When many people talk about a handheld light for concealed carry, you generally hear about lights that are powerful and loaded with lumens for tactical usage. Some people say anything less than 600 lumens is unacceptable. Personally, I have found that the handheld light is going to serve 90 percent or more of its time for simple navigation or non-tactical visual aid. I see lights very much the same as I see certain weapons. Each weapon has a certain range, capability, and overall practicality for the mission you are trying to accomplish. I have only had the Microstream for about 6 months, but it has been used frequently in that time.
PROFESSIONAL USE
When working in the field of physical security/executive protection, you are required to fill a role to accommodate and serve your client/principal. Realistically, a successful client is a paying client, and if you like your relationship with that client you will do well to be helpful. If you are performing residential security, I recommend the Microstream for close work and a high lumen light for perimeter security, personally. During vehicle and foot security, the Microstream works beautifully for menial tasks like checking IDs at entry control points, helping a principal find dropped items in or out of a vehicle, and illuminating a path for the client to prevent tripping. This means you don’t want to be belligerent by blinding your client and washing out their sight with a million lumens. I found that the 250-lumens worked great for path illumination while closer tasks were easily accomplished with the 50-lumen option. Even in a field where you may have to fight to protect someone, you want to focus more on the task of customer service, but still be able to work with your gear to fight. The Microstream fit this bill for me very well.
CONCEALED CARRY
For the private citizen, a light is going to serve primarily as a utility tool and secondly as a tactical tool. As I said in the intro, many civilians who merely carry for self defense are not, or I would hope they aren’t, going out in the middle of the night to act as some kind of proactive crime-intervention. In concealed carry, most of the issues will be close proximity, so there isn’t much justification for having a light over 1k lumens just to find your dropped or misplaced items. However, if you must use the Microstream to aid in low light defense, it will no doubt provide you adequate light for good target identification and discrimination. I know some people reading this will scoff and still go for a high lumen light, and that is fine. I personally do not feel like filling my pockets daily with bulky items that don't really help me in completing my daily tasks.
When working in the field of physical security/executive protection, you are required to fill a role to accommodate and serve your client/principal. Realistically, a successful client is a paying client, and if you like your relationship with that client you will do well to be helpful. If you are performing residential security, I recommend the Microstream for close work and a high lumen light for perimeter security, personally. During vehicle and foot security, the Microstream works beautifully for menial tasks like checking IDs at entry control points, helping a principal find dropped items in or out of a vehicle, and illuminating a path for the client to prevent tripping. This means you don’t want to be belligerent by blinding your client and washing out their sight with a million lumens. I found that the 250-lumens worked great for path illumination while closer tasks were easily accomplished with the 50-lumen option. Even in a field where you may have to fight to protect someone, you want to focus more on the task of customer service, but still be able to work with your gear to fight. The Microstream fit this bill for me very well.
CONCEALED CARRY
For the private citizen, a light is going to serve primarily as a utility tool and secondly as a tactical tool. As I said in the intro, many civilians who merely carry for self defense are not, or I would hope they aren’t, going out in the middle of the night to act as some kind of proactive crime-intervention. In concealed carry, most of the issues will be close proximity, so there isn’t much justification for having a light over 1k lumens just to find your dropped or misplaced items. However, if you must use the Microstream to aid in low light defense, it will no doubt provide you adequate light for good target identification and discrimination. I know some people reading this will scoff and still go for a high lumen light, and that is fine. I personally do not feel like filling my pockets daily with bulky items that don't really help me in completing my daily tasks.
FEATURES & CHARACTERISTICS
-SIZE: The size of a flashlight can be important in a civilian carry system. I know that I feel like I have too much junk to carry around at any given time that I cannot afford much space for extra gear like a light, med gear, etc. The Microstream is not much bigger than a pen, so it easily slips in a pocket or even in the appendix position if pocket space is full.
-CHARGING: I really appreciate the fact that this light is rechargeable with a micro-USB plug. This means it is convenient and inexpensive to keep fed on the road or at home.
-OPTIONS: For doing close work for executive protection and security work, the low lumen setting works out very well. Even if forced into a tactical role, I have been able to utilize this light to great effect in CQB scenarios.
-TOUGH BUTTON: One of the shortcomings I noticed is that the button on the back of the light is pretty tough on my particular light to toggle. For temporary usage, it is easy to actuate, but clicking it into position takes some considerable pressure. After working with it for a while, I feel like it has smoothed out some or I may have just developed a better ability to use leverage and strength.
-SMOOTH TEXTURING: I am not a big fan of the dehorned profile that the Microstream has. I am not looking for sandpaper texture, but something like a rubber sleeve over the body of the light would make a big difference. Using the light on a hot night in California, Arizona, or Florida can be an issue if the light slips from your grasp.
-COLOR: I am not a particular fan of FDE, but I got the light in FDE because the black version was reversed in operations. My FDE light gives you the high lumen setting on the first push and a quick follow-up push will then rotate the light to the low setting. This helps give my light a fast tactical ability, if it should be needed as such. I wish that the lights were not programmed solely based on their color.
-SIZE: The size of a flashlight can be important in a civilian carry system. I know that I feel like I have too much junk to carry around at any given time that I cannot afford much space for extra gear like a light, med gear, etc. The Microstream is not much bigger than a pen, so it easily slips in a pocket or even in the appendix position if pocket space is full.
-CHARGING: I really appreciate the fact that this light is rechargeable with a micro-USB plug. This means it is convenient and inexpensive to keep fed on the road or at home.
-OPTIONS: For doing close work for executive protection and security work, the low lumen setting works out very well. Even if forced into a tactical role, I have been able to utilize this light to great effect in CQB scenarios.
-TOUGH BUTTON: One of the shortcomings I noticed is that the button on the back of the light is pretty tough on my particular light to toggle. For temporary usage, it is easy to actuate, but clicking it into position takes some considerable pressure. After working with it for a while, I feel like it has smoothed out some or I may have just developed a better ability to use leverage and strength.
-SMOOTH TEXTURING: I am not a big fan of the dehorned profile that the Microstream has. I am not looking for sandpaper texture, but something like a rubber sleeve over the body of the light would make a big difference. Using the light on a hot night in California, Arizona, or Florida can be an issue if the light slips from your grasp.
-COLOR: I am not a particular fan of FDE, but I got the light in FDE because the black version was reversed in operations. My FDE light gives you the high lumen setting on the first push and a quick follow-up push will then rotate the light to the low setting. This helps give my light a fast tactical ability, if it should be needed as such. I wish that the lights were not programmed solely based on their color.
CLOSING
Overall, I like this newer light from Streamlight. I know there are other lights on the market, but this particular light comes in at a good price point for the performance it offers, so it falls well within the satisfactory category for my purposes.
Overall, I like this newer light from Streamlight. I know there are other lights on the market, but this particular light comes in at a good price point for the performance it offers, so it falls well within the satisfactory category for my purposes.
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