Pistol lights $$$ what the heck?

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.

If it’s all about reliability and not about brightness, then why are you buying high-end flashlights and got away from the maglites they are proven reliable.
Why did I get away from the Walmart and Ace Hardware flashlights? Because I didn’t know any better , I didn’t know about high-end high output flashlights. And the only reason I found out about high-end flashlights was because I was looking for a weapons light for my AR pistol and discovered these high-end flashlights.
I’m not a flashaholic,
( if that’s your thing more power to you). I’m not a Leo, just an average guy searching for a bright flashlight for home defense to keep my family safe.
I just wanted something very bright that wasn’t the size of a milk jug.
I’m not the type of guy that follows the rest of the crowd,trendy this, name brands just to have a name brand , or buys what’s popular, I’m always thinking out of the box , that there must be something else out there just as good or better for a lower price.
If somebody wants a weapons light they’re not going to go to Walmart or Ace Hardware to buy one, they will probably go to a gun shop and most gun shops only sell what’s popular and they don’t want to spend extra money to give the customer a variety to choose from because that cost them money.( inventory cost, I get it).
Concerning the name brands ie. Surefire and Streamlight ( which is about the only pistol light that gun stores sell, I’m sure we can find a number of people that have had theirs fail.
I’m not in a hurry for a pistol light,
so I’ll just keep looking.
In the meantime I’ll just hold my A6 or klaris in one hand and my pistol in the other for something that goes bump in the night.

I am an X-LEO myself and I would have loved to had the Olight PL Mini Valkyrie back when I was on active duty. (1992 thru 2002 and stayed commissioned from early 2002 , although not working , until I finally let my license go in 2009)

On the sub compact pistols such as my Springfield XD-S .40 or the XD-S .45 they are great little lights that can be activated from the right side or the left side , with a press and hold of the button (right beside the trigger guard) for momentary or just a click flick of the switch for constant on. The switch (es) are easy to reach with your index finger , or your thumb , depending on how your grasp the pistol or hold it. Not the brightest light I have by any means at 400 lumens . but it IS reliable and easy to use with only the 1 mode constant or momentary. Enough to light up any room well indoors and enough to let you see clearly to at least 40 yards for positive ID on animals or human alike outdoors.

For the price of the PL Mini or the Mini 2 ($79 and $89) , I personally feel they are well worth the price and also very reliable. I have shot at least 1000 rounds of ammo between the .40 and the .45 Springfield pistols with this light attached and it was also drop tested from shoulder height 10 times onto the simulated hardwood floors in my house when I was testing for my review of this light , before it was used in the real world. I have not seen a hiccup as of yet from the PL Mini that I personally own , although this does not speak for every other one out there. It has been proven time and time again , no matter what brand , or how good that brand is………THERE WILL BE FAILURES no matter if it is a $20 light or if it is a $500 light.

I feel the little PL mini’s would probably hold up well on a shotgun or high powered rifle , (although limited distance for the high powered rifles) I have not tried it on either in testing the light myself. I can’t shoot a lot at one time with any rifle or shotgun now days , due to the back and neck problems. I have (severe spinal arthritis and 3 compressed disc in my neck to go along with the arthritis) Not asking for any sympathy , just giving the reason I have not done testing on the heavy recoil rifles and shotguns.

Anyhow that is my 2 cents on the Olight and if you decide you want to try one , great……if not , then good luck with your search for the light that suits your taste. Whatever you do decide on , I hope it is what you been looking for in the end.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a hand held light like you mention with a pistol. In fact, I have a pistol on my bed within reach with no light on it. However, I have a light two inches away from it and they don’t leave each other. I also have an AR-15 within reach on my other side. It has a light mounted on it, a Surefire Scout light
(600 lumens). I have about 7,000 rounds through that gun with zero stoppages or malfunctions of any kind, and the light is as good as when I mounted it on the day I got that gun. The one thing you must have is a white light. It doesn’t matter if you’re training with Reed Hendricks at Valor Ridge, with Shawn Ryan at Vigilance Elite, Gun Site Academy or anywhere else to that has knowledgeable people, they will drill this into everyone. You have to know who your shooting and what/who is behind them. The only real question is how much is your life worth? Your buying life insurance for you and your family, you did that when you bought your pistol and I hope you didn’t just buy the cheapest one and grab some ammo and not train. The same applies with a WML or a light for use with a pistol. Skimping is not wise. Just as it would be stupid to use FMJ’s for home defense and not spend 3 times the price for good JHP’s that run in your gun with no stoppages. Yes, you will need to shoot about 200 rounds to check if your pistol likes that type of ammo and the accuracy of it in your gun. All pistols of the same make and model are different in what they like to digest. Some are better at liking almost everything like Glock etc, it is one thing that must be checked though. Klarus is probably good enough quality, but I have not owned this brand or an A6. Streamlight is fine for WML on a pistol, I have heard of the smaller Surefire pistol lights failing, but never had a problem with the X300 Ultra or any Surefire rifle lights. InForce is a good running light that is cheaper, I have never owned one I heard they work. I hope you find what you’re looking for.

A bit off-topic, but one thing to consider is that if you’re anticipating these for Home Defense™, keep in mind how it’d look to the cops and especially jury if you’d ever have to use it. If you’re weapon-of-choice looks like one of the props from “Predator” and you’d be going into the jungle with Ahnold, the DA would looooooove dangling that in front of the jury, making it out like you were just looking for something/someone to kill.

If you formed an unorganised militia, would you be in hotter water if put on trial and your group’s name would be the Black Cobra Death Squadron, or the Pink Fuzzy Bunny Brigade?

Sad to say, but a lot of the aftermath is all about appearance…

So… you might wanna go easy on the WMLs, laser-sights, folding stocks, etc. Granma Walton can be awfully judgmental.

Excellent info and discussion. Thanks to all.

As an aside…

In my opinion, the term Weapon Mounted Light (WML) is a misnomer.

A gun is just a tool, like a flashlight. It is the person wielding the tool that is the weapon.

Following this thought, any flashlight wielded by a person is by this definition a WML.

It depends on where you live but where I live I personally know someone who shot an intruder in the back, with birdshot while running away after taking a round to the chest first. She was fine, no trouble at all. This is certainly not the case everywhere.

However, a WML is actually a BENEFIT to a defendant, as it shows responsibility of the firearm owner to ID the target instead of just shooting someone in the dark. You are correct about knives though, you do not want a knife that has words combat, etc on it for defense. Knives that have “Limited Edition” on blade show you are a collector not a person looking for trouble.

There’s definitely something to be said for the “second battle” after the first one if you survive, which is in the court system possibly, and the last battle after that is in your mind, taking a life is the 3rd and last battle that will stay with you.

Seems like a niche market like bike lights. Headlamps don’t have this type of markup, even though you need a headband to wield most of them

Thanks for sharing that robo819. I like hearing from those with experience.
Good review.

Good point…

That makes sense. This thread has made me appreciate the higher priced lights even though I don’t use them. I just enjoy learning and am ready when someone asks for my opinion. Just because I like flashlights people always ask me about batteries and stuff.
Thank you all,
LL

CREEXHP70LED

You said:

I agree with almost everything you said. The only problem is you don’t always get what you pay for. I’m glad surefire works for you, but… I’ve found a few others that have worked just as well for me and while they weren’t the cheapest they were quite a bit less money than Surefire. I was willing to bet my life on them and they haven’t let me down any more than the Surefires did.

I’m not yet convinced that they (Surefire) are worth the extra cost, just based on their name.

Yeah.

For a light to be so expensive and worth it, it better be absolutely overengineered.

I mean, if Surefire lights:

  1. Used BeCu springs for maximum shock absorption and conductivity.
  2. Used potting on every ones of their lights.
  3. Used a titanium aluminium alloy for maximum durability.
  4. Actually had constant brightness over the whole runtime.
  5. Used acrylic lenses to prevent breakage.
  6. Had silver plated aluminium reflectors.
  7. Used top of the line LEDs for maximum efficiency, along with top tier MCPCBs and driver components.

Then I would 100% believe it.