I haven't had great experience with Streamlight's Protac series of weapon lights, which are essentially Scout clones. The color temperature is bluer than the Surefire Scout lights and I have a harder time distinguishing details with the bluer light. Another issue I had was with the springs for the battery contacts not strong enough to resist 5.56 recoil which caused flickering. Final issue was a tear in the cable insulation at the tape switch right out of the box. IMO, Streamlight molded the strain relief for their pressure switch too short to sufficiently retain the cable.
On the other hand, I'm quite happy with Streamlight Macrostream and Microstream USB hand-held lights for my EDC. They are the right size and the right price that I could lose one and not feel too bad about it.
At what distance do you want to be able to positively ID a target?
The industry standard specification identifies distance till the light delivers .25 lux onto an object. .25 lux is not adequate for positive ID….1.5 to 2 lux is generally considered adequate.
The Surefire is on its way back to PA. I'll shop with OP from now on - they give shipping labels.
For my VZ 58 with limited mounting options, I MAY just go with a Streamlight TLR - HL. The beam is MUCH better around the house and into the woods. The SF beam just sucks. Just watched a video which explained the differences between the SF, Arisaka and Modlite. I'll get the Arisaka IF I go with a Scout mount. I really cannot mount a pressure switch correctly with the NEA mount, so I might have to go with a light side and interrupt my grip a tad.
Moral of the story. If you are spending hundreds, do more research and don't assume the old tried and true brands are always the best way to go.
I find that Mr. Guns and Gear's videos are very informative when it comes to different lights and their characteristics.
Here's his review of the Cloud Defensive Rein and he does compare it to the Surefire DualFuel and ModLite for throw.
https://youtu.be/655LksYpMUU
Last edited by Exiledviking; 12-09-21 at 01:51.
I have started slowly switching most of my lights to Cloud defensive and modlight. I am only keeping a couple,e of surefire for my home defense oriented weapons.
Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly; the ill deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly.
I started running Malkoff heads on Arisaka scout light bodies a few years ago and have never looked back. Cloud did their fans dirty with the way they handled the preorders for the OWL and Modlite gets butthurt everytime someone critiques one of their products and they start unnecessary internet fights with skinny glorified airsoft kids.
Used the preorders as a crowdfunding campaign to finance production of the OWL, gave the first batch of them to influencers, IG stars, and youtubers instead of people who paid upfront by several months or even a year, missed the deadline by a huge amount, made excuses all along the way.
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