Smith & Wesson M&P Officer RXP Flashlight Review

By Robert Robillard on Tool and Product Reviews, Weekend warrior

Smith & Wesson M&P Officer RXP Rechargeable Flashlight 1098726 

This Smith & Wesson M&P Officer RXP flashlight is promoted as a great everyday carry flashlight. When first looking at this light and who might benefit from it,  public safety and the military come to, but so don’t construction trades. Folks in the trades are constantly working in dimly lit, dark areas.

The Smith & Wesson M&P Officer RXP flashlight comes with the following:

  1. Open adjustable, holster design
  2. 2 USB charging cradles/stations
  3. Two charging cords.

As contractors, we are constantly working in dark spaces like basements, attics, and crawlspaces. So to test it, we took this light into the field on our remodeling projects, here’s what we think.

Fit and Finish

The Smith & Wesson M&P Officer RXP flashlight seems is compact, lightweight has a durable, thick-walled anodized aluminum and knurled grip.  The battery endcap has a thick rubber switch boot, strong battery spring, and rubber O-ring to prevent water intrusion. By all accounts, this flashlight appears to be designed for PROs working in harsh field conditions.

Cree LED Bulb

The Smith & Wesson M&P Officer RXP flashlight has CREE XPL HD V5 LED bulb. Cree LEDs are single-die LEDs that deliver efficacy of up to 200lm/w at 350mA. … They are the brightest, high-density class of LEDs.

Flashlight Beam Output

What we like is that the flashlight strike bezel and light head are fixed.  A pet peeve of ours is that focusing flashlights constantly move around, or are not set right when you first turn on the light.

The flashlight optic emits a consistently bright light that includes a spot and flood pattern. There are no dark rings typically associated with focusing flashlights.  This was our favorite part of the lighting optic as the light output looks similar to a “Bulls Eye” spot beam pattern. The result is a super focused, bright spotlight and an outer halo or less light.

Great Law Enforcement Flashlight

Law enforcement folks love this “officer safety” feature as it allows you to place a super bright and debilitating light into a suspect’s eyes and the halo light allows you to observe the suspect’s hands, feet, surrounding area, etc.  On building searches, the spotlight illuminates the officer’s area of focus, up to 261 meters, while the halo illuminates the peripheral areas. In our opinion, that is the best of both worlds when using a flashlight.

 

 

Smith & Wesson M&P Officer RXP flashlight Features

  • Modes:                 Low, High, Strobe
  • Length:                5.6”
  • Weight:                5.6 oz w/ 18650 recharging battery
  • Low Mode:           100 lumens;
  • Low Runtime:       18 hours
  • High Mode:          1062 lumens
  • High Runtime:      2 hours, 31 Minutes
  • Charging time:      5 hours
  • On / Off:              Recessed mechanical tail cap
  • Beam distance:      261 Meters
  • Impact Resistant:   1 Meter drop rating
  • Water Proof:         1 Meter submersible
  • Programmable:      4 programmable power switch settings

RXP Flashlight Operation

The flashlight is easy to use via a  rear, recessed mechanical tail cap.  Changing between lighting modes requires the user to make a half-press on the tail cap switch.

There are four programmable settings that can customize the order of lighting modes. To change settings rapidly half-press the switch 5 times, holding the switch down on the 5th press. The flashlight will blink 1thru 4 times, indicating which setting has been selected. The settings are:

  • 1 Flash: Setting 1 – High-Low – strobe
  • 2 Flash: Setting 2 – Low – High – Strobe
  • 3 Flash: Setting 3 – High – Low
  • 4 Flash: Setting 4 – High only

RXP Flashlight Charging

The Smith & Wesson M&P Officer RXP flashlight comes with two charging ports and cords. This allows one port to be mounted in a vehicle and the other at home or in the workshop. We ended up mounting one of the chargers in our work vehicle for quick flashlight access.

RXP Flashlight Holster

We liked the belt holster which rotates 360-degrees with 24 detent positions. The holster has a hole where the flashlight bezel is and allows you to rotate the holster with the light on, for hands-free operation. Whiles, it’s not a headlamp it does offer some useful opportunities to go hands-free.

Hands-free for us means being able to tilt the light to illuminate something that we’d be safer and more efficient using both hands floor. In the law enforcement world, this holster could free up an officer while filling out paperwork, collecting evidence, or while using their other tools.

Overall impression

Would I buy this flashlight?  Hell yes, it’s one of the better ones I’ve ever used. I was highly impressed with the Smith & Wesson M&P Officer RXP flashlight. As a remodeling carpenter IU like using quality tools and a rechargeable flashlight is no exception.

 

This flashlight sells for $88 online and will last you many years of use. When you amortize the cost of having a good flashlight over a year it breaks down to a little more than $7 a month. Highly recommended.

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About the author

Robert Robillard

Carpenter / Remodeler / Editor

Rob Robillard is “The Concord Carpenter” Rob is a builder, general contractor, carpenter, woodworker, and editor of Concord Carpenter and ToolBoxBuzz As a General Contractor and carpenter, Rob owns and operates Concord Carpenter LLC. A full-service remodeling and construction company. Rob is a recognized leader in home building best practices and a source for how-to information for building professionals. On this website, Rob covers all aspects of home construction, building science, home improvement, woodworking, remodeling, and some of the best product and tool reviews. Rob is in charge of our Tool and Product Review series - Concord Carpenter Videos where we post all of our tool reviews and video tutorials. Rob approaches remodeling and building construction with a pragmatic and problem-solving approach. He enjoys using his knowledge and experience to help and educate building professionals as well as DIYers on best practices in the construction and remodeling industry. He's a strong advocate for "raising the bar" in the construction trades and promoting the trades to youth. #BeAMentor #Green2Great Craftsmanship, quality, and pride guide his journey on this channel The Concord Carpenter's motto: "Well done is better than well said!" : Read more about Rob

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