Sig Sauer’s New Handheld Light: The Foxtrot-EDC

Introduction

Sig Sauer’s electro-optics division knocked it out of the park with the recent Foxtrot2R, a high-candela pistol light that pairs well with the X-Macro.

Now, they’re entering the highly-competitive realm of handheld lights with their Foxtrot-EDC. Will it be able to stand out from the crowd?

First Impressions

This light comes in two sizes: Fullsize and Compact, utilizing an 18650 and 18350, respectively. The light comes with two USB-C rechargeable batteries, which is a nice touch. There are two included tailcaps as well: one which is shrouded to prevent accidental activation, and one which is not. I happen to prefer the unshrouded one.

This is a pretty light. The finish is a nice matte. The head is nicely profiled into the body. There are no obnoxious “grippy” features to tear up your jean pocket.

Overall it’s a solid light, but I have a couple nitpicks: the threads appeared bone-dry, so when I swapped out the tailcap it squeaked. A little Lubri-Film solved this problem. There was also a burr on the contact point between the body and the head, which I knocked off with a pocket knife.

User Interface

This light is as basic as it gets when it comes to operation.

If you press the button halfway, it activates momentary, if you depress it fully, it clicks and stays on. The button is similar to the SureFire EDC2-DFT, with a long throw, requiring a fair amount of pressure for activation. This makes it less prone to negligent discharge than, say, a Modlite, which requires very little pressure to activate.

While I like the switch, I do find value in having a second low mode for administrative tasks around the shop. Sometimes I just need a closer look at something in my desk, and I don’t want to get blasted by 100% output bouncing back at me.

Competitive Analysis

I struggled a bit to find the right comparison points for this light.

On one hand, it’s well-built with output that competes with higher-end handhelds. However, it also has a lower price point and is assembled in China, similar to offerings from Streamlight and Olight.

So, I decided to test it against representatives from both categories. Representing the high-end, we have the Cloud Defensive MCH EDC, and representing more budget-friendly options, we have the Olight Warrior 3s.

Here are some of the specs and manufacturer claims of lights that compete with the Foxtrot-EDC:

	Foxtrot-EDC Compact	Foxtrot-EDC Fullsize	Olight Warrior S	Cloud Defensive EDC 18650
Head Diameter	30mm	30mm	29.5	30.5mm
Overall Length	105mm	135mm	139mm	131.5mm
Waterproofing	IPX7	IPX7	IPX8	IPX8 (Fully submersible to 100 feet for 24 hours)
Battery Type	Protected 18350	Protected 18650 (or 2x CR123A)	Olight Proprietary 21700	Unprotected 18350 (or 2x CR123A on more recent lights)
Lumens (with included battery)	1,350	1,350	2,300	1,400 (1,700 on more recent lights)
Candela	33,000	33,000	23,000	40,000
Runtime	1 Hour	1.5 Hours	3.4 Hours	2 Hours
Price	$159.99 (expected street price around $119.99)	$159.99 (expected street price around $119.99)	$119.95	$239.99

Judging by the specs, the Foxtrot-EDC should create a wide, intense beam.

This light is decidedly middle-of-the-road in this respect, not hopping on the high-candela bandwagon, but not a last-gen floodlight, either. I think that many people will find this to be a nice middle ground.

Into the Lab: Lumens, Candela, Runtime, and CRI

Let’s throw these lights in the integrating sphere and get some data.

Lumens

Let’s get a closer look at the first ten minutes:

By the ANSI-Plato standard, the Foxtrot-EDC Compact produces 1,280 lumens, which is ~95% of its claimed 1350. Not bad!

The Fullsize produces 1,589 lumens, which is ~118% of its claimed 1350. Well done, Sig!

From the chart, it may seem that the Olight would be the best choice for its high lumen output. While 2,500 lumens can be useful for finding things in the dark or for indoor use, we don’t know the full story until we see the candela readings.

Runtime

Runtime, as per ANSI-Plato spec, is the amount of time a light can emit lumens in excess of 10% of its claimed max output. For the EDC lights, this would be 135 lumens.

For the Compact, our tested runtime comes out to twenty-nine minutes. Sig claims a full hour, so it’s strange to see it fall so short.

That being said, sometimes manufacturers don’t make their claims based off of ANSI-Plato spec. Realistically, it would be uncommon to run the light for 29 minutes straight. If the user deploys it in shorter intervals, say two to three minutes at a time, they may get closer to the hour of runtime that Sig claims.

For the Fullsize, I measured an hour and forty-two minutes. This is in excess of Sig’s claim of an hour and a half.

Both runtimes are likely enough to satisfy most users, and Sig does provide a second battery so you can always swap in a topped-off battery. However, it is a bit strange that the Compact didn’t meet the runtime claim.

Candela

Here are the candela readings for this group of lights, taken at turn on and then again at thirty seconds:

	Foxtrot-EDC Compact	Foxtrot-EDC Fullsize	Olight Warrior 3s	Cloud Defensive MCH EDC
0s	25930 (27370 on another sample)	31750	23890	25560
30s	24280 (24900 on another sample)	29980	23090	25060

Keep in mind that ANSI-Plato spec for candela measures the intensity at thirty seconds.

For the compact, this comes out to 24,280 candela, ~74% of its claimed output.

For the fullsize, this comes out to 29,980 candela, ~91% of its claimed output.

I was surprised to see the Compact lagging behind by 26%, so it retested its candela multiple times. Each time, I got very similar readings to the ones recorded above.

My benchmark for minimum defensive candela is 20,000. It’s an arbitrary number, reinforced by a test set of sixteen people. They all agreed that when lights get above 20,000 candela, it’s difficult to even tell exactly where the light is coming from.

These lights both exceed 20,000 candela, and as such are eligible for defensive use in my opinion.

Color Temp, CRI

I don’t think Sig was trying to produce a warm, high-CRI light with the Foxtrot-EDC, but it’s good to get a benchmark anyways. Below are the readings from the spectrometer, compared to the much warmer Cloud Defensive MCH-EDC:

And here is another representation of the data:

Yikes! 7150K might be the highest light temperature I’ve ever seen.

My usual process for taking light temperature data is to use an opening in the side of the integrating sphere, while the light is shining into the sphere in the usual way. This allows me to measure everything coming out the front of the flashlight, not just one particular area of the beam.

I think this worked to the Sig’s disadvantage, as its lens seems to sap off some of the blue light emission and deflect it to the side. This effect can be seen in the image below:

In real world use, you would not focus on these rings of blue light. So I took another reading, this time shining the flashlight straight into the spectrometer, thus getting a reading of the center-point of the light’s beam. This should match up a bit closer to how the flashlight will appear in real-world use:

That’s better. Still not great, but at least it’s not 7150K.

Tactical, high-output lights often have an Ra (that is, CRI) of ~70 and light temperature of ~6000K. Going by my second readings, this light is right about there.

Third-Party Testing from UL

Sometimes, I receive skepticism regarding the accuracy of my equipment.

This is understandable, given that my tests often yield results which differ from manufacturer claims. I think it’s always good to have more data, so I sent my sample of the Foxtrot-EDC Fullsize off to Underwriters Laboratories for testing.

Here are the results:

Let’s compare UL’s results to mine.

By my testing, the Foxtrot-EDC Fullsize produced 1,589 lumens. By UL’s testing, it produced 1,603. This is a difference of 14 lumens, or 0.8%.

By my testing, the Foxtrot-EDC Fullsize produced 29980 candela. By UL’s testing, it produced 30,356. This is a difference of 376 candela, or 1.2%.

To provide some context, I’ve observed a 22% difference in candela from one sample to another of the SureFire X300-T, a high quality light from a reputable manufacturer. Given the variances common in the industry, our 0.8% and 1.2% differences as compared to UL are negligible.

Regardless, it’s good to have more data. By all accounts it would seem that the Foxtrot-EDC fullsize exceeds its lumen claim and nearly meets its candela claim.

Takeaways

The Foxtrot EDC lights fall in the middle of the pack. It’s not extreme by any metric, but it’s a pretty light with more than enough output for most people. The price makes it very competitive, and the inclusion of two batteries saves the user some money.

Personally, I prefer the Fullsize for its longer runtimes and higher output, as well as its ability to run prime cells if needed. Plus, the size doesn’t bother me.

Here are some pro’s and con’s of going with the Foxtrot-EDC:

Pro	Con
Strong lumen and candela output Two included batteries Two tailcap options Inexpensive Solid runtimes (fullsize version) Duel-fuel (fullsize version) Sig Sauer warranty	No low mode Short runtimes (compact version) High color temperature Not made in US