Opinions on Elzetta lights

They’re a top notch weapons’ light for critical applications, like SureFire.

If you’re not into the ‘shooty’ stuff, or have firearms, there are probably better/cheaper choices out there.

Chris

I have lights on quite a few of my firearms. I have had a few surefires. had a streamlight or two as well. They lasted for a year or so. They broke. Got tired of sending them back. I started buying lights that had what I wanted and making them work for me. They have been going strong for years now. I am not one to leave anything well enough alone. :slight_smile:

A few of my fellow deputies carry them and regard them highly. For work or duty use these are in the top pick list. CR123A’s aren’t an issue as they can be found for a buck a piece or less and have a 30 year self life. The Bones model is 18650 ready.

I still have a bravo with avs head, and a m60 based 2 cell light. Meant to sell them though.

I do not like the beam from avs optics. The m60 light has a beam similar to that of a surefire e2d 200 lumen, still inferior though, beam has a ring, and less throwy.

I will not recommend bravo avs to my friend for $200. Maybe they have their values in terms of extreme reliability, I just don’t have a use for that. Similar situation for my hds, I agree it is a nice light, but not $200 nice to me. Again just too lazy to put them for sale.

Most of the quality Panasonic CR123As made in the USA and Japan, as well as the Sanyo~Japan sourced cells, have an expiry date of 10 years, not 30 years, but yeah…they should be a monetary problem for ‘departments,’ or people buying Elzettas.

It’s like the Ferrari owner worrying about tires, or an oil change.

Chris

Thanks everyone !

I found a lot of valuable information to consider. Also, it is so refreshing not to see fanboys in the posts. Just honest opinions. Exactly what I was looking for.

I like so many different lights from so many different manufacturers and for so many different reasons it is impossible to keep up with them. I think I will end up buying just the Charlie first or a Malkoff which I have also been looking at, however still can’t find the right one for me. I do have weapons and this light might go on an AR or AK. Thanks again everyone.

I am not looking for light that takes an 18650 unless it also takes 2 CR123A’s. I need a light that has cells that are CR123A’s. I only have one light that does not fit this criteria the Olight X7.

Without going into specifics too much, certain people are training now in sub zero temps for our next war. While I will not be in said war to my knowledge, I need to be prepared for anything. As should every single person right now on earth. I mean that.

I know some of you know just how bad things are about to get, and you better be prepared for NO one helping you and EVERYONE trying to kill you. I am sorry but the grim truth is if you are not prepared for no water, no food, no electricity, no emergency services, no medicines you might need, no communications except ham radio, no vehicles that will work unless they are older than 1995 (to be sure) you need to check your current conditions. I am sorry to get off topic here but if you think the markets are strong and the economy is strong, you are wrong. PERIOD!!! We are modern day Rome. Heads up people. I only say this to help my friends.

The AVS head can take 6-9 volts in regulation. AVS stands for Auto Voltage Sensing. At 6 volts you get 650 lumens on the 2 cell Bravo body and 900-930 really on the 3 cell Charlie body.

I am pretty sure the emitters are XM-L2 still.

I gave Elzetta lights serious consideration for a while, but eventually realized that while they are incredibly rugged, they’re far too over-built for my needs. I do not have any firearms so I don’t need weapon mounted lights that can deal with that kind of shock. My lights are not exposed to frequent hard knocks, submersion in mud, etc. If they were, I’d likely consider an Elzetta.

Which lights worked for you may I ask? If you are breaking Surefires even diving into rocks I can tell you been there done that and swam across rivers afterwards firearm submerged with the WML dozens and dozens of times my friend.

Please let me know what is better because I will be first in line to buy one.

Thank you for your input. I have only several LEO friends, but none of them have heard of Malkoff or Elzetta. Such is life.

Thank you very much for you opinion. Yes , I completely agree that not everyone needs a top tier weapon light and for those people the over built light is most likely not price justified. I understand that, In fact I have my next two light purchases narrowed down to a D18 and an Elzetta Charlie. If the Charlie works for me, I will be getting several. If the Emisar D18 works for me I will be getting more of them as well.

Thank you for your thoughts.

I completely respect your opinions and reasons why you have not sold them. I have Hinderer knives I should sell, and a lot of Benchmade highly limited runs (as in 50 made total) I should sell them as they are not being used, but I am not paying Bladeforums another dime just to sell my knives. I have been a member there since 1999 one year after they opened in Oct 1998. I am not paying 30 USD a year anymore to make someone rich to do nothing.

EDITED* Can you please explain why you do not like the optics from the AVS head sir ? Do you think the Charlie with the extra lumen would help or not?

Of course with no food, water or electricity we will all have a plentiful supply of CR123 batteries…

“Without going into specifics too much, certain people are training now in sub zero temps for our next war.”

IDK if Antarctica is really prime real estate. If that becomes arable land we have WAY bigger problems to worry about. :frowning:

We are training for Russia. And yes some of us have thousands of 123a cells. :person_facepalming:

But don’t worry Iran is next on our list according to people who planned every war since 1991.

The lights seem pretty steep. Considering most use CR123A vs 18650. The outputs are somewhat low as well. These would be in Surefire class. Due to being over priced with low outputs.

I have my old duty ASP Triad CR bored for 18650 as my home weapon light and its has held up well on a deployment and now on my ARX. I also just had a Nailbender P60 in a Solarforce host and it serves well except I dont care for it being 2 mode. The ASP light it perfect because it is a single mode with a twist tailcap to select momentary only or FWD clicky on. Sturdy light and not badly priced.

I got two bravos and a charlie. All with my name and phone number engraved on them. I always tell people “If you get an Elzetta, you won’t be sorry… Until the day you lose it., at which point you will be quite sorry indeed.” That’s why I put my number on them, one of my bravos was returned to me after being lost for two weeks. There’s still a few decent people still out there.
I had had some bad experiences with nitecore, and went searching for better reliability just at the time the bravo/charlie thing first happened. This means my elzettas are pretty close to as old as they get, going on six years now. At least one of them has been with me, all day, every single day since I got them. I believe the construction job I do is just about as punishing an environment they could be in. The amount of water and dust they have to put up with is extreme. I do a lot of plumbing, and it’s more than adequate for the purpose.

The flood lens (LENS, not reflector) is completely awesome for close up work. It surpasses ANY other system of reflector or diffuser. I cannot say enough good things about the flood lens. It must be experienced to see just how good it is. The throw lens on my Charlie is also extremely nice. In my opinion it’s these lenses that keep Elzetta a hair above Surefires of the same brightness.
Forget waterproof, you can take any Elzetta apart and put it back together WHILE IT’S UNDER WATER. One time an idiot dropped one of my bravos into a bucket of latex paint, I didn’t even think twice, I just hosed it off and put it back in my pocket. It pays to keep the threads screwed down tight, but the head tends to not light if it’s even a little loose… so it’s always tight. But it wouldn’t matter if it was a little loose.
Tough? I used to tell people, “Go ahead, throw it down the street as far as you can.” AND THEY DID. Five times it was thrown, I had to file off a small burr once. No damage to the light but it does hurt the batteries, so i had to stop throwing it.
No, they are not the brightest, but that’s really the point. You are not overdriving the battery, the LED, or the electronics. Long runtime! How often do you really need more than 650 lumens? Take it easy, cowboy. Just today I left it running under a dishwasher and went out to the truck for half an hour. It was barely warm. Still had enough battery to finish the install. I get about 75 minutes on a 3400 ma/h battery, and 60 of those minutes are at near full brightness.
The only thing that’s a little wonky is the high-low switch. It’s not perfect but it does hold low well, after you fidget with it for a second or two. The only time i use low is when the battery is low, and i need stretch time.

About this time you’re wondering if I’m getting paid, and the answer is no. I’m just an extremely satisfied customer. After six years, what’s not to love?
If you’re collecting, I could see passing it by. But if you’re going to trust your life to a light…
I say again: If you get an Elzetta, you will not be sorry… until you lose it.

More:
I got all of mine bored by Overready, but going forward I’m not so sure they’ll be doing it forever. You might be stuck with the Bones light if you don’t want 123’s.
Never really cared exactly what the emitter is, it’s 650 lumens of great tint and just about the highest CRI there is, You can rest assured that Elzetta is not using jenkem emitters.
Elzetta’s spokesman, Dave Barnett, is also just about as good as it gets. Highly recommend going to Elzetta’s blog page and he will clarify any concern you have. The two “beam” vids are must-see.

Outputs are low because these lights stay within the safe current draw for CR123 cells. Most of the “normal” brightness rating you see for these emitters are them being over-driven too, so the lower max outputs are to ensure long lifespan and reliability.

Wellp, thanks to vipon, I got a 16pak and 20pak of ’123s not that long ago…