Customer Reviews

Smith & Wesson Galaxy 13 LED Flashlight (10 White LED & 3 Red LED)

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I love the flashlight. It's really bright and I'm getting good battery life. So far I haven't had too much trouble getting the white light to come on when I push the button for white light, but the red light button doesn't work most of the time (you can see in the photo that there are two buttons, the one closest to the light is the white light button and the one under that is for the red light). The flash light is about the size of my small mag lights, in length, but considerably wider. It feels good and solid. I'd love the flashlight if the switches weren't so difficult to use. I push them in, but nothing happens, no light. I have to keep pushing until I get it just exactly right, which is fine when I'm not panicked or in a hurry.
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Update:
WOW, when the manufacture learned about the problems I've been having with the switches on this (otherwise) beautiful flashlight, they told me; the LED lights are warranted for life, as are the switches. They offered to send me a brand new flashlight, no charge, no questions. Now talk about service!!!
When a company is willing to go to such lengths to stand behind their product, then I say it's money well spent. How can you go wrong?

I've also read some reviews that the light isn't very bright. I think this flash light is quite bright, though not as bright as some. This is a lot more comfortable to carry around and hold than most of my other flashlights, because it is more solid feeling and has the tectured grip. The case comes with a place to store an extra set of batteries, which I've not seen on any other flashlight. A nice feature, especially if you want to carry this in a car or emergancy kit.

I GOT MY NEW FLASH LIGHT!!! The switches work perfectly.

There are flashlights and then there are FLASHLIGHTS. The S&W Galaxy is a real must have!Powered by 3 AAA Batteries it beams a bright white light out that can be seen for hundrets of yards and the red light function is perfect at night. The price is hardly beatable, unless someone wants to spend 300 bucks for a flashlight (vortex luxeon).

I hve been a fan of Mag Lights for years, which cost the same as this one but I had to alter my opinion. After I bought one for myself and tested it I gave one to my wife, have one at work and tell everybody who's looking for a Flashlight about this one.

If Amazon would allow more than five stars to give, I would always give the max!

I bought this to replace the 2 D Cell mag light flashlight that I keep bedside. This light is nice and bright, plus much more compact than my old mag light. The red lights are much brighter than I expected, and you can easily navigate your house or a hiking trail with the red lights. LED flashlights are well worth the extra money, and this one is a good one.

I've owned this product since 01/25/09. So for basically a month I've been kicking it around and comparing it to my others. Of course, I cannot yet speak to its longevity.

I have a few flashlights, including Maglite incandescent and LED models of various sizes, Streamlight 68244, 66118 Stylus Pro, and Nano, Gerber 22-80012 Infinity, Nitecore Defender Infinity, Fenix LD20 Q5, TK20, and E01, Petzl Tikka Plus headlamp, as well as a couple of kinetics.

That said, I'm always fishing around for the best overall "bang for the buck" for my purposes. I have five basic areas of need when it comes to flashlights:

1) In the house for power outages, attic crawls, and so on.
2) In the backyard with my telescope.
3) In the computer case adding/replacing/cleaning components.
4) On the trail for hiking/camping.
5) In the car.

Of course, each of these areas has a particular set of requirements. When stargazing, I want a red LED to help me maintain night vision. On the trail I'm more concerned about size/weight and beam throw. In the computer...well, nothing really beats a headlamp for this task.

The Smith & Wesson Galaxy 13 is a nice combo light, in that it brings to the table both a capable batch of ten white LEDs for short distances and three red LEDs for night vision. These two sets are wired to their own switches and tactile response is good. There's no momentary on when the switch is disengaged, but you can temporarily shut the light off while the switch is on. There's also a lock out feature to prevent the light from switching on accidentally. You need only spin the end cap counter-clockwise a bit and both switches are "locked". The casing is metal, with a nice knurled grip and good sizing.

This light seems fairly tough, similar in weight and feel to a comparably sized Mag. But admittedly, I've not really abused it yet. The rubber rings and overall tight fit of the components leads me to believe it would do alright if dropped in the water. The sheath is well designed, with a pouch for 3 backup AAA batteries and a velcro strap that fits belts, MOLLE webbing, etc...

For indoor use, it performs well. The light is somewhat diffuse due to the design constraint of multiple LEDs spread across a flat base reflector. There's no way to focus the beam. This is roughly the same as my older Streamlight 68244, but the Galaxy wins the match up on account of its more rugged casing. I also prefer it over my LED Maglites. I'd feel quite comfortable recommending the Galaxy to friends as a Maglite alternative. The three red LEDs are an added plus that work well for reading star charts or maps in the dark.

On the downside, the outdoor capabilities of this light are limited in my opinion. Due to the design, beam throw is minimal. If you want to spot something particular at a distance, good luck.

There are certainly better lights out there, such as those produced by Nitecore and Fenix. These will cost you between $50 and $100, depending on options and lumens ratings. If I had to pick the best overall bang for the buck out of my current stable, it would be the Fenix LD20 without a doubt. That light is tough, has a small form factor, four brightness levels (from 9 to 180 lumens) and a strobe, nice beam profile and throw, 70+ hours runtime on the lowest setting (with 2 AA batteries), and it has a couple of handy accessories (a diffuser wand and a red filter). At about $60 it is not a cheap light. But even at that price, it rocks. There are models by Surefire, Olight, and so on that cost much, much more without delivering that much more in the way of features and quality.

All things considered, I'd still say that the Galaxy 13 is a good general purpose, relatively inexpensive light to have in the house. To sum up...

Pros:
+ Good performance for the price.
+ White and red LEDs.
+ Nice runtime for three AAA batteries.
+ Fairly rugged and yet compact.
+ Smart sheath design.

Cons:
- No lanyard loop. I've almost dropped it twice already. In the absence of a loop, at least give users a clip.
- Battery cartridge can delay changeouts.
- Loses effectiveness at longer distances/no ability to focus the beam.
- Only two options: on or off - basic intensity level controls would be nice.

I bought this flashlight to take on a camping trip. It's small enough to easily fit into a large pocket or backpack, and the holster that it comes with can easily attach to a belt or a backpack.

The ten white LEDs are bright enough to help you find your way around the campsite at night time. They won't light up the whole campsite, but the beam is bright enough and just wide enough so you don't trip over something in the dark.

The three red LEDs are significantly dimmer and much less blinding so they work great when you need to look for something in the tent at night. They're definitely bright enough to illuminate everything in front of you in a tent, but they won't blind everyone. I used red LED setting to look around my corner of the tent to find my water bottle or my glasses and it worked perfectly.

this flashlight is bright enough to provide general light for any pathway or dark street ahead. for trying to see what you're doing, it's the best flashlight I have ever used. reading, cooking, just looking at stuff- this light's great. viewing area spreads out quickly but not too quickly so as to hold the aimability we're used to with classic flashlights. all 13 lights are bright enough to leave a perfect image of their arrangement and color burned into one's vision for several minutes after taking a full hit from this flashlight's light, even from a distance. a single red light is just as bright as a white one.

the whole item is decently lightweight, but has that thick well-built gunmetal feel. it feels strong enough to use as a hammer (though I wouldn't test this). the bulb glass remains clean easily and is highly scratch resistant. the diamond-grip handle is not too "pointy," but helps tremendously, especially if you have sweaty palms. matching ridges (though they may be offset depending on how tight you screwed the battery cap) near the LED's and on the end cap keep the light from rolling when you set it down.

the lights are arranged with 10 white LED's in a circle that can be divided 5|5 down the middle, and three red LED's in a pyramid at the centre. the red lights actually bring back much of the color robbed by bluish-white LED's, and make it easier to shine your light around a sleeping campsite without disturbing anyone. no more putting a hand over the front to limit light! the main lights do not dim when the red lights are turned on or vice-versa. no brightness is lost from power drainage until the very end of the battery life.

the case is sealed tight. it almost seems waterproof. the top does not screw off because the bulbs do not need replacement, but the bottom cap does for the 3 AAA batteries. the batteries are placed in a slide-out compartment about the size of a C battery.

button placement may seem odd at first, but makes sense as the tip of your thumb rests on the white light button while holding the flashlight and the red light button is big enough to press without moving that same thumb. both buttons can be turned on then depressed slightly to break the circuit again, presumably with the intent of signaling. it's very easy to control without worry of accidentally deactivating one of the light sets.

it is possible to activate the light even when it is in the the black woven-nylon case, so be careful when putting it away not to accidentally turn and leave it on. accidental activation once the case is snapped with the light inside is not much of a concern. the case is the perfect size for the flashlight and contains a very small but adequately sized side compartment for 3 AAA replacement batteries. it has a belt loop and a velcro strap over the loop to secure the case around any other equipment or backpack strap.

overall, this is a well thought out and well built flashlight. usage for general area lighting is good but not great where it's dark, but anything closer up (~10 feet or closer) can be ablaze with super bright light. the red lights are bright enough to take away night vision if you're not careful, but come in handy a surprising amount. battery life is good. a product for anybody who's ever needed a flashlight, this device could ride at your hip for the rest of your life and make it through easily, with durability to spare.
enjoy.

This flashlight is both well-built and performs as expected. My biggest complaint: I wish you could focus the beam (you can't). You can only do that in LED flashlights costing a lot more.

My only other criticism: if you're not careful, putting the flashlight into its holster can turn the flashlight on - even though you want it off when carrying it. In other words, I wish the carry case was designed as nicely as the flashlight itself.

But for the money, this is a great deal.

Small size is a big plus. More than ample light to use at night on pathways. Red LED's are handy for use at night for reading maps/directions or just finding your way around without waking others who might be sleeping.

After having read so many positive reviews for this flashlight on Amazon, I was very much impressed. My husband and I had always wanted a flashlight with red light, so we each purchased one. The positve reviews on Amazon mirror our esperience with the Smith & Wesson. We really are enjoying our new flashlights. They are not large, bulky and really heavy like some other LED flashlights I have come across. They fit nicely into your hand and give off just enough light to find an object by your bed in the middle of the night or lead you down a path in the dark. The carrying case that comes with the flashlight is really nice too. I haven't had my flashlight long enough to tell how long the batteries last.

When I began to look for a new flashlight, I found a strange world of flashlight gurus I had never known. There is a large community of flashlight collectors that are experts in everything flashlight. Alas, I am not a part of that community but still feel I purchased a great flashlight, albeit not exactly what I wanted.

What I was looking for was a better task light than what I had in my single LED Inova flashlight. I mainly used the Inova to work in or around my computer. I thought that the 13 LED's on the Smith & Wesson would help illuminate much more of the inside of my PC case and make it easier to work in. The S&W does that and more. But it wasn't exactly what I thought it was when I bought it. It is significantly bigger than I expected it to be. It is quite bright and now I realize that it is versatile enough to be my main home flashlight. I still keep my baseball bat-sized Mag by my bed however.

The 3 red LED's are fantastic for night vision without disturbing others too much. I sometimes use the red LED's when I'm looking for something in the room at night and don't want to bother my wife, who cannot sleep well unless it's pitch black. The construction of the flashlight is very durable and when screwing the battery compartment back on, it creates a strong seal that feels very solid. The S&W takes 3 AAA batteries, which you insert into a separate cartridge and then you drop the cartridge into the barrel of the flashlight. Kinda like putting bullets in, go figure. I picked this S&W over others because I liked the 30-hour run time. More LED's would've meant lower run times and so for my needs, this S&W was a better fit. Some higher end flashlights that use CREE LED's, require the use of lithium batteries and the run time on those are fairly short but make up for it with significantly better performance.

The bottom of the barrel is flat so you can use it as a candle and it has an anti-roll design so it stays put on flat surfaces. The holster is a nice bonus but since I don't travel with it, I tend not to use it.

LED flashlights are all the rage. Even MAG makes LED flashlights I've noticed and you can buy Nite Ize replacement LED kits for them. The S&W has joined my collection of flash lights and has become the go-to light for a majority of my needs. It feels solid, performs well, is a good value and has an excellent, lifetime warranty. I don't know what else you could ask for really.