Archive for January 20th, 2012

Flashlights on a gun or hand held?

I think there is going to be a major change in the way we think of lights being mounted on firearms and in my opinion I wouldn’t spend too much money on firearm lights unless they were for my primary weapon.  It’s good to have more than one firearm available or atleast configured the way you want it for self-defense, but flashlights are getting smaller and more powerful and those bulky lights and expensive mounts are going to be a thing of the past in the next decade.   I suspect that in the next few years there will be pencel thin flashlights mounted on firearms that put out 200 lumens at ease.

I always hated the idea of putting flashlight on a handgun because that meant having to go through the holster testing ordeal all over again.   I have a bunch of Elite Survival holsters coming in soon that will get the job done, but Streamlight Flashlights especially the TLR-1 and the newer TLR version are probable the biggest sellers now.   The cool thing about them is you can put them on handguns and rifles but I wouldn’t blow more than $300 on a weapon mounted light just yet unless, like I said it was for a primary weapon.   If you look at how much LED technology has improved and light gathering technology like solar cells, smaller batteries and smaller lights with larger output are right around the corner.

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How much of a Flashlight do you need to carry?

I  have asked myself that question for several years now and have actually enjoyed learning about all of the options that are available.  One of my primary rules for carrying a flashlight is it can’t be too small or I’ll end up losing it.  There are plenty of very powerful flashlights that cost close to $200 and can fit in your pocket, but to me that is a one heck of an expensive thing to loose.   Flashlights should be small if you are carrying them all the time, but there is such a thing as too small.   If it is really small you might as well put it on a keychain.

Even though I’ve been impressed with the Streamlight Nanolights and how powerful they are, I don’t like the idea of putting them on a keychain.  I carry a  lot of keys already and having another thing hanging in the ignition like the Streamlight Flashlights that are on a keychain makes keys kind of clunky.    I find the Streamlight Polytac to be a very nice light for all around purposes because it fits my hand very well, but it’s too big to keep on a belt or in a pocket all the time.   I’ve been carrying a Streamlight PT-2  or ProTac-2.  There is a smaller version called  the PT-2 but that is a little too small for me.   The PT-2 is in the Warranty office right now because I dropped it and cracked the lense, but the flashlight still worked.

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