Weapon light suggestions

[PappyM3]

Stream light TLR1-HL
Surefire G2 in a ring mount
Arisaka with Modlite PHLv2
Inforce WML

All are great options that I’ve used. Im sure a Surefire 600 is great too, just haven’t used it. I will say the light output is amazing on the modlite, but for home defense is overkill.

Another option I’ve tried that I really like is the Inforce WML. I hear their pistol lights suck, but I’ve had good experiences with their rifle WML if you don’t need longer range throw. I’ll also say that have the White/IR version for mil use, so that button is my experience. The button operates differently for just the white light variant. Not sure if that variant functions well, but I like mine. No silly strobe feature.

 

[fshalor]

It also give the intruder a target.

Correct. Sometimes that may even be themselves.

The only "gunfight" I've ever almost sort of been in involved a dark dirt parking lot, at 11:15 PM, on a college campus.

Car pulled up behind me, blocking my truck in. Door opened. I shined flashlight. Shot rang out and car sped away.

Dude in the passenger seat for dropped off with a hole in his arm at the local ER by the driver.

 

[xtry51]

Indoor specific recommendation. Rifle I still like the original TRL-1 or WML. For pistol Olight PL-mini 2.

If you have white walls in your house I strongly caution how bright you go. You can blind yourself if you're waking up and using it. I cannot recommend enough that whatever you choose you test indoors on a moonless night. Set an alarm for 3am, wake up and clear your house.

 

[Bladerunner]

Do not get anything under 500 lumens!!!
Make sure it turns on BEFORE it CLICKS on. That way you can turn it on and off quietly before fully clicking it on.


RC

Yeah and blind yourself in the process. Even a couple hundred lumens inside a light colored home is going to light shit up like a xmas tree.

Choose a light that is reliable and appropriate for the space you will be protecting.

 

[dcmdon]

If someone is walking up the stairs in the dark, a sudden 800+lumens to the face from the top of the stairs does two things. 1. Temporarily blinds the Walker, 2 gives the person upstairs a chance of making sure it's not the cat. (Or 2 year old Lucy Whoo Daughter )

And if they are armed, they will immediately shoot at the light source.

 

[dcmdon]

Indoor specific recommendation. Rifle I still like the original TRL-1 or WML. For pistol Olight PL-mini 2.

If you have white walls in your house I strongly caution how bright you go. You can blind yourself if you're waking up and using it. I cannot recommend enough that whatever you choose you test indoors on a moonless night. Set an alarm for 3am, wake up and clear your house.

Yup. Down the off-white hall of my home, where the bedrooms are, 250 lumens is much more than enough.

My plan is NOT to do room clearing, but simply get to the kids, and retreat to a "safe space". Then defend that space.

The Stramlight TR1HL is a fantastic product for an unbelievable price. Seriously, its amazing. But its too much light for indoor use. Unless you live in a gymnasium with black walls.

 

[dcmdon]

Just my opinion but I can't see a light on a home defense weapon at night, seems like that you would make a nice target. I could be wrong.

It can be useful. But its not a replacement for a handheld light. You do your sweeps with the handheld light. Not with the weapon mounted light. Primarily because if its your kid sneaking in from a night of fun, do you really want to be sweeping her with the muzzle while searching.

The surefire and smith and wesson classes I took all REQUIRED a handheld light and had a weapon mounted light as optional.

The hand held light should have a lanyard that goes around your wrist so you can use your hand if necessary and a momentary contact tailcap switch.

 

[ReluctantDecoy]

Yeah and blind yourself in the process. Even a couple hundred lumens inside a light colored home is going to light shit up like a xmas tree.

Choose a light that is reliable and appropriate for the space you will be protecting.

I agree. My 200 lumen pistol light is enough to light up a 500 sq ft room to the point of clearly seeing what it's pointing at and a decent spread around it. Given that most instances I would already have night-adjusted eyes, I'm not sure how much higher than that I'd want to go for that application. But I'm in a relatively small urban condo. I'm sure there are other needs for some people.

Now if we're talking about outside use, then I suppose the higher the better. But there's also something to be said about throw and focus spread per application.

 

[fshalor]

It can be useful. But its not a replacement for a handheld light. You do your sweeps with the handheld light. Not with the weapon mounted light. Primarily because if its your kid sneaking in from a night of fun, do you really want to be sweeping her with the muzzle while searching.

The surefire and smith and wesson classes I took all REQUIRED a handheld light and had a weapon mounted light as optional.

The hand held light should have a lanyard that goes around your wrist so you can use your hand if necessary and a momentary contact tailcap switch.

I think we are on the same page here.
Bump in the night response is a Glock 19 with a surefire K2 (on a K1 body) around 200 lumens, very even spread and used weekly for things around house in its sister identical form. (I have two identical lights).

Momentary is vital. Lanyard is vital.

All the rifles have lights. But If those get used, the pistol was used to fight to those and threats have already been engaged.

Edit: Not Attached K2. Nothing on the G19 except skin and oil.

 

[beaker]

I am upgrading the older Surefire light on my go to rifle at the moment. I decided on a Streamlight HL-X rifle light (which is compatible with Scout mounts, and comes with a robust rail mount already) which I picked up for $109. The only issue I have turned up related to the HL-X light is the tape switch may not be 100% waterproof and there are some that complain about the rotating wire shroud on the tail cap. So I also have on order a Surefire UE07 Tape Switch, and as soon as they are available will pick up an Arisaka Tailcap Adapter which lets you use the Surefire switch. So for $109 + $80 + $38 you get a light that actually performs better than the Surefire M600 as far as throw, and the reliability of the Surefire tape switch for less than just buying the Surefire M600 light by itself. I am also splurging for a Cloud Defense light control system mount for the tape switch, but that isn't necessary.

A Surefire M600 will be $280-$300 (light) +$80 (lowest cost tape switch) + a light mount so somewhere around $400+. Streamlight has gained a lot of ground with LEO's, I have a few pistol lights and they have performed extremely well. I think the old marketing slogan about use Surefire because your life depends on it is a bit worn out given the other options available today, but there is no question they are great lights.

Out of stock, but due in in a couple of weeks:

Tailcap Adapter - Streamlight Protac Railmount HL-X - Arisaka

The Arisaka Tailcap Adapter allows Streamlight Protac Rail Mount HL-X lights to use Surefire Scout tailcaps and remote switches. In particular,...

arisakadefense.com

 

[Soundwave]

Their protac line is made in China.

 

[Brewer]

Don't be a pansy.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItGBVax1ojQ

 

[Camhabib]

My $0.0001, if your life depends on it, SureFire. Anything else is going to be <90% as good (at best). Thinking about that another way, would you want a 90% as reliable a pistol to save a few dollars?

 

[92G]

My $0.0001, if your life depends on it, SureFire. Anything else is going to be <90% as good (at best). Thinking about that another way, would you want a 90% as reliable a pistol to save a few dollars?

^evidence?
my 3 TLR1’s have seen insane number of rounds and heavy use without a single issue. My X300-B was over twice their price and does nothing better other than being larger and making AIWB holsters bulkier. The toggle switches can get pulled off during use, which cannot happen w a TLR1. the X300 also lacks the nifty spring that makes swapping on/off rail so easy w a streamlight. Surefire lights are expensive because you’re paying for the name. It’s unfortunately that simple. my TLR1’s are all mounted to pistols. My X300 is still looking for a job. I dig Surefire products just not enough to drop the coin on them.

for EDC lights I go between an Olight S2R baton II and a streamlight 2L-X, in part due to excellent flush fit to pocket. in my world it’s cooler to have extra chromosomes than a flashlight visible in your pocket. Now I’d love to purchase a Surefire EDCL2-T but I could have like 3 Olights or 4 streamlights for that $$.

 

[Camhabib]

^evidence?
my 3 TLR1’s have seen insane number of rounds and heavy use without a single issue. My X300-B was over twice their price and does nothing better other than being larger and making AIWB holsters bulkier. The toggle switches can get pulled off during use, which cannot happen w a TLR1. the X300 also lacks the nifty spring that makes swapping on/off rail so easy w a streamlight. Surefire lights are expensive because you’re paying for the name. It’s unfortunately that simple. my TLR1’s are all mounted to pistols. My X300 is still looking for a job. I dig Surefire products just not enough to drop the coin on them.

for EDC lights I go between an Olight S2R baton II and a streamlight 2L-X, in part due to excellent flush fit to pocket. in my world it’s cooler to have extra chromosomes than a flashlight visible in your pocket. Now I’d love to purchase a Surefire EDCL2-T but I could have like 3 Olights or 4 streamlights for that $$.

You’re certainly right that there is some brand premium you’re paying for, but just keep in mind, the question is if another brand is as good as SureFire, it’s never if SureFire is as good as another brand, and there’s likely a reason for that. Some people have posted comparison on a few of the flashlight forums and while you can debate if they’re worth the premium, they’re definitely overbuilt.

 

[Soundwave]

Surefire just seems to have too many overlapping products. So it's like do I want the scout light , mini scout light, m300c scout light or m600u scout light. They're all the same price!?

 

[xtry51]

I habe a TRL-1 that has been on a rifle for many years. All types of weather. Very reliable.

I have WMLx first generation since the year they came out on my primary rifle. Probably 20k rounds.

I've got nothing against Surefire from the ones I've seen, but I don't see the price value. Maybe back before LEDs were so prevelant and reliable it made a diff. Today I dont see it. I've got a bucket full of Mag Lites in my basement. They're bulletproof but I'd never intentionally use one. I'd grab my $15 Amazon LED over them in a heartbest. I think of Surefire in exactly the same way.

 

[beaker]

My $0.0001, if your life depends on it, SureFire. Anything else is going to be <90% as good (at best). Thinking about that another way, would you want a 90% as reliable a pistol to save a few dollars?

Yea lots of people say that, what is the evidence though? Surefire are great products for sure, probably the best overall, but a lot of LEO's use Streamlights, are they all taking their lives in their hands every night? I have a TLR light on a rifle with many thousands of rounds, never an issue, as well as another TLR on a G21 with well over 1k rounds, never an issue. There are other games in town, and very viable ones at that. I have equipped other pistols with Olights (PL-2's are my favorite, and one PL2 Mini on a stock G15 which is tiny and quite excellent), I think they are better, also never an issue.

 

[PappyM3]

You’re certainly right that there is some brand premium you’re paying for, but just keep in mind, the question is if another brand is as good as SureFire, it’s never if SureFire is as good as another brand, and there’s likely a reason for that. Some people have posted comparison on a few of the flashlight forums and while you can debate if they’re worth the premium, they’re definitely overbuilt.

Surefire used to be the best, but now you can get Surefire Scout compatible bodies from places like Arisaka, and add Modlite heads which far surpass surefire output and are just as durable. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, Streamlight TLR1s are 100% just as good as Surefire pistol lights, but cheaper.

Surefire used to be THE game in town aside from insight lights for the Army, but there are a lot of better or cheaper competitors now with the same durability. I’d very willingly put an Inforce WML white/IR, Arisaka/Modlite, or Streamlight TLR on an issued M4 for a deployment, just the same as a Surefire.

Surefire is still good though and fine recommendation.

Edit: Modlite vs Surefire comparison, and tell me which is best.

Modlite OKW (less flood, more throw) & Modlite PLH v2

Surefire EDCL2 & Surefire 600DF

 

[ChevyGuy91]

I’d very willingly put an Inforce WML white/IR, Arisaka/Modlite, or Streamlight TLR on an issued M4 for a deployment, just the same as a Surefire.

These guys are talking about blinding themselves with AA cell Mini Maglights, a Modlite head would probably give them 1st degree face burns off their mirror walls.

 

[PappyM3]

These guys are talking about blinding themselves with AA cell Mini Maglights, a Modlite head would probably give them 1st degree face burns off their mirror walls.

I should thank the gods that I still have my retinas intact after shining my PLHv2 on the light/white walls in my house. I should probably stop so I don’t end up like this guy:

 

[ChevyGuy91]

I should thank the gods that I still have my retinas intact after shining my PLHv2 on the light/white walls in my house. I should probably stop so I don’t end up like this guy:
View attachment 367411

LOL, same with me and my M600DF.

One of these days I'd like to play with a Modlite head.

 

[Caveman]

I have a streamlight TRL-1 HL with a remote pressure switch on my long gun incase I need to look out into the surrounding woods. A Inforce on my Scorpion Micro K bedside. And a Surefire on my 870.

 

[dcmdon]

My $0.0001, if your life depends on it, SureFire. Anything else is going to be <90% as good (at best). Thinking about that another way, would you want a 90% as reliable a pistol to save a few dollars?

I had a TLR1HL on a G17 for a couple of years. It always worked. Over the course of roughly 5000 rounds. Most of which was two 2-day classes at Sig. Roughly 2500 rounds over those 4 days of classes. The light has never failed to turn on when the switch is pressed.

It didn't shoot loose at any time. It is perfect.

Its also too bright. I've learned that since then. But as far as reliability, its hard to beat.

I've really actually never heard of TLR1 failures. I'm sure they have occurred, but the light is generally considered to be reliable.

If a Streamlight was 90% as good as a surefire, I get yoru point.

But what if the streamlight is 99.99% as good as a surefire while still costing only about 35% as much as a surefire. I think that's closer to reality.