Every once in a while someone does something a little bit different and pulls it off. Icon has succeeded in pushing flashlight form, if not function, in a new direction that actually works. And it provides capable defense against large ungulates to boot.
Icon makes two lights, the Rogue and the Modus, the former an aluminum body and the latter polymer. Each is available in a 1 and a 2 model indicating the number of AA batteries used. We tested the Rogue 2, an interesting design waterproof to 1 meter thanks to a sealed body with rubber O-rings. A bit large for a two-AA design, the cutouts in the body keep it light at less than six ounces, dissipate heat efficiently and make it a pleasure to handle. The aluminum is very sturdy and the whole unit has a high-quality fit, finish and feel to it.
There's nothing fancy in the function. There's high (3 hours at 100 lumens) and low (72 hours at 10 lumens) beam. Low is adequate for around-camp use and won't blind your tent-mates. High really cranks and will put an even, white, artifact-free spot out quite a distance. The Rogue 2, unlike the Modus, will roll off a flat surface but using one of the two included lanyards will prevent that. One is neck sized with a cool snap that will separate under pressure so you can't hang yourself. The other is wrist sized with a sliding keeper. They both come attached to a teeny carabiner that unfortunately doesn't fit easily through the cutouts, so just get one of those circular key-ring thingies and attach it.
Don't thread the lanyards directly through the cutouts: the edges are sharp, and in fact we verified it works well to peel carrots and such. How's that for flexibility? Fear not, however, to cut yourself accidentally you'd have to really try. In which case it's not really an accident, is it you moron? It does have one trick that some of our more tactical-minded testers liked: while pushing the end-cap button cycles between high and low beam, if you leave it off for a minute it will reset and come on high, so if you need to blind a moose or something – no kidding, that's a valid defense – you're all set.
One response to “Icon Rogue 2 flashlight”
That’s quite a flashlight – very versitile, if you can peel carrots with it, too!