NCJ Number
222627
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 56 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2008 Pages: 76-82
Date Published
March 2008
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describes the most popular of the currently available pistol-mounted light sources for weapons regularly used by American law enforcement agencies.
Abstract
All of the pistol-mounted lights described have positive and negative features. Each agency must decide which light is best suited to its operations and budget. New from BlackHawk's Night Ops division is the Xiphos NT. This 65-lumen LED light offers much the same functions as the popular Gladius. Both lights come with a digitally regulated circuit that allows for the unit to generate a bright, quickly flashing strobe that disorients a targeted suspect. Insight Technologies' M3X and M6X weapon lights offer much to officers who favor the incandescent light. Those who tested these lights all praised them for the trigger guard pressure pad. The SSL-1 is Insight's first venture into the LED weapons light market. It is an 80-lumen, 3-watt light that features dual switches located on the rear of the light body. The Safariland RLS Rapid Light System consists of a mounting platform coupled with a high-intensity LED light that generates 65 lumens. This system allows an officer to quickly mount then dismount a tactical light from the duty pistol without sweeping the muzzle over a body part. Streamlight's TLR-1 and TLR-2 weapon-mounted lights feature an all-metal body and a "hi-lux" LED light source that produces about 80 lumens, with a run time of up to 2.5 hours. The two lights are identical except for the TLR1's addition of an integrated laser for use in aiming the pistol. SureFire, which has a long history of producing weapon-mounted lights, has the X200, which is available in two models (X200A and X200B). Both use LED-based light sources that are immune to gun recoil and vibration. They illuminate longer ranged threats.