Pistol Lights Opinions

[No_Regerts]

Same.

Yep

 

[No_Regerts]

Same. X300. Every streamlight (weapon light) has given me issues. Their customer service is spot on though. I use a streamlight handheld for EDC though. That way I won't die a little inside when I loose a $100.00 + handheld light.

A had a nice surefire handheld that fell out of my pocket in a stall at the Chicago O'Hare airport. That really pissed me off. Now I carry a Streamlight 1L.

 

[BGP1776]

Used to run surefire and modlight on all of my pistols. Now I'm running olight. Rechargeable so no expensive batteries and they are as bright as anything else I've owned. Also give a great mil/leo discount

I have mostly Olight but one Streamlight TLR 1HL because there are so many more compatible holsters for it.

 

[AlaskinAssasin]

Odin And Dara are doing cuts for olight. I think it's only a matter of time before, streamlight, surefire, and modlight go to a rechargeable version. I see the need for batteries in the military where you can't guarantee you can charge every couple hours, but for the civilian sector, rechargeable is really convenient and less costly.

 

[Sekiro]

Odin And Dara are doing cuts for olight. I think it's only a matter of time before, streamlight, surefire, and modlight go to a rechargeable version. I see the need for batteries in the military where you can't guarantee you can charge every couple hours, but for the civilian sector, rechargeable is really convenient and less costly.

Streamlight, Surefire, Modlight, Cloud defensive, and Arisaka all already have lights that use rechargeable batteries. in fact, Olight is the worst of them all because you can't remove their rechargeable battery. while for the others, if the battery runs out, you can just pop a new rechargeable battery in and continue. Not only that, Olight's charger is proprietary which is awful. if you lose that dumb magnet charger, or if the built in battery eventually stops holding a charge long enough, good luck making your Olight work. Whereas the other lights made from the more reputable companies use common 18650 or 18350 rechargeable batteries that can be charged with many different chargers. Some of 18650 and 18350 batteries even have a built in micro USB port directly on the battery so all you need is a usb cable to charge it.

This is why i don't recommend Olight. Built in batteries and proprietary charging are a no go in my opinion.

 

[titsonritz]

Streamlight, Surefire, Modlight, Cloud defensive, and Arisaka all already have lights that use rechargeable batteries. in fact, Olight is the worst of them all because you can't remove their rechargeable battery. while for the others, if the battery runs out, you can just pop a new rechargeable battery in and continue. Not only that, Olight's charger is proprietary which is awful. if you lose that dumb magnet charger, or if the built in battery eventually stops holding a charge long enough, good luck making your Olight work. Whereas the other lights made from the more reputable companies use common 18650 or 18350 rechargeable batteries that can be charged with many different chargers. Some of 18650 and 18350 batteries even have a built in micro USB port directly on the battery so all you need is a usb cable to charge it.

This is why i don't recommend Olight. Built in batteries and proprietary charging are a no go in my opinion.

Cloud defensive and Arisaka currently do not offer pistol lights (the subject of the thread)

But, yes, I agree.

 

[Aero Denezol]

TLR-1

 

[Five-0]

I kind of like that dumb magnet charger and I don't lose my stuff. I chose Olight simply because the price and performance compared to the other popular brands. Its not something I use for my job, or do I need it to navigate my home in the dark. I like the rechargeable battery deal vs. buying expensive batteries.
I recently tested my gear in a match that was Halloween themed in the dark with smoke in the air. My Olight Odin on my rifle and PL Pro on my pistol ran flawless. I did have to really seek out a holster, but I carry a CZ so I'm used to that. I ordered online from a place called Kobra Kydex for my Olight on my P80 EDC build and had a local to me place called Rain City Tactical custom make one for my CZ with the light. Happy with both, if you look hard enough you will find what you need, maybe not on the shelf at the local gun shop but its out there. My advise to to look at all the online reviewers like MrGunsandgear, Garand Thumb etc. Those are two who I trust will give a thorough and honest review. There is no one best for all, we all have different needs, wants and resources. Good Luck!
Pic just because I like it!

 

[mkwerx]

I'm going with the TLR-7A for my gun. I put the flashlight purchase on hold until I pick up an MRDS for my Walther. I was going to put the TLR-7 on my M&P, but I think the Walther is going to replace that as my EDC pistol so it'll get a TLR-7, and I think I'll get a TLR-1HL for the M&P and it can become a dedicated HD / OWB carry gun.

 

[Kruel J]

I EDC an Olight Warrior Mini 2. I like their products and the company. That being said, I've had several failures with their handhelds. I burned clean trough a lens on a Warrior Mini….they're plastic. They fixed that with the Mini 2 but now my Mini 2 doesn't charge up all the way. I've tried the battery in different lights and they charge fine. I've tried different batteries in it and they won't charge. So it's the light itself. I also have a love/hate with their magnetic chargers. Hit or miss if they start charging and sometimes I'll catch one randomly going red and then green for a few seconds then red again. I have probably 10 of their charging dongles and they seem to all do it. Not very confidence inspiring.

I'd not choose Olight for a WML.

 

[mkwerx]

I EDC an Olight Warrior Mini 2. I like their products and the company. That being said, I've had several failures with their handhelds. I burned clean trough a lens on a Warrior Mini….they're plastic. They fixed that with the Mini 2 but now my Mini 2 doesn't charge up all the way. I've tried the battery in different lights and they charge fine. I've tried different batteries in it and they won't charge. So it's the light itself. I also have a love/hate with their magnetic chargers. Hit or miss if they start charging and sometimes I'll catch one randomly going red and then green for a few seconds then red again. I have probably 10 of their charging dongles and they seem to all do it. Not very confidence inspiring.

I'd not choose Olight for a WML.

Its a little more of a pain than the magnetic dongle thingy - but the 18650 USB chargable batteries in my Streamlight PolyTac work well. I have two batteries I swap between, and the light can always run on a pair of CR1234A batteries, but you get more oomph from the 18650. I use my EDC light a lot - walking the doggos in the morning and night - plus random daily tasks - I probably have close to an hour a day of run time on the lights, so every day or two I swap the batteries on the charger. Best $50 light I've had.

 

[ALapping]

I know Olight gets alot of hate, I personally have had 0 issues with them. Started with one, it probably has a couple thousand rounds total while mounted. Have 2 more with now several hundred. I at some point will get the OWL from cloud for my goto SBR though. My 2cents.

 

[Kruel J]

I know Olight gets alot of hate, I personally have had 0 issues with them. Started with one, it probably has a couple thousand rounds total while mounted. Have 2 more with now several hundred. I at some point will get the OWL from cloud for my goto SBR though. My 2cents.

No hate here at all. Just my experience. I'm glad others have had better luck. I still own over 10 of their products for what it's worth.

 

[ALapping]

No hate here at all. Just my experience. I'm glad others have had better luck. I still own over 10 of their products for what it's worth.

I didn't even see your post till after I posted mine. Totally not directed at you.

 

[OldBroad44]

I don't use a flashlight mounted on a firearm. if its dark I carry a flashlight in one hand and the handgun in the other. I dislike the idea of a flash mounted on a handgun as the only flash, as you would need to sweep the suspect area, pointing the gun at potentially innocents before lighting them up and identifying whether they are a threat or not.

My other objection is that apparently bad guy may shoot at the flash, either through instinct or deliberate tactics. And if flash is on the gun hes going to put a bullet in your head, neck, or chest. So I've practiced the manuever where you hold flash in left hand a little above head and off to the left by two feet or more. This lights up your own gun to your own eyes while misleading bad guy as to your position. I used this maneuver once when dealing with a home invader. It worked fine. However, you would want to practice the maneuver as part of your self defense drills, not try it for the first time when dealing with a home invader in the dark. I could have turned the room light on, incidentally, but did not. I figured that I had a powerful flashlight, and bad guy probably didnt. In addition, I had greater advantage in the dark since I knew the inside of my home and bad guy didnt. In addition, with the flash and the specialized shooting stance I might be able to deceive bad guy as to my position, so even if he had a gun he might shoot to my left instead of at me. I also figured that after bad guy was spotlighted he would be nearly blind, which would be demoralizing, making withdrawing back to where there were at least street lights all the more attractive to him.

 

[mkwerx]

I don't use a flashlight mounted on a firearm. if its dark I carry a flashlight in one hand and the handgun in the other. I dislike the idea of a flash mounted on a handgun as the only flash, as you would need to sweep the suspect area, pointing the gun at potentially innocents before lighting them up and identifying whether they are a threat or not.

My other objection is that apparently bad guy may shoot at the flash, either through instinct or deliberate tactics. And if flash is on the gun hes going to put a bullet in your head, neck, or chest. So I've practiced the manuever where you hold flash in left hand a little above head and off to the left by two feet or more. This lights up your own gun to your own eyes while misleading bad guy as to your position. I used this maneuver once when dealing with a home invader. It worked fine. However, you would want to practice the maneuver as part of your self defense drills, not try it for the first time when dealing with a home invader in the dark. I could have turned the room light on, incidentally, but did not. I figured that I had a powerful flashlight, and bad guy probably didnt. In addition, I had greater advantage in the dark since I knew the inside of my home and bad guy didnt. In addition, with the flash and the specialized shooting stance I might be able to deceive bad guy as to my position, so even if he had a gun he might shoot to my left instead of at me. I also figured that after bad guy was spotlighted he would be nearly blind, which would be demoralizing, making withdrawing back to where there were at least street lights all the more attractive to him.

There are simple techniques for using a weapon mounted light to avoid pointing your muzzle at the target - if you're in a building, you bounce the light off the floor or ceiling. Use momentary, flash the light a second, then move. You don't have to turn the light on and leave it on, or leave it on for more than a second to ID a target as a friendly or hostile. If its a hostile and they're armed, you shoot. If they go hands up - you can hold the light on them and give commands. If its a friendly, you aren't muzzling them and you can stand down.

If you're outside, you can aim the light near the target and still use light splash to illuminate the area.

There are stories of criminals shooting "at the light" but nothing confirmed that the *light* is actually what they were shooting toward - could very well be they'd already ID'd you and were going to send rounds that way anyway, and the reason people get shot in the hands/arms so much with a weapon light - the gun is usually out in front already anyway, and even without a light, in force on force training you typically see people being shot in the hands / arms / extremities. That's why its becoming more common for people to carry tourniquets too.

Thankfully there's multiple ways of skinning a cat, and the use of a weapon mounted light doesn't preclude you from using a handheld light as you mention - but it gives you the ability to hold a subject at gunpoint, with a light illuminating them with one hand, and use your phone to call 9-1-1 on the other, or otherwise manipulate something with one hand while keeping a light and gun on the hostile.

 

[sobo]

There are simple techniques for using a weapon mounted light to avoid pointing your muzzle at the target - if you're in a building, you bounce the light off the floor or ceiling. Use momentary, flash the light a second, then move. You don't have to turn the light on and leave it on, or leave it on for more than a second to ID a target as a friendly or hostile. If its a hostile and they're armed, you shoot. If they go hands up - you can hold the light on them and give commands. If its a friendly, you aren't muzzling them and you can stand down.

If you're outside, you can aim the light near the target and still use light splash to illuminate the area.

There are stories of criminals shooting "at the light" but nothing confirmed that the *light* is actually what they were shooting toward - could very well be they'd already ID'd you and were going to send rounds that way anyway, and the reason people get shot in the hands/arms so much with a weapon light - the gun is usually out in front already anyway, and even without a light, in force on force training you typically see people being shot in the hands / arms / extremities. That's why its becoming more common for people to carry tourniquets too.

Thankfully there's multiple ways of skinning a cat, and the use of a weapon mounted light doesn't preclude you from using a handheld light as you mention - but it gives you the ability to hold a subject at gunpoint, with a light illuminating them with one hand, and use your phone to call 9-1-1 on the other, or otherwise manipulate something with one hand while keeping a light and gun on the hostile.

Thank you for that. I was going to say the same thing. I have taken several live-fire trainings in the dead of night in the use of WMLs, and they all say the same thing. There's no reason to sweep anyone with a WML if you use the light "splash" for illumination to ID a potential threat.

 

[PDX_Schmoogle]

Never used to carry a WML on my EDC, but after moving to Portland I realized pretty much all of the sketchy bubblegum tends to happen at night, and for the entire winter it is pretty much dark when I leave the house, dark when I go home, so it makes a ton of sense to have a light on the gun.
Be realistic: When was the last time you trained your draw with drawing your EDC light in the other hand? It's pretty much impossible in a high stress situation. You're already going to be trying to clear a garment for the draw, now you're going to add grabbing a EDC light too? It's just too complicated, unless you just train all day every day.
Plus, if your off-hand is busy holding a light, how are you going to reload? How are you going to clear a jam? What if one hand is busy trying to grapple with the assailant? What if one hand got injured?
I used to think a WML would be a 'nice to have' item, but I now view it as a necessity.

As far as specific lights, I have had a couple of Olight WMLs and EDC lights. My experience was that they are fantastic EDC lights, but I will never use their WMLs. I had too many weird cases where the PL2 refused to turn on unless I re-seated the batteries, and the QD mounts they use are convenient but it is way too easy to just twist them right off the rail without loosening the latch.
I had an Olight Warrior 2 (or something like that?) which had similar issues when mounted on an AR pistol, and the way they designed the pressure switch was such that you couldn't remove the tailcap without unfastening the switch from your handguard, which is really inconvenient when it doesn't just snap onto the pickledilly like the Surefire switches do. This means you'll have to cut your zip ties, tape, or whatever else you must have used to mount the switch. It just really strikes me a poorly thought out design, clearly made for a hobbyist and not a professional.

As soon as I went to Surefire M300/M600 and X300U, not a single problem. The X300U is a legend for a reason, it just never quits. Yes, it is extremely uncomfortable to carry AIWB. You could probably be fine with a TLR-7 or something like that too, I have heard good things, but I have never used one.
The M300/M600 product is fairly basic in concept, but it's all the little details that they got right that really makes it sing. The battery is removed from the lens side of the housing instead of the tail, solving the tailcap issue (even though the tailcap can be unplugged from the switch cable...). The mount is easily swapped out for a huge range of aftermarket options, guaranteed you will find one that is exactly what you wanted. The pressure switch is molded in a way that snaps right onto pickledilly, so while you can certainly use zip ties to secure it permanently, you don't need to. Even if you do, you can just unplug it from the tailcap if you need to remove the light for some reason.
I have heard Arisaka and Modlight are fantastic too, just haven't used them yet.

My EDC pocket light is, and likely always will be, an Olight. But I promise you my WML will always be a Surefire. That is an item that you really cannot afford to have malfunction.

 

[OldBroad44]

Naw. I've both practiced the use of gun with light in separate hand and used it in a home invasion emergency too. Its easy and natural. I had no trouble using it in an emergency. It slowed me down not at all. Admittedly the gun and flash were both on the nightstand so all I had to do was grab both. But if I were carrying at night my EDC would be holstered on my right side under a loose shirt or coat and the flash would be in my left pocket. So deploying both would be about as fast. Deploying gun from concealment is something I've practiced with an empty gun. The one time I had to do it for real it was so fast that the gun seemed to just appear in my hands the instant the robber started charging me.

If you practice with one hand from various positions and orientations, adding a light in the other hand is just a minor natural modification. My EDC is a revolver. I'm not figuring on reloading. If I can't solve the problem with six shots it will likely be because I'm already dead. If someone is grappling with and trying to kill me, admittedly I couldn't deploy light and gun in separate hands. However, the main reason you need a light is to identify the target and see if its an enemy. If someone has grabbed me and is hitting, kicking, choking, or trying to rape me or render me helpless I don't need a flashlight to tell if they are an enemy.

If one hand is tied up because you're grappling with an attacker and your semiauto jams, you aren't going to be able to clear the jam. And your semiautomatic is more likely to jam under such circumstances because your gripping will be different. No particular weapon with whatever accessories solves all problems and scenarios.

 

[American123]

Streamlight TLR HL 800-1000 lumens depending on what year I bought it.

Generally you will need to do holster/gun/light research before buying anything to make sure what you are putting together will actually have a decent holster for that configuration.