I have been using flashlights from Peak LED Solutions for years. My favorite of their products is the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn is a simple flashlight that uses 5mm LEDs and accepts AAA batteries. It is blindingly bright but it doesn’t have to be. It serves wonderfully as a small, pocketable back-up light. The light itself is barely larger than the AAA battery that powers it yet it still provides a useful amount of light for a long, long time.
In December of last year, I noticed that the Matterhorn was missing from the pocket where I usually carry it with my keys. I searched high and low but I couldn’t find it. I sadly conceded that I must have unknowingly dropped it in a parking lot somewhere and that I would likely never see it again.
Then, just this week, the prodigal Matterhorn flashlight reappeared in one of our flower planters – a place that I rarely go, especially in the winter. It seems that the diminutive flashlight took a trip through the snow blower at some point this winter and was deposited far from where I dropped it getting into or out of my truck. Not only did it go through a snow blower but it has been sitting in the soil of a flower bed, exposed to an unusually cold and snowy winter for around 3 months.
At this point you may be wondering if a flashlight that took a trip through a snow blower and was exposed to the winter weather for 3 months still works and what it looks like. It does still work with the same battery that was in it when I dropped it and it looks pretty much like it did when I dropped.
This is what a Peak Matterhorn looks like after a trip through a snow blower and a whole winter spent outdoors.
The Matterhorn is made from hard anodized aluminum which makes it exceedingly tough. It basically has only two main parts: the head and the body. The body is just a machined aluminum tube. The head is also machined from aluminum. The 5mm LED and electronics are actually potted (encapsulated except for the battery contact) in epoxy inside the head. This makes it basically impact and element proof.The simple construction, potted small parts, and small size allowed this little light to run through a snow blower unscathed.
The only thing that really seems to show any sign of the ordeal is the o-ring that seals the joint between the head and body of the light. It is intact, but a little bit dry. That is easily fixed with some grease.
I should also note that when I was taking the picture for this post, I knocked the Matterhorn off the table and onto a patio stone. It landed on its head but survived. This is one tough little light.
Viking Tactics has teamed up with Surefire to produce well thought out lights before. Now they have come up with the VTAC Surefire Mini-L4.
