When You Need To Light Up The Night...

I've been looking for a compact flashlight to use outdoors and was overwhelmed at the choices. After some research,I've selected the Gerber Onyx 50 Flashlight which was issued to the British Army in Afghanistan. If it was rugged enough for them, I think I can trust it to be rugged enough for me.

I'd love to tell you when it was introduced and when it was discontinued (yes, unfortunately it was discontinued) but Gerber was unable to provide me with that information. I'd also like to be able to tell you the "official" specifications as provided by Gerber, but they did not answer my requests for that information, so I've had to improvise and see what I could find from non-official online sources.

The Onyx 50 features an anodized aluminum body and tail cap switch, providing between 20 and 30 lumen of brightness. It is powered by a single AA battery with a battery life of 4 1/2 hours. It provides a steady white light projecting 25 meters, with no options for brightness control or flashing. It is approximately 4 3/4" long and 1" wide and weight 2.3 ounces without battery. The flashlight is water resistant, but I have found no information regarding how water resistant it was designed.

The Onyx 50 feels good in the hand and comes with a short lanyard. It is quite rugged and despite the lack of response from Gerber for information, I would recommend this flashlight, even though it has been discontinued. Gerber offers no flashlight as a replacement for this discontinued product which is a shame for anyone looking to find something similar.

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