The Little Helmet Light that Could

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A couple years ago, a company best known for batteries and an annoying pink bunny edged its way into the increasingly lucrative tactical lighting business with a line of lights that combined a pedestrian simplicity with a Gucci set of features.

So when Energizer offered to send over a couple of their Hard Case tactical lightsfor a hands on review, I was intrigued to see how these products compared to better known brands like SureFire and Blackhawk!

I took the Swivel Light and the Helmet Light for a test drive and was impressed with the amount of features packed into both. The swivel light attaches to your MOLLE webbing and pulses out a white, blue, red and green light in whatever combination you want. The light also has an IR illuminator and can act as a pipper for those night patrols where you've got to mark off who's the squad leader.

The Helmet Light is pretty cool in that it comes with both a helmet mount that allows the light to be swiveled up and down and a MOLLE mount for those who want to hook it to their armor. The Helmet Light has both a white and blue light. And, yes, it also comes with an IR illuminator and pipper function. What's even cooler is that Energizer has an accessory pack that includes patrol cap and headlamp attachments as well, so really, the Helmet Light can take the place of your pinch light for trips to the head and your Petzl lamp for finding snivel gear in the hooch.

Both lights come with what Energizer calls an "IED-proof warranty" -- if your light gets blown up in an MRAP (or anywhere else) they'll replace it for free. What's more, these lights run on both standard AA batteries and lithium AA batteries so you won't take a hit in your wallet when you're finding some juice to power these boys.

My one criticism of both lights -- but particularly the swivel light -- is that the multitude of buttons get a bit confusing. You think you're going red and all the sudden you're blinded by blue. You try to switch it off and before you know it, you've got blue, white and red light spilling out...Let's just say it takes a while to get the setup memorized.

Energizer says the Swivel Light retails for about $125 and the Helmet Light for $135.

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