With the great feedback from our Top Flashlights for Every Use article, we’ve decided to expand upon our analysis of flashlights and bring you three new lights from a stellar flashlight manufacturer, Armytek.
An industry leader for years, Armytek has a record of proven performance when it comes to building some of the best tactical flashlights on this planet. Sadly, we didn’t get a chance to test any Armyteks with our last review, so we thought it was time to put these in-demand flashlights through the gauntlet in this follow-up. We had Armytek send us three different models for us to take a look at: the Barracuda, the Viking Pro, and the Predator Pro.
Barracuda XM-L2
Armytek impressed everybody with their original Barracuda, which featured a U2 LED, but now, Armytek has released their Barracuda model with a U3 LED. With the bigger and badder Barracuda Armytek has pumped up both the Lumens and throw to make a great flashlight even better. The Barracuda is one of the only LED flashlights we’ve found that can really stand up to our good ‘ol AE Light that we featured in our previous Top Flashlights article. With an output measured at 1450 lumens and a throw of 540 meters, the Barracuda is a definite beast designed to tackle any job and practically turn night into day. We really enjoyed the fact that it has both a concentrated center beam with flood around, enabling it to be multipurpose and malleable to your needs. Plus, multiple mode operations allow the user to adjust brightness levels when the full 1450 lumens is a little overkill or you want to extend the battery life a bit. The Armytek Barracuda is also surprisingly lightweight for its size, giving you one more reason it makes a great flashlight.
Specifications:
- LED: Cree XM-L2 U2
- Output: 1390 Lumens
- Hotspot: 4 degrees
- Spill: 40 degrees
- Throw: 569 yards
- Weight: 14 oz
Viking Pro
The Armytek Viking Pro is a powerful light with tons of flood. We’re talking 850 lumens of blinding light output, and a reach of around 250 meters. The LED responsible for the whopping output and respectable throw is the high quality Cree XM-L2 U2 LED, and can be powered by either one 18650 Li-Ion battery or two 123s. We found the Armytek Viking Pro to be an excellent all-around flashlight. Not only does it produce a lot of usable light, it also features three lumen output levels (850lm, 6lm, and 200 lm) and a strobe setting. At just over 6” long it’s the perfect companion to most any outdoor adventure, and a great one to keep in the go bag or glove compartment. As with all Armytek flashlights, the construction is beautiful, rugged, and as tactical as it gets. Utilizing the same matte surface as the Barracuda, you won’t feel ashamed pulling this Armytek out no matter what the mission is.
Specifications:
- LED: Cree XM-L2 U2
- Output: 850 Lumens
- Hotspot: 10 degrees
- Spill: 40 degrees
- Throw: 270 yards
- Weight: 5.82 oz
Predator Pro
While each is a great flashlight in its own rite, it’s clear that both the Viking Pro and Predator Pro flashlights share strands of DNA. Each of these lights by Armytek is a well-built tool designed to deliver. And with an anodized aluminum-alloy body with hermetic sealing system, both flashlights provide secure protection from substantial slamming around. However, the Predator Pro (as the name implies) even looks like it was born to be bashed about. The strike bezel has an intimidating style and seems to handle its intended purpose with ease, while the serrated texture of the body and dimples on the tail cap provide positive grip while doing so. The strobe setting is easily set by rotating the handle approx 1/8 of a turn to produce a disorientating effect, and lower output levels of 6lm or 200lm are also available to suite the task at hand. Even though the Armytek Predator Pro has a more modest output than the Viking Pro, its 670 lumens are still more than enough to get the job done. Plus, this flashlight is especially impressive once you find those 670 lumens reach out to 400 meters to find what’s going bump in the night.
Specifications:
- LED: Cree XM-G2 R5
- Output: 670 Lumens
- Hotspot: 5 degrees
- Spill: 40 degrees
- Throw: 437 yards
- Weight: 5.82 oz
The more we dive into the world of personal illumination, the more we realize how critically important it could be for us to have a great flashlight by our side for when the going gets tough. Here at the Brown Safe Research Labs, we affirm that security is critically important, and we believe that if you decide to go with any of the Armytek flashlights featured here you’ll be granted the peace of mind that light always brings.
