The Warrior M20s flashlight 320 lumens

Flashlights have come a long way in the past few years as LED technologies have taken off. If you take a look around chances are you will find several quality lights out there you have never heard of. Most of these lights offer more light for a fraction of the price of long time police favorites like streamlight and surefire.

Olight is one of those lesser known manufactures that are making lights that out perform the old favorites at a fraction of the cost. I have been using a Warrior M20s from Olight for a couple of weeks now and it's a great light for $70.00. It has 4 setting counting a very powerful and disorienting strobe that can be accessed with a instant on switch located on the side of the tail cap. With a maximum output of 320 lumen, it is in a class of its own when it comes to light output. In that price range in a surefire you would be looking at 11o lumen range, you would have to more than double the price to get close to that kind of output.

Shown in the middle of this lineup, the Olight Warrior features a instant on strobe switch, pocket clip and stainless steel striker type bezel. It is capable of using several popular batteries including CR123 batteries or rechargeable 18650. I'm looking for a good deal on the rechargeables now. The light can run for 4 hours on high (320 lumens), 12 hours on medium (120 lumens), and 150 hours on low (9 lumens). Olight seems to stand behind their lights and they are offer several accessories with the light like filters, 2 different reflectors, a weapon mount and a remote switch. The Olight uses the newest LED bulb which produces a bright white light and helps with the runtimes.

CONS:

• Not easily recharged and limited only 4 hours of runtime on high. The biggest draw that streamlight offers is the ease of recharging the light and the ability to put out for basically a full shift.


• May take some time to find duty gear or a way to carry the light on your belt that you like. The endless amounts of duty gear options for the surefire and streamlight models you won't have that problem. Some carriers for the more popular lights will work with the M20, it just takes a little hunting. I have been using the Maxpedition light holder, shown below.


• The instant on switch for the strobe is a great feature and makes the light usable as a distraction device and even defense, but it is all but impossible to locate the switch quickly. I am not sure what the answer is to that problem, if it was more tactile or larger it could help, but it could increase the likely hood of accidental activation.

LIKES:

• Well made


• Waterproof


• Compact and bright


• Multiple Battery options


• Easy to adjust light output


• Customizable with removable pocket clip, bezel and tac ring.


• Quality accessories like filters, mounts and switches

Health Reform Law and your favorite lunch spot....

If you think the health care reform bill had nothing to do with your lunch, think again. A little noticed national calorie labeling rule tucked into the legislation assures that within a couple of years, everyone who walks into a chain restaurant will see calories counts displayed alongside the price of a meal.

The public health concept is twofold. Making restaurants post calorie counts might drive them to compete with healthier menu items instead of just on price and taste. And if customers learn that a Whopper is 670 calories and a caramel Frappucino is 380, they might make different choices.

New Yorkers have been living with highly visible calorie counts on chain restaurant menus for a couple of years. The results have been mixed at best.

Although the federal law is based largely on the one designed by the New York City Health Department, there are difference.
The rules about where the calories counts have to be at drive-through menus have been tightened. And the law only applies to chains with 20 restaurants or more. The New York law applies to chains with at least 15 restaurants. The change was requested by the National Restaurant Association, which wanted uniform standards nationwide.

Sixteen other states and localities have passed similar laws, and more are pending. The national law will supersede the local laws. So the Centers for Science in the Public Interest, which began a campaign for nutrition labeling at restaurants seven years ago, is suggesting people who worked for the fast food calorie labeling law turn their attention to getting calorie counts listed at cafeterias in hospitals and government buildings.

Reprinted from The New York Times, Kim Severson 3/23/10

I want to be a cop.....

I read and take part in a few "forums", I think they can be useful, full of information and fun. Jeep Forums, Fitness Forums, Gun Forums, etc., I'm a forum junkie.
I came across an interesting thread in a jeep forum's off topic section lately. A member was wanting to change his career and go into local LE at the age of 33 and he was looking for advise.

The response from other members, some cops, some not, seemed strange and hollow to me. A few suggested being a firefighter over a cop, some advised to start in other fields like corrections.

This was my post
Some things to consider:
# SOME PEOPLE WILL THANK YOU
# SOME PEOPLE WILL HATE YOU WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING YOU
# YOU WILL SEE DEATH AND HEARTACHE
# YOU WILL SEE HOW THE SYSTEM FAILS MOST PEOPLE AND HELPS A FEW OTHERS
# YOU WILL PUT YOUR LIFE AND SAFETY AT RISK
# YOU WILL SLOWLY GROW TO HATE AND DISTRUST MOST PEOPLE
# YOU WILL BE BORED MOST OF THE TIME
# YOU WILL FIND SOME GREAT BROTHERS TO WORK WITH
# OTHER PEOPLE WILL TREAT YOU DIFFERENT, YOU ARE THE COP AT THE PARTY
# YOU WILL SEE OTHER COPS THAT MAKE IT DIFFICULT FOR EVERYONE
# YOU WILL MAKE A LOT OF MISTAKEs; IF YOUR LUCKY YOU WILL GET SECOND CHANCES
# YOU ARE HUMAN BUT OTHERS WILL NOT UNDERSTAND THAT
# YOU MUST WANT TO DO THE JOB
# IT IS LIKE NO OTHER JOB ON THE PLANET, FOR GOOD AND BAD

My 2cents