Are high candela pistol lights a gimmick?

Are high candela pistol lights a gimmick? I keep hearing about how important "penetrating photonic barriers" is but spill and threat identification seems more important.

Is this all marketing hype to get Americans to buy more crap?

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  1. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    It always depends on what you do. Do you engage enemies at 50 yards with your pistol? Get the turbo.
    It’s just 5 - 10 yards? Get the ultra.

    Same goes for rifle lights. You shouldn’t get the quasi lasers that can shoot light at something 2 miles away when all you do is cqb. There are different uses for different lights, which is why I am still baffled no one came up with a good working QD mount for a light, so you can change them on the fly.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      You can get QD rail risers. A little funky, but it does the job.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Changeable heads are probably the closest existing solution.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >Are high candela pistol lights a gimmick?
      Yes, it's mostly marketing wank. moronic consoomers think higher number = better so you see endless competition for who advertises the brightest light. Sometimes the lights are honestly brighter, sometimes it's just lies, usually it's a combination of both. The same thing happens for other products that have numerical specs, like which air horn for your car has the highest dB or how many watts an audio amplifier puts out. In the case of chinesium products these specs are often crazy lies, sometimes comically so.

      And a brighter light isn't necessarily better. You need enough light to clearly see your target but too much light will compromise your own night vision and ability to see in the periphery while not really being any better at identifying the threat. You can even temporarily blind yourself with a super-bright light if you point it at a mirror or even just a big white wall and get the reflection back in your face.

      is right though, different lights are for different applications. Someone worrying about predators on their farm has radically different requirements from someone wanting a HD light for their suburban apartment.

      Many lights fit in standard scope rings so you can make them QD in that manner. But generally speaking the different applications which call for different lights also tend to call for different guns so I think that diminishes the demand for quick-change light mounts.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        >moronic consoomers think higher number = better
        I'd argue that it's slightly more subtle than that, I think a bigger issue with a lot of consumerism (and I mean universally, not just for wmls) is single-dimensionality. They pick one single number, and sure, higher IS often better... "all else being equal", except of course all else ISN'T generally equal because there are tradeoffs. More light has downsides, as you say ones for the operator sometimes but also weight, size, battery life, etc. Most products have a lot of different dimensions and often increasing one means losing another, and effectiveness for any given target scenario depends on the totality not just a single feature.

        Assessing all that though is more work. On top of that a lot of people seem to be very bad at Game Theory and abstract scenario thinking, which is something that took me a really long time to realize.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          That's true as well, everything is a tradeoff. A super high brightness light has either a super short runtime or it's huge because it has a large battery. It's also very likely to get very hot. But on top of all that it really rubs me the wrong way when the numbers involved are outright bullshit and people eat that up.

          >Assessing all that though is more work. On top of that a lot of people seem to be very bad at Game Theory and abstract scenario thinking
          You are 100% right and I feel that is only getting worse thanks to the internet. Before the internet people had little choice but to figure things out on their own. Sure there might have been stumbles and bad choices involved along the way but people eventually figured things out for themselves. Now people ask other people online what's "the best". They assume that real life is like their favorite video game and there really is one "best" thing. You see it all the time here: people ask what's the best _____ but they very rarely bother to describe their situation. They actually think that there's a one-size-fits-all answer to everything and they want someone else to spoonfeed that to them. The idea that what is the best may be situationally dependent is completely lost on them.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      >which is why I am still baffled no one came up with a good working QD mount for a light, so you can change them on the fly
      That and a bigger battery compartment so it lasts longer.
      >light head isn't connected to batteries
      >its small and you can put it anywhere
      >pressure switch on top of battery housing that has extra batteries in it
      You can't tell me its not a good idea. Most flashlights use CR123 batteries or similar, right? They're small enough you can line them up perpendicular to the rail/barrel. Just have a daisy chain in the housing and there you go. Too fat and in the way? mount it further back under the barrel and run wire.

  2. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >Are... pistol lights a gimmick?
    Yes.

    >Is this all marketing hype to get Americans to buy more crap?
    Yes.

    If you actually stop and think about how situations could play out that lead to needing a WML rather than just thinking "what if I'm dropped into a situation where I need a WML", you'd realize that it's a bullshit accessory for most everyone who has one. Last thread I saw where people were discussing realistic use cases went into moronic scenarios like attackers hiding behind furniture and lying in wait for you, or weeks long power outages with your generator being broken after a power surge destroys some poster's nightlights with battery backup that they pointed out would be cheaper to outfit your home with than a single WML.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah kinda imo. That level of candela is only very circumstantially useful for a handgun and not generally worth the decreased situational awareness. Even engagements at 50m aren’t likely to require that kind of focused hotspot. But really, a normal 50m DGU occurring in the dark during everyday civilian life is exceedingly unlikely and if you think you might need to engage targets that far away at night in SHTF contexts then you should probably bring a rifle.

      Ideal handgun light pattern for a WML rated 800+ lumens is about ~25,000 candela if you ask me. More than the X300U, but far below the Turbo. That being said, literally any WML will probably suffice most of the time, even a 100 lumen TLR-6.

      >large percentage of attacks outside the home occur at night in suboptimal lighting conditions
      >survey finds police accuracy in single officer shootings dropped from about 65% to 45% during night time

      Huh, I wonder why.

      >inb4 “bad guy can’t see you at night either”
      It is entirely possible for there to be enough light to see a person reasonably well at close range but not enough to get an optimal sight picture. This is quickly evident if you ever do night shooting or just go outside at night.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        finds police accuracy in single officer shootings dropped from about 65% to 45% during night time
        Because police barely even practice during the day. Do you really hold yourself to that low of a standard? I've shot at night in conditions where targets are barely visible and still managed to maintain a decent hit rate on a small center of mass size target.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          Bad police marksmanship is not the finding of interest here, the comparatively decreased accuracy in low light is. Do you really think you will shoot better at night with less light rather than more, especially when targets are actually moving around and every shot creates a brief afterimage?

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            >every shot creates a brief afterimage?
            >t. someone with zero experience shooting in the dark

            • 11 months ago
              Anonymous

              Lol are you fricking joking? Literal first thing I noticed shooting 9mm in the dark.

              High quality defensive loadings with flash suppressants partially mitigate this issue but do not eliminate it.

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                >anon doubles down and insists it's totally like a flashbang in his favorite video game, because why else would a company try to sell you a product

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                >muzzle flash isnt ever bright enough to reduce natural night vision effectiveness
                Ok, moron

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                >t. zero real night shooting experience
                Even porting on a handgun has almost no effect despite what people hype it up to have.

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                >anon doubles down
                Sounds like you here.

                Nobody called it a flashbang. The image of the flash sticks around long enough after the shot to compromise a modest portion of your view of the target area. It doesn't fricking blind you but it sure doesn't help either.

                What were you shooting, a .22?

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                >The image of the flash sticks around long enough after the shot to compromise a modest portion of your view of the target area
                It really doesn't.

                >What were you shooting, a .22?
                I've personally shot a Makarov in .380, a 4" .38 revolver, a couple different 9mm pistols with ~3" barrels, and a .40 S&W Shield with a ported barrel at night. Setting was out in a field with a light on a pole a bit over 200 yards away.

              • 11 months ago
                Anonymous

                Herter's 115 gr FMJ and Federal 124 gr HST out of a full size P226 at ~15 yards, firing about as rapidly as the sights could get back on target, says differently.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      poor

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        not that guy but I don't want the gun to be bulkier

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      Peak moron. Every time ive ever heard a questionable bump in the night(fricking cats) ive been very happy to have WMLs on my defensive firearms.
      >inb4 just use the light switch bro

      >Are high candela pistol lights a gimmick?
      Yes. All you need is about 150 lumens on a defensive pistol.

      No.

      >I keep hearing about how important "penetrating photonic barriers" is
      this 100% sounds like some insane bullshit invented to sell $300 flashlights

      Its real but overhyped and much more of a concern for an out of the house gun than an HD one. If i were looking for a one and done WML for a carbine for instance itd be a major concern. Smoke, fog, glass, dust, illuminating through a lit area(ex otherside of a streetlights puddle of light, through headlights, etc) are all very realistic possibilities.

      if its just for HD you should be aware of how blinding the light can be when it reflects off surfaces.

      This is a classic comment from people who dont know what they're talking about. Just because you put a light on your gun doesnt mean that its ok to walk around flagging all creation with the thing. Its a gun first and an illumination tool second. It should be baseboard lighting, umbrella lighting, or at least held at a low or high ready depending on which is the safer direction. This is why high lumen count and decent spill are such desirable attributes for an HD light, it means that you can get proper illumination while maintaining safe weapons handling and not shinning the light directly at everything.

  3. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >Are high candela pistol lights a gimmick?
    Yes. All you need is about 150 lumens on a defensive pistol.

  4. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    [...]

    >with diffusers
    No.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      jesus christ

  5. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    theyre ok. not worth throwing away your old x300. but if i needed a new light id get the turbo.

    i feel the opposite about their rifles lights though. the turbos are too much throw.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      You wouldn't feel that way if you lived out in the desert or plains. Right tool for the right job

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        nah, a pistol is a pistol, it always does pistol things.

        • 11 months ago
          Anonymous

          >i feel the opposite about their rifles lights though

          • 11 months ago
            Anonymous

            correct, but their rifle lights go too far into the candela direction

  6. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    Central hotspot lights are terribly bad idea. Prove me wrong . You can't.

    • 11 months ago
      Anonymous

      why? seems like a great idea to me.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        I'm not that anon, but I think he has a point for some situations. I live in a rural area and I often have to respond to some predator trying to get into my chickens or my garden. I sometimes hunt at night as well. I don't like the central-hotspot style lights for this because the outer, dimmer, part of the beam inadvertently spooks animals which the hotspot isn't pointed at yet. In other words, it allows them to see me long before I see them. So for that application--hunting or pest control at night--I want a beam that's narrow and uniformly bright, because unless I can see it clearly I don't want my light on it.

        Now for general-purpose flashlight use, like camping, fricking around in the dark, etc, the central hotspot plus a wider beam isn't bad. But I'd prefer the ability to focus the beam like the old-school maglites.

      • 11 months ago
        Anonymous

        Idea is that central spot is for recognizing details of the objects and long range and peripheral area is lit mildly for general awareness and to not waste lumens on that general awareness.
        Problem is how night vision works. Eyes sensitivity adjust to light levels. So you eyes adjust to (reflected) high brightens of the hotspot and their sensitivity become absolutely not enough to recognizes objects outside hot spot. You end up with the need to light up all objects with the hot spot that makes periphery light useless.

  7. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    >I keep hearing about how important "penetrating photonic barriers" is
    this 100% sounds like some insane bullshit invented to sell $300 flashlights

  8. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    if its just for HD you should be aware of how blinding the light can be when it reflects off surfaces.

  9. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    High candela is legitimately useful even in pistol lights. penetrating "photonic barriers" is a cringey way of putting it but its true. Your picture isnt a good example of the use case(obviously this is a troll thread anyways). Good examples of the actual use would be shining a light from through an illuminated room through a door and in to an adjoining room thats dark, or shining a light through a window and outside. If you dont have enough candela then the reflected portion of light can be enough that you cant really see shit through the glass.
    >threat identification seems more important.
    sufficient candela is the most important single thing for proper threat ID, of course how much you actually need is situation dependent

    I dont think lightsaber style lights are the best choice for handguns, particularly for HD oriented ones, but there are plenty of higher candela medium spill lights out there that do both jobs well and i think that theyre the right choice overall.

  10. 11 months ago
    Anonymous

    The primary benefit of a weapon mounted light on a handgun is that it acts a a crutch for recoil control. There is nothing wrong with this.

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