And knowing is half the battle.Originally Posted by Dagga Boy
And knowing is half the battle.
More on the lighting equipment....
The Bodyguard with its wider hot spot (lower lux-to-lumen ratio) was superb at closer distances (30 feet and in): it put plenty of light on the target with a wide enough hot-spot that alignment of the light to the bore axis was not critical. This less critical alignment was really helpful in getting the shot off quickly. Considering its small, pocket-friendly size, I am really pleased with the Bodyguard as an EDC light intended for defensive applications.
The considerably larger and less pocket-friendly M61T-MD3 combo with it's higher lux-to-lumens ratio (estimated 14,400 lux to 450 lumens) reached out considerably further, but required more careful alignment . On command to fire at longer distances, I often found myself tweaking the alignment of the light to keep its more narrow beam on the target. That wasn't too difficult to do, but was certainly noticeable compared to the Bodyguard. Of course maintaining this alignment is only a consideration for a hand held light, not a WML.
The DIY finger lanyards worked like a charm! They made flashlight retention when changing mags or clearing (induced) malfunctions a seamless operation: I let go of the light to free up all fingers to perform the two-handed task, then simply closed my hand to re-grasp the light when ready to fire again. Quick and easy!
I had several occasions when the light clicked-on during fire, mostly using the Rogers technique. I did not have as good of a feel for the switch with this technique and suspect I was squeezing too hard. For the Bodyguard, which is truly an application-specific light, I am contemplating modifying the switch to be momentary only.
We covered five techniques: the Harries, Rogers, Modified FBI, neck and temple holds. I shot the best with the Harries and Rogers, but still prefer the Harries between the two of them. I shot the worst with the modified FBI (I felt like a tree with my arms fully extended in different directions), but not but a large margin. Overall I feel most comfortable defaulting to the Harries and shifting to a temple or neck hold if the situation warrants it. I found the Rogers allowed the steadiest hold of the pistol, but is the slowest for me to get in to. I can see using it at longer distances when there is time to lock it in and maximum accuracy is required. The FBI hold is one I think worth keeping in the tool box as there is certainly advantage to keeping the light source as far away as possible. Using a tree or utility pole as cover with the light on one side and the weapon presented on the other comes to mind, using the pole/tree to steady both hands.
The Sig Academy is an impressive facility and being only a 35-minute drive from where I live, easy to get to. The instructors and staff are knowledgeable and they offer a wide variety of courses. As expected it's not cheap, this training costing about $400.00 between the course fee and required ammo. One attendee was a doctor who lives in Miami, so he also had flight and lodging expenses. The rest of the attendees at this class were from the New England area and drove in for the day.
Overall, it was fun and very informative. If I had unlimited funds I'd take every class they offer!
And FWIW, the new 1,000-lumen version is 11,300 candela and the previous 600-lumen version is rated at 16,500 candela. The new one will light up a wider area but not reach as far.
That seems odd to me. Aaron Cowan did a video review of the new 1000 Lumen, and stated he has been using it for about 6 months. In the review he said he was happy to be moving back to surefire lights because this one produced a workable hotspot...
Previously I know he was using the TLRHL because he thought that the higher candela on the that light helped it to have a more workable hotspot at distance. So I guess I'm surprised that the 1000 Lumen x300 has less candela than the previous version. I'm not huge on lights (zero training) but it was my understanding that candela = hotspot focus that will reach out. Am I wrong there?
By the way, if you're shopping around using Ballistic Radio's discount code (azizlight) will net you a good price straight from surefire.
-Cory
Well. My take on this is that candella may be less but the lumens is more. Somewhere along the lines that has to help one another out.
I had thought the head was supposed to be the same tir reflector as the 600 lumen model though.
Lumens is a measure of total light output in all directions. Candela is a measure of maximum brightness in the focused hot spot of the beam. The wider but slightly less intense hot spot of the new X300 is IMO preferable for a pistol. Rifle shooters might be disappointed because they typically want the more focused, higher candela beam to reach out further.
Okay, but I still feel that having more total light output has to help bridge the gap of the candella. I may be wrong and that is fine. But from the pics and videos I have seen the 1000 lumen looks better than the 600 and does not seem to lose anything. I need to see one in person though obviously.
That makes sense. The X300 (300 lumen version) I had produced a very narrow but bright hot spot with little spill. I think the new 1000-lumen version with its wider beam will indeed be better for pistol applications.
It’s hard to tell from a video how intense the hot spot is unless you shine it at a much farther distance. If you stand on the receiving end of these lights, it’s easy to tell which has the higher candela because of the intensity and how uncomfortable it is to stare directly at. This new x300u seems to have a unique head design (not the same as scout lights like previous models) that has a hot spot, unlike the max vision xh35, but still has a lot more spill than previous versions.
Last edited by Gio; 08-12-2018 at 07:55 PM.
I was really impressed with the spill of the XH35 but found the lack of a hot spot less than ideal for my use. I also wasn't big on the form factor...
I am really glad to see these changes with the X300U. It looks like the best of all worlds for me.
"A man's character is his fate."
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