RotaryFlashlight by merriwether, on Flickr

HDS Systems has a new twist (ha ha ha) on high-powered mini-flashlights. A knob at the cap-end allows you to smoothly adjust the brightness of this flashlight from 0 to 200 lumens. The user's choice of brightness is held constant due to the high friction of the knob. This means you can preset the brightness to a particular level and "click" off the flashlight via the endcap button switch. When you click it back on the flashlight will still be at whatever brightness level you had set it (unless you turned the knob while it was off). This is great for map reading at night without going completely blind or making people think you are weird when you light up a menu in a dimly-lit restaurant. It really is a good multi-use flashlight.

The flashlight is powered by the usual 123 battery and it felt very well built to me. An interesting feature is that the company will let you mix-and-match different parts of the flashlight to built your own custom light. You can chose between either a 200-lumen or IR illuminator LED, larger batteries, lens cover material, button type, and coating/color of the flashlight. The price for the most basic model starts over $80 and the top of the line version comes in at $199. A bit rich for my blood but it really is a heck of a flashlight.

I don't have data on runtime as that really depends on how bright you keep it.

-Blast