Last week I reviewed the Blackfire Clamplight Waterproof flashlight which I liked an awful lot. If you’re looking for a quality clamping light, that’s the one to get. This week I got to review the Blackfire Clamplight Emergency 100-Lumen LED Flashlight which you might call the “little brother” flashlight.
Because I had such a good time with the other clamp light I was looking forward to reviewing this one too. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite measure up to it’s “big brother.”
Specs from Amazon:
- 100 Lumen Flashlight
- Hand held, clamps & stands
- 100 lumen flashlight & emergency strobe\
- Snap on emergency beacon
- Emergency Flashlight & Strobe – Blackfire’s new concept puts to shame all other flashlights sitting in your toolbox
More about the light from Amazon:
Emergency Flashlight & Strobe – Blackfire’s new concept puts to shame all other flashlights sitting in your toolbox. CLAMPLIGHT clamps virtually anywhere and stays out of the way. Shaped like a traditional flashlight for easy portability or to fit in a belt or pocket. It converts from a clamp light to a stand-up light by simply pressing the clamp and sliding the lock feature. Non-skid feet swivel down for stability. The GOOD DESIGN™ Award is a further acknowledgement of the company position as “the innovation leader in the flashlight category”.
My thoughts
Yes, it’s definitely a smaller version: lighter weight, easier to hold, smaller diameter, and so on. That’s a plus. Just like it’s “big brother” this one uses AAA batteries (four total), another plus… but that’s where the similarities and benefits end.
Since it’s a clamping light, the most important aspect of it *should* be the ability to clamp to things. Sadly, it’s not able to clamp to nearly as many items, especially wider objects like doors or a 2×4. Keep this limitation in mind.
The swivel and pivot leave a lot to be desired. If I had started out with this flashlight then I might not have noticed (or cared) that it doesn’t swivel 360 degrees (it does about 180 total) nor does the head pivot much more than about 90 degrees and definitely not as far back on itself as it’s bigger brother. Ultimately, you can find a way to position the light to get it to shine where you want but not nearly as easily as the waterproof version.
Light output is significantly less than the “big brother.” This is to be expected since this model is 100 lumens whereas the other is 170-190 lumens depending on which source you cite. That’s not really a big deal but what I did not like was the fact that this clamplight either had a high setting or strobe. There is no low setting. In my opinion, this clamplight would have been better off with a low setting over a strobe but I understand the desire to include the strobe since it’s marketed as an emergency light. If that’s the sole purpose (such as in a car) then the strobe may be a good thing.
Moreover, this clamplight isn’t waterproof like the other one. Again, not really a problem, just a feature that would have been nice given that the price for this clamplight is only a few dollars less than the waterproof version.
Since it’s an emergency flashlight there is a red-tinted emergency “beacon” that snaps onto the head. At first I didn’t realize what it was for as I didn’t realize this was an “emergency” light. Regardless, I actually had a bit of difficulty getting it to snap in place. Even worse, I broke one of the three retaining tabs getting it off the first time I tried! That was disappointing to be sure. In fact, what I would have preferred was that (1) the beacon screws on/off and (2) that the entire emergency beacon be a solid piece so that I could use it to preserve night vision if I so desired.
This clamplight can also stand and does so more easily than the waterproof version but I wouldn’t suggest that it’s very stable since the way it stands is by simply adjusting the clamping feet to be flat together and then balancing the flashlight on those. This isn’t very stable whatsoever and I wouldn’t expect it to stand upright on anything other than a flat surface. At least the waterproof “big brother” had a good chance to stay upright once you got it there.
Ultimately, I was disappointed in this particular emergency flashlight. If I hadn’t reviewed the Blackfire Clamplight Waterproof flashlight first (and subsequently enjoyed it) this Blackfire Clamplight Emergency flashlight may have had fewer letdowns. For the money, go with the other clamping light… that one I liked a lot and still do.
Regardless, you can learn more about Blackfire products here as well as other clamping lights.
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