Dimensions & Weight
Case Material
Case Features
Case Access Type
Switch Type
Reflector Type
Lens Type
Bulb Type
Circuit
Beam Type
Beam Characteristics
Overall Output
Nominal Color
Battery / Power Type
Battery Life (advertised)
Environmental Protection
Accessories
Special Items of Note
Warranty
Retail Availability & Cost

- Classic hand-held flashlight shape. Geometry is a radially symmetrical round cross-section/featuring a six grooved anti-roll head, strategic & functional groove knurled bezel and tail grips and deeply grooved body section grip.
- Head of Light is wider than the body & tail-piece which are the same diameter.
- The flashlight feels small and very lightweight, even with batteries- and yet it's not so small as to be difficult to manipulate with a large or medium sized hand.
- One's hand surrounds the aggressively grooved body of the light.The body of the light fills 3/4 of a medium (*1) sized palm without protruding.
- Six 'notches' on the head somewhat prevent the light from rolling on a smooth surface.
- The aluminum wall thickness of the battery tube is 2 mm.
- All sections fit moderately well though 'roughness' in threading action is evident.
- Type II (Matte) anodizing on the outside and inside the battery compartment - offers some protection against corrosion.
- Matte black finish minimizes reflections and visibility at night.
- There is no 'play' or rattle anywhere. Thin 'O' rings provide some shock absorption, a snug fit and a seal against the elements.
- The Removable spring steel clip attached is , rudimentary and sharp edged.
- Rugged look & feel with impressively effective grip. It 's a generic candidate in the 1W Luxeon flashlight market

1- Ambidextrous.
2- Three quarters of a palm completely surrounds the body of the TL-2 LED, with the thumb and first or second fingers- naturally positioned on the front of the body section just behind the head-portion. Its ideal for smaller hands but eminently hold-able by medium or large hands as well. A 'forward hold' on the head section may also be used . It may be hand-held in various positions including: Harries Flashlight Technique,Rogers hold, forward, upward and downward pointing 'standard' flashlight hand-held modes. Customary knurling over the body section is replaced by an evidently more aggressive and glove friendly longitudinal and circumferentially oriented series of grooves-a refreshing departure from the norm . Finer longitudinal knurling on the head and tail-piece aid in part removal and replacement as well as switch activation (tail-piece)
3- A spring steel clip facilitates attachment to pockets or edges. A Streamlight designed (wrist/neck) lanyard threads through a cut-out in the clip to allow for lanyard carry. Clearance for lanyard threading measured at 2mm
4- A rudimentary momentary On /Twist On/Off tail-piece switch allows for constant or intermittent light activation.
5- No native mounting options for fire arms use are evident, though the mid-section may allow for dedicated clamping brackets or other improvised and custom designed attachment solutions.

1- Stowage- No stowage pouch/holster/sheath are offered- though third party ones should be plentiful.
2- A Streamlight designed lanyard is a black heavy duty multi-braided cord secured by two cord-locks and terminating in a strong braided loop- suitable for threading into a hole as small as 2mm.
3 - Activation- In normal use, light is emitted from the front of the flashlight when activation occurs through a full clockwise turning of the tail-piece till it stops. There is no 'follow-through' position. De-activation is implemented via an anti-clockwise turning of the tail-piece. In the 'Off' position, a partial (soft) activation of the momentary button switch causes the light to turn on. An immediate release of pressure, causes the light to turn back off.This is known as 'momentary' mode. Intuitive use involves one hand holding the light while the free hand turns the tailpiece or with the light in 'Off' mode, one hand may be used to activate the light in the Harries or Rogers holds- for example. The tailpiece may also be turned with the fingers of the supporting hand.
4-The head is comprised of two sections.The front bezel and a head section proper. Using a 5/64" Allen wrench (not included) the user may remove the factory attached spring steel clip from the head. The front bezel is removed by unscrewing, to allow user access to the lens , emitter module and reflector compartment. The head section itself, seems not to be user removable from the body section.The head and tail sections are protected from the environment by thin single 'O' rings and substantial thread lubrication.

1-Matte black anodizing protects the surface that is machined throughout.
2-The aggressive texture on the body section gives users a confidence in holding this light, either with bare or gloved hands. We did not perform a 'pull' test but it was obvious that the light was both extremely easy to manipulate with one hand - and not about to slip away from it's operator's hands very easily.
3-The lack of a holster (useful for protecting the light and especially its lens) is somewhat offset by the lanyard though not so much by the spring clip. The spring clip is made from a gauge of steel that seemed easy to distort and bend. We judged it to be a "light-duty' solution at best. In addition, the clip has rather sharp edges that could potentially cut the user's hands as well as cut through or wear down clothing. We were concerned about how long the thin terminal loop of the (wrist/neck) lanyard would last before being cut-through by the edges of the spring clip- until we discovered that it's made from braided 50Lb test Spectra® fiber-a form of polyethylene and one of the world's strongest fibers.
4- The lightness and highly compact form factor make it suitable for pocket carry (depending on the type of pocket). It may also be used as a small Kubotan/Baton light . It is certainly suited for outdoors,and light environmental exposure-though it's viability in water-sports or underwater is probably limited due to the light duty 'O' rings and less than high precision threading.
5- We liked this light best either in our hands- clip removed. or in a headband such as the Nite-Ize. Due to it's comparative lightness to some other 2,CR123 cell lights in its class, it really deserves a lanyard hole somewhere near the tailpiece.
6-The On/Off activation procedure seems like a usability compromise when compared to other alternatives on the market, such as toggling Click On/Off mechanisms. The switch is relatively intuitive and the cognitive model is simple and easy to remember.

1- The beam is round shaped- thanks to a polished reflector rather than a collimator optic.
2- The round-shaped beam was excellent for general searching though it was not quite focused enough to create bright ambient room lighting through ceiling bounce mode .It is not suitable for candle mode. It creates a subject illumination in a category that we've codified as Context Inclusive Illumination Window (CIIW) as compared with a Context Exclusive Illumination Window (CEIW) (*5)
3- For one test, We used the TL-2 LED in my preferred holder- a Nite-ize headband, and walked around in a nearby trail. It comfortably illuminated the trail about 40 feet ahead but lost throw much beyond that. For light-weight close proximity foraging it was more than adequate.
4- There is some unevenness in the beam's tonal distribution-characterized by a dark hole where the brightest part of the hotspot would normally be expected to appear- as well as a 'blotchiness' in the center.This is minimized depending in the flood setting and is most evident in the 'spot' position- rather the reverse of user expectations. The brighter hotspot is surrounded by a broader 'corona' or penumbra that furnishes good context inclusive illumination. I would characterize such a beam as a compromise between a truly tactical spot and a general purpose flood.Its very similar in shape to the beams put out by several tactical weapons lights-but without the brightness of true tactical lights. It would serve admirably for security,camping and other outdoor sports.
5- While the supplied reflector is probably good enough for most target customers, the addition of a diffusion material behind the lens would greatly smooth out anomalies.
6-To test the throw of the TL-2 LED, we conducted a Maximum Distance for Object Identification or MDOI (*2) trial and managed to confidently differentiate our test subject (a Black 33 Gallon (124Litre) Trash Bag) from its immediate surroundings, from as far away as 118 feet (xxx Meters) with the subject area in near total darkness and the evaluators and flashlight in a moderate level of street sodium vapor ambient lighting (RH=86% at 510ºf). This test simulated a person searching for an object of known size -a person for example- but located in an unknown or difficult to spot container -a black trash bag, for example. From 118 (xxx Meters) feet away, the TL-2 LED positively lit up the vegetation surrounding our subject enough to clearly distinguish it from the Black 33 Gallon Trash Bag, that lay on the ground.The estimated contrast ratio was 3:1
Beam-shots Page >>

The Streamlight TL-2 LED scored Maximum Distance for Object Identification or MDOI at 118 feet -quite adequate for general searching, close up inspection and general personal flashlight tasks.
Beam-shots Page >>

1- The Streamlight TL-2 LED is a lightweight, light-medium duty personal flashlight that's ideal for general flashlight tasks in a number of everyday and professional situations. Due to the rather marginal waterproofness and modest beam brightness, we hesitate to characterize it as a true tactical light.
2- This light provides fairly intense 'close-up' illumination and it delivers a useful beam that combines a flood with a spot from one reflector.
3- Despite having a less than perfectly modulated beam- the color fidelity of the emitter more than compensates for this shortcoming. Adding a light diffusion material to the lens would neutralize any anomalies with a slight decrease in brightness.
4- The well thought out Streamlight lanyard is poorly matched to the flimsy and sharp-edged clip to which it is meant to to be attached.
5-Value. With new flashlights in the 1 & 2,CR123 / 1W Luxeon market space -being released weekly- it's hard to define a relative value when comparing non-comparables. At this point in time, the Streamlight TL-2 LED rates 3.0 stars out of a possible 5 stars.
Our gripes were... A) poorly formulated reflector delivers a blotchy hotspot. B) Rough threading does not exude quality of construction C) Pseudo-tactical tail switch is not as user focused as it might otherwise be. D) Rudimentary clip poorly serves as a lanyard attachment point and has a potential for user injury

3 Stars- Marginally Recommended

© Streamlight

Footnotes:

(*1) Medium Men's glove size- Also, a Standardized Flashlight Hand Size Metric (SFHSM)

		Small A-B = 4.5" or Shorter
		Medium A-B = 4.5"-5"
		Large A-B = 5"-6"
		X-Large A-B = 6" and Longer

(*2) Maximum Distance for Object Identification (MDOI). The maximum distance that a person without the aid of magnification-can with normal or corrected vision, under a given ambient level of light, identify an object of known size, and clearly distinguish it from its surroundings. We have tentatively identified the following scenarios for such measures:

• A single average sized person/body identification scenario
  • Urban (city, inside buildings, dark alley, lit streets)
  • Rural (countryside,farm residential backyard)
  • Environmental (dessert, woods, wetlands, over water)
  • Natural & manmade disaster (fire, flood/mudslide,earthquake, hurricane /tornado,bombing scene, collapsed structure etc)
• Small Inanimate Object (smaller than a shoe-box)
• Medium Inanimate Object (Black Plastic 33 Gallon (124Litre) Garbage Bag stuffed with a big sleeping bag)

(*5) Context Inclusive Illumination Window (CIIW) as compared with a Context Exclusive Illumination Window (CEIW) .

• CIIW describes a subject illumination paradigm wherein the illumination target is the focus of the beam's brightest disc or 'Hotspot' and peripheral objects to the target are more dimly illuminated in a larger disc that surrounds the focus or hotspot. This outer region is also referred to as a corona or penumbra.
• (CEIW) describes a subject illumination paradigm weherein the illumination target is the focus of the beam's brightest disc or 'Hotspot' and peripheral objects to the target are not sufficiently illuminated to be easily discernable at the periphery of subject beam's focus or hotspot.

© 2004 - Imägo Metrics - All Rights Reserved
Original standards designations (including acronyms) depicted in this, as well as all of our evaluations are the exclusive intellectual property of Imägo Metrics LLC and subsidiaries. Reproduction without prior written permission is strictly prohibited

All Photographs © 2004 - Imago Media