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NEMO COOL FACTOR
HellFighter
in the Heartland
A
Missouri
based company holds a winner.
While
recently attending the Missouri Narcotics Officers Conference, I
stumbled on to a
Missouri based company that will surely give the
"long-established" tactical entry light boys, a "run for
their money".
Missouri
based Dark Ops Holdings, took the time to give me a tour of their
Springfield
facility. Although Dark Ops distributes some very impressive knives and
weapon mountable optics, my seminars geared towards arrest warrants and
narcotics swayed me to look more heavily at their "visually
striking", line of lighting systems.
While
the company has an extensive line of lights, for this article I am going
to focus on my particular favorite, the HellFighter™ X-8.
For
starters, The HellFighter™ X-8 Tactical Entry light measures in at a
nominal 5.875” in length. Personally, an ideal size when crawling in,
under and around while working dope or searching for bad guys. The feel of
the X-8 in your hand, is like holding a "mini tank". Its nominal
length, yet rugged feel is very apparent the second you go "hands
on", and the beveled end immediately gave off a vibe from the movie Predator.
The
folks from Dark Ops were quick to point out the 6061 T6 511 Aircraft
Aluminum Alloy body and shock isolated bulb which provides the HellFighter
the ability to withstand the pounding of large caliber weapons fire. Or,
if you are like me, the inability to hold on to things like flashlights
when running across a Wal-Mart parking lot at 2:00AM after a passenger in
your buy bust takes-off like the Devil himself is chasing him.
Reluctantly,
I handed the light back to the Dark Ops folks as I quickly noticed that
there was an unusual color on the lens. As I looked again, it was
explained that abnormal shade was the X-8's Iridium coating, common on
many modern day sunglasses. The coating allows for optimum balance between
glare, reflection, light transmission, and absorption thus giving the
HellFighter™ X-8, approximately 150 lumens or, a really bad headache
when the guy giving the tour, shines the light in your face.
The
click-on/click-off tail cap of the X-8 incorporates the same feature as
most traditional lights so that you avoid unintentional activation or
accidental discharges. Ok, I am sure that I am not the ONLY person to
every sit in a car only to find "Mr. Johnson" and the boys
getting a little warm because your lithium flashlight is still on in your
pocket.
The
X-8 also has a very responsive remote switch that features a
pressure pad and replaces the tail cap (available as an option), . The
weapons mount (available as an optional accessory), attaches very quick,
clean and easy and even a novice to weapons attachments can add the X-8 in
no time at all.
In
today's world of corporate CEO's having to "brown bag it" for
lunch, country folks trading their F350's for SMART cars and law
enforcement still being one step above unemployment, much of my motivation
in product research is to find the "Best" bang for the buck.
I
think I have found just that in the HellFighter™ X-8 Tactical Entry
light. At $64.95 (for the basic light), it's priced about a 1/3 of the
cost of "most" weapon mountable systems. It's warranted against
manufactures defects for as long as you own it and it produces one of the
brightest, whitest beams of light I have ever personally seen in a
handheld tactical light.
I
think that this
Missouri
based Dark Ops Holdings has a true Winner in their X-8 and give it a NEMO
cool factor of 5 out of 5 bandits.
Stay
Safe and Do Good Work!!
Darin
Logue
began his law enforcement career in 1998, but has been involved in
fugitive apprehension since the mid-1990s. He is considered a skilled
practitioner in the areas of narcotics, interview and interrogation, and
fugitive apprehension and tracking. He is a frequent lecturer to criminal
justice classes, as well as a guest speaker at many police academies and
departments throughout the
Midwest
. Logue has served as one of
Missouri
's youngest chiefs and is an active member of the law enforcement
community, working with several agencies in
Missouri
. He conducts training seminars on undercover narcotics and fugitive
apprehension and tracking and can be reached at www.nemotraining.com
or lnirt@hotmail.com.
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