First-Light-USA

Liberator-ST

This is what I call innovation. Lights get smaller, lights get brighter, but this is unique. Straight forward, it is an innovation and it is pricy. But is it worth it? I think so, but find your own position. The Liberator is made out of aircraft-grade aluminum and polymer. Wight of the light is 7oz (0.198kg) and it is approximately 5” (12,7cm) x 4.5” (11,4cm). The Liberator has 5 light-modes. A momentary-on switch which will activate the 120 Lumen LED as long as you press the switch. Right beside it is the reason why this Liberator is called “ST”, a momentary-on 120 Lumen strobe. The strobe is so powerful that it will dazzle you indoors even at daylight. The momentary-on and the strobe work over one long switch, activated by the thump of the operator. Right next to the long switch, to the left, is a square switch for constant-on. And further to the left is a small switch for the cycle mode. With the cycle-switch the operator can jump trough 3 different levels of brightness. The lowest one is just good enough to read a drivers license, look for the cuff-key you have just dropped or dig through a box with white paper during a search warrant, without getting dazzled by yourself. The second mode is approximately like a 60-80 Lumen LED-light. A little less then my Sure Fire G3-LED. And the 3^rd mode is the 120 Lumen light. Pressing the constant-on and the cycle-switch at the same time will lock the lamp for transport.

Sounds confusing? It is not. It works like this… Let’s assume that you work patrol. You dial in your setting for reading ID´s, without getting dazzled, with the cycle switch. The micro processor will remember that, till you change it. Soon you pull over this red-light-runner and reading his driver’s license by pressing the constant-on. Now the person of your concern is doing something suspicious, you can hit the long switch to give him a sunburn with 120 Lumen or you strobe him right away. But after you noticed that he was just going for his chew, you can release the long switch and you are back to your reading lamp. All one handed off course. But that is just one option to use the light.

But this is just the light itself. The whole setup makes it so innovative for me. It can be converted from right to left hand use or utility use in less than 4 seconds. The vertical angel has 8 settings forward and 8 settings backward. To me it looks like 45 degree in each direction. This is helpful to compensate the grip angel the operator has when he is taking a grip on his or her firearm. So it can be easily set up for handgun or rifle. The outside of the grip is even shaped for the knuckles of your shooting hand. That is one point that could be better. The outside is shaped but out of hard rubber. When you train and you do fast draws, one after another, the outside of the grip and your knuckles are banging together all the time. No problem if you have to do it just once at 0-dark-hundred facing the bogyman. But it sucks for training.

Horizontally you have the straight forward setting and I would say a 5 degree setting to the outside, either left or right handed and a utility setting which is 90 degree to the outside from the straight position. The utility setting would be useful, if you don´t want to strap the Liberator to your hand or you don´t have the time to fit it right. The 5 degree setting is a nice idea. Cause if you use gloves or even winter gloves the horizontal angel of your supporting hand will change a little but just a little, may be 5 degrees ;-) . The connection of the adjustable Velcro supporting loop has nine different anchor positions. So it can be made to fit any size of hand, even with winter gloves on. No matter how you like it you can change it in a few seconds.

I thought about taking thousands of pictures, doing this or that with the light strapped to my left. But I decided not to do so since this would have been an endless task. It feels a little clumsy and I would not want to do that for long, but you can even handwrite with the light on your hand. It’s so multifunctional for so many tasks. I did firearms training with it. Reloads, malfunction drills, transition drills, shooting rifle. Everything is as easy as without the Liberator. But you have to get used to it. The feeling is different and you carry the extra weight on the back of your hand. The fine motor skills are working not so smooth, till you got used to it. I believe that it would be a good option for civilians or operators who can´t use weapon-mounted-lights. May be caused by local / department regulations or by a low budget. When using a weapon-light you always need a secondary light to. Depending on regulations most agencies, at least not here, will not let you point a gun at the person, just to illuminate him. Except you have another reason for pointing your gun of course. So I believe that the Liberator is closing this gap somehow. You have a “free” hand for driving, eating, working on a crime scene, checking ID´s or something like that. But you also have a firm grip on your gun, when you need it and recoil control for a fast series is almost like a regular two handed grip. 

Pressing the constant-on switch single handed is just possible without the gloves. But since this has no tactical disadvantage I don´t care much about it.

Light Test: I have separated the light performance test into 4 parts. But keep in mind that I am a Gunner and not a physician.  At first I test the blinding power at 10m /30ft.  Second is the brightness and area covered at 10m / 30ft. and the third tests the brightness and area covered at 30m / 95ft. After that I put fresh batteries in the light and do an endurance test I just tested the 120 Lumen main lamp. The shade less spot is quiet narrow compared with my SF G3-LED. The white light is absolutely dazzling. No fun to lock into it, I promise. At 30ft the whole person is very well illuminated and at 95ft the person and the surrounding is very good illuminated. They say that the light will run for 90 minutes. After 110 minutes the light went one level down. The body of the Liberator went warm but not hot. After 5 ½ hours the battery died.

Sand Test: To test the small moving parts on a flashlight I do a sand test. I take a bucket full of very fine sand, drop the light in it and shake it for about 30 seconds. I repeat this procedure 5 times. After the sand test I do a full function check on the flashlight. The Liberator is not a sandbug. After the test all light function´s were ok. But the toothed wheel for the vertical angel has eaten some sand. I cleaned the light with a toothbrush with no problem, but the toothed wheel. I tried to take it apart for cleaning, but I am no physician like you all know, so I went with plan “B”. Plan “B” was so rinse the wheel with water and to move it back and forth for a week or so. Now it is back on duty.

Heat Test: The next thing I do to the light is a heat test. I sit the light into an oven, set the heat regulator to 60C. / 140F. and let it stay there for one hour. After the heat test I do a full function check on the flashlight. The heat test was fine with the Liberator. The body heated up a little but all functions were ok.

Water Test: After the heat test I start with the water test and drop the light into a bucket of water. To get a better contrast for the pictures I added some peppermint-tea to water. So the funny color you see on some of the pictures is nothing to worry about.  The flashlight stays in there for 2 hours and finally another 10 minutes with switched on light. No problems in the water for the Liberator.

Cold Test: The light will go right into the freezer when it´s still wet from the water test. I let it stay in a bag of ice cubes at -20C. / -5F. for 2 full days. After being recovered from the ice I do a full function check on the flashlight. How boring, no up´s or down´s with the Liberator.

Shock Test: To see what the light can take I do two types of shock tests. First I drop it 3 times from 180cm / 6ft. height on a concrete floor and after a full function test I drop it once from 15m / 50ft. on soft soil. Followed by an operational test, again. The handle-light or whatever you want to call this type of light hold up at this test too.

May be its not for everyone, but I am really sold to the Lamp and the holding device of Liberator. The main lamp is very bright, the strobe is stunning, plus the opportunity to use the reading lamp is great. Especially for those who can´t have a weapon-light or want a primary light that is always at the ready, hands free. One size fits all.

I hope this review was useful for you.

Cheers,

Gunner