All posts tagged weapon mounted flashlights

Streamlight Flashlights from the Protac 2L to the rechargeable Strion and Survivor

Streamlight LED FlashlightsStreamlight is one of those “staples” in this industry and even though Surefire is pretty much the comparison to Streamlight, there is always a niche that one does better than the other.    There have been some price drops for some of the Surefire G2 models and it’s basically due to the improvement of technology and manufacturing ease.    I went through that xenom flashlight faze and all of the LED upgrade but now that LED has been around so long, there are newer generations with much larger output.   Even though flashlights are considered bullet magnets, if the flashlight is damn bright you aren’t going to see anything if you are close to it.  Sure at distances you are drawing attention to yourself and if somebody sees that they might fire on you, but we’re not talking about SWAT tactical or Military operations.  For close situations something like the Streamlight Protac 2L which I highly recommend with the CR123 battery type is a 260 Lumen flashlight.   The strobe features are nice if you train with it but can also be very annoying for non-tactical or defense purposes.

The size of the flashlight, the make up of the body and the output and run time are making flashlights, lighter, stronger and better.     What usually throws a monkey wrench into the reputation of some flashlights are when you are putting mounts on them or running pressure switches.   I have had a higher failure rate with some click on and off flashlights compared to the screw on cap lights, but no where near what pressure switches have.   Pressure switches need better mounting to avoid breakage and excessive wear and so many people don’t pay attention to that.  Get a cord that gets the job done and don’t allow it to be able to bent back and forth.   There are some interesting ways of running them through handguards so read up on it.    The HL or High Lumen flashlights like the Strion HL have the perfect size Streamlight LED Flashlights for most Law Enforcement, the Streamlight Survivor is heavily used in Fire and Rescue.

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What do you want in a weapon mounted flashlight?

What do you want as far as size and power from a flashlight?  I think most people would always want the smallest and lightest flashlight that had a reasonable burn rate and was rechargeable.   Rechargeable flashlights are of the future and anything that is mounted on a gun right will eventually not need battery replacement.  It’s one of those things that you know when you monitor the economy or any industry.   You have ideas and work towards them and if you have the right people you will be able to get to your goal much faster.  I believe that Eotech gun sights will eventually have small solar panels on them that will charge the rechargeable batteries when not in use or while in use.

The same thing is going to happen for flashlights but considering how powerful some flashlights are it might be awhile before they are practical.   I have been happy with just a Streamlight G2 LED flashlight on my M4 Carbines but for outdoor work I have been  using the ATN Flashlights like the javelin or the ATN tactical light with 600 lumins.  This thing is powerful and is something that you do to light up an area not just an individual target.  They work well by issuing it to a tactical team member who’s job is to use the white light.

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Streamlight and it’s competition

I was at several tactical conferences over the last few months from the NYTOA, NJTOA, and the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh.    I got into using Streamlight flashlights because they were well within my price range and seemed to be more worthy of being used with firearms than anything that Radio Shack had in stock.   I really didn’t  know what I was doing when I purchased a CAA mount on my M4 Carbine, but it got it to work after using a good bit of super glue.   I’ve found that everything you need to mount on a M4 rail needs loctite or super glue.  The mount I got for my Streamlight scorpion didn’t hold and it wasn’t just because of the mount, the rubber cover on the Scorpion didn’t grip the mount well at all.

Streamlight seems to have a good foot in the door for Law Enforcement and Firemen.   I was not impressed with the price margins on some of the Surefire flashlights that I cam across because spending more than $200 on any flashlight is something disturbing if you ask me.  Streamlight flashlights are price well and I still primarily push the Streamlight Scorpion and the Polytac flashlights for weapons mounting.   There are pressure switches you can use, but I have not had the need for them. The Profession Series are really nice for CCW because they are smaller to stow in a pocket but not too small they they need to be on a keychain or easily lost.

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