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Reviewer's
Impressions:
Impressions? In a word: "Wow!"
I compared this light against a 4-D Maglight as a 4-D Mag
is probably what an average consumer would buy to get this
much illumination from a flashlight. Both lights are anodized
aluminum, have adjustable focus and utilize 6 volts as a power
source, but for comparison sake, that's where the similarity
ends.
As you can see from the beam pictures above, this little
light easily blows away a 4-D MagLight for smoothness of beam
and is easily just as bright. Both lights use 6 volts, but
the combination of the xenon bulb and the textured reflector
produce a much whiter and smoother beam with the Legend LX.
As for batteries and size, if you wanted to put a 4-D Maglight
in your coat pocket, forget it! As shown above, the 2 lithium
batteries used by the LX are minuscule compared to the 4-D
cells, resulting in a much smaller package. In fact, the flashlight
comparison photo shows the LX to be even smaller in height
(although wider) than a 2-AA MiniMag!
The LX batteries can be purchased on-line for much lower
prices than in retail stores. They can cost up to about $5
each at Wal-Mart! Surefire has recently reduced the price
of their 123a batteries to $15 for a box of 12. The Surefire
batteries are supposed to be specially formulated for the
high drain lights. This is a very good price and makes owning
any 123a battery powered light rather affordable. Order them
from an online retailer like BatteryStation.com.
One important point - don't drop this light on its face
while it's on. The bi-pin bulb is held in with friction and
will possibly pop out of its socket leaving you in the dark
and with a bulb rattling around in the bezel!
The light does have a small rollstop tab on the rubber accents
on the head of the light, but this is essentially useless
if the light is already in motion.
As mentioned earlier, the LX bezel is adjustable for focus,
but it takes a lot of turns of the head of the light to adjust
the focus. Mag uses a cam system to allow you to rapidly change
the focus on their lights. For the LX, most users would do
best just to use the focus adjustment to give the light the
tightest and smoothest beam possible and then leave it there,
adjusting the focus again only when changing the bulb.
Due to the cost of batteries (not bad when bought in quantities
online, though) and short runtime, this light may not be for
everyone, but this is currently one of the least expensive
flashlights that allow you to carry so much light in such
a small package. As a combination of price, construction,
and amount of light, this light is hard to beat.
Lithium batteries have a 10 year shelf life so this would
be a great addition where you would need a very bright light
that is small sized but only needs infrequent use, and then
is only needed for an hour or so at the max. This light would
be a great permanent resident in a car or truck. Also as a
result of the amount of light produced, it could possibly
be used to surprise a threatening individual in a low light
situation by shining it directly in their eyes and thereby
giving you the chance to escape a potentially harmful situation.
(Rating updated April 2003 to reflect ongoing testing
and update to rating system.)
UPDATE: A high quality replacement glass lens is available
for this light from FlashlightLens.com.
These replacement lenses are not subject to melting from high
intensity lights, are very scratch resistant, and allow more
light to pass through than plastic lenses. See our write-up
HERE.
BLOWN BULB? : Some folks are having a hard time finding
replacement bulbs. There is a number on the back of the packaging
for ordering replacements: 1-800-468-5252.
+ + + Pluses: Very bright for size, Focusable, Water
resistant, Momentary and click-on settings, Tough
- - - Minuses: Short runtime between battery changes,
cannot stand on end, bulb can dislodge if dropped on bezel
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