When someone gets lost, be it in the woods or on a snow-covered mountain, people, hounds and helicopters show up to the rescue. Search and rescue missions use of a lot of gear for this purpose, and flashlights are an important part of it. SAR teams use search lights which may seem like regular flashlights but some of their features are amplified, power-wise. Olight is one such manufacturer that makes SAR flashlights, alongside its regular pocket-friendly torches, which can illuminate across long distances alongside having the standard set of features.
SR52UT Intimidator
Being able to provide 1100 lm and a maximum runtime of 40 h, the intimidator is a torch that has a 99% light transmittance rate. This is the flashlight search and rescue teams are especially fond of because it has a beam distance of 800 m and also because it measures 16 cm long and only 6.3 cm wide. The compact 405 g body of the intimidator is made of type-III hard anodized aluminum and it houses 3 x 3400 mAh 18650 batteries. The intimidator has a flat tail cap which allows it to be placed upside down and it also has a beam intensity of 160,000 cd (candela). This torch has three parallel battery compartments with reverse polarity protection in order to prevent the user from putting the batteries the wrong way around.
Warrior X Pro
The warrior x pro has a higher lumen count than its heavier counterpart but a shorter beam distance. The 2250 lm and 600 m are still useful when it comes to a search light and its 5,000 mAh battery is enough to give it 8 hours of runtime. The warrior x pro weighs only 239 g and is 15 cm long with a head diameter of 3.9 cm and a body diameter of 2.6 cm. The warrior x pro features a silicone tactical grip ring, a crenulated stainless steel strike bezel and a silent two stage magnetic metal tailswitch. Its IPX 8 rated aluminium body can sustain impacts from 3 m high and survive submerged 2 m underwater. The x warrior pro has a beam intensity of 90,000 cd.
X7 Marauder
With this flashlight search and rescue becomes a lot easier thanks to its high lumen count and long runtime period. The 9,000 lm and 30 days of continuous runtime make the x7 marauder an ideal search light. You have to take into account its weight though as the soda can shaped body of the x7 marauder weighs 472 g. This is because it has 4 x high discharge 8A 18650 batteries which provide the x7 marauder a beam distance of 313 m. This may not be impressive when compared to other Olight search lights, but it is sufficient enough.
This search and rescue flashlight is also the shortest when compared to other search lights on here – it’s only 13 cm long and has a head diameter of 6.8 cm. The x7 marauder also has the same IPX 8 rating found on the warrior x pro which renders it waterproof – it can hold up to 2 meters deep. Its aluminum body is also impact-resistant but only if dropped from up to 1 m. This searchlight has an active thermal management system which automatically lowers the light output in order to avoid overheating.
X7R Marauder
This is the x7 marauder’s older brother which has a lumen count of 12,000 and similarly to its non-rechargeable version, it has a 380 m maximum beam distance. The x7r marauder has a 33% brighter beam but also more weight to it. This 665 g, 13 cm long LED searchlight has a head diameter of 6.8 cm. The x7r marauder is rechargeable via USB type-c which provides quicker charging times than the standard micro-USB cable found on most flashlights. Another cool feature on the x7r marauder has to do with its proximity sensor that decreases the light output when the flashlight gets near an object.
Is More Lumens Better Flashlight?
Lumens represent the brightness of the flashlight and the more lumens a flashlight has the brighter it is. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have a better flashlight if it has a high lumen count. Other factors play a role in the quality and performance of a flashlight.
How Many Lumens Is Bad for Your Eyes?
While every flashlight can cause you to squint or even close your eyes, in order for the light to be harmful it usually needs to be tens of thousands of lumens. But any flashlight that has 4,000 or more lumens will make you squint your eyes.
Can You Go Blind from a Flashlight?
If you were to point a state of the art flashlight towards a persons eyes it won’t blind them. The most it can do is dazzle them and stress their retina a little bit but other than that actual blindness can’t occur. Quickly after that, the eyes adapt.
