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Reviews > Lighting > Flashlights - LED > Princeton Tec Attitude LED Flashlight > Owner Review by Sheila MorrisseyPRINCETON TEC ATTITUDE
OWNER REVIEWHANDHELD FLASHLIGHT  Date: September 5, 2007 TESTER INFORMATION Name: Sheila Morrissey Age: 27 Gender: female Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.7 m) Weight: 155 lb (68 kg) Email address: geosheila(at)yahoo(dot)com City, State, Country: Goleta, California, USA BACKPACKING BACKGROUND I enjoy hiking and backpacking in the Sierra Nevada and Los Padres National Forest with friends and my dog. Including consumables, my pack is usually around 25 lb (11 kg). Since 2002, I have always hiked with an Attitude flashlight and sometimes also carry a headlamp. PRODUCT INFORMATION Manufacturer: Princeton Tec Year: 2002 Manufacturer’s Website: http://www.princetontec.com Listed Weight: 70 g (2.5 oz) Listed Power: 12 lumens Listed Burn Time: 150 h Measured Weight: 2.5 oz (71 g) Measured Length: 5 in (13 cm) Measured Lens Diameter: 1 in (2.5 cm) MSRP: N/A PRODUCT DESCRIPTION The five-inch (13-cm) Attitude flashlight has three white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) powered by four AAA batteries, all encased in polycarbonate. The head of the flashlight twists clockwise to turn it on, counter-clockwise to turn it off and further counter-clockwise to unscrew the head in order to change the batteries. According to Princeton Tec, the Attitude is waterproof to 100 m (330 ft). It has a wide-focused beam that can reach 20 m (65 ft), but that works best at close range. The polycarbonate housings on newer Attitude flashlights have a new ergonomic design and clip that my Attitude doesn't have, but mine has a keyring and lanyard at the end of the flashlight. Both the newer and older versions of the Attitude flashlights use the same technology and only differ in these slight changes to the housing. I should also point out that the product name written on the flashlight housing does indeed say "Attitude" and not "Altitude." It seems Princeton Tec originally used a font where the flag on the letters "t" only extend to the right, which caused some confusion for me.   FIELD USE CONDITIONS My Attitude flashlight was my first LED light and it has survived five years of backpacking, camping and working at temperatures ranging from 5 F (-15 C) to 110 F (43 C) and altitudes from 280 ft (85 m) below sea level to 11,000 ft (3,350 m) above sea level. FIELD USE RESULTS I always bring my Attitude flashlight when backpacking or car camping because I know it will work. I have used it frequently during the past five years, sometimes accidentally tossing it onto rocks or into snow, and it has proven to be quite durable. I have never submerged the flashlight and actually didn't realize it was waterproof until I started writing this review. I find that headlamps are sometimes more convenient, so I occasionally bring along an additional headlamp on my trips, but I never leave the Attitude behind because it is more durable than any other flashlight or headlamp I have owned. In fact, at home I keep this flashlight on hand as my earthquake/emergency light. The Attitude is also very small and light weight for a handheld flashlight. I can easily squeeze it into the small side pockets of my backpack. When I don't have a headlamp, I can comfortably slide the Attitude flashlight into the band of my beanie and use it as a headlamp.  I like the wide focus of the Attitude flashlight because it makes reading and following a trail by flashlight easy by providing a wide spread of light that brightens an entire page of a book or the entire width of a trail, whereas a narrowly-focused light (not an option on the Attitude) would better illuminate a faraway sign but would offer less peripheral vision. In college, I spent many weekends doing field courses and studying for other classes by the light of my Attitude at night in my tent. More recently, I have been backpacking after dark because we weren't able to get up to the mountains before the sun went down and I managed to not fall off a cliff while using my Attitude to light the trail. The battery life is very long. I'm not sure exactly how long it is, but I know that I've only changed the batteries a few times in the years I've owned this flashlight. However, the brightness of the light diminishes significantly over time as the batteries drain. I always forget to change the batteries until the light is barely visible and then am surprised by how well the light works with fresh batteries. PROS
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