Review: STKR FLi Over-Lander Telescoping Light Floods Your Campsite in Bright Light
Posted in: Today's ChiliDo you like to go camping, overlanding, or nighttime tailgating? Have I got the light for you! The guys from STKR Concepts are now making the FLi Over-Lander, an outdoor light that can telescope nearly 10 feet in the air, casting bright illumination across your entire campsite. I got my hands on a demo unit and am impressed with its ease of use and capabilities.
If you’ve used a tripod, you know how to set up the STKR FLi Over-Lander light. Just unscrew its locking aluminum tripod mount, open its legs, tighten the screw, and extend its telescoping poles to the desired height. When not in use, it folds up to just over 25″ long and weighs under five pounds, including its battery pack.
The light’s aluminum tripod legs are sturdy and stable when placed on a flat surface, though you can’t adjust them individually for uneven ground. That said, they have rubber feet for grip and holes for attaching them to the ground with tent spikes.
The fiberglass pole segments use friction to hold in place and didn’t have any problem holding tight on a windy Oklahoma night. Sitting atop the pole is a super-bright, disc-shaped LED which outputs 2600 lumens and casts its beam in a 360º circle.
The light itself measures just under 3″ in diameter but outputs an impressive amount of light for its size, projecting a smooth white light across a wide coverage area. Extended to the top of its pole, the light didn’t noticeably drop in brightness until about 30 feet away from its center, but you can see it even partially illuminated some trees at least 100 feet from where I set up the tripod.
Of course, if you set its height lower, you’ll have a brighter hot spot and a narrower coverage area. Keep in mind that the pole can only be adjusted to the top of each of its sections, so you can’t dial in an exact height. But it does lock in place at seven heights ranging from 32″ to 115,” a few inches shy of the 10 feet promised on the package.
The light has four operating modes, including solid white, solid red for nighttime stealth, flashing white, and flashing red for emergencies. In its brightest setting, the flashing white mode is more akin to a strobe, so this is something that people with epilepsy or other light sensitivities should be aware of when flipping through modes. The white light also has a smoothly adjustable dimming which automatically blinks when it gets to the top or bottom of its available range.
The light’s main power and mode switch is located atop the cylindrical battery pack – which also acts as ballast to keep the tripod from tipping over. There, you’ll also find blue LED charge indicators for the 14000 mAh battery. When used solely to power the light, it’ll provide up to 6 hours of light in high brightness mode and 72 hours in the lowest mode. The battery can also charge phones and other gadgets via a USB-A port. Battery recharging is performed via a USB-C port.
In addition to the power switch on the battery pack, the light can be operated by a pocket-sized remote control puck. Its buttons glow in the dark and provide quick access to power and mode functions. The remote also allows brightness to be adjusted using its plus and minus buttons. The remote works reliably from about 15 feet away and has a standard CR2032 button battery that occasionally needs replacing. For storage, it attaches magnetically to the underside of the battery pack. One thing I’d love to see them add is a small loop for attaching a lanyard.
One minor issue I encountered with the black fiberglass pole sections is that they scuff up pretty easily – especially where they hold into adjacent sections of tubing. This is strictly cosmetic and doesn’t cause any functional issues, but it’s something that could be improved upon. Another opportunity for improvement is that the waterproof jacks for charging are covered with a removable cap that isn’t tethered to the unit, making it easy to misplace.
A couple of minor issues aside, the STKR FLi Over-Lander light works exactly as promised. It’s an exceptionally bright light source for campsites and other outdoor locations and folds up nice, and small for travel. I could also see its potential as a job site work light if you just need general illumination. The ability to use its hefty battery pack to recharge phones and other gadgets is a bonus. If you’d like to buy one, the FLi Over-Lander Light is available for purchase on the STKR website for $199.
STKR Concepts provided the review unit featured here at no cost. However, all opinions here are our own, and we do our best to provide fair, unbiased opinions of all products we review
