In recent months Streamlight has been releasing a number of flashlights with innovative designs. The company’s Stinger 2020 is a reimagining of the duty light, and its new Wedge is a reimagining of the pocket flashlight.

The Wedge is…well…literally a wedge, sort of. It’s flat, a little more than half of an inch high not counting the reversible pocket clip. That design is great. It eliminates bulk from your pockets.

What makes this design possible is the lithium polymer USB rechargeable battery. No round batteries, no round, bulky flashlight. The combination of the rechargeable battery and the anodized aluminum case gives the Wedge a comforting weight (3.3 ounces) and a solid feel. It also gives the Wedge serious power.

You turn on the Wedge with a rotating thumb switch. Rotate it forward one click and you have 300 lumens of constant-on light. Push the switch farther forward and you have THRO (Temporarily Heightened Regulated Output), which is 1,000 lumens. The 300 lumens is a lot of light. In constant-on mode, the Wedge can easily light up the nighttime shadows in a residential area out to I’d say 20 yards or more. Push the THRO and you get a little more distance and a lot more detail.

The Wedge does not have a strobe. If you need to disorient someone with this light to gain a tactical advantage, hit them with the 1,000 lumens. In a brightly lit room, the THRO hurt my eyes through solar eclipse glasses. I don’t recommend looking at it with the naked eye.

If you’re used to tail cap switches, the Wedge’s rotating switch takes some getting used to. If you’re going to use the Wedge as a tactical light on or off duty, spend some time with it practicing your preferred low-light pistol technique.

Streamlight backs the Wedge with a lifetime warranty. And unless there is a manufacturing defect, I can’t imagine them having to pay off. It’s really hard to hurt this thing. It’s impact resistant to 1 meter. So I dropped it five times right on its lens onto concrete from five feet. That barely scuffed the paint. It’s waterproof to one meter. I put it in a pair of tac pants and ran it through the rinse cycle of my washing machine with soap. It came out wet and clean and still working.

I believe the Wedge makes a great duty, off-duty or plainclothes pocket light. It’s comfortable in a pocket, powerful, damned near indestructible, and it recharges in a little more than three hours. 

Streamlight

Wedge Flashlight

• Length: 5.46 inches

• Diameter of Bezel: 0.6 inches

• Output: 300 lumens,  1,000 lumens

• Case: Anodized aircraft aluminum

• Battery: USB-C rechargeable lithium polymer

• Features: rotating switch, battery charge indicator, reversible clip, waterproof to 1 meter (IPX7), impact resistant to one meter, USB-C cable included, limited lifetime warranty.

Price: $149.95

www.streamlight.com