[subwoofer]

'SHOT SHOW Specials' are a series of reviews inspired by, or as a consequence of, my visit to the SHOT SHOW 2015.
These may contain photos taken while travelling, and may be of a slightly different format.

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Author's Statement for Transparency and Disclosure
The test sample/s featured in this article have been provided for technical testing and review by the manufacturer. Test samples are retained by the reviewer following publication of the completed review for the purposes of long term testing and product comparisons.

All output figures and test results published in this review are the sole work of the reviewer, and are carried out independently and without bias. Test results are reported as found, with no embellishments or alteration. Though best endeavours are made to maintain the accuracy of test equipment, the accuracy of these results is not guaranteed and is subject to the test equipment functioning correctly.
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Nightstick (by Bayco Products Inc) have been working hard designing lights that not only cover most users requirements but also provide something different and very functional.

The first Nightstick product to catch my eye was their Dual Beam Multi-Purpose Magnetic Dual-Light NSP-2422R and this opened my eyes to the wide range they offer.

This group review is looking at Nightstick's Intrinsically Safe (IS) range of lights, which are amongst the most highly certified lights on the market, if not the most certified.




A quick word about Intrinsic Safety:

There is a wealth of information on the internet about intrinsic safety so I won't go into detail, but this section is intended to give you and overview of what it means.

Intrinsic safety is a design principle applied to electrical equipment for use in hazardous environments. The design principle is based on limiting energy, both electrical and thermal, to a level below that required to ignite a specific hazardous atmospheric mixture.

Intrinsically Safe, and Explosion Proof are not the same. Keeping things simple, Explosion Proof will be designed to contain any explosion it may cause, but Intrinsically Safe cannot cause an explosion or fire in the first place.

The standards themselves require rigorous and very specific testing. Intrinsically safe certification will be for 'Classes', 'Divisions', 'Groups', and 'Zones', and must be individually tested for each and every one of them if it is to be certified for that class, division, group or zone.

The testing is carried out with very specific components, including the cells used to power the device, and to be used within its certification, cells of the same standard as specified must be used, or the device will not actually be certified.

Nightstick's XPP-5422G is certified for All Classes, All Divisions and All Groups, making it the highest certified intrinsically safe dual-light in the world.


This group's line-up.





Taking a more detailed look at the XPP-5410G Penlight:




Starting with the smallest light, the AAA powered Penlight.




Included are a guide to other Nightstick Intrinsically safe light, the instructions and two approved AAA cells.




With barely enough space to accommodate all the information, the XPP-5410G has the crucial certifications imprinted on the surface. It is not simply printed on but etched/embedded into the surface.




As it is not allowable to change cells in a hazardous environment, IS lights have a screw to secure the battery housing shut. This way you need a screwdriver to be able to change the cells. Not something you will do by mistake. The screw is captive so cannot be lost by unscrewing it too much or shaking out when the light is assembled. There is a threaded brass bushing so the threads are metal not plastic.




The main thread is plastic, and the light is sealed with one O-ring. You can also see the aluminium battery tube liner.




The head has a cylinder which fits into the battery tube liner with the positive contact, and a side contact to touch the battery tube liner for the negative connection.




The penlight has a really 'soft-touch' forward clicky.




The penlight's XP-E2 LED





Taking a more detailed look at the XPP-5422G Dual Beam Flashlight:




Next up is the Dual-Beam XPP-5422G




Only an instruction leaflet is supplied with the XPP-5422G. You need to supply a set of approved cells.




The comprehensive list of certifications are printed on the light.




Certifications continued.




The main beam uses a XP-E2 LED in a part textured reflector.




A view of the heavy texturing, lightly textured and smooth parts of the reflector.




The security screw for the dual-beam light is not captive, but is fitted in a brass threaded bushing.




The second XP-E2 emitter is mounted on the side and is a bare emitter with no reflector behind a window.




This second emitter is positioned underneath (as held normally) the body behind the head.




With the front bezel unscrewed, there is an insert consisting of the reflector, battery holder and switches.




On the top side of the insert are the two switches to control the two beams, plus a slot for one AA cell.




The underneath has the flood beam emitter and a longer slot for the two remaining AAs.




The threads are moulded and on the body at full, but in the bezel as not continuous.





Taking a more detailed look at the XPP-5456G Headlamp:




The last of the group is the triple beam headlamp.




The IS headlamp comes with a rubber helmet strap fitted, a softer elastic strap, three approved AAs and the instruction leaflet.




The certifications are printed on the back of the lamp unit…




… and onto the mounting bracket otherwise they would not all fit.




Looking dead onto the lamp unit you can see the main spot beam reflector with its LED and two bare emitters. The white LED’s are XP-E2 and the red LED is a ML-E.





The main beam's reflector.




A closer look at the white XP-E2 and the red ML-E LEDs.




The lamp unit's angle adjustment is a simple toothed click adjuster.




Fitted at the back, the battery pack has the necessary security screw.




Slots for the three AAs are next to the potted connection to the wire that goes to the main lamp unit.




The side of the elastic strap that contacts the head has three lines of soft rubber to provide extra grip.




Fully assembled with the secondary strap. The lamp unit has two switches which independently operate the spot beam, and flood/red beam.





The beam

Please be careful not to judge tint based on images you see on a computer screen. Unless properly calibrated, the screen itself will change the perceived tint.
The indoor beamshot is intended to give an idea of the beam shape/quality rather than tint. All beamshots are taken using daylight white balance. The woodwork (stairs and skirting) are painted Farrow & Ball "Off-White", and the walls are a light sandy colour called 'String' again by Farrow & Ball. I don't actually have a 'white wall' in the house to use for this, and the wife won't have one!


Starting with the Penlight's beam. Though not perfect, this is a specialist light and the beam is perfectly usable and a reasonable brightness.




For the Dual-Beam light, we need to take a few different views. From my normal position, the main beam.




Staying in the normal position as well as the main beam, the second side beam is now also on.




To see the effect more clearly, the light is now moved forward. Here just the main beam.




And then the secondary beam too.




The headlamp give us several options. Firstly the main spot beam on its own.




Then the white flood beam on its own.




And the Red flood beam on its own. It really is this bright, the exposure has not been adjusted here.




But both flood and spot beams can be operated independently and together, so now we have the spot and flood beam on together.




And finally the main spot beam with the Red flood beam combined.





Modes and User Interface:

Penlight:
This has only a single output level and uses a forward-clicky tail-switch.


Dual-Beam:
Each emitter has only a single level and is operated by its dedicated side mounted switch.

The main spot beam is operated by the switch closest to the front of the light. This switch is a forward-clicky allowing momentary operation.

The secondary flood beam is operated by the next side mounted switch. The switch is a reverse-clicky.


Headlamp:
The main spot beam has a single output level. The white flood beam has a high and low setting and the red has a single output level.

As worn on the head, the right-hand switch operates the main spot beam and is a reverse-clicky.

The left-hand switch operates the white flood and red flood beam. The switch is a reverse-clicky but has multiple latching positions. The first full click switches on the white high flood beam. The next click switches onto the white low flood. The third click switches to the red flood beam, and clicking once more switches it off.



Batteries and output:

The IS certification means that users must pay careful attention to the specified approved cells. Failure to use approved cells means that the IS certifications become void. 'Equivalent' cells don't cut it, it must be cells meeting the specifications precisely.

Of course if you are not using these lights in hazardous environments, you can use any AA or AAA cells, but should the light ever be used for hazardous environments, if they are loaded with non-approved cells then you run the risk of an uncertified light being used.

To measure actual output, I built an integrating sphere. See here for more detail. The sensor registers visible light only (so Infra-Red and Ultra-Violet will not be measured).

Please note, all quoted lumen figures are from a DIY integrating sphere, and according to ANSI standards. Although every effort is made to give as accurate a result as possible, they should be taken as an estimate only. The results can be used to compare outputs in this review and others I have published.



Nightstick Intrinsically Safe model and mode_______I.S. measured ANSI output Lumens___PWM frequency or Strobe frequency (Hz)

XPP-5410G Penlight_________________________________________27_______________________________0
XPP-5422G Dual Beam – Spot Beam only________________________104______________________________0
XPP-5422G Dual Beam – Side Flood Beam only____________________91______________________________0
XPP-5422G Dual Beam – Spot plus Flood Beam____________________156_____________________________0
XPP-5456G Headlamp – Spot Beam only_________________________111______________________________0
XPP-5456G Headlamp – Flood Beam High only_____________________89______________________________0
XPP-5456G Headlamp – Flood Beam Low only______________________26______________________________ 0
XPP-5456G Headlamp – Red Beam only____________________________27______________________________0
XPP-5456G Headlamp – Spot and Flood Beam High__________________159______________________________0


There is no parasitic drain in any model.

When looking at the output figures and runtime graph, some readers might think these are less than inspiring results, however this is not the case for a few good reasons.

Due to the difficulty of passing Intrinsically Safe certification, many similar products still use incandescent bulbs, so the output of Nightstick's lights are much better thanks to the use of LED emitters.

A limitation of the certification is the use of low energy Alkaline cells, the performance fits the typical profile for unregulated Alkaline cell powered lights. However one crucial aspect here is to not have the light suddenly fail. IS lights need a gradual fade-away in output to warn the user of the state of the cells. You cannot swap out cells while in the hazardous environment, so cannot have the light suddenly go out thanks to regulated output sucking the cells dry.

Note the 12 hour runtime.

The Dual Beam light and Headlamp were both run with both main spot and flood outputs running simultaneously.





Troubleshooting

This is a new section I am adding to mention any minor niggles I came across during testing, in case the information helps anyone else.

Nothing has come up during testing.

As per the description of this section, this information is provided in case anyone else finds a similar 'issue' that might be fixed in the same way.



The Intrinsically Safe Nightstick lights in use

Being specialist lights, these might not be for everyone, but then again why not? With the Nightstick Intrinsically safe lights you have something you can use any time anywhere.

For domestic situations any homes with any form of gas supply could use any of these lights to give you a safe to use light even if you smell a gas leak. Worth considering.

For industrial use and in hazardous environments needing certified lights, Nightstick brings the latest LEDs into play with versatile lights. A significant upgrade from any incandescent IS lights still in use.

Taking these lights one by one:

The Penlight is relatively compact (although bigger than many 2xAAA) so gives you a really easy to carry IS certified light. The tailcap switch is very 'soft-touch' requiring a much lighter touch than any other tailswitch light I've ever use. Despite being mashed pretty hard during my testing, the switch still functions exactly as it did out of the pack.


The Dual-Beam gives a new level of functionality with its secondary side mounted emitter. In certain environments, the user may not have any light to watch their foot placement. Using the second flood light at the same time as the main beam, keeps you firmly aware of your feet as well as being able to look further ahead.

Thanks to the clip on the side, the dual beam light can be hooked onto any convenient edge. Sitting the light comfortably bezel down on a flat surface, the side flood light then provides even illumination in small spaces or larger ones.


As for the headlamp, its mixed beam options make it hugely versatile. With its rubber helmet straps it will stay put on protective headgear, and with the elastic straps making it comfortable when worn directly on the head.

Mixing spot and flood beams as needed, with the independently switched beams, allows you to change the beam profile for all sorts of different jobs.

The red beam is bright, so for protecting dark adapted vision is not ideal, but does give the advantage of strong colour contrast.


Overall, for every-day use lights, the restriction to using Alkaline cells means the performance it not up to what you can expect from many mainstream lights, however this is a direct result of the high level of safety certification these lights have passed. It means you can use these at times when using other would be dangerous.

Their simplicity and gradually fading output would also make these ideal backup lights with long runtimes and confidence in their exhaustively tested super safe certification.



Review Summary

In this review summary, I'm taking a look at these specialist lights in their own field but also in more of a general use scenario. Aspects of the very specialist field of Intrinsically Safe lights would not necessarily feature in the 'cons' section if viewed entirely within the field they are designed for, and similarly certain 'Pros' would also not feature.

Please take these points in the context of a hybrid view of both Intrinsic Safety but also for general usage.

Things I like

High level of Intrinsically Safe certification
Efficient LED emitters
Super Tough polycarbonate lenses
Dual Beam with independent switching
Lightweight
Highly visible yellow casings

What doesn't work so well for me

Alkaline performance
Approved cells need to be sourced carefully
Plastic lenses are more likely to scratch

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