Customer Reviews

Streamlight ProTac 2L Professional Tactical

5 star:		(129)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What kind of flashlight can you get at this price point? A really good one, that's what kind. This seemed to be promising too much for the dollar amount, but I gave it a try and I'm glad I did.

Firstly, though, about that 180 lumen rating -- she's bright, but 180 seems a little, um, optimistic.... My very informal and very unscientific assessment would be around 120 or so, which is still pretty darn bright. Throw is decent, and the beam is a good balance between spot and fill. Very useful.

The best part is the switching system. You switch between modes using just the pushbutton on/off click switch in the tailcap (as usual, a little pressure gives you momentary on, push in further to click it to constant on). Press once, and you've got high beam. Press twice within .4 seconds, you've got strobe. Press three times within .8 seconds and you cycle to low beam. I like the feel of the switch; there's quite a bit of travel before you hit the constant-on click. The strobe would certainly be disorienting to an attacker, and the bezel and tailcap have the mandatory crennelations (relief cuts) in case you want to, you know, strike somebody in the head or something. Hey, it is a TACTICAL light, right?

Check the dimensions: at 4.68 inches long, 0.90 inch at its largest diameter, and weighing less than 3 ounces with batteries (I'm going by Streamlight's data here, as I don't have a postal scale handy, but that feels about right), this is one small, lightweight flashlight. The head diameter is barely larger than the body, making it sleek and easy to draw from a pocket. The pocket clip seems pretty sturdy, and a nylon holster is included if you prefer that method of carry. Build quality is adequately rugged, and you've got a lifetime guarantee (excluding abuse and batteries).

Quibbles? Well, the anti-roll flats on the side of the head are mighty subtle, and not very effective on even a slight incline; thankfully the pocket clip stops a roll. The batteries rattle a bit in the body, which I can't stand, but wrapping a piece of adhesive tape around each battery will help to quiet that (not too much, you need to be able to get the batteries back out). And if you like a lanyard, you'll have to improvise, as there's no loop for attaching one. Other than that, I can't find anything to gripe about. There's a lot to like here, especially the switching system. It's so light and slim that I'm not even aware of it clipped in my left rear pocket. Great value, my friends. I'm gonna order a couple more!

I have the Surfire Backup to compare this to, and for price buy the Streamlight 88031. If you have to have a heavier feel with a blinding white light get the Surefire Backup (I use it in my job).

Surfire is the Caddy

Streamlight is the dependable Chevy.

Cons with the 88031 as others have said, the strobe should be the third press to the tailcap not the second, but it sure does mess with someone coming at you. I am in the Marines and we tried this out as a warning or to distract someone coming at you. All those we tested the strobe on in the dark hated the disorienting flash. That being said I use the plain bright white light or the dim light much more than a strobe.

Bottom line I'm buying another to put in the car to use a a safety and back up light.

Buy it for work and play. Easy to carry and lots of light.

With their recent price drops for LED lights and the addition of the C4 LED, I ordered a number of Streamlights to do my own comparison. This and the Streamlight Nightfighter are my favorites so far. For comparison, I ordered the below Streamlights-they're listed in order of decreasing PERCEIVED light:

Streamlight 88005 Night Fighter NF, C4 LED Tactical Flashlight, Black (2 CR123) 120 lumens

Designed (with removable doughnut) for use with sidearms/2-handed hold-very comfortable grip.

Seems to be brighter than the higher rated PT-2L, but probably because it has a larger reflector.

Simpler switch design (to eliminate mistakes under stress)-no strobe/various outputs-just push for momentary on-twist the end cap for constant on.

EDIT 6-19-11: I see Streamlight now has a Nightfighter X, which appears physically identical to the above Nightfighter, but now has a high/low/strobe setting. The spec sheet also shows the newer X model has a higher output (200 vs. 160 lumens), but you lose 1 hour of runtime!

PT-2L (2 CR123) 180/10 lumens

Darn close in output to the Nightfighter, but is slimmer since the head is the size of the body.

For those with larger hands or slight carpal tunnel, the Nightfighter may be more comfortable while holding with a fist grip?

PT-2AA (2 AA) 120/14 lumens

The AA version of the PT-2L if you prefer AA over CR123 batteries, but it's not quite as bright.

Streamlight JR (2 AA) 55 lumens

'Bout the size of a mini Maglite, but an inch? longer-not bad, but I might have preferred it be an inch shorter?

The below are a step below in output and do not have the newer C4 LED.

They're not bad for pocket lights, but they're not really for serious work.

Streamlight Stylus Pro (2 AAA) 24 lumens

Streamlight Microstream (1 AAA) 20 lumens

(EDIT: Check, since as of 12-29-11, Streamlight has now upgraded some of the lowr output pocket lightw with the newer C4 LED. I believe the Stylus Pro has increased from 24 to 48 lumens).

I have a 2 D-Cell Maglite that I installed the Maglite LED bulb in-the PT-2L puts it to shame!

The LED drop-in for the Maglite was a big improvement, but the beam is tightly focused-if you twist the focusing head, you get more light on the edges, but you have a big dark spot in the middle. The PT-2L puts out more center light than the Maglite with LED (but it's pretty close), but the PT-2L has much better light at the edges-it tends to light up a much bigger area.

I have a few Nightfighters for use with a 2-handed hold of firearms, but ordered some more of the PT-2L to use as glove box lights in all my vehicles. Tough call between it and the Nightfighter, but since I got the PT-2L for around 2/3 (or less) the price of the Nightfighter, and they're going to be in vehicle glove boxes, I opted for more PT-2L models.

This would make a great SERIOUS light for women (or a larger pocket light)-it takes up very little space, but is blindingly bright!

Prices vary-shop around!

EDIT: I've started wearing one of these on my belt at all times, using the included nylon pouch. As stated in my review, the Nightfighter may be slightly brighter, but the PT-2L is smaller/slimmer and in its pouch, it is about the same length as my cell phone belt case.

I found someone with a 3 D-cell LED Maglite for comparison-I wondered if the LED Maglites worked better than mine with the drop-in LED (by Maglite). It appears they made no changes to the reflector/focusing on the LED models vs. my upgraded one-the 3 D-cell LED Maglite seems identical to my 2 D-cell upgraded one for both light output and rendering the focusing head pretty much useless. Maglite really needs to work on their reflector with the LEDs! They throw a decent, but extremely tight beam-if you try to broaden the light with the focusing ring, you get a black hole in the middle with very little light at the edges-the PT-2L puts both of 'em to shame.

I'm a flashlight geek.

I also recently bought the SureFire E2D LED Defender Flashlight Max-200 Lumens E2DL-BK, which sells for about 4x what the Streamlight costs.

Side by side, here's what I've observed:

The Surefire light is rated at 200 lumens, while the Streamlight claims 180. That seems about right, the Streamlight appears to be just a tiny bit dimmer than the Surefire.

Both flashlights are astonishingly bright, and either of them absolutely spank a big D-cell Maglight in terms of light output, even LED D-cell Maglights. No contest whatsoever.

While the light beam from the Surefire is perfectly homogenous, the beam from the Streamlight looks like an "old-fashioned" flashlight beam with a noticeable darker central region and a faintly visible concentric circles pattern when you see the light on a flat surface. This in no way diminishes the quality of illumination.

The Streamlight is considerably shorter and slightly thinner than the Surefire E2D. Both use 2 CR123A lithium batteries.

Like the Surefire, the Streamlight uses a click-on, click-off tailcap switch, and also like the Surefire, using the right sequence of clicks activates the low-power setting on the light which still produces a very useable amount of light but gives you very long battery life.

Unlike the Surefire E2D, the Streamlight also lets you select, via the right combination of clicks on the tailcap, a rapid strobe setting, several flashes per second, that I suppose would be momentarily disorienting to an attacker should you ever have to use the flashlight defensively. It sure knocked me for a loop when I tried it on myself.

The Surefire E2D, though very small, would make a nasty hand weapon for self-defense. The Streamlight - not so much. Then again, the Surefire's aggressive head and tail crenelations will very likely end up tearing holes in any pocket it spends a lot of time in, while the Streamlight won't.

Workmanship on the Streamlight seems to be pretty good, and the tailcap switch feels about as sturdy as the switch on the Surefire.

The Surefire E2D costs four times as much as the Streamlight 88031 Protac, but in my estimation it's not a 4x better flashlight. Maybe it's more like 2x better than the Streamlight.

Overall, I think the Streamlight is an excellent flashlight and for the price, it's hard to beat. I'm glad I bought it.

There seems to be two grades of LED flashlights these days, the really cheap plastic almost disposable kind with last year's LED technology and made in China (what isn't?) and the very nicely crafted aluminum light with the latest LED and fine glass or high impact plastic lens. Sometimes you can find them made in America, if you really want to spend the money. However Streamlight's 88031 is made in China, and feels like it. Unlike the other expensive "tactical" lights that I've seen, such as Fenix (also made in China) or Surefire (made in the USA) it does not seem to have the quality of construction nor thickness of metal of those two brands. The light itself appears bright with good color, the switch is nice and has a good feel to it, and overall it seems like a good value considering that it is much cheaper than the Fenix or Surefire. Maybe not good enough for an EDC but certainly a good choice to stick in the glove box of the car.

I bought this guy to replace a Polytac that I somehow managed to lose and that I was, in turn, lost without. My main light is a Streamlight Stinger but I need a small backup light that I can always carry since the Stinger is too large to wear comfortably all the time.

This light is great. Typical Streamlight quality without the ultra-premium price tag. It is VERY bright at max, the strobe is nice and disorienting, it's sturdy and feels good in your hand, and the tailcap switch feels solid.

Only a couple minor negatives:

a. It is very lightweight. Along with the light weight (I had to double check to make sure it wasn't a polymer flashlight when I first took it out of its package), it's fairly skinny...not much bigger around than the included lithium batteries. It's also a shorter light (which I wanted), and if you take it all together and it's just not a very substantial tool. Not a big deal, but I wouldn't have minded something a bit more solid.

b. The switching system. This is what I knocked a star off for. I can understand why Streamlight did what it did here, but the pattern doesn't work best for me. Click once and it comes on in high mode. Click again, and it strobes. Click a third time and it goes to low. I would have MUCH preferred it started low, then high, then strobe. It's not a deal breaker and I'll get used to it, but I really don't like it much. Also, like I mentioned above, the switch feels positive and sturdy, but it's a long-throw and clicking through that long throw 5 times to get to low-mode is mildly irritating.

c: The included pouch is pretty cheap and I'll be trying to find a molded nylon pouch to replace it. I honestly worry about the security of this light while hanging on my belt, but I've had no problems with it (other than mental ones, that is).

All that aside, it really is a great light and I'd buy it again if I had to do it over again.

Purchased the Streamlight with 2AA batteries too. I think the advantages of this one are (1) it has a stronger intensity light, (2) one does not have to worry about the batteries leaking during storage in the flashlight. The CR123A batteries have a ten-year battery life so you can keep the flashlight w/batteries in the glove compartment of your car for emergency use. Granted, the batteries are more expensive than the AAs or AAAs, but when you pay so much for a quality flashlight, you don't want the batteries to leak and ruin your flashlight. I have Inova, Fenix, and Streamlight flashlights. The Streamlights are good for the money. I would not say one manufacturer's flashlight is better that the other; its what matters to you as terms of what you regard as important to you in a flashlight. When buying a flashlight, I resort to researching Amazon.com and read the reviewers' reviews. Thank you Amazon.com and all the reviewers.

This is a fantastic little flashlight! It is very lightweight and fits comfortably into a shirt pocket or pants pocket without weighing the pocket down terribly. The three light settings are cool also. On the bright setting this light is incredibly bright for its size. The dim setting is nice for when you don't need a real bright light and want to save your battery. I'm not sure what the strobe setting is really useful for but my kids love it.

Negatives are pretty mild. The beam cannot be focused like you can with a "Mag Lite". It would be nice if you could adjust the beam but it really doesn't hurt the usefulness at all. Learning to work the switch to get the different light settings takes a bit of practice but most get the hang of it pretty quickly. The unusual CR123A batteries are a bit inconvenient also but the battery life is pretty long so it's not a big deal if you're not using the flashlight very often (like me).

I bought one for my brother-in-law. He's one of these guys that is really hard to buy for and he loved it! A really cool little flashlight that I highly recommend.

I just got my PT 2L about two hours ago, and I must say, this light is AWESOME.

This is my first experience with a tactical light, but I did do my research, so I knew what I wanted: something small and lightweight but bright, preferably with a strobe setting. And this little guy delivers on all counts.

The switch is quick and intuitive: one click for bright, steady on; two clicks for strobe; three for dim, steady on. You can lock any of these settings on by pressing through until the button clicks.

The light is also waterproof to one meter submerged, and they are serialized just in case. Combined with a lifetime warranty (barring batteries and abuse, of course), this is a great package for not a lot of cash.

I'm sure there are better lights out there, but be prepared to pay for them. If you're on a budget, or need a solid day-to-day light, this is definitely your winner.

I own some SureFire lights and really like them, but wanted something less expensive to keep in my car for edc. I've been pleased with the light output and the strobe is a useful self defense tool. The only two things I would suggest to improve it are to add some checkering to improve the grip (the barrel is smooth and slick) and better instructions on changing the light output. It took me some time to figure out the proper way to go from full power to strobe to low power. You have to press the button quickly in succession to go from one the the other. Otherwise I really like the value and would recommend to others.