Every once in a while, an outdoor product comes along that not only surprises me with its usefulness, but also fulfills its advertised promise. To simply say that the Continuum 2000+ LED Flashlight from Premiere Electronics does that, is a horrible understatement.

Imagine pulling your flashlight from your backpack for a quick check of your equipment prior to sunup on opening morning. Now, imagine pulling that same flashlight out of your backpack to shed some light on your skinning chores the last evening of that same season—only to find that you forgot to turn it off the first time, and you find the bulb burning just as brightly as when you first turned it on more than a month ago!

"Barnyard carpeting," you say. But it’s true! And I’m here to tell you this isn’t even close to how good it gets.

The Continuum 2000+ is the innovative combination of ingenuity and modern product. Replacing the fragile, incandescent bulb of ordinary flashlights with a super-tough, ultra-bright white LED (light-emitting diode) which has a life of 100,000 hours and combining it with 2 lithium AA batteries, Premiere Electronics’ unit is advertised to give up to 3 months of continuous, usable light. In fact, I have had one of these lights on for considerably longer than that time period and I still use it to read in bed every night! Better than advertised! What a concept!

The Continuum 2000+ flashlight is about the same size as any of those "outdated" AA flashlights, and is constructed of a very lightweight, yet virtually indestructible yellow plastic that won’t get lost if you lay it down on the forest floor. It comes with a wrist lanyard and is o-ring sealed, which keeps it waterproof down to 30 feet. An added bonus in using the modestly priced lithium batteries (available at the camera departments of all the "mart" stores) is their 10-year shelf life, which means this flashlight can be set aside for years, and still be ready for immediate use.

If there is a short side to this flashlight, it would be in the minds of some hunters who wish to scan the treetops with their lights. The Continuum 2000+ is not a spotlight. The longevity of the LED bulb and the batteries comes from the micro-amperage draw of this combination. Effective light is emitted efficiently, and provides ample light to walk a trail out, field dress your game after an evening hunt, and do all the chores after dark that you would normally use an ordinary flashlight for. You simply cannot spotlight owls in the trees, or flash it into the night sky to signal Batman that there is trouble in Gotham City.

The $26.95 price tag is nominal. And given the extended lifetime of its components, the cost per hour of use is downright cheap. The Continuum 2000+ is available only from the manufacturer at this time. You can contact them by phoning toll free at 1-888-275-6374 or by mail to: Premiere Electronics, 765 North Bluff Street, Suite A, St. George, Utah 84770

Premier Electronics also manufactures a headlamp, and a larger hand-held flashlight, which have dual "white light" LEDs that are supposed to provide 50+ hours of ‘super bright’ LED light. Look for my test of these units in the future. If they perform anywhere close to the Continuum 2000+, they will set a new mark for others to shoot for.

THINK A GOOD THOUGHT! Frank Medicine Wolf Springer