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Flashlight doubles as camcorder, night or day

It combines 85,000 candlepower with night vision and camcorder.

Mark Rutherford
The military establishment's ever increasing reliance on technology and whiz-bang gadgetry impacts us as consumers, investors, taxpayers and ultimately as the defended. Our mission here is to bring some of these products and concepts to your attention based on carefully selected criteria such as importance to national security, originality, collateral damage to the treasury and adaptability to yard maintenance-but not necessarily in that order. E-mail him at markr@milapp.com. Disclosure.
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Mark Rutherford
Flashcam

This flashlight may cost $1,500, but there's a potential for 15 minutes of fame every time you turn it on.

The MII Flashcam is both flashlight and video camera rolled into one matte-black aircraft-grade aluminum body. And there's nothing tacky about it: It features a high-resolution Sony system, a 1.5-inch color LCD, and 1GB of RAM while storing up to 60 minutes of your favorite takes and audio, according to Northland Security Products. The uber-light won a Cygnus Public Safety Group Innovation Award at the annual conference of International Association of Chiefs of Police in Boston this year.

It boasts a blinding 85,000-candlepower beam from its Hi-Flux LEDs. Too bright? Hit the button and switch to night-vision mode with 880-nanometer infrared illumination and patented Tiger Vision technology. Perfect for covertly recording a field-sobriety test, according to the company.

It's also water resistant and, at 2.2 pounds and 17 inches, you should have no problem cracking an intruder upside his parietal plate right after you videotape him going through the lingerie drawer.