Thanks guys I appreciate the info
Thanks for your comments on the Utorchs Todd. I was wondering if anyone had tried them out.
This…
I never had any problems with any of my Surefire WML’s I have had dozens of them. rifle, shotgun, pistol. I would never trust my life to a 18.00 light. To each their own.
1 Thank
DOZENS OF THEM ???
That adds up to about $3000 to $6,000 in weapons lights. If they’re that good, why did you need dozens of them ?
unless you have dozens of weapons and put one on each one? Even still there’s no guarantees.
To each his own…
I have a few firearms. That is all I am saying about the number. I have never replaced a single one of my weapon lights none have ever had any issues. BTW: Your sig line could not be more true. I like it.
Anyone ever consider taking a good host like an L2M, loading it with a ruggedised/potted drop-in, and using that?
The L2M comes with a FC switch, and especially if used in short bursts can easily push out 1000lm. “Standard” size to mount to rails, too.
As others have touched on, you’re not buying the lumens. You’re buying the confidence that the light will continue working after being run over, dunked in a pool, and smashed through a car window. The other part of the higher price - traditionally they come from companies that build for government / LEO / Military clients.
I just got an Olight PL Mini 2 as part of a trade. I do like the size and price. I’m on the fence regarding the interface. Maybe it’s my familiarity and muscle memory, and maybe it’s having to hit the toggle in a specific way, and maybe it’s the lack of a momentary in one direction and ON in the other…. I do know it took me a minute to figure it out. Physical quality though - it appears to be quite good.
Any Olight folks here? It would be interesting to have a little more runtime and a laser. It’s time the venerable TLR-2 had some good competition. (and why the different magnetic charger cable design?)
Now, to $18 WML / pistol lights vs the bigger brands. It’s a fact of life - to get the price that low, important corners were cut. On a fun gun or one used to check the yearly suburban bump in the night this might be an option. The impact of a door / spring / mount failure is fairly low in that use case.
$50-$75? I’d be really interested to see what could be whipped up by dedicated enthusiasts at that price point.
I don’t own any weapon lights, but I can see one advantage an inexpensive budget light may have: simplicity.
There simply isn’t a lot to break in a basic budget light with a standard design. To make it sufficient for weapon use, just open it up, check the solder and pot everything in epoxy. Should be good to go.
So here is my take on having 4 different WML lights.
1. Surefires rocking toggle switch is a major PITA. I hate it. It is on a secondary bump in the night stick. (HL100 XL, I think it the model I don’t remember as I am at work right now.)
2. Olight I have 2 of these. Valkyrie and Mini. Full size Valkyrie is ok, it checks most of the boxes and it has some issues (feels plastic y, is a different UI). The mini requires to much pressure to activate but it is hella small.
3. L2P from Solarforce. (It is a knock off of surefire, not sure what one but it is of one of them.) I use this on a rifle, so the needs are different. I have had zero issues with it. It is not the brightest, has a single mode, but it has survived a carbine class with out issue. So far so good. Funny thing is that it just seems to work for what I need it to do. I don’t have a pressure switch on it, just the light m-locked to the hand guard. Nothing fancy, just a light that is good for about 50-100 yards.
IMO, you need 150-300 for a handgun, and 600 for a rifle unless you are hunting, and that would take a different light altogether. Again my opinion.* I am not a tactical operator operating operationally tactical*. I am a father, that has a home, that police response times are in the 15-30 minute time frame if I am lucky. I am not in Mogadishu, Iran, Iraq, or other third world country holding the line against 50-100 rebels from outer space and there invisible deity of choice. My biggest concerns are the moose that just knocked over my new fence, the brown bear knocking over my garbage can, and the meth head trying to steel the propane tank from my BBQ.
The biggest issue with most WML is people want it to work every time and be put through the ringer. They want it to be affordable. They also would like it to “Feel” durable. Even Magpul when they first arrived on the market had a hard row to go when convincing people their mags are as good or better than the old GI aluminum ones.
Accessory items for sale in the firearms world is where most of the money is made in brick and mortar stores, so no one wants to sell a $20 buck item when you can sell a $150.00 item that does the same thing. Also gun store sales clerks, and the gun community are also some of the cheapest people out there that will tear a product down faster than BLF could ever think about. If they don’t feel like it is more durable, faster, more intuitive, save you when the world is about to collapse, call in the cavalry, bless you with +20 accuracy, and have a good tested proven company name behind it. Most likely it will fail. I watched one clerk throw a first gen magpul AR mag at a wall then claim it would not feed (It still did after 10-15 hard throws while fully loaded against that same concrete wall. Never mind the jump stops on the side of it from a 250+lbs over aged man child. Side note most metal mags would not stand up to that abuse either The man child got mad when I pointed that out to him.)
The firearms industry is a very cruel mistress, for every 500 products that try 2-3 will succeed in market to make it to common availability. (I still do not know how keltec is still in business…)
Sorry for the wall of words.
If you attach an A6 to your firearm I don’t think it would still work properly after a couple dozen rounds. It’s more about reliability and consistency than just the output.
Olight’s valkyrie series have tremendous value when compared to other weapon lights, most of which still use CR123s and outdated emitters.
No one knows flashlights/Torches better than this community. What makes a flashlight able to be reliable under recoil? Is it the potting and double spring set up? What else am I missing?
Why is critical equipment so expensive? Your running a professional company that has bills with their research and development. Quality employees with pay checks and benefits. If it fails you get sued. Anyone need a cheap Chinese pacemaker guaranteed to work 99% of the time?
You don’t want components to go flying off because of recoil. You also don’t want the cell to go sledgehammering into the driver and busting it. Solder needs to be more malleable than brittle.
At least potting the components helps keep them from flying off, and helps brace the driver.
A6 isn’t 1,600 lemons.
Well IDK how many lemons they are, but you start mounting them to a 300 Blackout, .308, 5.56, .338 Lapua mag etc, and your gonna have a lot of lemons really fast. Of course my .338 Lapua Mag does not have a light on it. No WML is appropriate for a sniper rifle that feels good at 1,500 yards+.
U right it’s 1600 lumens
I’ve got four of the Olight weapon lights, three PL2 Valkyrie and one discontinued Olight PL1 II Valkyrie. For myself it’s the closest to budget I get on weapon light. They so far have worked flawlessly but for only a few hundred rounds so far. I had a SureFire X-300 but found that Streamlight TLR-1 HL just as good and cheaper. This can be had for $115 on Botach or $120 on Amazon.
It is about proven reliability, not brightness. My blf x6 is broken now after not much use,good thing it wasnt pistol light. If you can’t afford surefire there is streamlite that is proven tough, olight as well.
Because lives are on the line with weapon lights. It’s also not as big of a market. Supply and demand.