The Infinity X1 can run on either rechargeable or disposable batteries, it can charge your phone, and it will make a wicked club during the zombie apocalypse.
An iconic Maglite flashlight sat next to my front door for more than 20 years, but it’s been relegated to basement duty ever since the incredible Infinity X1 came into my life.
When I first heard about the Infinity X1 flashlight ($40 on Amazon), I foolishly thought it was from Comcast (maker of the Xfinity X1 cable TV box). It’s not, of course. Infinity X1 manufactures portable lighting products, and its flagship product is the most impressive flashlight I’ve laid hands on.
It’s an LED model, and it’s a powerful one, producing up to 5,000 lumens of brightness—equivalent to a 400-watt incandescent bulb—with a beam distance up to 180 meters (590.5 feet). Those specs are remarkable enough, but I can also run it on either the included rechargeable 4000mAh Lithium-ion battery or on dry-cell batteries.
Michael Brown/Foundry
There is a trade-off, however; maximum brightness drops all the way to 1,200 lumens using dry-cells, and they cut the maximum beam distance in half.
Michael Brown/Foundry
A textured on/off button beneath the lens barrel controls three brightness settings, with the first press turning the flashlight on at maximum brightness, the second press setting it to medium brightness, the third to low, and the fourth turning it off. Twisting the lens end of the flashlight’s barrel adjusts the width of the flashlight’s beam.
The 12-inch-long flashlight is fabricated entirely from aluminum, with 5.25 inches of knurling around its center to enhance my grip. The 1.65-pound instrument is probably too heavy to mount to the barrel of a rifle or shotgun—weapons I don’t own anyway—but its rugged heft will make a powerful club in close combat.
Deep ridges around its lens housing will provide a non-slip grip should I ever need to swing it at zombie skulls, and all that knurling will channel the gore away from my hand. The flashlight’s IPX4 protection from liquids will make for easy cleanup, too.
