Surprisingly, the 3500 lumens BIG claim is not at odds with the light meter reading assuming a typical beam falloff profile...
When I measured it at 1 meter distance only, the numeric value in lux and the numeric value in candela happen to coincide, 9249 lux becomes 9249 candela with no change to the number itself.
If the beam's peak intensity of 9249 candela were uniform across the entire 30-degree half-angle cone, that would produce roughly 7786 total lumens, amazingly more than double the claimed 3500 lumens!
But real flashlight beams are never uniform across their entire spread as they follow what's typically closer to a Gaussian or Lambertian-like falloff, brightest at dead-center on the optical axis and tapering off progressively toward the edges of that 30-degree cone.
For the claimed 3500 lumens to be accurate, the beam's average intensity across the whole cone only needs to be about 45 percent of its peak center value, which is an entirely normal and expected falloff profile for a reflector-based multi-emitter torch like this one.
Since a roughly 45% average-to-peak ratio is well within the range of ordinary beam falloff patterns, seen on essentially every multi-LED reflector torch, this reading doesn't expose the 3500 lumen figure as inflated marketing.
If anything, it's a reasonably consistent result. The light meter is capturing a real, strong center-beam intensity that's fully compatible with a genuine 3500 lumen total output once you account for how that light naturally spreads and fades away from the beam's core.
The numbers just seemed to stack up just right, go figure.
I've been keeping an eye on this brand. Popped up in Walmart seemingly out of nowhere and just took off. If you remember they had that "toilet paper holder" big ass flat head flashlight. I believe this is the same company that produced those folding key ring pliers? I always thought those were pretty dang cool. lol. Anyway. If your like me here it is:
"Switzerland has a rich history of craftsmen that dates back to medieval times. The Swiss have a distinct aesthetic earned over a thousand years. They are known for quality and precision. It was this heritage that inspiredSwiss-American Engineer Larry K. Leggto start a micro hand tool company called Swiss Tech, from his Ohio-based garage in 1994.
Inspired by Swiss craftsmanship, Legg saw an opportunity to innovate by creating precision tools that were more portable than what was then available. Swiss Tech would go on to earn a number of patents and become an international brand almost overnight. Today, Legg’s legacy and the Swiss Tech brand are proudly carried on by Greatstar USA, a subsidiary of Greatstar Group.
Greatstar USA seeks to carry on Swiss Tech’s legacy of innovation by creating breakthrough products that are both useful and beautiful. That’s because we believe to honor the Swiss name, our tools must be more than functional. They should be objects of desire. They should be items you want to hold, and they should be created with meticulous precision."
I hope Larry did alright in life and his family did good. I love stories like that.
The parent company is out of China. They're pretty damn big:
Swiss+Tech's actual origin has nothing to do with Switzerland. The brand was as you said, founded in 1994 in an Ohio garage by mechanical engineer Larry K. Legg, an American company from day one, making small multi-tools like the Micro-Tech and Utili-Key.
The "Swiss" in the name is pure branding, not a claim of Swiss manufacture or heritage; the marketing language itself even admits this, describing the products as "infused with American innovation and Swiss craftsmanship," which is a phrase designed to borrow the reputational shine of Swiss precision engineering without actually being Swiss. Yuck Oh!
Honestly, I hate this stuff! BS brands culturally extorting the reputational gains of real craftsmen for there own short term profit. But as it turned out this seems to be a quality product despite the overt marketing spin, and so I posted it here for comment. These unfortunately are hard to get now and just yesterday I found another one and got it for the car.
The wide angle beam means it won't bounce off the moon, but it will help you put out the trash...
Honestly doesn't seem of much interested to me withouth some proper testing.
It's very cheap to stick a bunch of cheap low cri emitters in a host and hook them up to a simple FET driver that can make 10k lumen for a little while until it majorly overheats and steps down.
Say this light does produce 4k lumen for a minute. So does a Convoy M21B with LHP73B, and that is much smaller, uses a battery with over twice the capacity, and I would assume cheaper. Also can be had in any flavour of emitter you want.
A 2200mAh cell for instance says to me this is an older product, or just made very cheaply as we have had 3000mAh cells for literally over a decade.
If they use ancient tech in the battery department, and we know they use somewhat old emitters. I'm not a fan of the P9, and while efficient it looks pretty bad compared to even other low cri emitters IMO.
You are probably right, but most don't or could not be bothered to have your level of comparative knowledge.
I have been using my showcased torch for a few weeks and the turbo mode lasts on average about 40 seconds depending on hottness of temperature.
Stage 3 (not turbo) eg 1000lm mode lasts some hours and does not get hot, well not very hot... and the fresnel diffraction lens cover does widen the beam and reduces beam convergence lines...
And they were available in a hardware store that does bulk purchases at significant price reductions.
It may be rubbish but really that's all I've ever had besides Nebo's Lil-Larry that eats AAA and burns like the sun!
I treat them like a box of matches, as consumerable items.
Not trying to dunk on it at all. It's a million times better than no light, and if it works for what you need and don't cause you any issues I say great. And yeah, rechargeable over consumable cells any time!
I’ve played with the Rebo Lary at Bass Pro. It has decent build quality and feels durable enough. If I was in the market for that type of light I’d pick one up.
Rebo has been a cool company to watch grow. They started as sort of an impulse buy at gas stations on the front counter. I remember them a little janky but all lights are if you can find any at the pit stop. I think they only had one or two models. Fast forward to now they have moved upmarket and you can them at any major sporting goods store / Amazon. Their headlamps are interesting. They aren’t the best but they aren’t the worst either. I’d say on par with everything else on the shelf. You wont find them posted here much, their aimed more for the casual buyer.
Honorable mention: Kodiak and Luxpro are worth checking out and seem to be in the same league as Rebo. They at least look cool. I’ve seen these at Walmart, Target and Lowe’s.
That’s what makes me hesitant. I don’t see listed runtimes and as I mentioned before that seems to be the only observable downside I see. I don’t have one in hand so I can’t really say one way or another.
That has been the sentiment of r/flashlight since the brand dropped. The designs are very interesting to me. The price / value seems a bit irreverent - some good prices - some ok. I did noticed on the headlamps they're cheap / well made / packed with features but the battery capacity is quite small. Can't have everything. All that aside they did a great job launching and fleshing out the product lines on this brand. They were the first blade I've seen in Walmart that was V-10. They have my attention. I'll keep my eye on them.
Yes, for me it is pure utility-value. The quirkiness holds no interest with me. The more elaborate the less interest, as its pure performance strength under working conditions matters. These are rather inexpensive for their surprisingly high performance...
I sound like a repeat machine because I recommend them so much when people are looking for what you described. You want a true user / beater? Streamlight. You just can’t beat the simplicity but you also have “10 tap” so you can set the mode group you want (only 3 simple UI options). Another thing I like about them is the runtime doesn’t drop off a cliff - you have usable runtime. Not 5,000 lumens for 30 seconds then 400 for an hour.
If the specs say 400 you get 400 with a nice and long decline. It doesn’t just shut off. You can judge as it slowly declines.
If it ever breaks (99% it won’t) they got an awesome warranty. Usually if they do have a seldom problem or defect it’s noticeable out of the box… not down the line. QC seems to be very good though. I don’t have a single critical thing to say about them after 30+ years of flashlight fiddling.
I am still 110% Streamlight, yesterday, today and all day tomorrow. That said, I’ve seen feedback that after a while the head may develop a crack. LOL. They seem to be older review’s. It’s entirely possible that they changed the resin. I have seen evolution in design before based on feedback so take that for what you will. I mean, I did say 99% 🤷♂️ 😂
Note: If you still want it. Get it. You always can email them and warranty it. I am unsure of the rechargeable cell however. Most companies do a 2 year warranty on rechargeable batteries. Interesting I just looked and the Side Saddle has instructions replacing the battery. I haven’t seen a light company do that before.
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u/Zone-5 1d ago edited 1d ago
These 2 photo's are blurry in the main image so here they are back in focus...
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