When it comes to making tactical gear, Kel-Tec has decades of experience. Their innovative firearms designs have seen great success in the military, law enforcement, and civilian markets. But their recent efforts aren’t only focused on delivering weapons platforms. With the CL-42 and CL-43, Kel-Tec has brought their design expertise to the EDC flashlight arena. Both of these tactical flashlights are compact and suitable for everyday carry, especially if you carry a firearm. But even if you don’t, they’re rugged enough to stand up to the rough use in the field.
The Kel-Tec CL-42 is a low-profile tactical LED flashlight that fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. At only 4.5” long it’s big enough to give you a proper grip, but not so big that it becomes bulky in your pockets. It has a textured aluminum case that helps provide you that grip even in inclement conditions.
The light is simple to use: a full press turns the light on and off while a half press enables its momentary-on feature. Because of its heritage as a tactical light for use with a firearm, there isn’t a confusing plethora of modes to shuffle through. It has a single 420 lumen output, and it throws its beam of light out 525 feet.
It takes two 123A batteries, and with them it is rated to put out its maximum output for an hour and 15 minutes. But unlike other LED flashlights, the CL-42 is designed to deal with prolonged power consumption gracefully. Instead of shutting off when it doesn’t have enough power to run on max, it reduces its output gradually until there’s nothing left to give. So after two hours and 20 minutes of use, the light is rated to put out 40 lumens. And because it’s a weapon light, it’s ready for hard use. The CL-42 is impact resistant up to one meter, and it’s also water resistant to a depth of one meter.
The Kel-Tec CL-43 is another compact tactical EDC flashlight, but with a twist. It has an innovative design that lets you cradle it in your offhand while letting you maintain a firm grip a handgun in your primary hand. But even if you don’t intend to use it that way, the unique shape lets you point at what you want to illuminate easily. You can easily hold it in one hand and click on the activation switch like a trigger to turn it on and off.
Like the CL-42, the CL-43 also has a momentary-on function. But unlike the CL-42, the CL-43 is able to hold one more 123A battery while being noticeably shorter than its cousin at only 3.75” long. The extra battery capacity allows it to run its 420 lumen single output far longer than the CL-42 at 3 hours and 35 minutes. Like with the other Kel-Tec light, the CL-43 slowly lowers its output once your exceed that max rating until all of the power stored is finally used up.
The low-profile and efficient design of these Kel-Tec lights make them a solid option to introduce to your own everyday carry, whether it’s for daily use or emergency situations. Check them out in more detail at the link below.
This is a sponsored post presented by Kel-Tec.