Recommend a tactical light?

[harmonic]

My house gun is a Glock 17 with a rail. It's up for sale but if it doesn't sell I'm going to install a light on it.

That's called a "tactical" light, right? I don't want a super expensive one, but do want one that's reliable.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

 

[jungleroy]

Depending on your level of training, I would actually suggest having a light not connected to your firearm.
Others here may say hey, great, mount a streamlight on it.
That would not be me. I believe it easier to have a light in your non dominant hand to use for your identifying or blinding of people.
I would recommend The Pelican M1 LED or M3 LED with a couple Watt Luxeon bulb.
The Luxeon bulb is very impact resistant and it uses less wattage for the same amount of light as a Xenon bulb.
you could google a good source, but I found some in this weeks specials at CDNN. http://www.cdnninvestments.com/specials.html

 

[skeeter1]

Anymore, there are gobs of LED tactical lights aronot much money. they're getting cheaper all the time. I got one on eBay a couple months ago with a 3-watt Luxeon LED for 20 bucks, and it's blinding. I'd suggest you get one of the newer 5- or 7-watt Luxeons or a Cree LED.

 

[bogie]

Mmmmm... A glowing target...

Tactical?

Get a mag-light, and put a little extra lead shot in the butt...

 

[RNB65]

I prefer a 3-cell MagLite in my left hand. That's all the tactical I need. Also works great for smacking the BG on the head if I decide he's too dumb/drunk/brain dead to waste a bullet on.

 

[gbran]

I have a Surefire E2E 60 lumen incandescent. It's a ghetto-blaster.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

I hope that G17 isn't your only weapon, or if you sell it I hope you have another firearm. Not that it's a bad weapon, just don't leave yourself defenseless.
I'm not sold on tactical handgun lights yet. They have their purpose (especially opening doors) but they are expensive for a good one and there are advantages to having a light separate from the firearm. I have a Inova X5 LED handheld light that does a great job as a "what was that?" light. The surefire weapon mounted light can take over if things get serious but keep in mind with a gun-mounted light you are going to be pointing a loaded weapon at whatever you are looking at. If you are sure there is something very wrong you should take a defensive position and call the police. You'll substantially increase your odds of survival instead of clearing your house yourself.
EDIT: To your original question, I'd recommend looking into Insight lights, like the M3X. They are cheaper than surefire but deliver good performance. Be careful you don't buy an airsoft type light. It won't survive one trip to the range.

 

[Dgreno]

Check out Surefire...

I am a certified "Flashaholic" over at candelpowerforums.com . If it were me, I would stay away from the weapon mounted lights. They restrict you in use as in they are only convenient to use when mounted to a gun. My personal EDC light is a Surefire 6P with a 3w LED drop in module. Check out the new Surefire 6P LED or on the cheaper side, the G2 LED. BTW, How much are you looking to spend? That will help out tremendously in recommending a light for you.

 

[bogie]

Okay... What's a nice bright LED flashlight? Something that isn't going to fall apart, and that might be the last flashlight I'll buy? Not necessarily looking to bolt it to an already cumbersome boomstick, so don't limit yourselves to 3/4" devices (altho I _do_ sell a VERY nice mount, made in America...).

I'm just not a fan of making my boomstick a target...

 

[TwitchALot]

I recommend the Fenix L1D CE (the Cree LED). Small, tactical light that runs on a single AA. Couple reasons why I picked this over the Sure-Fire G2 and other lights.

1. For me, it fit my hand perfectly. It's very compact (may be too small if you have big hands).
2. Uses a AA- a common battery. Lithium batteries are harder to find and a whole lot more expensive.
3. Six modes- turbo and strobe (I think the strobe was meant just to blind and distract people- sure seems to work that way), low, medium, high, SOS mode.
4. Switching from turbo to strobe is easy (just tap the pad).
5. 80 lumens max, 1.5 hrs (more time on the lower settings, obviously).
6. Durable, dunk-able, excellent look.
7. Cheaper, and it comes with a spare o-ring, pad, lanyard, and holster. Free first-class shipping.

Carry it around every day wherever I go. Neat little bugger. You can't mount it as far as I know, but there are advantages and disadvantages to both methods anyway (with the Fenix and the lanyard, I prefer to have it in my support-side hand). Give it a look-see.

 

[Never No More]

Tactical and light are like

Liberal Conservative
Jumbo Shrimp
Military Intelligence

Please read the Army TM on Light and noise disipline

 

[crazed_ss]

TLR-1 is about 100 bucks. I have one and it works great.

I used to think lights were tacticool nonsense, but a couple months ago I was sleep and and heard some loud pounding on my door. I mean loud! .. I woke up scared as crap and grabbed my XD that's on my nightstand. Well, I realized I couldnt see crap as I stumbled out of the bed and searched for the light switch. If people were actually in the house, I think I would have been at a disadvantage. Luckily it was just idiots running through the halls and pounding on walls and people's doors.

I understand the concerns about pointing a weapon at something/someone to illuminate the area.. I guess you could use a seperate maglite, but the gun will still be at the ready and pointing at something/someone if you're clearing the house like this guy:

 

[TexasRifleman]

I understand the concerns about pointing a weapon at something/someone to illuminate the area..

If someone is breaking into my home I assume that I will have to break one or more of the 4 rules.

If I break 1 to get the light on someone, I depend on the other 3 rules to keep that person from getting shot if it's not the bad guy.

I don't know how you can talk about always meeting the 4 rules requirements when someone is kicking in the door to your house.

For a low cost light I like the TLR1.

 

[tuckerdog1]

Got this at LOWES for about $50. Seen them on Ebay for about $35-$40 after shipping. Not as bright as some of the high dollar Surefires, etc. But still plenty bright ( 60 lumens ) and will run 60-80 hrs on 3AAA batteries.


http://www.coastcutlery.com/display...77¡265¡271¡272¡273¡274¡275¡261¡262¿&mastCat=5

Pretty long link above. Hope it works. If not the home page is www.coastcutlery.com

Tuckerdog1

 

[Zach S]

I have an M3 on my G19. I'd prefer the surefire X200, but I just couldn't justify a $250 light to put on a $500 pistol that I was buying to use as a beater. Strange, considering I have spent aorund $250 on mags for that beater pistol...

Dont know how the TLR-1 compares, but I didnt know about it when I got the M3 so it doesn't really matter to me now...

 

[GunTech]

All lights are not equal, and if you buy a cheap light, you'll end up with a cheap light. After having several inexpensive lights go out on my G23, I finally bought a surefire X200. After several matches and thousands of rounds, zero problems.

Now that the X300 is out, you may be able to find an X200 at a cheaper price.

 

[Cavalier Knight]

Check my site under Manufacturers > Lights

 

[ClickClickD'oh]

I've carried a surefire 6p for years. It's seen so much use that the texturing on the rubber tail cap button and the etched diamonds on the tail cap have worn smooth. It's a great dependable light.

Like some others here, I highly recommend not putting the light on your weapon. Not only is it a bad way to look at things (with the muzzle of your weapon) but it also gives away your center of mass.

Go handheld and monkey light.

 

[WinkingTiger]

Glock OEM Tactical Light

Does anyone have any experience with the light that glock sells?
They make one that has a built in laser too.
The light alone cost like $90 and w/laser it is like $250

 

[jlbraun]

I have a Streamlight TLR-1 and a Rayovac 3 watt LED 2AA aluminum flashlight I got at Walmart for about $25. Both are near-indestructible.

 

[rcmodel]

Surefire 6P has been serving me well for an awful long time.

If you are really on a budget, check out the new Mag-Light 3-watt LED C & D cell flashlights.
They are amazingly bright, and about as bomb-proof as any flashlight is going to get.

And the 3 & 4 cell models make very up-scale clubs if you care to start out with less-lethal force!


rcmodel

 

[Wayne G.]

Marking this for later. Great info and suggestions here all!