Adding My First Dedicated Weaponlight; Need Helpful Advice

[Dennis]

About 5min into the night shoot
the Gladuis started failing me. It would come on dim (as if in constant on mode with reduced output) or not at all. I know I had put fresh batteries 2 days before the course and locked it off. I became frustrated and changed out the batteries and checked the light during a short break. Still the problem persisted. When I got home upon checking the unit it wasn't the batteries
and inexplicably the light started working properly again.

This is a known issue with some older tailcaps. I had the same problem with my older Gladius, but after having the LED and tailcap upgraded I have had no issues so far!

Call customer service for a replacement.

Dennis.

[decodeddiesel]

This is a known issue with some older tailcaps. I had the same problem with my older Gladius, but after having the LED and tailcap upgraded I have had no issues so far!

Call customer service for a replacement.

Dennis.

Dennis, is there any way you know to tell if you've got a good Gladius or not? I am really interested in one of these in a Vltor offset mount (I just realized the E2D won't work), but I am hesitant to end up with a dud.

[Dennis]

Dennis, is there any way you know to tell if you've got a good Gladius or not? I am really interested in one of these in a Vltor offset mount (I just realized the E2D won't work), but I am hesitant to end up with a dud.

Sorry, I don't offhand. However I would assume that any current production one would be upgraded. Ask a trustworthy retailer like Grant at G&R Tactical.

Also, you can always call customer service after you test yours thoroughly!

Dennis.

[theJanitor]

Definatly need to check that out and revist the x300 option.

The light beam is/could be interupted depending on what your shooting under. Ever clear a basement of a large building with a gudzillion pipes running around and having to climb through all that crap.

i don't get it. at 12:00 the light is between the barrel and the RDS/irons. if you can see the target through the sights, and the barrel has an unobstructed path to the target, what could be blocking the light?

props to you if you've shot with an obstacle/object BETWEEN the bore and the sight plane.

[CAPT KIRK]

This is a known issue with some older tailcaps. I had the same problem with my older Gladius, but after having the LED and tailcap upgraded I have had no issues so far!

Call customer service for a replacement.

Dennis.

I have not had any problems to date.... I will continue to use it unless it shows problems, in which case I will revert to a handheld backup which I always carry.

I am telling you tho... the strobe feature is a unique and awsome feature. If you have not experienced 90 lumens worth of strobe in your face in the dark then you are missing out on the potential of this. Shooting with a strobe going is a little different but worth getting used to. The strobe flat messes with oponents heads. An adversary can adjust to a momentary on light if left on to long and target it... but the recipient of some strobe action just wants to turn away.

I love this thing, and hope I never have reason to stop using it.

Always carry some sort of backup tho..

[decodeddiesel]

I am telling you tho... the strobe feature is a unique and awsome feature. If you have not experienced 90 lumens worth of strobe in your face in the dark then you are missing out on the potential of this. Shooting with a strobe going is a little different but worth getting used to. The strobe flat messes with oponents heads. An adversary can adjust to a momentary on light if left on to long and target it... but the recipient of some strobe action just wants to turn away.

I will tell you that as soon as I saw the you tube vid using the strobe I was sold. I still think the fundamentals of proper weapon light usage still hold true, but it is an advantage.

[Failure2Stop]

There are a lot of good options for mounted lights- way better than my first use which was a mag-light and few zip-ties or duct tape.

Initially I was enamored by the SF 900 series, to the extent that I believed that 6 o'clock had to be the best solution for mounted lights (why else would SF, the illumination gods, put the light there?). I now believe that somewhere between 10 and 2 o'clock is the best placement for me and my use. What about you and yours? No idea. You will have to play around with it to figure it out. Then again, I might experiment with something and completely change my mind in a few months (it has happened before).

Being a primarily right-handed shooter I find 3 o'clock to be an impediment during room entry as the #1 in certain circumstances. I have seen more than one person become involuntarily stationary in the doorway due to light placement, I don't want to be that guy. It is less of an issue at 9 o'clock, but sometimes I need to switch shoulders, and might wind up with a mirror-image issue, so 9 o'clock is out for me as well. There are also issues with back-splash from cover with both the 3 and 9 position, as well as the 6, since the top of the gun is rolled out from cover, not the bottom, which means that more of the shooter needs to be exposed to fully clear the 6 o'clock light from cover. Sure, you can keep the gun vertical for most cover, but think about unconventional positions like the roll-over prone.

A 12 o'clock mount is out of the question for me at the present time, which leaves me with 10:30ish. I am not too worried about actuation with the right hand as I prefer to maintain a normal grip on the carbine and just switch shoulders. The only time I am concerned with left-hand use is in the event of the right side being disabled, in which case light placement is moot.

To that end the VLTOR offset is the best I have used, and I have used a bunch of them. Not perfect, but close. I could happily go without the thumb-screws since I tool tighten and loc-tite them to the rail. I have at least one hand-held on me, my armor, or my bed stand at all times- the light can stay on the gun permanently as far as I am concerned.

As far as light choice goes I am playing around with a few options. I really like my Gladius for the few thousand rounds I have had it mounted. I have not had any issues, but I am a sample size of 1. I bought it after a conversation with Ken Good regarding LED lights and the upgraded Seoul specifically. I do not necessarily think that it is the perfect solution (I have mangled one tailcap due to ignorance and faith in brute force), but it is pretty good for my needs. I like the strobe, but I think that conceptually sound illumination techniques are more important. Simply attaching a Gladius to your carbine will not make much difference unless you know what you are doing with visible light to start with.

I recommend something simple and easy initially. The X300 at 12 would be good for me if I wasn't stuck with a fixed conventional FSB. I think that a G2 in a VLTOR or VTAC is a very sound initial starting point, with lots of room for upgrade if the arrangement works for you. There is very little that the G2 won't do for you for in realistic HD situations. Worried about shock isolation? Wait until you actually break the bulb, then buy the shock isolation parts. While bulbs do break from forces other than the fearsome 5.56 recoil, they are not all that common in non-hard use applications. For the price of them, buy 2 G2s in case you break one in training and while you wait for the new shock-isolated head.

At least that's my perspective.