If you’ve worked for the government, you learn quickly about issued gear — what you get will work, but it probably won’t be optimal. When I first signed on at the sheriff’s office, they provided a puny penlight. It put out about the same light as a candle: weak, yellow, and flickering. Not long after, I saved up my pennies and bought a Surefire. I could not believe how often I used it — it was such a good light. It’s obvious on night and graveyard shifts, but even as the day car, I was surprised how often I would find myself in the dark, needing a quality flashlight. As the years rolled by, I upgraded my Surefire for different applications or for specific features they came out with. Most recently, Surefire released a wrist-mounted series called the 2211.
Unboxing
The Surefire 2211x is a small light mounted to a nylon wristwatch strap. Most cops want the biggest bang for their buck — shoestring tactical. Most tactically minded people want the most functions they can get for the cheapest price. Without the USB recharging capability and Luminox watch of the flashier 2211 model, the 2211x costs significantly less, around $150.00. The end of the lens is angled up so it casts the beam out past your hands when holding a firearm. This is a fairly ingenious design and to a degree, offers hands-free operation of the light once activated. That being said, it brought up a bit of a dilemma in my mind, along with some painful (literally) memories.
I went through the police academy in the 1990s. We conducted our first night time drill of clearing a building in an abandoned house that was donated to the police department. The mission was clear the house, find the bad guy, and take him into custody. My only experience operating a flashlight prior to that was Trick or Treating on Halloween. I turned on my enormous D cell light and went room to room, looking for the bad guy. A hail of painful projectiles (frozen paintballs) soon welted my body, causing me to drop my flashlight. This was only half as bad as the old sergeant who laid into me with a profanity-laced tirade about leaving my light on while walking around. Light gave up my position. As a result of the exercise, I learned to “take pictures” with a brief flash of my light, then move. Subsequent drills were increasingly better. This seems like lightyears before the Surefire 2211x.
By the Numbers
Operating off of a single (included) Surefire 123a lithium battery, the 2211x puts out a bright, white beam. It easily lights up an average-sized room in the dark. The unit weighs only 3.5 ounces and has three brightness settings, attainable through toggling a button. The 2211x starts off at 300 lumens and advertises a run time of 1.5 hours at that setting. There are also 60 and 15 lumen settings with runtimes of 7 hours and 13 hours respectively. Even catching myself errantly with the light on the 300 lumen setting left me seeing spots for a while.
The polymer housing of the 2211x seems very sturdy and I have no doubt about Surefire’s reputation for quality. I have every light I’ve purchased from the company and they all still work. This means a lot as I close in on two decades of service.
One of the best attributes of this concept is the light is always with you. It doesn’t matter if you’ve kitted out to boot a door or if you’re going to the movies, the light is with you. Having it with you, and immediately accessible, means everything.
The only reservations I have apply directly to tactical settings. When clearing that proverbial house, I still hear the old sarge swearing at me. If you activate the 2211x, draw your weapon, and begin to clear a house, the light stays on. You cannot easily deactivate it, as the switch is on the top side of the unit. In order to turn the light off, you must holster or forego the idea of that particular tactical advantage. This is all premised on the idea of wearing the light on your support wrist. However, if you wear the light on your weapon side, things get interesting.
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| (Sean Curtis Image) |
Weapon side, the light can be manipulated with the support hand without coming off target. Also, you do not need to “felony menace” everyone you point your light/gun at if you splash light at them from a low ready position. A hands-free use of a light is a great alternative to a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other. Even as a firearms instructor, none of the techniques for using both truly appeal to me. The other answer is a weapon-mounted light, but the 2211x is more versatile and can be pointed at people without alarming them.
Summary
The 2211x is a great, affordable light in an innovative package. I hold no reservations about using it in non-tactical scenarios such as camping, a late stroll, or any time you need a handy light. With evolution, the unit can find a place in a tactical scenario too. While the advertisements from Surefire demonstrate the light being worn on the support wrist, I’m not convinced this is the best use. Ultimately, it is up to the user to decide. Learn more about the 2211x at Surefire’s website.
