Streamlight Night Com

The Night Com is a hybrid flashlight combining an incandescent Xenon lamp with three 5mm LEDs powered by two C123 lithium batteries. The LEDs are placed around the xenon lamp, two of them can be used as secondary illumination while the third LED is a locator beacon. This model came with red leds and a version with green leds is available.

The Night Com is activated by a clickie switch in the back of the flashlight and the mode that the clickie switch activates is selected by a second switch near the head that is a selector with 4 different positions. The positions of this switch are: No light meaning the light is locked and the tailcap switch won't work at all, useful for storage purposes. The second position is Xenon used to activate the incandescent beam. The third position is LED activating two of the 3 LEDs around the bezel. The fourth position is locator used to activate the locator led only, this mode is useful for very dim light in very dark conditions or to be able to find the flashlight in the dark.

Runtime is 2 hours for the Xenon lamp, 13 hours for the main leds and 130 hours for the locator led. Following the manufacturer instructions only primary 123 cells should be used and not rechargeables.

The beam of the Xenon lamp is very floody because of the textured reflector, this makes the Night Com a light that can be used to illuminate rooms very well but that will not be able to reach distant objects when outside. Given that the LEDs are already good for a task light it would have been better,in our humble opinion, to use a mirror finish deeper reflector for longer throw with the Xenon lamp.

The LEDs are good for close tasks and navigation, the red version that will not harm night vision is specially good for astronomy and other activities that require adaptation to the darkness. The locator mode works well for camping or astronomy since you can keep the very dim red led on permanently.

The build quality is excellent, and the light feels very solid. It is not too lengthy, but a good size and weight to hold and carry. The included lanyard is handy as well.

The Night Com is not perfect, the beam has some artifacts and an oval hotspot, the color rendering tends to be yellowish; but if you have a need for a flashlight that combines an incandescent beam with red or green LEDs you have an affordable light that will work well. If you need more throw and ooomph from the Xenon light, regulation and a stronger construction then the Surefire A2 is certainly better but it costs 5 times the price of the NightCom.

You can read more at Streamlight's website. Or order for $36 from Lighthound.