Weapons light

[TA]

I have never really been into the tactical light thing, but I have recently had to rethink my position on these lights after having my home security system go off at 3:00am. To awaken to the sirens and see on our bedroom keypad that the door from the house to the garage was opened, was a bad feeling. I felt slightly disadvantaged a few times going through my own dark house. It turned out that it was so windy that night, even with the main garage door closed, there was enough to jar the door and set off the alarm.

Anyway, we just got a shipment of the new Streamlight TLR lights in and I just had to give one of these a try ( I know the owner of the store ;D ). It is an anodized aluminum casing and puts out 80 lumens with an LED. It mounted easily and I find the momentary or continuous on switch to be easy to manipulate. This light is BRIGHT! I wouldn't go through the house with it on, but it sure would be nice to use it to check out a dark corner or to identify a potential target.

[TMan]

As I think I mentioned before, I had the same thing happen to me, but with the door from the patio to the garage. The siren went off, and I went running down the stairs thinking it must be a false alarm and I didn't want to wake all the neighbors.

I then, with my back to the house, proceeded to royally screw-up trying to get the alarm turned off. I finally got the code in right and got it shut off. The panel said "Zone 3". Nice, now my heart was racing, but I heard the wind blowing hard. After checking in the garage, I found the problem. I then decided that it was time to upgrade the security system. Several thousands of dollars later, there is an alarm panel upstairs. The panel tells me in plain English exactly where the fault was, and I have gas canisters, which I can disable when I'm home.

The problem I have with the lights is that the provide a great target. "Just shoot at the light". I have night-lights in the hallways that come on at dusk and off at dawn. With the downstairs being open and a street-light outside, I'm fortunate that I can see. However, in the bedroom it is a different story. I probably should put night-sights on the Ruger.

[MLB]

Ah, for the good old days when you just needed a moat filled with crocodiles around your castle...

I love the gadget factor of the things, but have trouble justifying the cost of them as compared to a good quality flashlight, which has so much more applicability.

[Fobos]

I like the ability to commit both hands to my firearm, which is difficult to accomplish when holding a separate flashlight... especially if your primary option is a shotty or rifle. It's also nice to manipulate doorknobs, light switches, control panels, etc. without having to fiddle with a flashlight in your weak hand.

[TBT]

tman said:

The problem I have with the lights is that the provide a great target. "Just shoot at the light".

I've fot times worried about that as well Tman. But you HAVE to be able to identify your target. I've often thought of trying to hook up a "master light switch" in the house (not even sure if thats possible). If you could light up the house the BG wouldn't know your position and you would be able to see. Of course so would he but heh. You can't blindly shoot at dark images lol.

[TMan]

Actually, I have that ability. The house is wired with X-10 compatible switches and they have an "All Lights On", but I'm not sure, it may be just the ones on a single house code. I have the lights on a single house code, but other things, like the garage door openers are on a different code. However, if I'm going to be away for an extended time, I still unplug the garage door openers. Hmmm, thinking about it, I don't think that is necessary because the wireless receivers are on the same house code that the lights are on. So someone that came in the driveway that new the code they were on, still couldn't get power to the door openers. (The garage door openers have rolling-code technology, but still... I know I'm paranoid - and I have guns!!!)

I'm not sure if I heard something go bump in the night if I would hit the lights or try to get around in semi-darkness. If the alarm went off, I would hit the all lights on. Hey, that is an idea, I should have the alarm system turn all the lights on automatically. I'll add that to my to-do list. (I have a commercial alarm system that has a lot of input/outputs).

Well, my break is over - back to the shovel.