Smith & Wesson Galaxy 13 LED Flashlight (10 White LED & 3 Red LED)

Light is weak, relative to other higher end flashlights that can be bought for just a few dollars more. I owned the Swiss Army LED but my 3 y/o lost it so I decided to try the Smith and Wesson based on great Amazon reviews. Sadly, the reviews are misleading.

Ergonomically, this light is a failure. It's a little to fat and a little too heavy considering it takes AAA cells, sorta stubby-ish, and it doesn't have a lanyard or provisions for one. On first use, you'll notice that this flashlight falls short of the sensuous tactile quality of a mag light or the Swiss Army Light. It's sorta well made but just not quite satisfying to hold -- not bad but not quite right.

The light quality is not the dazzling and almost blinding light that I expect from an LED. The beam's focus is very broad but it seems to sacrifice brightness and distance for breadth. This is a frustratingly "soft" light. You just don't get a powerful illumination and you can't get a focused or pointed illumination.

I guess the red light option is neat but I haven't needed it yet and I don't expect I will. If you just want a decent flashlight at a decent price. This will be OK but don't expect anything special or especially satisfying to use or hold. Overall it's OK but disappointing.

Received this light as a gift. Seems to be well-made. The switches are easy to use, but the switch buttons are covered with rubber that probably wouldn't last under constant use. The white beam is typical of non-reflector type LED lights: broad and flat, perfect for finding your way along a path, but not applicable to long-range use. The red beam is bright enough to use for astronomy or other after-dark activities that require reading or map use.

This light is ideal for personal use, but a professional would be better off with a Xenon-bulb light equipped with a focusable reflector.

I love the flashlight. It's really bright and I'm getting good battery life. So far I haven't had too much trouble getting the white light to come on when I push the button for white light, but the red light button doesn't work most of the time (you can see in the photo that there are two buttons, the one closest to the light is the white light button and the one under that is for the red light). The flash light is about the size of my small mag lights, in length, but considerably wider. It feels good and solid. I'd love the flashlight if the switches weren't so difficult to use. I push them in, but nothing happens, no light. I have to keep pushing until I get it just exactly right, which is fine when I'm not panicked or in a hurry.
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Update:
WOW, when the manufacture learned about the problems I've been having with the switches on this (otherwise) beautiful flashlight, they told me; the LED lights are warranted for life, as are the switches. They offered to send me a brand new flashlight, no charge, no questions. Now talk about service!!!
When a company is willing to go to such lengths to stand behind their product, then I say it's money well spent. How can you go wrong?

I've also read some reviews that the light isn't very bright. I think this flash light is quite bright, though not as bright as some. This is a lot more comfortable to carry around and hold than most of my other flashlights, because it is more solid feeling and has the tectured grip. The case comes with a place to store an extra set of batteries, which I've not seen on any other flashlight. A nice feature, especially if you want to carry this in a car or emergancy kit.

I GOT MY NEW FLASH LIGHT!!! The switches work perfectly.

I expected this to be good from other reviews. What surprised me in a less positive way is that it is relatively large and heavy for using only 3xAAA batteries, but it is very solid. What surprised me in a good way is that the red LED set is brighter than I expected, and I use that almost exclusively for walking the dogs at night. Enough light to walk with if there is any ambient light at all. The white beam is relatively broad, so this is not good for illuminating a spot well, but it suits my dog-walking use very well. overall, it exceeded my expectations.

I got this for walking a dog on narrow sidewalks in the area in which I walk. After DST comes in in October, there are two walks in the dark, and those ^&%&$! seed balls from liquidambur trees can trip the most nimble of us.

I've been using a Maglight for the past couple of years. It's lightweight but not light enough to see either to the sides or far enough ahead. There are still plenty of uses for the MagLight, so this was no loss. The S&W gives a very wide and very bright light and keeps us on a narrow path, so to speak.

I must admit, I don't know why there's the red LEDs, but I suppose it it were pitch black out, there'd be a better reason. And, I've taken to bringing THIS flashlight along in the care when we do go on hiking trails at sunset -- just in case. The red LEDs can always be used for signaling.

It's not that heavy, will fit in a back pocket or coat pocket, has a nice belt-loop holder. Yep, it's worthy of 5 stars.