LEATHERMAN SERAC S2 FLASHLIGHT
Leatherman Serac S2 Flashlight, retail $55.00 (www.leatherman.com...)
Manufactured by Leatherman Tool Group (www.leatherman.com)
Last updated 01-22-14
The Leatherman Serac S2 is a small flashlight that has two intensity settings available with a single pushbutton on the tailcap.
It comes in an almost all-aluminum body, and has an antireflective coated glass window (or "lens" if you prefer that term, even though it does not modify the light in any manner) protecting the LED and stippled ("orange peel" texturised) reflector.
It uses a Cree 7090XR-E 3W white LED, and is powered by a single AAA cell held in its all-aluminum body.
SIZE
To use your spiffy new (or corroded old
) Serac S2, feed it the included AAA cell first, and THEN you'll be ready to rock.
Firmly push the button on the tailcap until it clicks and then release it to plunge yourself into "high" mode.
Press & release it the same way again to turn it off.
Do the same thing again to get "low" mode.
Press & release it the same way again to turn it off.
Just like it reads on the backs of many shampoo (or "shampee") bottles, "lather, rinse, repeat".
In other words, pressing & releasing the button again starts the Serac S2 over in "high" mode.
Remember, there are two modes here, not three modes ike the Serac S3 has.
To change the battery, unscrew and remove the bezel (head), gently place it on the ground, and kick it in the garden so the hungry, hungry praying mantids will think it's something yummy for their insect tummies and subsequently strike at it...O WAIT!!! THAT'S THE GOOD PART!!! So just set it aside instead.
Tip the old used-up AAA cell out of the barrel and into your hand, and dispose of or recycle it as you see fit.
Slide a new AAA cell in the flashlight barrel, orienting it so its flat-end (-) negative goes in first.
Finally, screw the bezel firmly back on.
Aren't you glad you didn't kick that bezel into the garden with all those hungry, hungry praying mantids now?
Here is what a praying mantis looks like.
I found this guy on the morning of 09-08-06 clinging to the basket of my scooter.
Unable to measure current use due to how the flashlight was constructed.
The flashlight appears to be reasonably sturdy, and it is! Ordinary flashlight accidents should not be enough to do it in. I administered the smack test on it (ten whacks against the concrete floor of a patio; five whacks against the side of the tailcap and five whacks against the side of the bezel), and found only minor gouging to the bare Metalweregarurumon - er - the bare Metalpalmon - um that's not it either...the bare Metalangewomon...ummm that's not it either...the bare Metalvenommyotismon...er...uh wait a sec here...THE BARE METAL (guess I've been watching too much Digimon again! - now I'm just making {vulgar term for feces} up!!!) on the side of the tailcap where it was struck.
No optical or electrical malfunctions were detected.
The exterior finish is a Type III hard anodize ("HA-III" as us flashaholics know it), so it should stay new looking for longer, even if it goes up against keys, coins, or other flashlights during storage or transport. Technically speaking, it has a 6061-T6 HA-III aluminum body, and a stainless steel bezel (head). Even the reflector is made from machined aluminum, not plastic like many other flashlights.
The Serac S2 is waterproof and submersible. When I removed the bezel, relieved the flashlight of its battery, and performed that dreadful suction test on the barrel, no air leakage was detected. I clicked the tailcap switch several times while administering suction, and like I just said, no leakage was detected. Therefore, "The Toliet Test" really isn't necessary here, because I'm extremely confident that it would pass this test with flying colors. So if it falls into water, just shake it off and keep going. And if it falls in a dirty water-filled ditch, just douche it off with the garden hose or any other fresh water you have ready access to - good as new.
There is an O-ring on the bezel that engages when the bezel is screwed onto the barrel, so I don't think the Serac S2 will leak from that location.
Actually, I did perform immersion testing.
Here's proof that I really performed "The Toliet Test" on it.
After being submerged in approximately 12" (~30.5cm) of water at 74°F (23.3°C) for one minute, I dried the outside off with some Cleanax brand nasal tissue, unscrewed the bezel, examined both the bottom of the bezel and the inside of the barrel, and no water was found in either location.
No battery rattle can be detected whatsoever when the flashlight is turned on or off, regardless of how vigorously the unit is shaken.
The flashlight can be stood up (a bit precariously, but stood up in any case) on its tail on a dresser, counter, table, or other flat surface and beam onto the ceiling, acting like an electronic candle, even if a wrist lanyard is attached, because the attachment ring for it is not on the bottom of the tailcap, but on the side. As long as the switch button is not damaged or deformed, the flashlight can be used in this fashion.
The Serac S2 has a glass window (or "lens" if you prefer) that is AR (antireflective) coated.
The tint of the light emitted is a pure, slightly cool white, with no red, pink, yellow, blue, purple, or "rotten squid urine green" tint to it at all.
The Serac S2 has regulation circuitry; this simply means that the light output will remain relatively constant throughout most of the battery's life.
According to the Leatherman web page about this flashlight, it is designed for a wide temperature range of -32°F (-35.6°C) to 140°F (60.0°C). The web page does not specify if this is operating or storage temperature however.
This evaluation look a lot like the one I made for the Serac S3?
Thought you'd say so.
They're similar enough that I was able to use its web page as a template for this one.
Beam photograph on the test target at 12".
Measures 421,000mcd (high), and 62,400mcd (low) on a Meterman LM631 light meter.
Beam photograph on a wall at ~10 feet.
Those rectangular graphic things in the upper right quadrant of this photograph are marquees from:
Sega ''Star Trek''
Atari ''Tempest''
Venture Line ''Looping''
Jaleco ''Exerion''
upright coin-op arcade video games from the 1980s.
And those colored graphics toward the left are my "Viva Piñata" posters.
Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this flashlight.
Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this flashlight; newest (01-13-13) spectrometer software settings used.
Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this flashlight; newest (01-13-13) spectrometer software settings used. Spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 445nm and 455nm to pinpoint native emission peak wavelength, which is 449.060nm.
The raw spectrometer data (tab-delimited that can be loaded into Excel) is at http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/43/seracs2.txt
Beam cross-sectional analysis.
Image made using the ProMetric System by Radiant Imaging.
TEST NOTES:
Test unit of this flashlight plus two others were sent by M.L. of Leatherman Tools on 09-11-08, and were received late on the evening of 09-15-08.
The entire shipment of flashlights was received at ~9:07pm PDT - by far the latest any shipment has ever been received.
This product was made in China.
A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.
According to my contact at Leatherman Tool Group:
"Leatherman Serac lights are designed in Portland, Oregon. The lights are manufactured in China. Leatherman's design and manufacturing engineers travel to the manufacturing facilities in China, on a regular basis to oversee production and quality control. Lights are inspected again once they reach the Leatherman facility in Portland, Oregon, before being shipped out to customers."
UPDATE: 02-13-10
I have given this light to my stepmother; therefore I no longer have it at my disposal for future analyses or comparisons -- and the dreadful "
" icon will now be appended to its listings on this website.
UPDATE: 01-22-14
The rubber cover over the pushbutton switch has split right down the center.
Although this does compromise water-resistance, the product does continue to function properly.
Therefore, the somewhat dreadful, "
" icon will be appended to its listings on this website, denoting the fact that part of the product has failed, but the light itself retains full functionality.
PROS:
Two-stage (high and low) operation
Requires only a single AAA cell
Remarkably potent (intense) for a single AAA cell flashlight
Water-resistant and even submersible to shallow depths at minimum
Impressive warranty period
CONS:
None that I have yet to discover
MANUFACTURER: Leatherman Tool Group
PRODUCT TYPE: Small handheld flashlight
LAMP TYPE: Cree 7090XR-E 3W white LED
No. OF LAMPS: 1
BEAM TYPE: Medium spot w/wider, dimmer corona
REFLECTOR TYPE: Stippled ("orange peel") texturised
SWITCH TYPE: Pushbutton on/mode change/off on tailcap
CASE MATERIAL: Aluminum
BEZEL: Metal; LED & reflector protected by glass window
BATTERY: 1x AAA cell
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER RESISTANT: Yes
SUBMERSIBLE: Yes, depth not known
ACCESSORIES: 1x AAA cell, lanyard loop
SIZE: 3.48" (8.84cm) L
WEIGHT: 1.1oz (31.2g)
WARRANTY: 10 years
PRODUCT RATING:
Leatherman Serac S2 Flashlight * www.leatherman.com...
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