New Streamlight TLR-7

[Clark Jackson]

Sorry for the necro post, but wanted to share something I have experienced on multiple units. I really like the TLR-7A, and have been carrying one regularly for a while now. When shooting pistols with the light mounted, I notice that bezel moves on its own through some combination of shooting and/or EDC, and at some point of bezel movement the light won’t come on. Tighten the bezel and everything works as expected. So, keep an eye on your bezel, to make sure it is tight.

+1 on the TLR-7A light turning off under recoil via the "lock out" function.

Recently watched it happen to a friend who was shooting a G19/TLR-7A combo from an ALS holster; no friction on the TLR-7A via concealment kydex holster.

My buddy contacted Streamlight and was told this was not supposed to happen and asked him to send it back. Streamlight replaced the bezel and returned the light which appears to be in working order.

My buddy replaced the TLR-7A with a TLR1-HL but is using the TLR-7A in his training (witness marked the bezel) to see if he can replicate the problem.

After seeing this I brought the issue up at a local match and heard some similar stories from both civilians carriers and armed professionals. It appears this issue may be more widespread than Streamlight wants to admit. Given this light is currently being provided as standard issue to several large federal law enforcement agencies, I suspect this will become a more pressing issue for Streamlight in the near future.

Until Streamlight publicly addresses/fixes the issue I'm a hard no on the TLR-7A. Conceptually, a great piece of kit but execution was sub-par.

[GJM]

[Up1911Fan]

He's right, it's not. I'm a huge fan of the 7 and Sub for a plainclothes/EDC light. I can't conceal an X300, but I wouldn't use the 7 as a uniformed duty light either. Different tools for different applications.

[WobblyPossum]

He's right, it's not. I'm a huge fan of the 7 and Sub for a plainclothes/EDC light. I can't conceal an X300, but I wouldn't use the 7 as a uniformed duty light either. Different tools for different applications.

Agreed. I use one in my overt, Safariland rig but my job is 95% plain clothes, concealed carry. I also can’t conceal a gun with a TLR-1 or X300 sized light. I can conceal one with a TLR-7 on it. For the 5% of my job that I wear a duty belt with an exposed gun on my hip, I just take the same gun I was carrying concealed and move it into another holster. If your job is primarily overt with an exposed gun on your hip, the concealment benefits of the TLR-7 don’t give you any real additional capability but the light producing benefits of an X300 do.

[Up1911Fan]

Agreed. I use one in my overt, Safariland rig but my job is 95% plain clothes, concealed carry. I also can’t conceal a gun with a TLR-1 or X300 sized light. I can conceal one with a TLR-7 on it. For the 5% of my job that I wear a duty belt with an exposed gun on my hip, I just take the same gun I was carrying concealed and move it into another holster. If your job is primarily overt with an exposed gun on your hip, the concealment benefits of the TLR-7 don’t give you any real additional capability but the light producing benefits of an X300 do.

This. 100%.

[Navin Johnson]

Thanks for posting

This is a shitty Clickbait article implying quality

Not that long ago that was state of the art lighting output

It’s a whole fuck ton better than no light at all on a duty gun

Somebody needs attention

A Popo friend of mine has explained what it’s like to get an administrator (capitan) to sign off……. A TLR7 might be a huge victory.

[dontshakepandas]

Thanks for posting

This is a shitty Clickbait article implying quality

Not that long ago that was state of the art lighting output

It’s a whole fuck ton better than no light at all on a duty gun

Somebody needs attention

A Popo friend of mine has explained what it’s like to get an administrator (capitan) to sign off……. A TLR7 might be a huge victory.

This whole post was a bad take.

Being state of the art in the past doesn’t make it a good option now. Phones and computers from “not that long ago” are all but obsolete now and you would absolutely be at a disadvantage using it.

He wasn’t saying that the TLR7 was not a good light or was poor quality, he said it isn’t a good light for duty use, which is absolutely true. He also shows different lighting conditions where it fails to provide adequate lighting compared to the X300T.

There is no reason to choose a TLR7 over an X300 if you don’t have to conceal it. The TLR7 design makes performance sacrifices in order to get the smaller concealable form factor, and if size isn’t the limiting factor there is no reason to give up the performance. For situations where you do need to conceal, it is still a good option and he said he does have one that he uses when he needs deep concealment.

I’m sure Aaron would agree that using the TLR7 is better than nothing if it is all you can get approved, but that wasn’t the intent of the video. He would also probably be willing to help get other options approved if officers were to reach out to him.

[stomridertx]

This whole post was a bad take.

Being state of the art in the past doesn’t make it a good option now. Phones and computers from “not that long ago” are all but obsolete now and you would absolutely be at a disadvantage using it.

He wasn’t saying that the TLR7 was not a good light or was poor quality, he said it isn’t a good light for duty use, which is absolutely true. He also shows different lighting conditions where it fails to provide adequate lighting compared to the X300T.

There is no reason to choose a TLR7 over an X300 if you don’t have to conceal it. The TLR7 design makes performance sacrifices in order to get the smaller concealable form factor, and if size isn’t the limiting factor there is no reason to give up the performance. For situations where you do need to conceal, it is still a good option and he said he does have one that he uses when he needs deep concealment.

I’m sure Aaron would agree that using the TLR7 is better than nothing if it is all you can get approved, but that wasn’t the intent of the video. He would also probably be willing to help get other options approved if officers were to reach out to him.

I agree with this wholeheartedly, and that's coming from someone who standardized on the TLR-7A. I'm no longer a LEO and in my life, the TLR-7A serves my purposes and having it on all my Glocks allows me to share my T-Series holsters and makes all of them more concealable as CCW options. If I still carried a duty gun every day, I would choose the TLR-1 HL or X300 all day long and twice on Sunday. Sage Dynamics is the antithesis of click-bait, everything he puts out is information driven and provides useful data in making decisions on lighting and optics. I don't always agree, but I respect the information given nonetheless. The candela discussion is especially important. For instance, while I have a TLR-7A on my carry G19.5, I also pocket carry a Streamlight Protac 2LX Handheld. Both lights have 500 lumen output, but the 2LX greatly outperforms the TLR-7A because of the higher candela. We are probably getting close to the limit of what they can do with this size form factor and it may be a long time before there is a significant jump in performance from where we are now.

[Utm]

Thanks for posting

This is a shitty Clickbait article implying quality

Not that long ago that was state of the art lighting output

It’s a whole fuck ton better than no light at all on a duty gun

Somebody needs attention

A Popo friend of mine has explained what it’s like to get an administrator (capitan) to sign off……. A TLR7 might be a huge victory.

It's still a very sub par duty wml. Admin needs to do better and go train trying to PID a dude at 30 yards with a tlr7a vs a full sized wml.

[DpdG]

On the lighting quality front I’m in agreement with Cowen, but there is one factor he doesn’t discuss that might lead to forcing the -7A (or -9) into duty use- the gap around the trigger guard with most duty holsters designed for the x300/-1HL. Although the light is objectively less suited for patrol/overt use, the weapon system is less susceptible to foreign object UDs.