Phaedrus/69
Member
Okay, this is a pretty good WML for the money despite the goofy name. Wasn't TL-Racker a TV show with William Shatner?
Anyway, right out of the box it comes with everything you need except the wrench/tool to remove the forend nut. I really wish it was included and would be worth the price. I wound up buying one from Amazon that didn't fit or work. That was really the only part of the install that was a PitA. Aside from that Streamlight even included batteries which is a nice touch!
The light feels pretty solid. The grip area is rough kind of like micro-stippling, and if offers pretty good grip. The curved section between the light engine and battery compartment gives a bit of extra leverage when working the pump vigorously. Another nice touch! The switch is pretty good, with full length panels on both sides for right-handed and wrong-handed shooters. ;-) Output is excellent! I've read 800 lumens in some material and 1000 lumens elsewhere- suffice it to say it's quite bright. The beam has a pretty strong spot with good spill and should work great for most applications. Just shining it around my yard it illuminates well out to about the longest range you'd ever engage with a 12ga shotgun. The color temp/tint is also quite good, being on the slightly-cool side of neutral.
There area few relatively minor issues I have with the light. First since it's mounted on the front of the handguard you can't really use the sling swivel stud mounted on the shotgun; the sling will always block much of the light. You really have wrap and sweep it. Surefire gets around this to a degree by dropping the light engine down a bit lower. It also casts a bit of a shadow upwards (the barrel casts a shadow). This effect is less pronounced when the forend is fully forward when ready to fire and more pronounced as you shuck it back to eject the empty. Not a huge issue but performance-wise (considering only the actual light) I think my Surefire X300U mounted with an aftermarket barrel band mount works a bit better. Of course the Surefire doesn't put the switch in a very convenient location.
The battery compartment cap also isn't well designed. About 40% of it is recessed into the body of the light making it pretty much impossible to screw or unscrew with your fingers. There's a coin/screwdriver slot but it's very shallow and thin; I'm a bit concerned about how well it will hold up.
Lastly the color was disappointing. It's a 'Burnt Orange' that's almost a dead ringer for the Burnt Orange of my Spyderco HAP40 Dragonfly. It's a very poor match for the "Safety Orange" of my Magpul SGA stock. Just about every match case, knife handle or orange accessory I could find laying around my place matches the Magpul orange pretty well. The TL-Racker is a very dark pumpkin kind of orange and doesn't match AT ALL! This probably isn't an issue for most as I expect most people go with Black but I was disappointed.
For the price I can't complain! The Surefire is probably a better option overall but at four times the price! For the money I think it's an excellent product and should work well for my application (home defense and a camping gun for Grizzly bear country).
Anyway, right out of the box it comes with everything you need except the wrench/tool to remove the forend nut. I really wish it was included and would be worth the price. I wound up buying one from Amazon that didn't fit or work. That was really the only part of the install that was a PitA. Aside from that Streamlight even included batteries which is a nice touch!The light feels pretty solid. The grip area is rough kind of like micro-stippling, and if offers pretty good grip. The curved section between the light engine and battery compartment gives a bit of extra leverage when working the pump vigorously. Another nice touch! The switch is pretty good, with full length panels on both sides for right-handed and wrong-handed shooters. ;-) Output is excellent! I've read 800 lumens in some material and 1000 lumens elsewhere- suffice it to say it's quite bright. The beam has a pretty strong spot with good spill and should work great for most applications. Just shining it around my yard it illuminates well out to about the longest range you'd ever engage with a 12ga shotgun. The color temp/tint is also quite good, being on the slightly-cool side of neutral.
There area few relatively minor issues I have with the light. First since it's mounted on the front of the handguard you can't really use the sling swivel stud mounted on the shotgun; the sling will always block much of the light. You really have wrap and sweep it. Surefire gets around this to a degree by dropping the light engine down a bit lower. It also casts a bit of a shadow upwards (the barrel casts a shadow). This effect is less pronounced when the forend is fully forward when ready to fire and more pronounced as you shuck it back to eject the empty. Not a huge issue but performance-wise (considering only the actual light) I think my Surefire X300U mounted with an aftermarket barrel band mount works a bit better. Of course the Surefire doesn't put the switch in a very convenient location.
The battery compartment cap also isn't well designed. About 40% of it is recessed into the body of the light making it pretty much impossible to screw or unscrew with your fingers. There's a coin/screwdriver slot but it's very shallow and thin; I'm a bit concerned about how well it will hold up.
Lastly the color was disappointing. It's a 'Burnt Orange' that's almost a dead ringer for the Burnt Orange of my Spyderco HAP40 Dragonfly. It's a very poor match for the "Safety Orange" of my Magpul SGA stock. Just about every match case, knife handle or orange accessory I could find laying around my place matches the Magpul orange pretty well. The TL-Racker is a very dark pumpkin kind of orange and doesn't match AT ALL! This probably isn't an issue for most as I expect most people go with Black but I was disappointed.
For the price I can't complain! The Surefire is probably a better option overall but at four times the price! For the money I think it's an excellent product and should work well for my application (home defense and a camping gun for Grizzly bear country).
