My Review of Gerber Mongoose Flashlight

Originally submitted at REI

The water-resistant Gerber Mongoose™ light offers five different colors to let you accomplish nearly any task at hand.

Gerber Mongoose Flashlight

Useful, but not without its quirks.

By Dog Star from White Mountains, NH on 12/18/2008

 

4out of 5

Gift: No

Pros: Durable, Multiple colors, Bright, Stable

Cons: No Beam Adjustment, Poor clip design

Best Uses: Fishing, Backpacking

Describe Yourself: Outdoor Professional

I purchased the Mongoose because I was looking for a red LED light to supplement my headlamp (which also has a red LED mode). I considered the other colors - blue, green, white and UV - to be a nice bonus.
For its size, this light is quite bright. It's perfect for nighttime tasks around the campsite and the ability to switch from white to red ensures you won't be blinding your campmates. It's small and lightweight and since it's so thin it's easy to stow away in any leftover space in your pack.
Depressing the power button halfway illuminates a small indicator light on top so you can be sure you've got the right color selected before you activate the full beam, which is a nice touch. I've found the indicator light itself is bright enough for checking a map or reading a note at night as well.
There's also a sliding toggle which can be used to keep the power button depressed without requiring your thumb to stay on it. Like the switch, the slider has two stages so you can leave either the indicator light on only, or have the main lamp burning handsfree too. There is no way to have the main lamp on and the indicator light off which isn't a big deal normally but might be inconvenient in some situations.

It's not without some other design flaws either. The rotary selector switch takes some getting used to and is impossible to operate one handed. The clip which attaches the light unit to the flexible tail is weak and the light has a tendency to pop off if subjected to any pulling pressure or even swung around too quickly. The rip-and-stick patch on the back is extremely stiff - painful if it rubs against exposed skin and I've had a hard time finding materials it will actually stick to. Not fleece, not webbing and not the waterproof material of my pack. It would probably stick well to a wool cap, but if you need a light on your head just buy a headlamp.

There's also a magnet on the tail end which is a strange choice, since there's not a lot of ferrous metal around the modern campsite. It's a very strong magnet at least. It could definitely be used to magnetize a needle for an emergency compass, and it has all kinds of applications around the house or garage. I wouldn't keep this light and my laptop computer in the same bag though.

Lastly, and most concerning, is that even if you have the selector dial set to 'off', depressing the power button still illuminates the indicator lamp. There's a real concern that accidental pressure on the switch while in your pack could drain the battery, so be careful when packing this light.

(legalese)

We lost a puppy this morning. I went down to feed the litter and while three of them were active, the fourth was just lying there seemingly asleep. Puppies do sleep a lot, but they almost always sleep in groups. If they're active, they're all supposed to be active, so I knew right away something was wrong.

I picked her up; she was still warm and gave a little grunt to let me know she was alive. I got J and in a hurry she bundled the dog up and took off for the vet, on the other side of town. The pup died before she got there.

The vet thinks the mother may have sat on her last night. We'll probably never know what happened, but we're keeping an eye on the other three just to make sure it wasn't viral. Parvo is a very real danger for puppies and can wipe out an entire litter.

This is also one of the reasons I don't take too much time to bond with the puppies. J's naturally upset. At 5 weeks old, she'd gotten attatched. She also had to inform the woman who was going to take the puppy what happened. I don't envy her that at all.

I feel like I could go for a drink but I still haven't figured out what places are good to go around in town yet. I need to start spending more time out meeting some people and getting a feel for the area. I've done a lot of driving and exploring but not a lot of socializing.

I'm also still refining my plans for what I'll do when the season ends. I'm decided on staying in New Hampshire for a while, at least. Talked with my friend Bill who's lived in Vermont for several years now; not only is he thrilled to have an old friend in the area but is also excited to help get me into deer hunting. The deer season ended yesterday, but there's always next year.