To say that the new Maelstrom S18 from 4Sevens is bright would be an understatement. The baseball bat sized flashlight that your grandfather keeps under his bed is bright. The Maelstrom S18 is face meltingly, eye searingly, hair singeingly bright and yet it still fits easily into your hand.
So how bright is it really? Well, it uses a cutting edge SST-90 LED that puts out 1200 lumens! Keep in mind, that is 1200 lumens after the losses to the lens and reflector – not the less honest lumens at the emitter that some other brands advertise. 1200 honest to goodness out the front (OTF) lumens. Perhaps the most impressive part is that the Maelstrom S18 can put out those 1200 lumens for .6 hours or a 1200 lumen strobe mode for 1.5 hours!
The Maelstrom S18 also sports an 80 lumen low mode that runs 17.5 hours, 400 lumen medium mode for 3.5 hours, and an SOS mode that runs for 12.5 hours. The modes are accessible by simply twisting the tailcap to the desired mode.
It is powered by 6 CR123A or 6 RC123A batteries and features reverse polarity protection in case you accidentally load one of those 6 batteries in the wrong direction. Speaking of protection, a light this bright needs beefy thermal management and the Maelstrom S18 has it. Thermal management allows the Maelstrom S18 to regulate its own output to protect itself from the heat that the LED generates.
This light is just ridiculously cool.
The Maelstrom S18 has a ton of other features that you will want to check out on the 4Sevens website.
Damn!! Big 4sevens fan here. This thing looks like an absolute monster. Looks like the lower settings have some pretty reasonable run times. All in all an impressive package.
IWC’s making a dedicated Light RING for our SMC Series of MOUNT-N-SLOT’s which will turn this MONSTER into the Ultimate WEAPONLIGHT!
Just joking! 🙂
Who wouldn’t want a rifle mounted light saber!?!? 🙂