Pentagonlight K2 porcupine flashlight, more bang for your Buck? - by SWAT G

[Craig]

As most of you might know at this stage that we are very serious about good quality equipment, and we stand behind our products 100%. To enable us to do this we must ensure that our products are good enough, and that they should perform under severe conditions.

It was with this in mind that I set out and devised a kind of torture test on the K2 Porcupine light. Seeing that our local market is so hung up on Surefire I just had to see if the new kid on the Block could be a serious contender.

I have to note at this stage that I was seriously hoping that the Surefire would fail before the Pentagon as I am the agent for Pentagon, so needless to say that it was very difficult for me to perform these test without me trying to be biased, but I had no option and had to be completely fair to both products, and yes I performed it completely fair.

In all fairness the torches that I have for testing is not exactly the same, both are compact personal torches but I think it would have been better if I had the E2 Defender, and not the Executive, so I could not really assess the striking capabilities of the Surefire.

The author has to note that I really wanted the Surefire to break before the Pentagon, for obvious reasons. But I have to admit that the results just proved how good both these manufacturers’ torches are!

Test 1 - Sprinkler

Before I started any testing I placed new batteries in both torches, for obvious reasons. For the first round I decided to put both torches under the sprinkler for a half an hour, to try and simulate rainfall. The test was actually a no brainer as this should have no effect on them at all, but it still had to be done. During the session I activated both torches a couple of times, with no problems whatsoever, after the allotted time I picked them up and both performed flawlessly.

Pentagon = 10
Surefire= 10

Test 2 - Drop test

After the First test I realized that I would have to increase the intensity of the testing if I was to get any definate winner. So I decided to go to my upstairs bedroom and throw them out of the window. The distance from the window to where the torches fell was a distance of 4.5m. Now as you could imagine this was not as easy at it sounds, it is not the nicest feeling to throw two rather expensive torches like this and hoping one would break, but it had to be done.

We all know that the globes on torches tend to break when they fall and are rather expensive to replace, the only problem when throwing torches like this is that you can not predict the way that they will fall, one might fall nicely on it’s side while the other might fall flat bang on it’s head, but still this should give a good indication as to the toughness of these torches, and yes they where dropped on paving.

As I walked down stairs grinding my teeth on the thought of what I have just actually done, I figured in my mind that surely we should have a breakage on one of the torches, at least.

Behold my disappointment or should I say surprise when I picked up both torches and they where working 100%

Pentagon = 10
Surefire= 10

Test 3 - Driving over with car

At this point I was convinced that I should have had a failure on one of the two, but this was not going to happen to soon, so I decided to take a car and park it on top of the torches, the car we used was a 1.6 Polo Sedan. I decided to put the torches on the cement floor, as it does not make any sense to put it on soft grass.

I just have to mention at this point that we had to get off the torches on the first go as it activated the Surefire, this in no means indicated a failure on the torch side, but merely that the tire activated the switch, and we still had a battery test coming up so it would not be fair if I left the Surefire on.

As you could have guessed nothing came from this at all, the vehicle was left on top of the torches for five minutes and both where working fine!

Pentagon = 10
Surefire= 10

Test 4 - Throwing the torches against a wall

At this stage I was getting a bit frustrated as these torches just did no want to break, yes I know if you really want to break them you would be able to, but I had to keep things reasonably realistic.

So for the next test I decided to take the torches, place myself about three meters away from a wall and put both in one hand and throw them against the wall. This was trickier than I anticipated as at this stage I was alone so I had to hold the camera in one hand, throw the torches and attempt to get an in flight shot.

This took me about eight attempts before I could get a reasonable picture, do I have to mention that both torches where still performing 100% after this.

Pentagon = 10
Surefire= 10

Test 5 - Striking

This is where some of you might jump up and down and say this test is not fair against the Surefire as it does not have a bezel on any side to strike with, and that the Pentagon has a front and rear one with the front one slightly sharpened, and is retractable, yes I know this, and what do you expect me to do about this, the test had to go on.

Having a torch like this also means having a striking tool, as well, the advantage that the Pentagon have here is the two bezel’s and the front one is sharper than most other torches this is why they made it retractable.

The Surefire gave a good account if itself when I struck it with the front part and made some imprints and dents to the wood, and in my viewpoint can deliver a lot of pain, the back part could not be used to strike with for obvious reasons.

The Pentagon did just what it was suppose to front and back and made some serious damage to the wood and one can only imagine the damage it can do on an attacker, and yes obviously the Pentagon performed about ten strikes more than the Surefire as I had to test the rear part.

Both torches still performed flawlessly.

Pentagon front strikes = 10
Surefire front strikes= 5
Pentagon rear strikes = 10
Surefire rear strikes= DNF

Test 6 - Freeze them

At this stage of the game I was becoming highly irritated by the superb quality of these torches and very impressed by their durability, so I decided to call it a day and chucked them in the freezer for the night, not expecting them to break but merely wanted to see what the effect will be on the durability of the batteries, generally extreme cold shortens the life span of the batteries.

I left them in the freezer for 24 hours, took them out and both worked once again 100%, threw them on the garage floor and kicked them around a couple of times, I really don’t know why I had this picture in my mind that they will shatter or something silly like this, once again it had no effect on the torches.
Pentagon = 10
Surefire= 10

Test 7 - Under Water testing

I then decided to throw them in a sink, totally submerge them under water and leave them on; the reason for this was two fold, to test the waterproof ability, and to keep the torches cooler for battery testing.

After getting up every couple of minutes to go and check if they where still working, I got tired of this and left them for one hour, after this period of time I took them out and tested them, switches etc. both worked perfectly and the light was strong enough for tactical use.

After this I decided to leave them on for ten minutes at a time until one of them at least dies. First ten minutes they both where fine but the lights did start diming to the end of the ten minutes, they were switched off for five minutes and repeated. One thing I noticed is when you switch them on they would still give you a blinding light for the first minute or so and then started to dim.

Alas the end was in sight on the last cycle and the lights deteriorated until it had no useful light left. The problem is that both of them died at the same time, although the Pentagon is 10 lumens stronger than the Surefire and in my mind I though the Pentagon should run out quicker. The only thing that I could note on this test is that the Surefire got much warmer than the Pentagon, but not so bad that you could not handle it.

Pentagon = 10
Surefire = 10

Conclusion

We all know the great reputation of Surefire and how they dominated the tactical flashlight markets for years now and have been the “KING” of flashlights for a long time. So could Pentagon be seen as a serious contender and maybe be a threat to the domination of Surefire, well the short answer is a profound YES. As seen on the test they are as good as Surefire, priced competitively and have a lot of great innovations in their products.

Can any of these brands make the claim that they have the best tactical flashlights in the market? Highly debatable, based purely on this impromptu and non scientific test I could not find a clear winner.

But I have to come up for my product, I do believe the sharpened bezel system that can be retracted is in my opinion better than the competition, yes other brands also have a similar design but could most probably not have the same effect as the K2. Like one of my colleagues stated “this torch just appeals to my sadistic side”

The Pentagon is a much more aggressive looking torch and really adds value to the statement of “Built like a tank’’ I also believe it will add more value to your arsenal of “toys” that you will be carrying, especially when you think about CPO work, you have a very strong tactical light, a very dangerous yet less lethal impact tool, and can also double as a emergency tool in the sense of maybe having to break a car window etc.

Our partner Geoff from CKCS holsters will be bringing out a holder for the K2 soon and then it should be perfect for everyday carry. So before you just run out and buy a torch with some serious tactical advantages, stop and think about it carefully and weigh up your options, as just proven there are some seriously excellent contenders out there.


Whats Next?

Well seeing that we could not get a clear winner yet, we will have to perform one or two more tests, at the end of the day there can be only one, right? So yes old SWATTIE here was looking for a reason to go and visit the range, I will take the torches along and see if I can shoot it. The only problem that I have is will I be able to hit them, guess I will just have to stand very close.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Check out this article with pictures here http://gunsite.co.za/Pentagon_light_test.html

[DS]

Nice SWATG.

Give some info iro light source - incandescent or LED?

Purely on battery economy, light source life, power source regulation and light source shock resistance the LEDs have imo overtaken the incandescents big time.

There are still some pros to the incandescent lights for example they penetrate smoke better than LEDs and shine through glass a bit better (less reflection/back scatter) and also has less reflection/back scatter when shining through white painted trelli door type burglar proofing.

But all said I think the LEDs are better lights iro general utility and tactical type use due to the reasons given above.

[Geoff Carter]

I received the Pentagon light yesterday and I must say that it is an awesome tool! Very good light out put, nice clip (although I will be making Kydex Flashlight holders for them ;D, speak to SWATG if you're interested ;)) and a fantastic striking bezel (speak to BoerBok if you are wondering about that statement ;D)

This torch really inspires confidence as it's built like the proverbial outhouse! I also really like the constant on setting in the tail switch. My G2 Surefire doesn't have this and it was one of the first things I noted that my next torch must have. Now if I could get it with a strobing setting as well....... grn1

All in all if you buy this torch you are getting excellent value for money and a product equal to if not slightly better than the Surefire IMHO.