After comparing the M4 Scirrako light to all of my collection of other brands latest models, I took a trip to one of the largest professional sporting good stores and compared it to other brand flashlights costing between $400 and $600. To my surprise the ExtremeBeam M4 Scirrako was much brighter than their competitor’s brightest.

In my final analysis, I think ExtremeBeam finally balanced the “lighting equation” in a way that everyone will appreciate. High-end machine-craft aluminum LED lights don’t have to cost a fortune. The ExtremeBeam company also makes a wide variety of other lights not mentioned in this review but are well worth looking into. And every light they make works with rechargeable batteries and kits which they also sell. They have lights for hunters which can be weapon-mounted; Lights small enough to carry in your pocket but can light 450 feet away; Lights which turn into 90 degree molles, great for mechanics and carpenters or firefighters for that matter; Lights for divers without the high prices. For the common camper like myself, they have one thing most important to me…They have dependable lights worth every penny I paid for them…And that’s what I was looking for in the first place.

For more information, see http://www.ExtremeBeam.com.

The ExtremeBeam Reviews

ExtremeBeam TAC24

by Frank Borelli

When I get lights to test, one of the things I do is abuse them pretty well. The latest victim of my abuse is the TAC24 from Extreme Beam.....

…..It scares me to think that nearly a decade ago I took my first low-light operations course. That was when I got my basic education about the power of light and how to best use it in high risk or unknown risk situations. Above and beyond all concerns I learned one thing: cheap flashlights should not be trusted with your life. So, when I get lights to test, one of the things I do is abuse them pretty well. The latest victim of my abuse is the TAC24 from Extreme Beam. Let me tell you how well it survived.

First I guess you should understand that with the exception of the polymer bodied flashlights on the market today, the large majority of "tactical" lights are machined from aluminum. Some companies sell it as "aircraft grade aluminum" and others push it as "military spec aluminum", but no matter what the sales talk is, it's essentially high density aluminum. A crenelated bezel is also becoming more and more common and many manufacturers have switched over either exclusively to LED lamps or at least have put some of their product lines in a dedicated LED portfolio. There's a reason for that: LED lamps are far harder to break than incandescent bulbs. Given the intended "tactical" use it only makes sense that these lamp assemblies be difficult to break.

Second, you need to be aware that different light manufacturers measure and market their lights using different descriptors for the light output. For instance, you might have one light that is 2,000,000 candlepower, another light that is 350 lumens and another one that is 24,000 lux. Candlepower, lumen and lux are all terms used to describe light output. However they all mean different things. I've always found lumen to be the most useful term of measure. While candlepower provides awesome numbers that sound wonderful, the light itself may prove useless for certain applications because of how it delivers that light or the power pack necessary to create that light.

The Extreme Beam TAC24's published specifications state that it produces 24,000 LUX @ 1 meter or 300 lumens. It also says that the light outperforms most lights at 500-700 lumens in projection. I'm familiar with a 500 lumen light and at CQB distances (inside 20 yards) it's bright enough to make a person turn their head to keep the light out of their face... even with their eyes closed. So if the light will ourperform 500-700 lumen lights, it'd be darned impressive. Did it? Let me share.

Put simply, this is a darned bright light. Inside that 20 yard distance this light is certainly bright enough to make people turn their head to avoid it being shined in their eyes - yes, even with their eyes closed. On the range I had no problem using it to identify and engage targets with my handgun out to 25 yards on a no-moon night. On the rifle range it was sufficient for me to engage targets out to my maximum available range of 150 yards. The published specs say that it will project out to 330 meters or nearly 1,100 feet. That's about the maximum qualification range for the M16 for some branches of our armed services so I consider it more than sufficient.

The light itself is delivered with a holster, a recharger, and two rechargeable batteries. If you lose the rechargeable batteries or simply don't have time to recharge them, the light will also run on two CR123 3V lithium batteries. Still, that 3V lithiums are the back up plan. Having a tac light that runs on rechargeables and a company that has enough foresight to provide two batteries means you should always have one avaiable for use.

Just to get them all listed the published specs are:

Weight with one battery: 6.6 ounces

Length: 6.25"

Main Body Width: 1.02"

Head Bezel Width: 1.775"

Upper Body Width: 1.125" (right below bezel)

Max Run Time: was..2.5 hours (Now 8 hours on full power for the 2012 models)

Everything else was covered earlier.

In addition to using the light for shooting I also used it... well... as a chunk of junk to beat up. The road in front of my house is a gravel road and I chucked my T&E light as far as I could down that road five times. It still worked. Scratched yes, dented no. Still functional. Not satisfied I decided that maybe it wasn't impacting hard enough when it landed after the throw, so I simply threw it straight down at the grown, slamming it into the gravel roadway five times. It still worked. More scratches. No dents. Finally I rolled over it one time with the front and rear passenger side tires of my Ram Truck... and... it still worked. It looked pretty beat up, but it functioned.

THE MSRP was $305.00 but is now $189.95 on the Extreme Beam website is in line with today's market for such lights of this performance. Accessories to include extra recharge kits, remote touch pressure switch caps, gun mount sets, etc are also available on their site. I did my usual Google search and was unsuccessful at finding the lights available through another source. Never-the-less, I'd encourage you to do your own search when the time comes.

Send Your Reviews to Info@ExtremeBeamTactical.com

S P O R T - T A C - I N D U S T R I A L L I G H T S

Fact or Fiction? The Science of Light for an ExtremeBeam

By Antonio Sunbae

For more information, see http://www.ExtremeBeamTactical.com.