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.