I recently received a flashlight dubbed 'Borealis'. The name 'Borealis' comes from the term Aurora Borealis with is more commonly known as the Northern Lights. If you have never seen the Northern Lights, then let me tell, they put anyone at awe. They are an amazing sight to see. Similar the Northern Lights, the Borealis flashlight is something that many people will look at in awe. Sound over the top? Maybe it is. But, let me tell you, my wife could care less about flashlights (unless there is a power outage) and when I turned on my Borealis her eyes lit up (no, not because of the intense light). She actually said,”Wow, I'm impressed.” That is an amazing feat, to impress my wife. Enough about that, lets talk about the light.
The Borealis looks innocent enough in its 3D cell Mag-Lite body. But when you look closer, you see that there is much more going on inside this light. From the outside the only difference you can see is the LOP (light orange peel) reflector, and bulb. The reflector is aluminum with a coating over the shiny part. Like all flashlights, if you touch the shiny part of the reflector it will never go back to normal. Also the reflector is of the camless variety, meaning that twisting the head won't push the bulb up and down for adjustment. You can still adjust the beam from spot to flood by turning the head but, the bulb stays in same place in relation to the body of the light.
The bulb is a Welch Allyn 1185 which is rated for 9.6 volts. At 9.6 volts this lamp puts out 816 lumens and has a life of about 50 hours. Remember thats at 9.6 volts. This light drives the lamp at closer to 12 volts, bringing the lumens to 1050. You may be wondering how badly that hurts the bulbs life. Well, not that bad actually. I asked the make of this light how long the bulb lasts and he stated 35 hours. My light has 28 hours and counting. The bulb handles being overdriven very very well.
The lens has been replaced as well. It is made of Pyrex and is formed in such a way that it is very very resistant to heat shock. The lens is more specifically called a borafloat lens, referring to the method used to make and for the lens. It may not mean much to a lot of people but rest assured, with the amount of heat coming out of this thing, you won't have to worry about the lens busting. That is, unless you do something really stupid, like try to light a newspaper on fire. Yes the flashlight puts out enough light to set paper on fire but don't do it. That is how I broke my lens and had to order a new one. It is dangerous and stupid. It does prove one point though, this flashlight is bright and with all bright flashlights, you need to be careful about how you pack this thing. If you leave it in a bag where it could be accidentally turned on, then unscrew the tail cap just enough so that it won't come on in transport. There are several stories of Surefire flashlights coming on in peoples pockets and burning a whole though the material. Just be cautious about handling any high intensity flashlights. Which brings me to another warning, don't flash this or any other flashlights in someones eyes. Especially your wife's. You are liable and very likely to get a black eye as a result.
“What is this thing running on?”, you ask. Well, I'll tell you. Nine AA rechargeable batteries. They come in a neat little battery carrier and they are stacked in series to bring the voltage up to 12 volts. Now you may be wondering, a AA is 1.5 volts and 9x1.5=13.5 volts so, why do I keep saying 12? Simple, you don't want to use this light right of the charger, It is going to be too much for the bulb. If it doesn't just flash and blow instantly then it will dramatically shorten the life of the bulb. If you wait about 1 ½ hours after the batteries are off the chargers, the batteries will calm down and stick around 12 volts. Now if you don't want to wait that long, there is another option. Juan sells a bleeder lamp. Basically it is a lamp that you can plug into the battery carrier to bleed off the extra power. You plug it in for 40 seconds and you're ready to go. Here are pics of the battery carrier, charger, and bleeder lamp.
