4Sevens Preon 2

Next up is a minute review on the 4Sevens Preon 2 flashlight. You never know how often you need a flashlight until you start carrying one around with you. And once you begin this endeavor, you will quickly realize that a dollar store penlight just won't cut it. And that's when you take your first step into an inevitable landslide which entices people towards the segment of the population with Ham Radio Licenses and a yearly subscription to Mental Floss. Don't worry, you'll be happy here.

The topic of this review is the penlight that I personally have been carrying around with me all day and, especially, night, ever since It was introduced by the king of flashlights - 4Sevens. The Preon 2 is powered by a Cree XP-G (which is nerd-speak for "very bright") LED which is, in turn, powered by a microchip that regulates the brightness. You can select several different brightness levels by "half-clicking" the button on the base (which is the only control). If you want to get fancy you can click it several times and get into some nice-to-have-but-practically-useless modes such as strobe, sos, etc.

 Flashlight self-defense advocates beware, it does take several clicks to get to either the "high" or the "strobe" mode. I do not look at a flashlight as a weapon or self defense tool, but I suppose if you were attacked while carrying it you could shine the flashlight in the attacker's eyes, and then beat the guy with your shoe.

The light is smooth, durable, waterproof, very professional looking and fits well into a shirt pocket. I also will wear it clipped to my jeans pocket, and it rarely gets in the way down there. It does sometimes accidentally get turned on in my pocket, causing a warm sensation that I generally don't feel comfortable talking about.

Runtime is very good due to the very efficient LED, running for almost a day at "bright enough to read something four feet in front of you", and running for just under an hour at the "too bright" setting. "Too Bright" is very, very impressive for a light this size, especially one that takes AAA batteries. 

I use rechargeable low-self-discharge batteries (Eneloops are my favorite, but hard to find. Costco usually has them in stock), and of course I take good care of the batteries with an expensive charger. You don't need to make the extra investment, but I like being able to use the light without worrying about the cost of batteries.

 I have found links to the Preon 2, batteries, and charger below. I also dropped on a link to the Streamlight Stylus Pro, a much cheaper but single output flashlight, which I use as a benchmark in the video review.

If you are interested, check out the other customer reviews at amazon.com