Preface
The Siege X USB is the latest in the line of Siege Lanterns, with the added Flashlight capability and 18650/2*CR123A batteries compatibility.
Let’s check out the merits and demerits of this new Siege X USB model.
Packaging & First Impressions
This is what the lantern will come with as shown below.
- The lantern is made of Polycarbonate (PC) with elastomer-covered (rubbery-style) on the head and tail section.
- The “threads” and o-rings were mildly lubricated. “Threads” were smooth and clean (no gritty feeling).
- The side electronic switch requires a rather firm, direct and deliberate press to activate and helps in preventing any unwanted activation of the lantern. (Note: Clicking the switch at an angle will not activate the lantern.)
- Folding handle locks in place (when stowed). It has very minimal flex and can withstand day-to-day normal usage without issue.
- The folding handle has an integrated notch in the middle that allows for hooking onto edges and objects; and can act as a kickstand too.
- Collapsible spring-loaded D-ring (at the tail section) has very minimal flex and can withstand day-to-day normal usage without issue.
- No lanyard or pouch is provided.
- The battery compartment holds the provided non-proprietary Streamlight Micro-USB rechargeable 18650 2600mAh batteries and/or Keeppower 18650 3400mAh batteries with sufficient room for a slightly thicker battery width. Fatter 18650 3500mAh batteries should be able to fit without issue as well.
Note:
- Button Top 18650 batteries are recommended for this lantern only (some Flat Top 18650 batteries might be too short to work).
- The “USB” in the Siege X USB is referring to the Micro-USB charging capability of the provided Streamlight Micro-USB rechargeable 18650 2600mAh battery, the Lantern itself is not USB-chargeable.
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Sides:
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Box Contents:
Quick Overview (Manufacturer Specifications)
- Body & Lens Material: PC (Polycarbonate)
- LEDs: No information provided (Multiple White LEDs for Lantern, 3*Red LEDs and 1*White LED for Flashlight)
- Battery Format: 1 x 18650 or 2 x CR123A ONLY
- Output & Runtime (with included 1 x Streamlight 18650 2600mAh battery):
- White Lantern
- Low (30 lumens / 25h)
- Mid (170 lumens / 7h 45min)
- High (325 lumens / 4h 30min)
- Red Lantern
- High (1.6 lumens / 22h)
- SOS (1.6 lumens / 90h)
- White Flashlight
- Low (40 lumens / 25h)
- High (300 lumens / 3h 30min)
- White Lantern
- Max Beam Distance (Flashlight): 155m
- Beam intensity (Flashlight): 6,000cd
- Waterproofness: IPX7 Standard (1m)
- Impact Resistance: 2m
- Dimension: 110.5mm (height) x 53.8mm (tail diameter)
- Weight:
- 204.12g (including 1 x Streamlight 18650 2600mAh battery)
- 192.78g (including 2 x CR123A batteries)
- Accessories Included:
- 1*Streamlight 220115 (18650 2600mAh) batteries
- 1*Streamlight Micro-USB cable
- MSRP: ~$58
UI (User Interface)
UI for this 2-in-1 lantern & flashlight is fairly straightforward to use.
Switching ON and OFF for the lantern or flashlight is done by the electronic switch on the side of this camping lantern. Hence, there is no momentary activation.
Normal Operation (White Lantern)
From OFF:
- 1 Click – Light will switch ON in LOW mode.
- 2 Click – Light will switch ON in LOW mode first then switch to MID mode.
- 3 Click – Light will switch ON in LOW mode first then move to MID mode and finally be in HIGH mode.
From ON (<2 seconds):
- 1 Click – Mode change (light cycles through OFF, LOW, MID, HIGH -> OFF,LOW, MID, HIGH).
From ON (>2 seconds):
- 1 Click – Light will switch OFF.
There is no blinky (STROBE or SOS) modes for White Lantern.
Normal Operation (Red Lantern)
From OFF:
- 1 Click – Light will switch ON in HIGH mode.
- 2 Click – Light will switch ON in HIGH mode first then switch to SOS mode.
From ON (<2 seconds):
- 1 Click – Mode change (light cycles through OFF, HIGH, SOS -> OFF, HIGH, SOS).
From ON (>2 seconds):
- 1 Click – Light will switch OFF.
There is no STROBE modes for Red Lantern.
Normal Operation (White Flashlight)
From OFF:
- 1 Click – Light will switch ON in LOW mode.
- 2 Click – Light will switch ON in LOW mode first then switch to HIGH mode.
From ON (<2 seconds):
- 1 Click – Mode change (light cycles through OFF, LOW, HIGH -> OFF, LOW, HIGH).
From ON (>2 seconds):
- 1 Click – Light will switch OFF.
There is no blinky (STROBE or SOS) modes for White Flashlight.
Switching Settings (WHITE LANTERN ⇒ RED LANTERN ⇒ WHITE FLASHLIGHT)
From ON:
- HOLD (~2 secs) – Mode Settings change for every HOLD & RELEASE (White Lantern Mode, Red Lantern Mode, White Flashlight Mode -> White Lantern Mode, Red Lantern Mode, White Flashlight Mode).
Note:
- There is no last mode memory for any of the Mode Levels. However, the light will remember the current Mode Setting it is in (e.g. Red Lantern Mode).
- Replacing the 18650 battery/2*CR123A batteries will cause the light to revert back to White Lantern Mode.
Power Indicator
There is only 1 type of Power Indicator for this product.
The Power Indicator will always be switched ON when the Lantern or Flashlight is in use.
From ON:
- The battery indicator on the Switch will glow accordingly to show current battery capacity (as shown in photo below):
- GREEN LED – Power is almost full/full.
- YELLOW LED
- RED LED
- Flashing RED LED – Power is very low, do recharge the batteries immediately.
Form Factor
For lanterns that are intended to be carried around and used for possibly an extended period of time, form factor is extremely important.
This lantern is rather compact and its weight is reasonably acceptable especially considering it is a 2-in-1 Lantern & Flashlight, at the same time.
Combination of both the folding handle (integrated notch in the middle) and D-ring (at the tail section) allows for attaching/hooking this lantern to almost all objects or edges and act as a kickstand.
The rubberised grip on the head and tail of the lantern ensures that it remains “grippy”, even with wet hands/gloves.
The lantern is able to tail-stand and head-stand perfectly without the slightest wobble.
Charging Process
With the provided Streamlight micro-USB Cable, the battery was charging at ~0.57A.
However, unlike what the name (Siege X USB) suggests, the USB is not in-built to the lantern but is in-built to the 18650 battery instead.
The RED indicator depicts charging in progress and GREEN indicator depicts charging has completed.
Beam Style/Beamshots
For this lantern, the beam pattern (spill, corona and hotspot) for the Lantern & Flashlight is somewhat predictable due to the Polycarbonate (PC) cover & TIR (Total Internal Reflection) optic used. The LEDs are fully covered under the PC cover and TIR optic.
For the Lantern, the beam has soft flood for recognizing items in the up-close and near distance only.
For the Flashlight, the beam is still relatively “throwy” for recognising items in the near to mid-range distance.
The above beam profile is a rough interpretation of what is seen when white wall hunting.
The Lantern beam has a wide 360-degree “wall of light” diffused spill with no visible hotspot or corona. There are no beam artifacts in the beam when whitewall hunting and in real world usage.
The Flashlight beam has a fairly distinct hotspot with some slight corona and a fairly wide (but dim) spill, with most of the lumens output focused into the hotspot. There are some beam artifacts when white wall hunting but not visible in real world usage.
All of the beamshots taken below are done so with the following camera settings:
[White Lantern] LOW: 0.8sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB, MID and HIGH: 0.5sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB
[Red Lantern] HIGH: 2.5sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB
[White Flashlight] LOW: 0.6sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB and HIGH: 1/5sec, F3.5, ISO100, 5000K WB
Some pictures have been adjusted slightly to depict as close as to what is seen in real life. The distance of the light from the door is 4.6m.
White Lantern
Control shot:
LOW (30 lumens):
MID (170 lumens):
HIGH (325 lumens):
Red Lantern
Control shot:
HIGH (1.6 lumens):
White Flashlight
Control shot:
LOW (40 lumens):
HIGH (300 lumens):
Mode (Output) Spacing
Mode spacing appears to be progressively brighter to the eye and the modes are well spaced enough to be able to know which mode one is currently in. With that in mind, TLR tend to view mode spacing as battery life indicators (amount of runtime left) rather than the specific output (lumens).
There is no MOONLIGHT mode for this lantern but the HIGH mode (Red Lantern) is perfect for camping usage inside a tent or during bedtime runs or with night-adjusted eyes.
On a side note, the MID mode (170 lumens) could use a slightly lower output of say ~120 lumens to ensure a longer runtime at a cooler temperature – as the difference in output is almost imperceptible to most human eyes. On MID mode, the Siege X does get slightly warm on extended usage.
Tint & CRI
White Lantern
Streamlight did not disclose the tint (color temperature) and/or the CRI (Color Rendering Index) for the LEDs used in their light. For this lantern, a guesstimate would be in the 6500K and 70CRI ballpark.
There are no tint shifts throughout the beam profile. The floody spill is a cool white tint.
Red Lantern
RED LEDs are generally poor in CRI as almost everything appears in different shades of red. They are generally used when retaining night vision is required and are excellent in that respect. A guesstimate wavelength would be 640nm.
There are no tint shifts throughout the beam profile. The floody spill is a uniform red tint.
White Flashlight
Streamlight did not disclose the tint (color temperature) and/or the CRI (Color Rendering Index) for the LED used in their light. For this flashlight, a guesstimate would be in the 6500K and 70CRI ballpark.
There are tint shifts throughout the beam profile. The hotspot is cool white whilst the corona possess a slight yellow-green tint; and the spill having a slight purple tint.
This is however, not as noticeable in real life.
Waterproofness
The lantern was subjected to warm water submersion, followed by cold water submersion and left under room temperature running water tap whilst running on HIGH.
No signs of water intrusion in the switch or tailcap was seen.
Lockout Capability
No electronic lockout or mechanical lockout are possible when needed, like during transportation in a bag.
The recessed electronic switch helps prevent unwanted activation and the UI is such that the lantern/flashlight will always switch ON in the lowest output mode.
Scale Comparison (Ruler)
Summary
To sum up, we believe that the most important part of any review is if given the chance to purchase the same lantern for our own usage or to gift to our loved ones out from one’s pocket (wallet), would we still do it?
For this light, it is a definite YES.
The rather small form factor (for a 2-in-1 product – Lantern & Flashlight), having both “throw” and “flood” options, included non-proprietary Micro-USB rechargeable 18650 battery, Red lighting for low light usage and multiple hooking/kickstand options are all plus points for this lantern.
However, having a magnetic tailcap could increase the usability of the lantern even further, when hooking/kickstand are not an option (e.g. working on a flat tire).
Here is a bonus size comparison with some of the other lantern style light we reviewed previously and below that is a size comparison with the Streamlight ProTac HL 5-X.
From Left to Right: Klarus CL1, Streamlight Siege X USB, Nitecore LR12 and Oveready BOSS 35 with optional Diffuser.
As with all gears, two is one and one is none.
Stay safe,
The Lite Review
Disclaimer: Lantern was provided for by Streamlight for this review. No other compensation was provided.
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Streamlight Siege X USB
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