Review of Energizer Night Strike Handheld LED Flashlight

It is easy to use, easy to hold, bright, and rugged. But the switches are exposed enough that if you carry it in your pack, it's likely to get turned on accidentally. The MSRP is a bit staggering at $99.99.

My first Energizer Night Strike Handheld was a good LED light for a while. It was even my favorite of the Night Strike line, until the circuitry inside went haywire. Unfortunately, it began to turn itself on - which tends to wear the batteries down - and sometimes it wouldn't turn off.

I found myself disheartened with the rapidity at which the Energizer Lithium batteries died. It was almost as if the light had been left turned on, but I knew I hadn't done that. Because I'm unfamiliar with these batteries, I figured it was just their nature to simply die quickly. Wrong!

I replaced the lithium batteries with some alkalines for testing purposes, and then because this light is bright and fits me well, I left them in so I could use it that night. I laid it on a nearby file cabinet. A few hours later, my wife spotted it glowing - the light had turned itself on!

I grabbed it, surprised and disgusted, and pushed the button to turn it off. It had no effect! I had to remove the batteries completely... and putting them back in didn't produce different results. Apparently something inside has just turned to crud.

After I published the poor review, the Energizer folks apologetically sent me a new one and asked me to send the defective one back, and after almost a year of use I have to say the new one is definitely my favorite flashlight, and so far is not plagued by the same problem my original one had.

Even after I wore out the lithium batteries and replaced them with alkalines, it continues to work well and shine brightly. I did notice some flakiness with the switch when the lithium batteries began to get low, though.

Update: After another year of use, it has begun being flaky. Even when the alkaline batteries are strong enough to produce good light, the light randomly switches on and often won't switch off until I pop the battery compartment cover loose. New batteries fix that problem, but it really shouldn't be an issue.

The black case is made of magnesium alloy, and I'm not sure why. It seems to me that aluminum would have worked just as well, and would likely have kept the price more reasonable.

Speaking of the exterior, it's rugged, compact, bright, and the switches are in just the right place. The black finish tends to chip off, so it probably won't look like new for very long. I also appreciate the good steel belt clip, which does a fine job of securing the light (I usually clip it to my pants pocket), though it does need occasional tightening, which requires a tiny torx screwdriver.

Update: After about two years of use, the clip became impossible to tighten, and was really frustrating. I added some Loctite to the screws, but that didn't last long, and one of them stripped out. I finally mixed up some J-B Weld and assembled it with that in the screw holes, and that's been holding for a month or two.

One of this light's advantages can also be a weakness - the easy-to-use switches are so easy to access that they are likely to turn on if you cram it into a pack amongst your other gear.

I like to keep this light handy by the bed in case of prowlers in the night (animal or otherwise), and it's one of the brightest LED lights I've used. I carry it in the woods regularly, and was glad to have it when I helped a friend recover a deer he shot at dusk.

These days, you can find it for a more reasonable price than the MSRP of $99.99, but I still hesitate to drop $50 or $60 on a flashlight.

- Russ Chastain