UltraBright 500-Lumen Tactical Military Flashlight 2-Pack Review

Ultrabright 500 Lumen Tactical Military Flashlight 2 Pack Review Credit: UltraBright
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Price: $49.99 Buy
Editor's Rating:
Pros: Military-Grade construction, 500-lumens of light with a one-mile range, and a wide working voltage for long-lasting battery life.
Cons: None.
Bottom Line: This is an incredibly powerful and resilient pair of flashlights perfect for camping, exploring, or just keeping in case of an emergency.

No one has ever regretted bringing a flashlight. Whether you’re spelunking in a secret cave or just commuting home from work after dark, keeping a source of light on hand can help you out of any number of problems that might arise. Unfortunately, most flashlights are either too big and clunky or too small and delicate to be reliable.

And then there’s brightness to worry about. There’s nothing worse than pulling over on the side of the road with a flat tire only to discover that the pocket-lite you keep in the glovebox is too weak to adequately light up your tools and spare, or even flag down help. There’s no excuse for this.

That’s where the UltraBright 500-Lumen Tactical Military Flashlight comes in. This is, without a doubt, your best bet for all-purpose flashlight use. Let’s dive right into why.

First Impressions

The “tactical military” descriptor implies a certain level of robustness, and you’re not going to be disappointed when you first hold your Ultrabrights.

Ultrabright 500 Lumen Tactical Military Flashlight 2 Pack Review 3

There’s no cheap plastic or flimsy wiggling pieces to be found – both of these identical, three-to-four inch lights are all hard black lightweight aircraft aluminum. They’re heavy enough not to emit that feeling of cheapness that makes you always worried that your product is going to break but light enough to not weigh down your pockets. I immediately did a few reasonable drop tests on hard pavement, and the impact only barely scratched the exterior (more on resilience tests later).

The device is all black except for an orange rubber button on the back that turns the light on and off and switches between the three modes – bright, dim, and strobe.

Flashlight Review

The buttons are perfectly placed to allow easy access but also recessed into the light’s body enough so you won’t worry about accidentally hitting it and wasting battery power by lighting up the inside of your bag, pocket, or glove box.

Also, you can see every ounce of power behind that 500-lumen lamp, and when you turn it on in a dark environment, you’re suddenly not in a dark environment anymore. The light pierces darkness, rain, and fog easily, and adjusts between a wide sweep and a narrow, concentrated beam with just a simple push on the lens. In short, it’s a good, bright flashlight, but what else is going on?

Features

The most obvious “tactical military” feature of the light is the glass-shattering edge in the front that surrounds the light’s lens. It’s not sharp enough to cut you, but you can be sure it’ll shatter glass, and it’s hard enough to even chip a little bit of concrete during my aforementioned drop test. Plus, it protrudes enough to protect the glass lens, so you won’t have to worry about the most vulnerable part of your flashlight shattering or suffering scratches.

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The light’s also waterproof and ice-proof. One of the promotional photos shows the light shining brightly while encased in a block of ice, and that was the very first thing I tested. After leaving the light on and submerged in a few inches of water in my freezer for a couple of hours, I removed it and was disappointed to see that the light wasn’t on. However, after melting the ice, I realized that the ice hadn’t broken the light – instead, the pressure from the water expanding into ice as it froze had merely pressed the orange button in and turned the flashlight off. Once the ice melted, I’m glad to say that the light survived a freeze-thaw cycle while sustaining no damage whatsoever.

The three flashlight “modes,” which cycle through by turning the light on and off, are all great. The first one, “Bright,” is probably the brightest I’ve ever seen in a flashlight this size. I was blown away by how far the beam reached, and even in misty inclement weather conditions, I was sure that it would fulfill all my needs. It’s no replacement for a spotlight on the front of a supertanker, but if you’re on foot, I can’t think of a reason you’d need anything brighter.

The dimmer setting has its niche too, since it’s less blinding and won’t destroy your night-vision the way the super-bright first setting works. If you’re searching for something in a poorly lit car, dropped your contact lens, or want to power through a chapter of whatever novel you’re reading during your camping trip, this setting will satisfy your needs perfectly.

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At first, I was confused by the so-called “SOS” function since it’s actually a strobe function — SOS being a specific morse-code pattern while the light’s actual function is to just flash the light on and off quickly. Confused, but not disappointed, since the strobe function is far more useful. When riding a bike on a busy road at night, putting your headlight on strobe makes you stand out far more to cars.

The pair of flashlights comes in a sturdy plastic case, lined with foam to keep them from rattling around. Since the flashlights have those somewhat-sharp glass-shattering tools on the front, it’s probably not a bad idea to store them in this box.

If that takes up too much space, both lights also come with helpful and sturdy belt-clips, guaranteeing that the opportunity to brighten up a dark space is available at all times.

Real-Life Tests

But all the gimmicks in the world don’t matter a bit if the flashlight doesn’t perform out in the field. So that’s exactly what I tested.

A simple drop-test is fine, but it’s not the same kind of abuse a tool like this is going to be subjected to if you take it camping. It’s going to get bashed against rocks, sat on, plunged into piles of sand and dirt, and submerged in freezing waters. So to the beach I went, flashlight in hand, to recreate those exact conditions.

Impact tests indeed revealed how sturdy the hardware on this tool is. Though I was able to scratch and scuff the aircraft aluminum, the light stayed functional and bright after chucking it down a road, dropping it off a roof, stomping on it on hard cement with a work boot. And, not that it’s essential, but all the stress marks and damage to the exterior managed to make the light look even cooler. I considered driving over it with my car but worried that the sharp aluminum might rupture the tire..

So impact is fine, but what about sand? It’s coarse, and it gets everywhere, and it can spell death for your electronics if it manages to grind its way inside. But after taking my Army Gear light to the beach and going at it with the salt and dirt, the button still depressed, the light still came on, and the lens still adjusted quickly and smoothly. The glass of the lens even took the beating with ease, becoming visibly scuffed but not harming the light’s clarity and sharpness.

Finally, the water test, which is the ultimate challenge for pocket-sized consumer electronics. Dirt and sand can’t get in, but can the sea? Unfortunately, yes — after holding the light underwater and twisting it, grinding it in sand, and turning it off and on multiple times, I was able to get a little bit of water into the body and lens — but the light itself stayed functional. After turning it off, removing the battery, rinsing out the salt and letting it dry, I’m glad to say the light continued working as if nothing had happened. Sure, it’d be preferable if it were 100% waterproof, and I can’t recommend scuba diving with this thing, but for $49.99 ($24.99 per light) it’s pretty darn impressive that they managed to achieve that level of water imperviousness.

The only thing about these flashlights I wasn’t able to test was the longevity of the batteries since both lights survived two outdoor excursions and every impact test with one AA battery and no visible loss of power. Given the low price of AA batteries, I’m gonna go out on a limb and call the battery life “good.”

Final Thoughts

Everyone’s flashlight needs are different. If you need a light for your boat, you’re going to want something with more than 500-lumens, and if you only want to bring one light camping, you’re probably going to want something that can adapt into a lantern. But if you’re looking for a flashlight that you can stick in your bag and bring camping, on a long road trip, or just to keep nearby for emergencies, I can’t think of a better (or more affordable) choice than the UltraBright 500-Lumen Tactical Army Gear Flashlight.

Flashlight Ultrabright

One of the best little things about this light is its clever double tactical non-slip grip. In the back, you get your standard metal grit that will keep the device sticking to your hands no matter how sweaty you are or how wet the light gets. Further up toward the front, there’s a series of sturdy aluminum ridges to provide even more grip, or a place to tie a short length of line in case you want to attach your light to your belt while you climb a sheer cliff face. And these grips are positioned so that no matter how you’re holding the light, you can easily move your thumb or fingers toward the back and turn the device on or off.

Even if your hands aren’t quite that limber, it won’t take long for something this well designed, this durable, and this straight-up useful to start to feel like it’s a part of you.

Overall, there’s probably not a single reason not to pick this up. Nobody is ever upset that they have too many flashlights, and something with this much raw light, durability, and reliability for just $24.99 per light is the best deal you’re going to find. Once you have one of these in your car, emergency kit, or pocket, you’ll rest easier knowing that no matter the situation, you’ll never be caught in the dark again. The UltraBright 500-Lumen Tactical Military Grade Flashlight 2-pack is available right now for just $49.99, which is 50% off the normal price.

Ultrabright 500 Lumen Tactical Military Flashlight 2 Pack Review

UltraBright 500-Lumen Tactical Military Flashlight 2-Pack

“Military-Grade construction, 500-lumens of light with a one-mile range, and a wide working voltage for long-lasting battery life.”

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