W402ZF Predator Pursuit Pack Review

by Guts N'Gills

 

Greatest Hits:

• Extremely Long Range Light – White LED beam distance 849 yards with 502 yard useful beam distance, green LED 618 yards with 399 yards useful, and red 489 yards with 316 yards useful beam distance.

• Interchangeable LED’s

• Adjustable between flood and spot

• 3 power modes (High<Medium<Low)

• Virtually indestructible

• Water Resistant (although in torture testing Wicked submerged in water)

• Rifle mountable

• Can run off either 1 or 2 batteries by using a battery doubler and with 2 batteries there is about 5 to 6 hours worth of battery on high power mode

• Uses 18650 Li-Ion Rechargeable Batteries (I originally thought this was a con, but have somewhat changed my mind)

 

        I am sure most of you have seen Jeff Thomason’s “Predator Pursuit” (www.predatorpursuit.com) on Sportsman Channel, and for those of you that haven’t you need to!  It is one of my favorite shows, and I am always really impressed by the way Jeff and the rest of his team are able to spot predators with Wicked Lights at night.  They spot them at an extreme distance are able to identify the species, and maintain/manage the light in the predators eye’s so they don’t get busted.  Before trying the Wicked Lights for myself, I figured there had to be some creative photography…  but after using the W402ZF’s, they are every bit as bright as they look on Predator Pursuit!

 

        The W402ZF is Wicked’s second generation predator light.  The W400 is the first generation, which I have heard good things about also, but have no first hand experience.  The W402ZF has 3 power settings (low/med/high), and has interchangeable LED’s.  Interchangeable LED’s is a nice feature not only so that you can change the color, but also if you ever literally decide to blow up your light to test the rugged design like the guys at Wicked did, you can replace the LED.  Wicked torture tested the W402ZF (Seen HERE) and literally had to blow it up to even somewhat damage the light.  Even so, when they blew it up, all they had to do was screw the top and bottom pieces back together, and replace the LED… and it still worked!

 

See the full review by Guts N'Gills HERE

 

 

ScanPro Ultimate Night Hunting Light:

 

"Review for the Wicked Lights “Scan Pro”

With a couple of hunts under my belt using the new Scan-Pro from Wicked Lights, I feel as if I have enough time in the field with it to give a proper product review. I have hunted with numerous lights consisting of almost anything that shines. I started using the Wicked Flashlights with the attachable handles last year and was impressed with their ease of use, quality and functionality. Chris Robinson, myself, and the others that hunt as part of the Night Crew team use these handheld lights solely and specifically for locating incoming predators by picking up their eyes. Anything above and beyond picking up eyes we rely on our camera mounted lights. Now make no mistake about it, we have hunted without our light rig from the ground quite a bit, and the Wicked Lights have performed well, actually beyond our expectations, when used as our sole source of shooting light. 

When I ordered my Scan-Pro in September of this year I was very skeptical as to whether or not I was going to use it regularly, but I had to give it a shot. We have hunted and killed several animals on stands where I was using the Scan-Pro for scanning. On each of these stands I was the only person using the head mounted light, and the other guys scanning, who are VERY experienced with picking up eyes, were using the Wicked Flashlight. On all of these stands, I was the person who spotted the animal. At first I thought this to be a coincidence, but after the last two stands, where we killed a coyote and a bobcat, I was easily seeing eyes when no one else could, and on one occasion the other light guy had just scanned past the area where I picked up the coyote’s eyes. Because of where the light is positioned in my field of view, everything is lined up just right where a person would have to be blind to not see the eyes! It fits comfortably on your head with the design of the straps, battery pack and LED lamp. It isn’t cumbersome or awkward to wear in any way shape or form, AND most importantly, it keeps my hands free and my arms no longer get tired form holding up a spotlight! I am not a fan of wearing bulky gloves because once the animals are located the first thing I have to do is rip them off to run a camera or grab my gun… it isn’t practical for me to wear them, and now that I am using the Scan-Pro my hands can stay in my pockets while shining to stay warm. I in no way could stress enough, THIS IS THE BEST SCANNING LIGHT THAT I HAVE EVER USED!

Now on to the functionality of the light. The light is made up to par with the same quality of the other Wicked Light models. It seems to be very solid in construction and it could not be easier to use. The power supply cord fits snuggly against the head, and only has enough slack to reach the light even on my big head where I stretch the straps to their limits. The light unit itself has a couple of main functions… 

First, on the left side of the light there is the on/off knob. This knob has three levels of brightness, that work in “step increments”… I could see how this would be a concern to some, because the light doesn’t dim smoothly. If you see this as a problem, please take this advice. THIS IS A SCANNING LIGHT!!! There should be no need, when scanning, to make your light brighter in a smooth fashion. When scanning to locate eyes you only need the light to be bright enough to see eyes. If for whatever reason you believe that you need to brighten your light in a smooth manner when you locate an animal you can simply turn the light housing to focus more of the beam on the animal. This, in all honesty, is just as effective as having a rheostat, and is one of my favorite features of all the Wicked Light models. The only thing that I wish could be changed on the power on/off knob is a rubber grip ring the make it easier to turn on and step through the brightness levels when it is misting rain or if your hands and/or the light is damp, I have achieved this by simply adding a rubberband around the knob. PROBLEM SOLVED FOR A NICKEL!

Second, the light itself, the lamp… This light is smooth, clear and crisp! They make different LED bulbs that you can easily replace, but if you have ever seen our Night Crew footage, I bet that you can guess what color light we use!!!! I have used the red and green lights as well, just to be unbiased, but WHITE it is and always will be, no matter where or when I am hunting… at night of course! The best part of this light if you choose to use colored bulb, it is filterless… the bulb itself is colored, so you do not cut back on the output of light to achieve your preferred color tone. Around the lamp is a light shield that is made of a textured/ bumpy rubber sleeve. This sleeve serves two purposes, 1) to keep the light halo away from your general area, and it keeps the light from washing out your line of sight. 2) the textured rubber makes it easy to adjust the beam when in use. (the same issue that I wish would be corrected on the power knob). There is nothing that I would change about this lamp!

Third, on the right hand side of the light there is a second knob that is used to lock the light in your position of preference. It simply snugs the light down in the direction that you want it to point… nothing else needs to be said about this!

All in all I am hooked on this light! I am not the guy that feels the need to write a product review EVER, but this light deserves it! It is a constant question on Facebook groups and predator hunting forums, “what light should I use…” well, in my good ol’ country buy opinion, YOU CAN’T BEAT THIS LIGHT FOR PRACTICAL PREDATOR HUNTING APPLICATIONS. THIS LIGHT IS NOT A STAND ALONE LIGHT, BUT THAT IS WHY THEY CALL IT THE “SCAN-PRO”! I will stand behind this product everyday of the week, and you will never see me hunting at night without my Scan-Pro, and that is a guarantee."

-Jared Clark… Night Crew for Predator Pursuit with Predator Pursuit w/ Jeff Thomason