I don’t think any decision has caused me this much anxiety.
I’m looking for a new flashlight to mount on an AR. Now, I’m not a flashlight guy so excuse me.
What I’m looking for:
300-500 lumen with low, high and strobe (moonlight would be a bonus)
Led
3"-4.5" long, bezel size I’m not to concerned about
I would like a lot of throw with good peripheral
Tail cap
And I want reliability, I’m not one to use cheap junk…not that I like to spend a lot of money. $100?
You will NOT find a reliable weapon light that fits all of your criteria. You’d be lucky to find one with a couple of features on your list. 500 lumens from a 3-4.5" light??? The only thing that comes to mind is a Surefire X300U… and you get one mode. Plus, the newer, higher-lumen lights use XM-L LEDs which have an enormous die size so there goes your throw. I’d say we’re at least 2-3 years out before you’re gonna find a light that will satisfy most of your needs. As ra2bach mentioned, multiple modes in a weapon light are not really necessary - especially a moonlight mode - just buy a damn LRI Photon for that purpose.
If you’re willing to hit the lower end of your lumens requirements, may I suggest a Malkoff E1 head (300 lumens) on a Surefire 1 x CR123 body with Z26 tailcap. It will set you back a little more cash than you wanted to spend ($70+ for the head, $50+ for a body on Ebay, and ~$27 for the Z26), but what you’ll be getting is a bomb-proof USA made light with a lifetime warranty that blows away the VTAC backup for roughly the same price. I’ve got two rifles with that setup and it’s the tits.
You asked for opinions and got them. You can say that Surefire is wayyy overpriced, but the fact remains they have an excellent and long standing track record and are in use by not only the military (across the world) but numerous trainers, LE and private security in the U.S.
The fact that you handicapped yourself by setting a ridiculously low price tells me that you haven’t done much research into the light market at all.
Foursevens quark series. The one I have has moonlight, low, high, burst, strobe, SOS strobe, and one more I can’t remember. The burst mode throws out around 700 lumens iirc and are priced around $70
I’ve been quite happy with my fenix tk11 but it doesn’t have strobe. That’s why I bought it. Rather than pressing the button multiple times for high low strobe you just twist the head for high low. Throw it in a good mount and call it a day.
I recently took it off my rifle and I now carry it on my duty belt while working. It will be replaced by an inforce wml.
Nope but they have a pretty great website and amazon has most models for cheaper. I really like that you program 2 modes at a time and switch them by twisting the head. I don’t use mine as a weapon light but it is my edc and had been great
this is backwards. for a light on a weapon you want the most reliable light in whatever form factor you prefer. Unless I’m mounting at 12:00, I still prefer a barrel light in a side rail mount rather than the TLRs or 300x. you need a single output so you don’t have to mess with it or worry about which mode it is in (shooting is distracting enough).
there are uses for those multiple mode lights - they are called handheld “backup” lights. my new favorite is the Streamlight Protac HL…
but to answer your original question, I would look at a TLR1-s. they have their own integrated mount and you can find them all day around $100 for the 300 lumen model. the newer TLR1-HL 630 lumen model is about $20-25 more. I don’t know if it has strobe but that wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me if it didn’t…
ETA: I just checked and it says User programmable strobe can be enabled/disabled, so there you go!
I have two of the protac HL’s and two of the trl 1 HL’s, both are great. One protac is in my bag I carry, the other is mounted on my 870. The trl 1’s are mounted on my glock 19 and KAC at 12 O’clock.
yep. love the Protac HL but I would NOT mount it on a rifle. I have TLR1s and Surefire 300x weapon lights on pistols and rifles. The TLR1s are not the HL model but the SF 300x is the new high lumen one - man is that bright…
because I shoot pistols left handed and rifles right handed, the Surefire is a better light for me on a pistol and I use the TLR on rifles at 12:00. I’ll eventually sell, trade, or give away all my lesser TLR1s and replace with the HL model.
I know SureFire has the reputation, but for my money, Streamlight is a great alternative…
No problem… I absolutely would not put a Fenix or Quark on a serious weapon. I was into Fenix back in 2005. They made cool AA lights back then - the last couple I owned died on me after less than a year of minimal use. David Chow is great guy and Quark lights are fun for pocket carry, but once again - not a weapon light. For the love of Jeebus, just spend a bit more and get a light that won’t fail you and has a lifetime warranty.
EDIT: I meant Z68 tailcap - the shrouded tailcap that comes with the scoutlights. They can be bought separately as well.