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Shawnmoore81

Upgraded my weapon light

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I decided to upgrade the light on my ar. I had a streamlight tlr-1 and now I have the sure fire x300. As far as quality difference they both seemed tough. The batteries were easier to change on the stream light but I will say that sure fire is friggin bright. I'll recommend either one but if price doesn't matter the surefire is the way to go

 

 

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I used to run an insight with the laser on one of my ARs and it was perfectly sized and functioned beautifully.  I put thousands of rounds downrange with it and the light/laser never failed me

 

the more lumens, the faster the batter dies.  You don't really need 630 lumens as anything over 80 is legally blinding and will brighten up any dark hole:)

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I used to run an insight with the laser on one of my ARs and it was perfectly sized and functioned beautifully.  I put thousands of rounds downrange with it and the light/laser never failed me

 

the more lumens, the faster the batter dies.  You don't really need 630 lumens as anything over 80 is legally blinding and will brighten up any dark hole:)

This is completely counter to all of my training and experience while hunting for bad guys in dark places. I have X300Us on both of my duty pistols as well as Surefire Furys on all of my social guns and one on my duty belt. I have never once thought "Wow, that's entirely too much light. I wish it was darker in here."

 

I have found that 200 lumens is the bare minimum for useful white light when using it to search and ID a target/threat, with 500 or more being preferred.

 

I have never "blinded" myself after countless searches and room entries, both in training and operationally, but I have been able to ID threats as "no shoot" at 100 yards, allowing me to use the advantage of the extended range afforded to me by carrying a rifle to my advantage.

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This is completely counter to all of my training and experience while hunting for bad guys in dark places. I have X300Us on both of my duty pistols as well as Surefire Furys on all of my social guns and one on my duty belt. I have never once thought "Wow, that's entirely too much light. I wish it was darker in here."

 

I have found that 200 lumens is the bare minimum for useful white light when using it to search and ID a target/threat, with 500 or more being preferred.

 

I have never "blinded" myself after countless searches and room entries, both in training and operationally, but I have been able to ID threats as "no shoot" at 100 yards, allowing me to use the advantage of the extended range afforded to me by carrying a rifle to my advantage.

+1

 

Not to mention LEDs have a harder time cutting through all the crap that spews out of the muzzle so you need more light output to get the job done after a few rounds have been shot.

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That is when the higher lumens become necessary pushing out to farther distances. Having the extra lumens for entry/clearing is just an added bonus!

 

This is completely counter to all of my training and experience while hunting for bad guys in dark places. I have X300Us on both of my duty pistols as well as Surefire Furys on all of my social guns and one on my duty belt. I have never once thought "Wow, that's entirely too much light. I wish it was darker in here."

I have found that 200 lumens is the bare minimum for useful white light when using it to search and ID a target/threat, with 500 or more being preferred.

I have never "blinded" myself after countless searches and room entries, both in training and operationally, but I have been able to ID threats as "no shoot" at 100 yards, allowing me to use the advantage of the extended range afforded to me by carrying a rifle to my advantage.

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A 200 lumen light may or may not blind you will force you to squint and will be hard to see anything behind it, a 600 lumen light will blind you AND force you to close your eyes or look away. Someone can still aim and shoot at a lower lumen light even if they can't see you. The higher the lumens the more it forces people to take actual blind shots. A tactical light is twofold. Blinding the target and illuminating them. With new lights out now I won't buy anything under 400 lumens and for multi purpose I buy the dual output lights. Or have smaller lights that last longer. The fact is the new lights run just as long as the older ones. LEDs are very efficient and you can get alot more power out of them today for the same runtime.

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This is completely counter to all of my training and experience while hunting for bad guys in dark places. I have X300Us on both of my duty pistols as well as Surefire Furys on all of my social guns and one on my duty belt. I have never once thought "Wow, that's entirely too much light. I wish it was darker in here."

 

I have found that 200 lumens is the bare minimum for useful white light when using it to search and ID a target/threat, with 500 or more being preferred.

 

I have never "blinded" myself after countless searches and room entries, both in training and operationally, but I have been able to ID threats as "no shoot" at 100 yards, allowing me to use the advantage of the extended range afforded to me by carrying a rifle to my advantage.

 

I think you misunderstood what I was saying.  80 lumens is considered legally blinding if shown into someone's face.  No one is suggesting you are 'blinding' yourself using your light on your weapon with it on and pointed away from you.  I've hunted at night in Texas with 120 lumens and it was fine to 75yds.  If you feel you need more lumens than by all means use more.  I prefer the 120 in that I get more battery life and it lights up an area more than adequate for me to use it if needed.

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I think you misunderstood what I was saying. 80 lumens is considered legally blinding if shown into someone's face.

I have never heard this before. Can you show me the law or court decision that says it is "legally blinding"? I have never had to do a use of force report for it and I have shined a flashlight in a lot of people's eyes.

 

I have had 500 lumens shined in my face a multitude of times during force on force training, and other than a momentary loss of night vision, I have not been struck "blind" legally, literally, or figuratively.

 

No one is suggesting you are 'blinding' yourself using your light on your weapon with it on and pointed away from you. I've hunted at night in Texas with 120 lumens and it was fine to 75yds. If you feel you need more lumens than by all means use more.

This may sound funny, but could you have determined if the animal you were hunting was carrying a firearm or other weapon at 75 yards with your 120 lumen light? Target acquisition (which is all you need for hunting - there is an animal and it is the kind I can shoot) and positive threat ID (there is a target and I can positively determine that that target is a threat because I can see the weapon/matches the description of who I am looking for) are two different things with two different sets of standards. If I need to process a threat at 100 yards, I need to do more than determine if there is simply a target - I need enough information to legitimize my use of force. That means I need enough light to distinctly make out the target and it what it may, or may not, be carrying.

 

Hunting and fighting with firearms are not the same and have differing equipment requirements and decision making criteria.

 

I prefer the 120 in that I get more battery life and it lights up an area more than adequate for me to use it if needed.

I get plenty of battery life with my 500 lumen Surefires - well over 1.5 hours constant on. Batteries get swapped out in my belt mounted light (Fury), that's the one that gets used the most since I work midnights, about every 2 weeks. That's eight 12 hour shifts in predominantly darkness and they still have juice left.

 

Having used less capable flashlights in the past, I am convinced that 500 lumens is the way to go. If there is an issue with lower useful battery life, I would rather carry extra batteries (and I do) then a less capable light. That being said, I have searched and trained for hours with my pistol (X300U) and rifle (Fury) with no issues.

 

I also keep a small flashlight with adjustable brightness settings (4Sevens Quark Tactical) for administrative tasks, such as swapping batteries in darkness.

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I have both the X300 and the X300 Ultra. Like High Exposure said, the 500 lumens is not twice as blinding. The litmus test for me is, if I let my eyes adjust to darkness, and I flashbulb white walls near me, is my vision effected? The answer is a no on the X300 Ultra.

Where the 500 lumens is beneficial to me is, you get more throw, and also better spill. Better spill translates to better peripheral coverage with the light, and in a bigger room or any other open area, this is a good thing.

I have the X300 Ultra mounted on my carbine. Makes sense to me since it's a longer range weapon than a pistol and thus, I would want a light that's good for the intended range I would use the gun at. For my pistol, I am still using the X300. I already have a holster made for my Glock with X300, so I don't want to re-invest in a 2nd light and holster. At typical handgun ranges, the X300 gets the job done no problem. Also, I kind of prefer the shorter length of the X300, as there is less holster material hanging below the muzzle when it's on my hip.

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