The founder and owner of 4Sevens does not seem to ever be satisfied with lights that are comparable or even better than their competitors. He keeps on making prototypes of lights that completely blow everything else away, like the S12 that recently made it into production. One of the latest lights is the XM18, featuring an insane 18 CREE XM-L LEDs and 32 18650 lithium ion batteries for around 18,000 lumens on high. The light is made to be modular, meaning that you can attach multiple units together for even more output.
The light has three outputs that go from ridiculously bright to obnoxiously bright. If that wasn’t enough, the light also has strobe, which is debilitating in the dark on a light with 50 lumens, let alone one with 18,000 lumens. The XM18 is not exactly pocket friendly, but considering that the power source is integrated, the unit is a reasonable and manageable size and weight.
The XM18 is not even close to being in production and will be extremely expensive if it is ever released, but it is still nice to see companies like 4Sevens pushing the envelope with what portable lighting can do. 4Sevens was nice enough to let us borrow one of the XM18 prototypes one night during this year’s SHOT Show in Las Vegas, so we took it out into the desert and shined it at some random scrub brush.