I have been looking into the surefire M900 vertical grip light. A buddy of mine has one, and i have really tossed the idea around of buying one, but am having trouble forking out the dough. I saw a couple replicas out there and was wondering if anyone has had any hands on experience with any of them, and how they compare to the surefire. Thanks for the help…
would you rather stake your life on the original design from the original designers or someone who backwards engineered it and made guesses. also may i point out that the replicas are almost always inferior, made with inferior parts by inferior labor. buy once or buy several times, you’ll still spend the same ammount at the end of the day. there is a thread around here somewhere with compare contrast facts and i wouldnt waste my cash on a replica personally. so in summary dont buy the crap immitations, they are for airsoft and mall ninja’s
Bro, someone had a thread on this topic that got sent down the shit can.
M4Carbine is not the place for the discussion of knockoffs and replicas.
Dude, suck it up and get the 900. You won’t look back.
This has been covered many times. Do a search for “Surefire M900”- there are something around 456 million threads on the topic. My summary of the discussions, as colored by my opinion and experience.
1- Don’t buy knock-offs. Ever. No matter how good or cheap it is supposed to be. If you have to ask why- read more.
2- The SF M900 is a viable piece of kit, but is bulky, heavy, and expensive.
3- There are better AND cheaper options, and 6 oclock is not the optimal placement for a light.
I think F2S pretty much covered the bases on it. In case you missed what he was saying knock-offs are great in airsoft fairyland, but have no legitimate uses in the real world of life and death.
Thanks for the info guys. I was most likely gonna go and buy the surefire anyways, but just wanted some objective opinions on some other brands. Thanks…
The new 900’s shown at shot were really nice…if you shop around you will probably be able to find a used 900 for a good price as it seems allot of ppl just have to have the latest kit. Fuck a knock off
NEW 900-series lights?
Any links/info/pics/etc.?
I’d love to know if they’ve cut down the weight, and added an LED main lamp. I’d REALLY like to know if they’ve dumped the A.R.M.S. mount…
900V
70 lum LED 2.5hrs
75mw IR TBD
1lbs 41 ounces
Has a selector ring on bzl to switch from led to IR
900L
350 Lum LED 1.5hrs
910A
125/225 Lum INC 1hr/20min
Filter for IR optional
I had one on my M4 on my last trip to the sand box. I also had an ACOG TA01NSN. I liked the light alot, it was very easy to use and had great throw and sturdy construction. I was issued the one with the ARMS mount and never had trouble with it. It is heavy…but it is also very robust, and the weight didn’t bother me that much because the weight of the rifle was very marginal compared to the rest of my kit.
Pros:
I liked the ambi pads on the grip and while it forced you to use a conventional grip around the VFG, it worked well, if you want pressure pads, this is the way to do it. We were using one (not mounted on a rifle) to fix a LMTV in the middle of the night, we had the cab tilted forward and the fan blades spinning…one of the mechanics dropped the M900 into the fan and while the main lense was cracked and one of the LED’s chopped off, the other LED worked…which was seriouesly impressive. Additionally, I really liked the ability to very positivly turn the light off (very useful for when you want to avoid white light AD’s enroute to your destination / or daylight shooting to avoid draining the batteries), and the equally positive way to enable constant illumination, which does happen once everything has calmed down. Additionally the 6 O’clock position is superior to 9 and 3, but not to 12. The LED Navigation light were cool…but honestly I can’t remember I time when I used them.
Cons:
Heavy, if you want to sandbag rest your rifle, its not as stable as a Non VFG equiped rifle. Additionally there is only way to activate the light is by using the pressure pads, which makes it difficult to use in the prone, where I prefer not to use the VFG, just my preference.
All in all its a solid piece of gear, if it works for you great, but I think most users would be better served w/ a surefire Scout / millenium / X300 / or G2 LED. Just my thoughts YMMV.
Found Pics!
900-IR
900-LED
I’m stoked to see what the new mount is like; as well that dual IR/LED option on the IR model looks to be ingenius.
That, and they’re just plain gorgeous. I’m curious to see what the price point ends up being. If I’m not mistaken, both are weatherproof.
Anyone know what the new ones are going for price wise? After playing around with the old one, the only feature i wish surefire would have added would be that instead of killing the whole light with the off switch, i wish the off switch at the bottom of the grip would just kill the pressure switches. It would eliminate the risk of light ADs if you were concerned about them, but also giving you the ability to turn the light on if you want. Just a thought.
Gunner: What you’re suggesting sounds good, but I’m assuming these ponies are pretty much out of the stable.
I’m just happy they ditched the incan, and finally released an LED version.
I have a feeling they’re going to be higher than what we’re seeing floating around for the 900s and 910s. I’ll be absolutely SHOCKED if we see these under $750.
$750 would hurt… The wife would probably flip… I will probably buy the older one… Thanks…
Put a quality-name LED light in a LaRue QD mount mounted at 1500. Buy a VFG of your choice w/o an integrated light. Spend the rest on something nice for your wife.
POF: That’s reason and logic talking. Sometimes the seductive lure of the cool guy gear is too great for one’s willpower.
In all honesty you could go out and by a Daniel Defense rail system that mounts around the FSB and you could buy a Surefire X300 to mount at 12:00 (which is probably the best light position there is) and still come out ahead of what you’d pay just for the VFG light from Surefire.
Surefire makes some good products, but everything in their lineup isn’t as sensible as the G2 or the X series weapon lights.
I bought one from Grant 4-07. I had wanted one for so long I got it … it sat in its box. It is all the things Rocket20 Ginsu sez.
This what I opted for and have not looked back and it was free - sort of.
http://www.pentagonlight.com/item_detail.cfm__id.450
and this is a must http://www.pentagonlight.com/item_detail.cfm__id.166
Michael
I myself was going to pick one up, but I really would rather side mount my light after doing some training and talking to some people about it. they are very nice but having a nice light FVG and a Surefire is hard to beat… and you can flip off your light if you are using a LaRue mount and just use your FVG or the other way around… rather then having the light on the FVG… they are very tacticool but there are better options imo now…
Alright well i finally have one coming. Looking forward to it after playing around with my buddies for a week or so. Definitely appreciate everyones insights.