Thirty years ago you’d have been lucky to find a handheld flashlight that could produce 1,000 lumens of light. To find one that was rechargeable would have been more rare. To find one driven by an LED lamp assembly… unheard of. Thankfully evolution occurs; technology advances; power supplies become more stable and of greater capacity; LED technology was developed and advanced quickly. Welcome to 2020 where the Streamlight Stinger 2020 offers some of the “latest greatest” available in a handheld flashlight.
Taking a look at some of the basic information first, we find a flashlight just over 7” long and weighing about ¾ of a pound. No, it’s not super small nor super light, but it’s also not oversized or burdensome in weight. Remember the days of a flashlight that needed three to six D-Cell batteries to function and produce any decent light. The Stinger 2020 is effectively divided into two segments: the part you hold and the part that produces light. The part that produces light, like 99% of all flashlights, is rounded and has a bezel just over an inch in diameter. The part you hold is rectangular shaped with curved opposing sides. The overall effect is an ergonomic “handle” that fits your hand comfortably no matter which direction you have the light facing.
Let’s discuss grip for just a moment. In his latest article “Torch Techniques,” trainer Lindsey Bertomen talks about various techniques for using a flashlight in support of weapon engagements. If you read that article you’ll find that the light often faces a different direction in your hand. Sometimes the light points out between your index finger and thumb. Other times the light points out the meat end of your palm, beneath and partially held in place by your pinky (and the rest of your grip). For ease of reference, let’s call the “between your index finger and thumb” hold “Saber grip.” We’ll call the “meat end of your palm” hold the “ice pick grip.”
Now, when you’re holding the light in a saber grip, there is a touch activation button almost directly under your thumb and, just forward of that, a three position switch for Low, Medium and High power. Starting at the highest setting, the Stinger 2020 produces 2,000 lumens of light for two hours on a full charge. The published materials from Streamlight state that it has a 315 meter beam distance. That’s a lot of light! On medium setting, the light produces 850 lumens for four hours on a full charge and has a beam distance of 200 meters. On the lowest setting, the light produces 100 lumens for 24 hours and has a beam distance of 70 meters. Keep in mind that when LED driven flashlights first hit the market almost 20 years ago, a 65 lumen light was considered sufficiently bright to be “tactical.” That lowest setting on the Stinger 2020 is more than enough for low-light training, finding your way on foot and/or searching for whatever it is you can’t find in your trunk. The medium and high settings are more than sufficient to support long gun engagements if you can figure out how to mount the light.
If you’re holding the light in the ice-pick grip, you might think you’d have a hard time turning it on or off, but no. There is also an end-cap push-button activation on/off switch as well. Both activation buttons work either with touch pressure or “click” on and off dependent on user need.
According to the published material from Streamlight, the Stinger 2020 will take a certain amount of abuse. The materials say the light is IPX7 rated, so it’s waterproof to one meter for 30 minutes and impact-resistant to two meters. Not taking anything for granted, we tested the light by turning it on and dropping it in a bucket of water for 30 minutes. It functioned perfectly and showed no negative effect from the immersion. To be thorough, we “shook” off the water by dropping the light onto a concrete surface from a height of six feet (estimated) a few times. That’s not quite two meters of height so we felt several drops should be reasonable. Other than a few marks on the bezel and body of the light, there was no negative effect. The test light still works perfectly.
The MSRP for this light is published at $225+ but a quick Google search found some available for as low as $135 plus shipping. For the performance and durability of this light, that is one heck of a great price. The light comes with the recharger, battery pack and cord to plug in the recharger. Our test unit came with both a home and vehicle cord. The recharger is secured with two screws to any secure surface.
