HIGH TECH ROY HUNTINGTON CUTTING EDGE WIDGETS — AND OTHER NEW STUFF. Lights-Fantastic G ene Malkoff didn’t start out to be a flashlight innovator, but as he told me, “We live out in the sticks and I needed a flashlight to help me keep the coyotes out of our pet chickens. It seemed everything I tried was inadequate, at least in my opinion, had poor battery life, no ‘throw’ to the beam or just plain didn’t work when I needed it. Out of frustration I did a lot of research and spent many thousands of dollars, finally discovering high performance LEDs and the related technology needed to make them really perform. “If you live in the country, you know it’s tough on equipment, and unless it’s built tough, things break down constantly. With that in my mind, I build our lights for the long haul, with thick-walled housings, as few parts as possible and with designs as simple and robust as I can. I also make them highly shock-resistant and with a high level of thermal transfer, which adds to their long life and performance.” It’s not often a guy gets frustrated with a product then goes ahead and designs his own versions — with most outperforming some of the competition — and then actually gets Malkoff Devices makes several complete lights. The “Hound Dog” (left) and MD2 are robust, simple, exceptionally bright and offer performance windows not always available on factory lights. That’s a .44 Mag round for size. CHALLENGING THE BIG GUYS them to market. Malkoff Devices is made up of Gene and his wife and a few sub-contractors who make some parts to his exacting specifications. He explained, “I just want to make an honest living making something useful for others. I hate it when I’m lured into buying a piece of garbage, so I refuse to sell garbage. If you buy one of my lights or drop-ins, tell me if you like it or if you don’t. I’m always interested in making them better, stronger, more powerful and more reliable.” Now you have a feel for the man behind the products, and his passion for quality and reliability. What Gene does is manufacture a limited line of proprietary high-end, LED-based flashlights (like the two pictured) and also offers unique, true drop-in light modules. These modules replace the factory light modules in some SureFire and many MagLite models. You simply unscrew the head, take out the old module, drop in the new one, screw it tight and turn on the switch. Be prepared to be amazed when you do it. Restoring Use I An addition to the head (brass ring) allows bullet-proof “low/high” modes by simply rotating the light head. Simple is always best. 16 put his M61 Lamp Assembly in an ancient SureFire 6P and it turned it into a 260 lumen blaster, with a full 2-hour burn time. I don’t say this with any disrespect to the old SureFire light or their modern, high performance products, and indeed, I rely on many SureFire lights myself. But upgrading that old 6P’s module brings it up to date fast and easy and suddenly gives new life to a light I had essentially retired from duty. Especially if you’re on a Continued on page 54 Dropin light modules by Malkoff Devices can replace those on some factory lights, enhancing performance, power and battery life. WWW.AMERICANCOPMAGAZINE.COM • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2011
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