5.11 Light for Life

Hey, has anyone tried out one of these 5.11 units? How do they stack up against a Streamlight or Pelican light of the same basic type? I'm especially interested to know if their claims on fast recharge and number of charging life-cycles is accurate or just marketing hype.

Every bit of the advertising is true. This 5.11 Light for Life will blow your mind. Some folks have complained that it does not hold a charge as long as advertised, but it's operator malfunction. If you read the manual, it requires a long initial charge, then you can charge it in 90 seconds as needed, but it initially has to have a long charge. You can fix the light at any time by just leaving it plugged in overnight. There's also a new midsize version of the Light For Life that I saw a few months ago when I was invited to Modesto, California by 5.11 for their dealer retreat. Great company with great products.

I have one of the 3.400 models, and yes, they do charge from 0 to full in about 90 seconds. They are rated for 50,000 cycles, so there's no way a normal human can say if this is accurate at this point.
At one charge per day that'd be 130 years!

The 90-Lumen normal beam is good and useful, you do hunger for a constant-on high beam though, it's just incredibly bright.

This light is a large professional LEO duty light and will not be the one for 'pocket' carry. A Surefire Aviator or the like would probably be a better choice for that.

I'd buy an AC adapter for it (I did) because charging in the car for 4 hours is pretty unrealistic in the first place, for in-home use add an additional base charger for that.

Thanks for th info.

is there a 5.11 light for life version in the small maglite size (5" or so like the 2 AA flashlights)?

No, just the midsize Light For Life at about 11"

is there a better holder for the light for life, i dont like the ring,

Here's a flashlight holder from Bianchi that should work for your Mid-Sized 5.11 Light for Life.


George P.