Not long ago I had a conversation with a Chief of Police in Pennsylvania and all we were discussing was "tactical handheld flashlights". I was talking about how much of an improvement today's were over those of yesteryear and the Chief stood by ONE characteristic that prevented him from purchasing them agency wide: the CR123 3V Lithium batteries. He wanted a light that would do as well on something a lot more common: AA batteries. Well Chief, you got what you want; meet the Sentinel tactical handheld flashlights from Night-Ops.
Night-Ops is part of the BLACKHAWK! Products Group and originally broke onto the lighting scene with their Gladius tactical light. With its LED lamp assembly and programmable multi-function tailcap they really caught the industry's attention - not to mention that of the operators who use such lights. Those at Night-Ops recognized that the community has long been asking for a tactical handheld flashlight that would run on the more common AA batteries and they pursued resolution to the need by developing the Sentinel PL1-AA LED flashlight.
The Sentinel PL1-AA measures 6.3" long, weights just under 4 ounces and pumps 35 lumens of light out of a unit using two AA batteries. This is a far cry from those other small flashlights that use two AA batteries to present a very yellow not-properly-focused beam of light. While those lights were the best in convenience in their day, a new era dawned about a decade ago and if you want a true tactical light today it'll have an LED lamp assembly. Why? Because of the abuse the LED can take without breaking. Incandescent and Xenon bulbs simply aren't as robust.
Not content to sit back and bask in the successful solution that was presented by the Sentinel PL1-AA, the folks at Night-Ops kept working to find a way to get more light out of the unit. You see, while 35 lumens if fine for a camp light, hunting light, emergency vehicle light, etc, it's really insufficient for tactical work. At a bare minimum your light for duty use should pump 65 lumens and anything above that is even better. The challenge faced was getting sufficient power from the specified source (two AA batteries) and regulating it properly to power an LED capable of producing the desired level of light.
By using a 3-Watt CREE LED in front of those two AA batteries, Night-Ops was able to produce the Sentinel PL3-AA XTR. Measuring just over 6" long and weighing just under five ounces, the PL3-AA XTR produces 60 lumens of light. That's the same amount of light as one of those old heavy pipe lights that used six D-cell batteries. The strength of the light is obviously the balance between light output (60 lumens isn't GREAT but it's sufficient for tactical use) and the common convenient availability of AA batteries.
So what does this light / power balance cost? On the BLACKHAWK! website the Sentinel PL1-AA LED is posted at $139.99. The Sentinel PL3-AA XTR is $15 more at $154.99. By Googling "Blackhawk Sentinel LED" I found them listed as low as $100.11. Doing the same thing but specifying "Blackhawk Sentinel PL3 LED" in my search I found PL3s as low as $123.94.
So take the time to shop around. If the idea of a tactical handheld light that you can power on AA batteries excites you - and when you consider the cost of CR-123 batteries it just might excite you a lot - the Sentinel lights from Night-Ops are a great deal.
Stay Safe!
