Introduction: The QuiqLite is one of those handy products that you come across that you wonder why it wasn't invented before. The idea is pretty simple. It's a thin concealed light unit that clips over material such as a pocket edge for instant hands free use.

This QuiqLite was very kindly supplied by Bill at 21st Century Airsoft and can be found on their online product pages.

LED technology has moved on in leaps and bounds over the past 10 years, thinking about it it doesn't seem that long since the first blue LED was introduced. With the improvements in this technology standard filament lamps are being replaced in situations where longevity and small weight requirements are paramount. Thanks to mass production these days such technology is also dropping in price. The QuiqLite is one of these relatively new LED products.

Fashioned rather like a clothes peg it has a rather unique in look, but this form factor has its purposes. The Quiqlite is designed to live clipped over a the edge of a duty shirt or jacket pocket, providing instant hands on illumination when needed. The operation button sits inside your pocket and can be operated by pressing on the front area of the QuiqLite through the material.

The listed manufacturer's features are as follows:

• Clips onto pocket for hands-free operation
• Super-bright LED available in white, blue, red & green
• Won't affect night vision
• 90-degree adjustable light arm
• Closes to flat position when not in use
• Comes standard with 2 high performance lithium batteries
• Instant on/off with the touch of a button
• Battery-saving 7-minute auto-off timer
• Long battery life (quoted at over 40hours)

Use: Fitting the lamp to a pocket is dead easy, although you will find that the clip will have trouble fitting over any zippered pocket. Here the light is shown clipped over an inside pocket on the 5.11 Tactical 3 in 1 jacket.

The beam on this lamp is amazingly bright, and could be used in an emergency situation to walk around an unlit area. The beam is so effective that in complete darkness it can be used for illumination purposes out to about 15-20feet.

But all that doesn't mean a great deal without a few real world shots to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Here's a shot of an interior building door illuminated solely from the QuiqLite at a distance of 6 feet. As you can see you can make out all the detail you'd need to.

When given the option to have a look at the new QuiqLite I went for the red as red is less likely to interfere with the effective vision of the human eye at night. White, blue and green are also available - and I'm told that the white LED is much brighter which I can well believe given current LED technology.

If you had the QuiqLite fitted to your top pocket you could quite happily read any printed material such as maps or text that you were holding in your hands, even in a lit office the beam from the LED casts a glow on a desk that is noticeable when shone from up to six feet away.

The unit does turn itself off after about 5 minutes of use automatically which is dead handy given that it's designed to be pocket mounted. There's nothing worse than going to turn on a torch to find that it is flat as it has been left on inside your jacket.

The light runs from a pair of CR2032 batteries, which are very standard these days (normally found powering things like calculators, motherboard bios/clocks and watches). These cells can be changed if they run flat, all you have to do is unscrew the three small cross-head screws on the back of the light to gain entrance and replace the cells. If you do replace the batteries, ensure that you replace them aligned to the correct polarity as unlike traditional torch bulbs, LEDs are polarised (Light Emitting Diode) and will not work if powered up backwards; you're unlikely to damage things, but the light will certainly not power up.

Conclusion: Well the lamp isn't water proof but should be fairly resilient to rain and the odd coffee spill (donut/twinkie jam might cause problems mind you). The only two real points of failure are the swing out arm and the power cables in the hinge area, however it's a good idea to fold the lamp head back into place when not in use, and the cables are only going to become damaged through severe abuse. The on/off button, specifically the rubber cover, should last for a considerable period of time.

Standard torches such as MagLites and SureFire torches are convenient things to have on you, but they aren't particularly light and not very comfortable stuck in a shirt pocket 24/7.

The QuiqLite can be stuck in your shirt pocket, or any other suitable area of your clothing and forgotten about until it's needed and is one of the brightest single LED light sources of this size you can get. There's certainly nothing else designed for this specific use out that that I know of.

If you could do with a decent illumination product or are just a bit of a gadget guru, head on over to 21st Century Airsoft and grab yourself on of these beauties.