Streamlight Sidewinder
- Details
- Written by Joseph Canady
Streamlight like many other flashlight companies has a reputation for great flashlights. Well what makes a great flashlight? The answer will vary depending on who you ask. It is my opinion that there is no perfect flashlight, only the perfect one for you. However the general factors that make a good one (aside from scuba lights) I have found are pretty standard. They have to be bright, though, at least water resistant, multi-function is preferable, and small. To get all of these features into a single light requires some out of the box thinking on the part of the manufacturer and design team. This is something that I have to say I have been very disappointed in until recently. Angle head flashlights are not a new idea, the military has used different variants of them for years. Streamlight did some thinking and took an old basic idea and made it better, thus enters the Sidewinder. The name itself brings to mind all types of visions and misconceptions about it. I admit I had my own about the light and they were all wrong, but in a good way.
The Streamlight Sidewinder was originally designed to replace the old military angle flashlights. Instead of having a fixed angle head, it has an articulating 185° rotating head. At 4.63” high and only 2.31” wide it does not look like much at all. Streamlight packed a lot of features into that little package though. The lens is made of a nearly unbreakable polycarbonate lens that is gasket sealed and scratch resistant. There is one switch that is multifunction on the light. It is used for on and off as well the dimming function and the pull knob for selecting one of the 4 color lights. The body of the light itself is basically a high impact plastic/nylon. The flashlight is powered by 2 standard AA batteries ( props to Streamlight for using normal batteries). There are also tactical marks on the flashlight to indicate the positive end of a battery so you can change batteries in a hostile dark environment. At the tailcap end of the light there is a cord attachment hole to prevent loss of the light, but it will also support up to 25 lbs. The tailcap itself is tethered as well to prevent you from losing it. In addition to the it is o-ring sealed for waterproof operation (mil-std-81512.4). That says the light should remain waterproof with no leakage while submerged in 72° water 1 meter deep for 30 min. On the backside of the light there is a steel spring clip that will attach to a MOLLE system, belt or a helmet mount designed by Streamlight for this particular light.
The actual lighting system on the Sidewinder is what I have found particularly useful. There are two different versions of this light military, and civilian. In both you have a super bright white LED, a red LED, and blue LED. In the military version there is a IR/IFF LED, and in the civilian this is replaced by a green LED. For our testing at Shooting Resources we tested the military version. I will stress though that the green vs. IR is the only difference that we were aware of or have found to date. Each light on the Sidewinder has four intensities, a med 1 (20%), med 2 (50%), high (100%), and strobe (100%). The color of the light is switched by rotating the knob, which I found a little tight at first but is necessary for austere conditions. The function and intensity of the light is switched by the push button on the knob. I will not get to far into all of the specific wavelengths, nanometers, and hour life of all of the lights. I will say this though, all of the lights at maximum constant intensity will have 7 hours + 3 hours on low per set of batteries. The reason I put the low in there is this, the light will not quit suddenly on you. The intensity will automatically shift to a low output at the end of the rated batter capacity so you can get the most out of your batteries. The sidewinder also comes in two colors olive drab and coyote tan. Pretty universal colors for the current tactical and camouflage world.
We tested this light under varying conditions for months. There were enough tests done that I cannot go into them all, we just don’t have the time. In one of the tests though the Sidewinder was dropped from a 19th story balcony into the sand and salt water at the beach. It missed the sand hit a wooden rail and flipped into the surf and sand. Thank goodness it was on strobe mode or I never would have found it. The light continued to work with no problem. On another test it was submersed in 10 ft of water for 30 minutes twice. It was then strapped to me as I simulated different tactical waterborne activities. This included changing the light color underwater (which I may add you are not supposed to do). At the end of 2 hours I took the light apart. The battery compartment was half full of water and already started to rust a little. No other water was noticed in the light. With that said though the light still worked flawlessly. Then after a few days the tests resumed. The light was heated, frozen, dropped, and basically tortured. Not once did the light fail to operate in anyway.
The Streamlight Sidewinder is very impressive. Nothing to date has kept the light from functioning and in the real world I am not sure that there is anything short of being run over by a tank or a bullet that could. Its small size for the amount of performance is great. The fact that it uses standard AA batteries is a huge plus. The price of the light is very reasonable for the quality of product that you get. The full and detailed specs can be looked up on the Streamlight web site. I feel confident taking this light into the field no matter what the conditions. The Sidewinder is probably the toughest tactical light that I have ever seen. If you need a reliable light that will stand up to almost anything, requires little to no maintenance, small, and multifunctional; then my recommendation is the Streamlight Sidewinder.
