This will be an awfully long review for what seems to be just a lantern with 3 AA batteries and an on/off button. But some love light, some love lanterns, some love their gear and some love very well-built things. For any or all of the above, read on. Construction - There is no doubt The Siege AA is very-very well-built. For those who know the Rayovac Sportsman Extreme (the 3xD version, not the 3xAA version), it’s built like that. For those who don’t, again, it’s a very robust lantern. It feels like a one solid piece due to the extreme rubber bumpers added all over the place to it. Everything black on the Siege is basically thick rubber. Even the body is covered in rubber and it just feels like it sticks to your hand. Top reflector and battery cap lock positively into place and thick O-Rings contribute to the water sealing all around. - The handle has some kind of textured rubbery coating on it and some click stops to keep it up if you want it or docked next to the diffuser. - The hook on the bottom deserves a 5 Star award. It’s as solid as solid gets. (I hate to say this but it’s a little over-engineered.) Made from (thick) metal with a strong spring clip, easily accessible from both sides (you can dock it either way) it just feels like the light will come apart before that thing ever will. - With the diffuser off, the LED doesn’t stick too much out and it is protected by a clear dome. - The On/Off button does not glow in the dark and is recessed (a little too recessed) which will prevent accidental off/on. The way you naturally grab and hold the lantern, you will use your thumb for on/off. For those with big thumbs, I can see them needing to try just a little bit harder. And speaking of the on/off button, it’s got a light indicating the state of the battery: green, orange and red. While I can understand the red part, and even the orange, I think the green is a little…again…over-engineered? The ONLY useful feature of the green LED in the button I can think of is to find it quickly in the dark when you want to turn the lantern Off. Other than that, it looks really-really cool (for those who care). Plus, when I did the battery drain test, after it got on low-low (blinking red) it staid like that for about two hours. No big deal, really, but you’ll just have to learn its behavior if you use this extensively and depend on it. Funny thing, when the lantern is on Red mode, you almost want to turn the green away from you because it ‘fights’ with the red and spoils all the aspects of having a red light. White-Green-Orange-Steady Red-Blinking Red-Merry Christmas everyone. Battery loading - Loading the batteries is easy, just unscrew the bottom about a quarter turn, put two AAs positive down and one positive up and put the cover back by mating the two tear drop-shaped plastic parts. - Now, after the WHOLE discussion, rage and hate for the poor Rayovac design with the two little notches that had to be aligned when putting the battery cover back and probably all the love and attention this design will get, let me tell you my opinion: it (almost) doesn’t matter. Is it way easier and a better design? By all measures. Is it enough? Hardly. The part that the first hit me when I got the Rayovac was the odd battery arrangement (two down, one up). I was disappointed to see the same here. I think it’s dumb. Yes, having all three with the (+) down will complicate things a little for the design team, but it’s not impossible. When in COMPLETE, ABSOLUT darkness with a dead lantern, trust me, you’ll have hard times first finding the batteries, then inserting them properly and just then worrying about how you put the cover back. Now, if you know that the negative part of the device is always spring loaded, yes, you may somehow put the batteries right just by feel. But if you don’t, then you’ll have a very hard time completing the operation. You need a little light to fix your light. If you have Zero light…like… 0 Lux, 0 Lumen, no moon, no stars, you’re in a cave or in the woods, then you’re either a pro with backup lights, or you’re well prepared and trained how to replace your batteries in complete darkness, or have someone next to you to help you, or have a cell phone that can shed some light, or…you just have bigger issues at that point. Again, I am not saying that it doesn’t matter at all. Better is better and I am acknowledging that it’s better than the Rayovac’s but that is not enough for a full “Now anybody can replace the batteries in the dark” statement. For that to happen, I wish Streamlight will have all batteries one way (with (+) down) and do something with the cap. Either hinge it (complicated, I know), or at least put a little string or spring loaded strap (like the gas tank cap) so at least you don’t drop it and loose it (again, in complete darkness). Ok, enough with this. Operation - Press on/off to turn on. It starts on Low Mode. Perfect! Press is again quickly, goes to Mid Mode. Press is again quickly, goes to Hi Mode. Wait 2 sec, press it to turn it off. There is no memory for it, so for instance if you always want to turn it On on Hi Mode, you can’t. If you press and hold the button, it will switch from White to Red. Press it quickly and it goes from steady red to blinking red. Press it again, it’s off. Long press again, switches back to white light. What I really like about it, is that you can switch to red (or back to white) regardless the mode the lantern is (Off, On, Low, Mid, Hi). Just long press and it switches. Long press again, anytime, it switches back. Very well thought out. Nothing to remember, really, other that the long press part. - You want forward (or up, or down) flooding light, just unscrew the diffuser and voila. - After about 3hrs of continuous use on high, the body got barely warm to the touch, so no issues there. Light - This is a bright little light. It gives a nice 360deg illumination with a good amount of diffused light above and below the lantern’s level. Please check the pictures as it shows great symmetrical “light bending” tricks in the vertical plane. The light was set 16” from the ceiling and I took two pictures: one straight and one up-side-down. Great job designing that diffuser! The color temperature is fairly neutral, very-very lightly on the reddish side when on low. On max, it is a nice fairly pure white, on the 4000-4500K perceived range. - The Lumen output claimed is 200Lm on high, 100Lm on mid, 50Lm on low. But please understand that only knowing the Lumen rating (luminous flux) is not enough to describe a light. Just like you can’t compare cars by HP alone, speakers just by Watts, cameras just by MP and TVs just by contrast ration, same goes here. Yes, when all other things are equal, a 200Lm light is brighter than a 100Lm light. But more importantly is how the light is shaped, diffused and presented. Measuring the illuminance (the luminous flux per unit area) gives one a better idea of how much light an area is really receiving. For instance, this light on Hi (200lm) illuminates a surface with 12.7Lux measured at 3.3Ft (1m) in line with the light, but my Inova X2 AA rated at 150lm measured the same way throws 320Lux and my desk at work is bathed in 460Lux with two long fluorescents above my head. But that’s exactly why even in the store, even for flashlights, that Lumen output rating is very, very relative and by far enough to judge a light. So here are my findings measured two ways with a light meter: Setup #1 with the light sitting straight in a dark room on its base at 1m (3.3Ft) above the ground and the light meter at 3.3Ft facing the light in line, at the LED level. Setup #2 keeps the same clearances but now light is with reflector removed and pointing straight at the light meter (like a flashlight). All measurements done identical for Siege AA and for Sportsman AA. Results: Setup #1 Streamlight Hi-12.7Lx; Med-6.6Lx; Low-2.5Lx Setup #1 Rayovac Hi-4.5Lx; Low-1.7Lx Setup #2 Streamlight Hi-53.9Lx; Med
