There are undoubtedly plenty of photographers, amateurs and pros alike, who are sick and tired of fumbling around in their camera bags for that extra media card or to find a lens cap or mount. How about helping them shed some light on the situation by adding a more non-traditional item into the accessory mix?
There is a wide variety of portable flashlights on the market that could handle the above problem but we found one that does it particularly well. A company called Icon has brought a line of a small cylindrical, yet powerful LED flashlights to market that offer up some great versatility as well as delivering a solid light source.
The Rogue 1, an extremely powerful, yet ergonomically designed portable flashlight in an aluminum housing. The head's housing is made from a single piece of aluminum which has a several shallow bezels around the rim. The company explains that this allows light to shine through when the device is placed head down. The lens is made of polycarbonate plastic, with a rubber o-ring behind it, as the Rogue 1 is also rated as being waterproof up to a depth of 1 meter. The interesting design specs also make this thing practically indestructible as on top of being able to drop it in the water it’ll handle being dropped on the floor as well.
The Rogue I actually has two modes of brightness – as alternate pressing of the switch, located on eth bottom of the device, cycles between the high and low brightness levels.
The beam profile, as it is referred to, produces a smooth, medium sized hot spot and stays strong up to a surprisingly long distance. That dark ring you may be used to seeing with many flashlights is simply not present with the Rogue 1.
The open-architecture structure of the Rogue’s body provides a solid grip, leaving hands cool and dry.
The company has also added the Rogue 2 to the line. The Rogue 1 (MSRP $42) design is smaller (4.5-inches), requiring only one AA battery, while Rogue 2 (MSRP $48) is longer (6.5-inches), and requires two AA batteries. Both come in three stylish colors-silver, green and black.
With all this talk about the importance of selling accessories, here’s one that requires little explanation, is extremely low tech and provides some solid margins. Check out www.surefire.com to find out more.
