Insight M3X turns off after shots fired

[rudy99]

I've had a Insight M3X (http://www.insighttechgear.com/products-m3x.htm) for several years and finally took it to the range this past weekend. After lurking on the forum for a while, I figured I needed to make sure that light was worth a flip after suffering from some recoil. I tested it out with about 50 rounds through both my G19 and M&P45. I was at an outdoor range during daylight hours, so I really couldn't "see" the light while I was shooting. The light is activated with a rocker switch on the rear, which appears to be similar to the same system used by Surefire and Streamlight. I turned the light on before shooting about 6 rounds or so and started to notice the light was off after I finished, without me turning it off. The light still worked, the switch was just in the "off" position after I shot a few rounds. I couldn't figure out if the recoil from the gun was causing this or if I was somehow hitting the switch when I fired the gun (i.e. user error). I imagine this would not be a good thing to have happen in a HD situation at night where your light is turned off directly after a shot, even if you can turn it right back on. Any thoughts? Is this a common problem or is the answer "get yourself a SureFire....."

[jsebens]

My immediate thought is "Keep your digit on the switch if you want the light to stay on"; when running white light, "set and forget" is rarely the correct course of action.

Subsequent thoughts include "Perhaps he should try an X300 and DG tape switch."

[rudy99]

My immediate thought is "Keep your digit on the switch if you want the light to stay on"; when running white light, "set and forget" is rarely the correct course of action.

Subsequent thoughts include "Perhaps he should try an X300 and DG tape switch."

You make an interesting point here on the proper use of a weapons light for a handgun. Of course, if my digit is on the switch to keep it on, I can't very well fire the weapon, unless you are talking about using my reaction hand, which would seem awkward.

[jsebens]

Yeah, I wasn't trying to be a jerk; if you want a light to stay on while you fire, you should be placing your reaction thumb on the lever.

[rudy99]

Yeah, I wasn't trying to be a jerk; if you want a light to stay on while you fire, you should be placing your reaction thumb on the lever.

Perhaps the question should be whether or not the light is "supposed" to be on during an encounter. I was thinking yes, but what do I know. :confused: I've had handgun training, but haven't had anything around low-light/no-light drills and/or training. Just shooting in the dark here (pun intended).

Do other lights (streamlight/surefire) require that you use your reaction thumb to keep the light running?

[rudy99]

I may have answered my own question here:

http://m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=16114&highlight=stance


Training – General principles of white light use NOTE: These apply to carbine or handgun

It’s been said multiple times by this point but it bears repeating now: White light is a target indicator. Whenever you use it you are exposing yourself to whatever is out there in the dark potentially waiting to hurt you. As a general principle you want to use as little white light as you can get away with. The failing most common among the untrained or the poorly trained (and the frightened) is to lean entirely too much on the white light. Thankfully because most of the criminal types are not meat eating gunfighters and are more interested in escape than a body count the improper use of lights doesn’t routinely have dire consequences. Nevertheless, it’s not good to plan on encountering just the stupid or the scared.

There is a balance to be reached in the use of white light. It’s almost impossible to navigate (especially in unfamiliar surroundings) entirely in the dark and you’re darn sure not going to be able to clear the room without using SOME white light. (Unless you have night vision) It’s also not a good idea to walk around with the light turned on all the time so you can see where you are going. The compromise is to use short bursts of light to allow you to navigate in the dark. The bursts of light should be around ½ a second, which is just enough to allow you to see what you need to see…and you are moving the whole time so that if a bad guy does see the burst of light you aren’t where it was. Some folks call this “flashing”, some call it “strobing”.

It’s used to navigate and to see what you need to see inside a room. You can’t simply enter a room that you haven’t checked out at all…that’s asking for disaster.

Generally you want to try and use the LIE principle in low light. LIE stands for:

Locate – ½ second burst of light to locate a potential threat

Identify – 1 second burst of light to determine whether or not the potential threat you located needs to be shot

Engage – pulling the trigger, with the light off if possible. (It’s not always possible)
After each of these steps you MOVE so as not to be in the same location as the light or the muzzle flash. (muzzle flash is also a target indicator)

Now this process if done at speed is extremely difficult for the guy on the other side of the light to figure out.

Guess it was more of an issue of user-error in practice than poor product quality.