Van Harl on the Redline Select Flashlight

By Major Van Harl USAF Ret

Redline Select Flashlight
Redline Select Flashlight
AmmoLand Gun News
AmmoLand Gun News

Wisconsin –-(Ammoland.com)-  As a child I lived in Innellan, Scotland and was a member of the local Cub Scout pack. I walked through that small village in the middle of their very long and dark winter evenings to the local church for our Scout meetings.

My father gave me a big, clunky, squared-off, four cell flashlight to help me see my way to the meetings by myself in the dark at age ten. My Scout Master commented about the “bloody great torch” I always carried to the meetings. The rest of the boys in my cub pack did not even have a flashlight, and I had this monster that could light up the entire meeting room if we had a power failure.

Failure to function in total darkness and the ability to remedy that problem with interesting flashlights has always been of concern to me.

I have a personal rule of threes. I believe if you are going to venture out into the strange and unknown, the tools you take to make your life safe in that environment should be carried with you in multiples of three. Three firearms, three knives, three sources of fire starting and three forms of mechanical generated light (read flashlights).

When I was a young 2nd lieutenant police officer in the Air Force I had a seven cell aluminum flashlight I carried with me everywhere on duty. It was used to go out onto flight lines and check on the troops, to make post checks at the nuclear weapons storage facility in the middle of the night, and light up traffic stops in the very dark high desert locations on the base in California. The seven cell flashlight was bright but large.

I, however, did not know as a new AF officer that all the military trucks we drove in my “cop” unit used the same key. So one night, after parking my unit in front of the chow hall and leaving my 7-cell lying on the seat of my truck, I locked the vehicle door. Only to come back later to find the vehicle still locked and my 7-cell gone. I really missed that flashlight but, I did not have to go to the supply sergeant every week for so many batteries anymore.

When I went to Infantry school, they issued us the angle-headed two cell flashlight we were required to wear on our field gear, but Lord help the troop who was foolish enough to turn the light on and actually use it in the “field”.

When I was with the CSI unit of a Texas police department, I was usually out in the dark trying to take crime scene photos. I would have a four cell aluminum flashlight in one hand and a camera in the other, straddling a dead body trying to take quality photos of man-damaged DNA. Usually halfway through a crime scene photo shoot, in the dark of night, my heavy, bulky rechargeable flashlight would die.

LED flashlights have changed the way we acquire and utilize portable light units. NEBO Tools (nebotools.com) has a small LED flashlight, the NEBO Redline Select ( https://tiny.cc/zxo79w) that is something I would have welcomed as both a policeman and Infantry officer. The Redline Select is 310 lumens of light. I can stand at one end of my basement and light up the entire lower floor of my home, with a flashlight that is five inches long.

It has the ability to select dial the power of the light/lumens. On high, at 310 lumens, you have two hours of light usage. On the low setting, you have 12 hours of 31 lumens/light usage. There is a strobe setting that can very effectively disrupt the viewing process of any evil DNA that might be staring you down in the dark of night and do this for 60 hours.

One of the features is the “aggressive self-defense face” that you can use to defend yourself with. In some parts of our country where they are squeamish about your right to carry a weapon, this self-defense face, which is actually on both ends of the Redline Select, is a stealthy way to circumvent the liberals.

Small, powerful, very convenient to carry, long battery life and an anti-roll tactical grip ring that provides positive handling during excited moments. The Redline Select is a compact, extremely efficient lighting unit I could only have dreamed of having 30 plus years ago as a new Air Force cop.

For the farmer, rancher, policeman or soldier in a real crisis, the Redline Select is more likely going to help save your life than a smart phone.

Major Van Harl USAF Ret.
[email protected]

About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School.  A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI.  His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training.  He believes “evil hates organization.”  [email protected]

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M Haner

Caution: the REDLINE plastic ring around the head just broke on mine… Theads are weak.

TSgt B

Nice light, Major. Take a look at the Streamlight Pro-Tac HL. It costs a bit more ($65.00 – 70.00 @ http://www.botachtactical.com), outputs 600 lumens, has high/low/strobe, skull crackers on both ends, and seems to be damned near indestructible. Does have the zoom feature, but doesn’t need it; I can light up things 300 yards away. Check it out.