All posts in Flashlights

Streamlight TLR Flashlights, is there such a thing as too much?

Streamlight TLR FlashlightsThat is a question I’ve been wondering about and speaking to several Law Enforcement about it because they tend to do a little more hard use of weapon mounted lights and, from what I’m told, there are rules amongst them to not have more than 2 people using flashlights when doing an entry.   It’s a guy thing to want to accessorize the heck out of your AR15, but unless you might be using your Carbine in an outdoor situation, you absolutely should consider the fact that there is such a thing as too many lumens.   I’ve been very happy with about a 6yr history of using a Streamlight Polytac on one of my LWRC M6A1 Carbines which only had 130 lumens and it suited me well.   Now that LED technology has improved so much there aren’t very many flashlights below 200 lumens unless they have a high and low power setting.  Personally, I’d like to see something like the TLR1 series of flashlights have some type of high and low power setting on them.

What kind of options are there for very simple and lightweight carbine lights?  In my opinion it really comes down to the Streamlight TLR-1s which is a 300 lumen flashlight with strobe, the Streamlight TLR1 flashlights that is 630 High Lumens is the TLR1-HL,  and the Streamlight TLR2 which like the TLR1 is 300 lumens, but is a laser light combo.   For some reason we see a pattern of people using the TLR-HL light more on handguns than the TLR-1S.  There is about 1HR and 25 minute run time difference between the two, but since your average Patrolman is more likely to have a sidearm on them and be outdoors the TLR-HL seems to be a better option,  that could also apply to anyone that is CCWing and might be outdoors.  I would find the 630 lumen output to be an overkill for indoor use.  There is some good information on the Panteao Production Make Ready with Pat Rogers : Intro to the shoot house DVD where Pat, does some very good flashlight demonstrations in outdoor environments so check that out.

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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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Upcoming “Night Out” in your local Township? Flashlights and Less Lethal weapons

Streamlight Protac 2LKimber Pepper BlasterEvery year we have been asked to be at our local “Night Out” because we are a business that is use to dealing with people that are concerned about fighting crime and it’s not all about carrying firearms and CCW.   We always warn people when they call us up and tell us they are thinking about carrying a gun because of the crime they are hearing about, like the “knock out game” which recently occurred right near us and is something that has been going around in waves all around the Country.   The pathetic reality about the game is they are picking on individuals that are by themselves and often older or weaker than them.   The answer to defending yourself from this type of crime is not carrying a gun, it’s about situational awareness and in my humble opinion, verbal defense and flashlights and less lethal force like ASP Pepper Sprays, Kimber Pepper Blasters and a good Streamlight Protac 2L with a 260 lumen output and strobe are better starting points.

Without getting into hypothetical reasons of being able to use lethal force in an attack like the “knock out game” there are more stories about people being held up on bus stops and cell phones being stolen over any other crime.   Here in Philadelphia it’s the number one crime that is occurring.   If you are alone always keep your space from any individual or group of people and using verbal defense, lighting them up with a flashlight and using a form of Pepper Spray or cracking a taser to keep them away.  For home defense, the Massad Ayoob Home Defense  DVD from Pantaeo Productions is an excellent give and much of it has to do with having good lighting, not allowing your bushes to grow to high around your house, having a good Alarm System or a dog are also good things to always consider.  One of the biggest suggestions I would have for people attending a Night Out event is to understand how to work with your local Police and be able to give them the information to actually fight crime.   All too often I have met people that don’t know how to gather accurate information like License Plates, Accurate descriptions, time of day and no exaggerations on making reports.  I know plenty of Town Watch people that have been extremely effective in removing problematic neighbors because they knew how to work with Law Enforcement to get things done, and not just complain the police aren’t doing a good job.

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Surefire Sale, Some prices are coming down

Surefire FlashlightsIt’s very rare that things in this industry go down in price, but the truth of the matter is that technology can become old and sometimes things are so much easier to make, the free market will cause certain products to go down.  Look at software companies and what the prices are when new products hit but after time, different versions come out and the original version is so out dated that sometimes people wouldn’t want it.   Think of it like this, would you rather pay $120 for a 60 lumen flashlight or a 300 lumen flashlight?   What if you get your hands on a dirt cheap Xenon bulb weapon mounted like from Surefire, would you put it on your gun knowing that LED technology and outputs 100%-300% better than they were 8 years ago?   I remember converting all of my xenon bulb flashlights like the Surefire G2 years ago because it just made so much sense to upgrade it.  Now that a 200 lumen flashlight on it’s highest setting is actually  on the low end of what flashlights are doing these days.

A shocking price drop occurred with some of the Surefire G2 Flashlights this year because they are less expensive to make and even though it may be one of the best, simple to mount, weapon or hand held Surefire Flashlights out there,  there are more powerful flashlights to consider that are about the same size.   There seems to be trend toward the Surefire X300U over the Scout models because now Surefire X300 puts out a powerful 500 lumen light and pressure switches don’t have the life expectancy that toggle switches tend to  have.  There are plenty of flashlights out there that can get the job done for you, but we get the least complaints from people that run Surefire flashlights on firearms as far as longevity and durability.

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White lights, Surefire Flashlights has always led the way

Surefire FlashlightsAll gear has it limits and it’s tolerances and not everyone will push gear to the limits, but in this industry, we have so many different lines of work that report back to us that it’s always part of our job to listen so we can relay that to our customers, as long as it passes our bull shit meter.   You get what you pay for and Surefire Flashlights are not in the “cheap” or “inexpensive” category although their history in the Military is well known and complaints about the cost are the only thing we hear that are negatives.  You have to read the product specs and what a flashlight is designed to do to understand what you are paying for when you are shopping for an LED Flashlight for your M4 Carbine, M16 or Remington 870 or Mossberg 590 Series shotguns.   Having a hi and a low power setting means longer life of batteries and be careful you don’t just buy a light based on the lumens.   A 320 Lumen flashlight is going to burn faster than one that can be set to 15 Lumens and only use what you need to use.

Flashlights, just like lasers are often not used properly and I would also highly recommend getting a red or blue flip up lense at the end of any weapon mounted light because there are more times than none, going to be situations were you don’t want high output because shining a 200 Lumen to 600 Lumen light in low light or darkness is like turning the sun on and it is true that you may more likely draw attention to you which can give a burglar, home invader or prowler or felon a return firing point.   The Surefire Flashlights like the Scout Model went from 110 Lumens to 200 lumens and considering how small and lightweight it is,  I’d highly recommend that you pay attention to the pros and cons of using pressure switches because they do break and it’s also recommended that you keep spare ones close to  you incase of failure.   We’ve seen a big up tick in the sales of the Surefire X300 Ultra due to the fact that this is easy to put on a handgun or a rifle and doesn’t require a pressure switch to activate.

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Why deviate from Surefire and Streamlight Flashlights? Warranties are important when investing your money in them

Surefire FlashlightsWe learned several years ago that the reason so many of your Police and Military customers are buying Streamlight and Surefire flashlights was because of the Warranty services that they offer.   When you are shopping for a flashlight,  you really need to pay attention to all of the product features, and not just what the run time and output is.   We’ve had several customers tell us they stick with Surefire handheld lights because the screw on cap battery contacts have a better longevity that some of the click-able flashlights.  I have to admit that I have seen this but this is after years and years of use.   Just like firearms all have barrel life, not everyone is going to put 15,000 rounds through a barrel and wish they got a barrel that lasted 25,000 rounds.  LED has been a great improvement for people that need a flashlight for work, so battery usage has been decreasing, but durability is something you have to pay for and many of the none name brand flashlights may put out some ridiculously high lumens but they just won’t last.

The Surefire G2 has many products in it’s family and we can’t say it enough, pay attention to production dates when you are shopping for any of the Surefire products because they all increased in their output by about 90% in the last 2yrs and people are still cleaning out old inventory.   Some of the G2 Flashlights out there are in the 130-150 Lumen range when they all should be 320 Lumens if they are the new ones.   The Beauty of the Surefire flashlight line is what you are using for a handheld light can easily be attached to a shotgun or carbine  if you pick up the proper mount.   I’ve always felt that 200 Lumens was about an ideal output for any weapon mounted light and now, even the Surefire Scout M300 is a 200 Lumen light, not the 110 that it use to be.   You are getting more from your money than you would have 2yrs ago sure check out all of what they have to offer.

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You get what you pay for and I’ll say it again

SFX300U-A-2We often get customers that want us to tell them what will work for them, “is this a quality item” we often get asked and if we sell it to them and there is a problem, it’ll come back on us.  It’s very rare that we will endorse a product and as a retail business in the tactical industry, we really can only give you options to choose from.   We listen to the operators that are using various optics and weapon mounted lights and they almost always can tell us where the Fail Point is with them.   There different levels of durability but no flashlight or electronic devices has a zero failure rate in all conditions.   I haven’t used Pelican flashlights but we hear good things about them, but for personal flashlights, CCW flashlights and different grades of weapon mounted lights, we narrow it doesn to Streamlight and Surefire flashlights.

Both manufacturers offer good warranties and we often hear of very good customer service from Streamlight.   The Streamlight Protac 2L far outsells the smaller Protac 1L for CCW but besides the Streamlight TLR1s flashlight, the Surefire flashlights get far fewer complaints on weapon mounted lights.  Many of our Law Enforcement and Firefighters are using the Streamlight flashlights while Pelican, Surefire and Streamlight lean more towards the Military preferences.   It’s not our call, it’s your call on what you want.   Stick with the name brand manufacturers and not the high lumen cheap Chinese knock off flashlights you see at Gun Shows for a good price.  People will laugh at you if they see NcStar on your M4.

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Beware of buying tactical gear at gun stores

Surefire flashlightsUnless you are lucky to have a really good gun shop that moves a lot of tactical clothing, flashlights and modern gun accessories,  you might end up with products that are out dated and not up to modern standards.   We pay attention to the recalls on firearms every year and on why certain accessories fail.    We’ve seen several Generations of Magpul magazines and accessories and not all of them have been launched with initial success.   We have cleared out lots of Magpul Gen 3 magazines in recent months and put a hold on some of their magazines until we are confident they  have the manufacturing in order.   Some of our distributors have had floods of Pmags coming in but didn’t weed out the faulty production that nobody seems to want to admit to.

In the past 3 months we had to do our own inventory monitoring on Pelican, Streamlight , Surefire and many more products.   We’ve seen product flaws with Trijicon optics that were sent back as well as some completely out dated Surefire flashlights as well as Streamlight flashlights.  Flashlight technology has grown from 85%-90% with some brands and if you buy a flashlight that has been collecting dust in a gun store that doesn’t move inventory, you might be getting a flashlight that is 2 or 3 generations out dated without knowing it.  Not all product codes change from manufacturers when they do the updates to it’s really a good idea to keep an eye on all of the modern specs and get the most out of your money.

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Using Flashlights on weapons and for search, how many lumens do you really need?

Streamlight FlashlightsI remember upgrading from the XENON bulbs to LED Upgrades on several of my flashlights a few years ago.   I was using Streamlight Scorpions and Surefire G2 flashlights that I believe were around 80 lumens each and I was impressed back then at how bright they were.   The only piss off I had with them was how the bulbs didn’t really last that long and I didn’t really like the lack of reliability, regardless of how bright they were.   The Streamlight Scorpions were upgraded to about 130 Lumens with the Upgrade kit, and the first thing I did was mount them on my AR15 rifle.   I was very happy having a weapon mounted light on my guns when I was up in the woods of Pennsylvania but I also choose to put a flip on red lense because I learned in Boy Scounts that bright lights can ruin your vision at night.

The old Army Flashlights had multiple lense on them for variations on lense width always came with a red or blue lense.   I don’t know why people forget this when they buy high lumen Streamlight Flashlights and thing 300 Lumens of light is going to win a fight when having low light abilities and being fast on your feet is a much better strategy.    Streamlight is a very good company to choose from and their price points and warranties are going to make our customers feel like they spent their money wisely.   Remember that the light you have on your firearm is not the light that you should always use for searching for something.  Having two flashlights on  your person is really the way to go.

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Tactical gear for yourself or send your spouse for a gift certicate

Philadelphia Police SuppliesIn this industry, it is so technical that it’s very rare for someone  in the Law Enforcement community to send someone in to shop for them.  We get a lot of last minute buyers when someone finds out they got moved to a SWAT Team or recently got hired to be a  Police officer in the Delaware County, Chester County or Philadelphia Police Department.  Usually customers come in in waves, after Graduations at the Philadelphia Police Academy or the Delaware County Police Academy.   Recently we started getting customers from the Montgomery County Police Academy Training Center.   Each week we’ve been setting up 1 or 2 Police Departments for their Clothing Allowances and logistically speaking, the customers are glad we are here in Delaware County so they can walk in and walk out.  Shopping for tactical pants, shirts and body armor is something that people want to do in-store and not online.

Our 1500 sq ft Broomall, Police Depot and tactical store is in the heart of Delaware County in the Broomall Industrial Park.   We are a stocking dealer for many in the region and we are a good source for Philadelphia Police Supplies from tactical boots from the Original Swat Footwear company, Tru-Spec, 5.11 tactical, ATS Tactical,  Streamlight Flashlights like the Stinger and Strion, which are rechargeable flashlights that the vast majority of Upper Darby, Marple Township and even the State Police are using.  We stock many of the handcuff and Safariland products that new Police Officers will need for their duty gear.  CR123 batters are something we need to keep in store at all times because most local places that sell them are 50% more than what we charge.

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