STREAMLIGHT TL -2
This is another of the two 123’s batteries lights, it claims to run one hour and outputs 105 lumens, which seems a little exaggerated, but then they must be talking about “bulb” lumens and not torch lumens, and not counting the loss of light by the reflector and the reflections from the lens.
Anyway, this is a great little light which weights 4.3 oz, is 09 “ wide and 4.9 “ long and can be found in the web for about $40.00.
Since we are giving measurements, the head of the light is 1.25” wide.
I would have preferred that they use a thicker body of one inch to take advantage of the popular one inch scope rings to mount it into a Weaver or Picattiny rail, the way it is, a suitable plastic ring had to be found to take the gap and make it possible to use the scope rings.
I am talking, of course, about mounting it into a rifle or bow, because the light can provide good illumination to serve together with a home protection gun or to hunt hogs with a bow at night.
The only thing I have against this light (and its brother the Scorpion) is the poor bulb life (estimated at 5 hours) but it is predictable as the bulb is quite small, the heat high and the gas inside not enough to provide a longer life to the filament.
The outside of the light is quite handsome as you can see on the picture, sorry that mine is cluttered with a piece of Velcro that I use to keep it on top of my cap.
On a hot summer day I let the light cool off for several hours in my 3 ½ gallons “beer” glass while I was watching a movie in my air conditioned living room, the light survived the dunking quite well without any signs of water getting inside.
What I like about this TL-2 (Tactical Light -2 Lithium batteries) is the recessed switch that can be pushed for momentary activation or can be screwed toward the body for constant on, as I said unlike the Surefires this press on momentary switch is flush with the body, so the light can be used in "candle" mode.
The clip is a great one, long enough to make the use of a holster unnecessary but if a holster is what you want this light uses the same ones available for the scorpion.
One big plus over the scorpion is the nice glass lens (instead of lexan) or it may even be Pyrex, I don’t know for sure. It has survived in my pocket together with keys and knives without getting the lens all scratched, in fact it still looks like new.
On previous occasions I have compared it with the scorpion, (as they both use the same bulb) and find them quite the same in throw and brightness. As you can see this picture doesn’t show the same brightness as the scorpion picture, I am well aware of this, must be the fault of the new fresh batteries that I installed before the test. They seem to be weak even though they still show over 3 volts each.
Respectfully
black bear