Les Jones

Review: Nitecore Defender Infinity flashlight

Monday, February 9th, 2009 | Best Of, Guns, Photos | Permalink | 6 Comments |

I tried a Surefire E2D Executive Defender. Great feel. Great tailcap switch. High output. Unfortunately, it had a very short battery life of 60 minutes. For me that completely ruled it out for everyday carry. Now it’s back to being a companion to a home firearm.

Next I tried a StreamLight TwinTask. The TwinTask has two light sources - a high-output Xenon bulb and a long-life LED emitter. You choose between them at the click of a button so you can have either high output or long battery life. At 35 bucks the price was right. One downside of the TwinTask was that it used a thumb-activated switch, which I never cared for. Tailcaps are the only way to fly.

When the TwinTask went on the fritz I decided I wanted four things in my next light:

• Tailcap switch like the Surefire for good ergonomics.
• Multiple light levels like the TwinTask - high for lots of light or low for long battery life.
• Ability to use plain old AA batteries. The Surefire and StreamLight used CR123a batteries, which have great output but are more expensive and harder to find than AAs. In a pinch I want to be able to get batteries at the Gas and Dash.
• The newer, more efficient CREE LED rather than the older Luxeon LED.

I settled on a Fenix L2D CE Q5. It met all of the criteria. Output was super bright. At $55 the price wasn’t cheap, but it wasn’t unreasonable for a flashlight nut.

There were three things I didn’t like about the Fenix:

• The modes and tailcap sensitivity were too much. There are five power levels plus a strobe mode. Worse, while it took a deep click to power up the light once it was on just barely brushing the switch would switch modes. You could go from high to SOS in no time.
• It was too long, or more to the point it was just the wrong length. AA batteries are longer than CR123a batteries. With two of them the flashlight was enough longer to be just the right length to get bound up sideways in the pockets of the Columbia pants I live in.
• It was too slippery. There wasn’t enough checkering or variation in diameter.

That led me to my current light, a Nitecore Defender. It has all of the strong points of the Fenix, but none of the problems.

It uses a single AA battery so it’s the smallest EDC flashlight I’ve ever used. It has great checkering and enough variation in diameter so it’s easy to grip, and the flats on the high rings keep it from rolling off of flat surfaces. The tailcap has two modes that are programmable to be as high or as low as you like. There’s a crenulated bezel in front and loops in the rear for attaching keyrings or lobsterclaws. It can use longlife Li-Ion batteries or regular alkalines. I keep a spare AA in my back pocket.

The Defender is amazingly waterproof. Mine has taken two trips through the washing machine and still works beautifully.

The only downside to the Nitecore Defender is the price, which was about $80 when I bought it last year. I’d like to see them drop the gift box and a few other doodads. On the other hand it comes with a spare tailcap, which is pretty amazing, if not essential. I do like the the paracord lanyard, which turns out to be incredibly helpful on such a small light. The tip of the lanyard has a glow in the dark plastic insert like a cereal box toy. You can charge it up with the light in a few seconds, though it doesn’t last very long.

The price is a little high, but this is my ideal for a personal flashlight for now.

Notes

• If you don’t mind CR123a batteries or a street price well over $100 the newer Surefire E2D LED has two light levels and much longer life than the old version I have. If it wasn’t for my AA battery requirement I’d probably reach deep into my pocket and get one of these.
• If all that sounds too expensive, I’ve heard good things about the Brinkman LED light from Target and the Coleman LED light from Wal-Mart. Both sell for around $20.
• Here’s a video showing how to set the brightness levels on the Defender Infinity:

Photography notes

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Tags: flashlight, youtube