A quick look at Streamlight's clippable, mountable Sidewinder light.
I love that line from Major League. Tactical flashlights are cool and everything, but sometimes you have to use both hands. Then, what? Well, the Sidewinder has a hand of its own.
The basic Streamlight Sidewinder is, to most people, a combat tactical helmet-mount light that looks cool, but “who wears a helmet all the time?” Not many. But you do wear clothes, right? Or a hat? And is there a shelf nearby? There are a lot of places you can clip the Sidewinder to so you can light what you’re working on.
And for those situations where the work location might be a bit tight (working under an engine hood, inside an enclosure … you know the drill), you can’t always fit a work light. Or you don’t want one. Ever try to work on an engine with a hot work light sharing space under the hood with you? Let’s just say that it does not make the experience more pleasant.
So, clip the Sidewinder to the brim of a hat, your collar, equipment or shelf. My favorite trick? Clip it to a loop of 550 cord and sling it over a nearby object. Now, you can use the tilting head of the Sidewinder to point the light right where you want.
You’ve got two choices: the Sidewinder and the Sidewinder X. The difference? The non-X runs at 55 lumens and the X at 275. Both have white, red and IR outputs (IR is for those who will be putting it on a helmet; for the rest of us, it’s not so useful). You have high, two mediums and a low setting—and the runtime at high is very useful. Runtime is impressive on the other settings.
Oh, and the X offers other extras as well. You can have the Aviation model with white, green and blue. There’s also the user-configurable model, and the X can be set up to run on either CR123A or AA batteries.
The Military model has the extra helmet mount gear, and the Aviation model comes with webbing straps to secure it to a harness.
Depending on which model you opt for, you’re looking at 3.3 to 5 ounces of compact, handy-to-use-without-your-hands lighting. Oh, and the battery compartment has a rubber gasket for a very water-resistant seal.
The rectangular shape of the Sidewinder makes it not-so handy for everyday carry. For that, something sleeker and more compact that fits in a pocket is the tool to select. But there are a lot of daily activities that require light, a light that doesn’t have to come out of your pocket to be used and you need both hands.
Adjusting the blasted soft-close doors in the new kitchen isn’t exactly a tactical exercise, but it goes a whole lot easier when you can see exactly what you need to see. Out comes the Sidewinder, while all the expensive tacti-cool illumination devices languish on the shelf by the door.
All this for 90 bucks. Get one; you won’t regret it. And watch the movie; you won’t regret that, either.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the December 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
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