NEBO flashlights, a review. (water, drop, and firearm test)

[m ellis allen]

About a year ago, on a whim i bought a flashlight for a mear $10. It was small had a belt/pocket clip and was pretty bright compaired to the "cheapo" i had been using. It turned out to be one of the best flashlights Id ever bought. It lives on my pocket and gets used almost daily. Ive dropped it, slammed it into various machinery and doorframes and even used it in the pouring rain. ive only had to change the battery twice, and once was after a 2day loss of power.

That flash light was the NEBO Edge
http://www.nebotools.com/prod_details.php?id=31&cid=16
Ive since bought another that lives a cushy life as a backup left packed away into the preps

now fast foward a year. Ive got to the point were I decided need a weapon light. having had such good luck with the Edge i looked at NEBO first. I decided on the Blueline, manely because of pricepoint.
http://www.nebotools.com/prod_details.php?id=128&cid=16

I was asked to do a review buy another member. So here it is. This will be an on going reveiw as i test and evaluate

first pics, (Edge is on bottom, you can she the sawdut from being in my pocket all the time)

how they come apart

[m ellis allen]

one thing i really like about the Edge is that it can be clipped to your hat as a good way to free up your hands but still have light. Ive used this technique a lot when getting groceries/kids out of the car at night, and onece durring an emergance tire chage in the rain.

(i have a pic of this but for the life of me i cannot get it to link from photobucket)

[Rednex]

I wonder what you are going to use to attach the Blueline to your weapon? I see Nebo has a few mounts but i never heard anything about them.

[m ellis allen]

I wonder what you are going to use to attach the Blueline to your weapon? I see Nebo has a few mounts but i never heard anything about them.

i think ive got that figured out just waiting on the parts to arrive
i didnt think that the mount they offered looked like it would work right with my needs

[tanniynim]

My nebo flashlight crapped out within a week. I would be wary of buying another one.

[majorhavoc]

M Ellis, what made you decide to go this route over the Nebo weapon light?



http://www.amazon.com/ProTec-Elite-HP190-High-Powered-Firearm/dp/B004BNROME/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1335099705&sr=8-3

[m ellis allen]

M Ellis, what made you decide to go this route over the Nebo weapon light?



http://www.amazon.com/ProTec-Elite-HP190-High-Powered-Firearm/dp/B004BNROME/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1335099705&sr=8-3

i wanted to be able to use whatever flashlight i chose off of the rifle to if needed

[m ellis allen]

My nebo flashlight crapped out within a week. I would be wary of buying another one.

what model? i had thought my Edge crapped out but it ended up only needing a new battery.

[majorhavoc]

I have had my eye on NEBO for a while as a lower cost alternative to Surefire, etc. I'm still not sold on how these will hold up under recoil, so I'm very interested in hearing how your experience goes, M Ellis.

FWIW, the NEBO BLACK Redline 5610 Flashlight on sale for $23 on Amazon. Gets great reviews so seems like a pretty solid deal. 220 lumens, 5 light modes. The adjustable throw on these lights seems like a nice bonus. The description doesn't mention it, but it takes 3xAAA batteries.

http://www.amazon.com/NEBO-BLACK-Redline-5610-Flashlight/dp/B005M39VRS/ref=acc_glance_hi_ai_ps_t_1

Toss in the NEBO CSI Flashlight Holster at $2.99 to kick it over $25 and it'll ship for free.

http://www.amazon.com/Nebo-5089-NEBO-Flashlight-Holster/dp/B0026K25YQ/ref=pd_cp_hi_2

With that fat 3xAAA body I don't know about mounting options as a weapon light, but seems like it would be solid kit for a BOB.

[m ellis allen]

I have had my eye on NEBO for a while as a lower cost alternative to Surefire, etc. I'm still not sold on how these will hold up under recoil, so I'm very interested in hearing how your experience goes, M Ellis.

after i get my mounting hardware in ill give a further review on how it holds up.

soon im gonna do a waterproof test and a drop test, ill post pictures when i get the tests done.

[m ellis allen]

DROP TEST

went up to the second floor deck and threw the Blueline of the deck to the concrete below. i figured a second story drop would be about as far as i could ever imagine dropping the flashlight.

[m ellis allen]

WATER PROOF TEST

Blueline, five minutes in a bowl of water. (i dont know what the temp. of the water was) ran the whole time and no sign of water within the flashlight.


I didnt put the Edge in the water because the website/company dosent claim it to be waterproof, only water resistant. Ived used the Edge in the rain and didnt have an issue.

[m ellis allen]

i attached the Blueline to my rifle as intended with the purchase, and took it to the range today. It failled somewhere in the 150 rounds of 7.62x39 me and another fired. So this will be a NOGO as a firearm light.

But heres the weird part when i got home and tried to diagnose what broke/failed, i went through a trials of different symptoms, first i tried changing the battery, nogo
then i tried changing the tailcap with my nebo edge (same threading on tailcap) and.. IT WORKED!, so to make sure it was the tail cap i put the one from the Blueline on the EDGE and IT WORKED, wtf? so I put the originals back on their respective lights and THEY BOTH WORKED WTF? so now im baffled. i dont understand how this could work but it did.

So this will be the end off my review.

As a regular flashlight, im very pleased with the Blueline for the price i paid. As a Weapons light, NO i cannot trust it there

[m ellis allen]

no run time test will be done

[majorhavoc]

Thanks for posting the follow up. I always hate it when people post a review right after they buy a new product that they claim is a good bargain and every bit as good as a weapons grade (insert expensive brand-name light/optic/weapon accessory here), but you never hear any follow up.

Hearing about the gear failures is every bit as important as the successes. Thanks for taking a bullet for the team, M Ellis.

PS: so the "faulty" tail cap worked in the other Nebo, huh? Are there spring contacts on both sides of the battery in each light? Maybe they both got compressed on the light that was mounted on your AK, but when you swapped the tail cap, each light had one, uncompressed spring, which was enough for both lights to make good contact with the battery. If so, you might be able to tug on the spring contacts to restore some tension in them. I agree with you though that it can't be trusted as a go-to weapon light.

[Winston Smith]

Just an FYI, there was a full thread and a review that I did for the NEBO Redline here: http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=88830&hilit=+redline

I still like it for a cheap edc light, but I got a UTG for a little more that I like for a rifle mounted one.

[m ellis allen]

bloodbathbp- thanks for the info on you thread. i somehow missed that thread.

[CountryJim]

I own a Nebo edge and use it as an EDC light, clips in my pocket taking up hardly any room. It is small enough that I can carry it regardless of how I'm dressed. I also use it on duty as a backup light.

Stay safe.

[badasp118]

I have two nebos and I love em but both are currently dying off. mine have a dual use bulb, light/ laser and after using it as a impact weapon on a drunk mugger at a rodeo, it doesn't want to work good anymore. I dropped the other and same results. so I bought one without the laser and I can't kill it! I give them two thumbs up but if you get one with the built in laser they are more fragile......

[Winston Smith]

I have two nebos and I love em but both are currently dying off. mine have a dual use bulb, light/ laser and after using it as a impact weapon on a drunk mugger at a rodeo, it doesn't want to work good anymore. I dropped the other and same results. so I bought one without the laser and I can't kill it! I give them two thumbs up but if you get one with the built in laser they are more fragile......

If it saved you from a mugger, I'd say it's served you well and deserves a cushy retirement...


Misspellings courtesy of iPhone, so sue me. Go ahead, take away my birthday!

[badasp118]

deffinatly! and I will say that I've killed shurefires just as fast on duty. I like the nebos and heartily endorse them. I just use the laser version more caustiously now.