The water-resistant Gerber Mongoose™ light offers five different colors to let you accomplish nearly any task at hand.
Useful, but not without its quirks.
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)
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