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Image: Chris Dumm

Clint Smith said, “You’ve gotta have a light, because shooting in the dark sucks.” I’ll sidestep the whole ‘weapon mounted’ vs. ‘handheld’ tactical light debate and just cut to the chase: the pricey Streamlight TLR-2 HL weapon-mounted light is incredibly bright and rugged, and it even includes a red laser. If it has one flaw, it’s that the LED emitter might actually be too bright for some uses. But I think you’ll manage with it anyway . . .

Image: Chris Dumm

I’ve had a Streamlight TLR-1 weapon light (the little one, on the right) for about three years. It spends its days attached to whatever Big Gun sits ready and loaded in my gun safe against the possibility that things might go All Stinky Bad in the middle of the night.

But I recently sent the old TLR-1 to the bullpen for a while, because Streamlight sent us a new TLR-2 HL for testing. It’s taken me a while (sorry, Streamlight!) but I’ve mounted it to rifles, shotguns, handguns and even an Airsoft rifle, and fired it in all kinds of lighting conditions at ranges out to more than 75 yards.

Fiat Lux. And lots of it.

The heart of the TLR-2 HL is a Cree C4 LED emitter, powered by two CR-123 lithium batteries and pumping out a literally dazzling 630 lumens. Unlike old Tungsten-filament Xenon bulbs which cooked themselves or broke their filaments under recoil, modern LED emitters are impervious to recoil and have service lifespans measured in tens of thousands of hours. The TLR-2 HL LED promises to last for 50,000 hours, which would take more than five years and $60,000 worth of batteries if you really wanted to test it.

There are a handful of brighter weapon lights out there (and they’re only slightly brighter) but they can’t touch the TLR-2 HL’s size and weight. It measures 3.4″ long, 1.5″ wide, and 1.8″ tall and weighs a bit under 5 ounces.

Image: Chris Dumm

Indoors, those 630 lumens turn night into garishly illuminated day. If you find yourself in a situation like this one, you’ll be able to give the police  a very detailed description of what any intruder looked like before he shit his pants and ran like hell. They’ll probably find him at an ophthalmologist’s office the next morning, being treated for retinal burns. The 650nm red laser dot is brilliantly visible to the naked eye in low-light conditions, but the spotlight saturated my camera’s sensor so it doesn’t show up in the photos.

I don’t have a device that measures lumens, so I compared the Streamlight against another tactical light of known brightness, the 650-lumen Powertac Warrior. My unaided eye wasn’t able to detect any difference in brightness between the two, and I’m confident the TLR-2 cranks out about as many lumens as it promises. It’s way brighter than the previous-generation TLR-1, as it should be.

The TLR-2 has a refractive lens that focuses the central beam for a longer throw. There are plenty of photons to work with, so it still provides excellent splash illumination as the picture shows.

Controls

Image: Chris Dumm

The TLR-2’s light and laser functions are all controlled by the ambidextrous paddle and a protected 3-way toggle switch. The paddle rocks counterclockwise for a momentary on/off and detents clockwise for constant-on illumination. There are no intermediate power settings, but a quick double-tap on the momentary paddle will activate the strobe effect. The strobe can be disabled if it bugs you.

Image: Chris Dumm

The partly-shielded toggle switch lets you select between light, laser or combination settings. The toggle is fairly stubby and fairly stiff to operate (no phallic jokes, please) and there’s no way to accidentally switch settings when you’re groping for the paddle in the dead of night. I’m not sure why the combo setting isn’t in the middle, though.

Image: Chris Dumm

The ‘laser only’ setting probably won’t get much use. It’s not very helpful in outdoor daylight shooting, because like most red lasers it’s only really visible out to about 10 or 15 yards in full daylight. It works great at night, however. The light is bright enough to allow accurate shooting at extended ranges in complete darkness, and the laser helps you do it accurately as long as you’re at a location where you can do so safely.

Caution!

Night shooting isn’t always a good idea. In many locations it’s unsafe, and in many others it’s illegal. You’ve got to be really dialed in for safety, because the four rules of gun safety remain in effect 24/7. The final rule, “know your target and what’s behind it” requires a lot more effort after the sun goes down.

Once you’ve scouted out your firing range and your backstop, however, the TLR-2 lets you walk it back to beyond 75 yards and still hit your reasonably-sized target with a rifle or carbine. I didn’t get to test the TLR-2 on an actual rifle at night, but we did clamp it to a 500 fps airsoft ‘sniper rifle’ and shot it off a buddy’s deck in full darkness. Tin cans were (slightly dented) toast out to 35 yards, and larger paint buckets were easy hits out to about 75 yards. We could identify and engage farther targets using the light and laser with the 4x scope on the airsoft gun, but it didn’t have the accuracy or the velocity to hit them consistently.

Rapidly engaging the closer targets was even more fun with a full-auto airsoft M4 pellet hose, and something I’ll probably never get to try with a real M4.

I’m making an educated guess, but based on this airsoft testing I think a careful varmint or predator hunter could use the TLR-2 HL to illuminate and take game out to 100 yards in places where it’s safe and legal.

The TLR-2 HL also works brilliantly (clever, huh?) at closer ranges. When Joe Grine and I went camping last month, I mounted it to my Ruger P95 for a little night shooting with a real gun. With the laser and light activated, we were consistently riddling tin cans at 25 yards in full darkness, which is almost as well as we could do in daylight. The laser helps a lot.

Power/Battery Life

Image: Chris Dumm

The Streamlight is powered by tandem CR-123 batteries, clamped securely inside the aluminum main housing. Streamlight advertises a 1.25 hour runtime for the main light, which I haven’t actually tested using a timer. I’m sure I’ve got about an hour’s use out of the included batteries, which I’ve been running for at least three months of intermittent use including airsoft and camping testing.

That’s pretty good battery life for a light of this brightness. You won’t find yourself using this weapon-mounted light as a utility flashlight, because anywhere you point it will have a gun pointed at it also; fellow shooters don’t tend to like that.

The TLR-2 has a larger heat sink than the less-bright TLR-1 and also has small cooling rings built into the bezel, but they can only keep the unit at a comfortable operating temperature for 5-10 minutes of constant or nearly-constant activation. After that it becomes uncomfortable to touch. Streamlight promises that this won’t damage the unit, but you won’t want to leave it on for half an hour.

Image: Chris Dumm

The battery cover is removable without tools, and can be replaced with an optional cover (available from Streamlight) that’s wired for a remote on/off switch. I didn’t find that I really needed a remote switch, since the paddle switch sits right under your support-hand thumb when you attach it at the 9:00 position on a quad rail like this. (And stay tuned for a review of the M&M Industries’ M-10 carbine, shown here.)

Mounting

Like earlier TLR’s, this one uses Streamlight’s excellent spring-loaded 1913 rail clamp and no-tool-necessary tightening screw. It mounts and unmounts securely and easily, and without having to put any part of your hand forward of the muzzle of the long gun or handgun it’s mounted to.

If you haven’t used one before, you simply loosen the captive screw using your fingers or a coin/cartridge case/screwdriver/whatever, and press in on it to open the 1913 rail clamp. Position the light on your rail, release the screw, and re-tighten it. You’re done, and it’s not going anywhere. It comes with several replaceable rail inserts which let you custom-fit it to Glock, S&W and Beretta rails as well as standard Picatinny rails.

HK owners are still screwed, but what’s new about that?

Ruggedness

The TLR-2 HL is hella strong. The main body is machined aluminum (with a high-impact plastic laser module), the lens is shatterproof, the mounting clamp is bomb-proof, and the whole unit is IXP4 water resistant.

I like to hear ‘waterproof to x meters’ instead of ‘water resistant’ but an IXP4 rating actually means something. Technically it means that water splashing against the unit for five minutes, at a rate of ten liters per minute, will not infiltrate the unit and will have absolutely no effect on its operation. This is far more protection than IXP 1 through 3, which are only proof against dripping or spraying water at much lower volumes.

I didn’t put the TLR-2 HL to any purposeful abuse, but I took it camping and shooting in the drizzle and the baking sun. It still looks and functions as brand-new, which is the same as my years-old TLR-1 which I originally purchased for its ruggedness.

Conclusion

It’s compact, it’s rugged, it’s rainproof and it’s insanely bright. About the only point of criticism is that it’s fairly expensive: the MSRP is about $350, but street price is as low as $260. That ain’t chump change either way, but the Streamlight ‘HL’ series (for ‘High Lumen’) offer at least three times the brightness of earlier Streamlight weapon lights.

If you need its features and can afford it, the TLR-2 HL is strongly recommended. And if you crave the brightness and rugged construction but don’t like lasers, the TLR-1 HL gives you all the lumens for half the money.

Ratings (out of five stars)

Brightness * * * * *
You’ve got to go really big and heavy to find any kind of tactical light with significantly more power than this one. Just don’t dazzle yourself indoors with it.

Features * * * * 1/2
A green laser would increase daytime visibility. Streamlight has a green laser TLR-2, but the spotlight is only 1/2 as bright as the HL.

Ergonomics * * * * *
Streamlight kept the controls simple and right where you want them. Anything more would be too busy and too confusing for stressful use.

Mounting * * * * *
I prefer the Streamlight mounting clamp and screw to any other rail attachment interface I’ve ever used; I even wish they’d license it for scope mounts. It connects and disconnects with one hand without tools, and it can’t catch on straps or gear like QD levers can.

Ruggedness * * * *
Probably impervious to physical abuse, but I haven’t abused it enough to verify that fifth star.

Overall Rating * * * * *
Now that’s a weapon light. Pricey, though.

Manufacturer’s link here.

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22 COMMENTS

  1. “Pricey” definitely nails it for Streamlight products, which is why I’ve never owned one. I don’t doubt they’re excellent, but I’m far from made of money and just never could justify spending that kind of scratch on a flashlight.

    Or whatever. I’ve made do with lesser products. And much cheaper.

  2. i feel that streamlight’s HL series was a great line up of compact to full size rechargeable led flashlights. For the price & its (almost) no hassle lifetime warranty is the selling point for me personally.

  3. On a side note Chris, how about a review of that Bushnell TRS-25 you have shown in the last picture? Thinking about picking up a sub-$100 red dot and I want to know if that one’s any good.

    • I’ll say it right now. It’s amazing! The settings are good, and the size of the dot (Which does get bigger as illumination increases), ruggedness, and it’s ability to hold zero no matter what I put it on, puts it on par with my buddy’s comparable Aimpoint. The thing is amazing, and has a pretty good battery life, too.

    • That’s a great idea! I’ll spoil it now and just say that the TRS-25 is amazingly rugged and reliable for such a low-priced optic. It doesn’t outperform an Aimpoint Micro, but for all but the most extreme uses it comes pretty darn close. Ditto for the Primary Arms Mini Red Dot also.

  4. I imagine the “both laser and light” setting is all the way to the left is because it does not take fine motor skills to swipe the switch all the way to the left (as opposed to having the both setting in the middle which would require fine motor skills to set it). If something goes bump in the night you just slam that toggle switch all the way to the left (or right depending on orientation) instead of fiddling with the thing to get it into the middle.

    • Might I suggest the Inforce series? I use their WML at work and it’s a great little light for the price. I haven’t tried the APL but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.

    • Fenix tactical-series with their rail-mount accessory. You can get a Fenix TK15 (400 lumens) plus the rail-mount for about $100. For another $20 you can get the remote pressure switch, or you can pick that up later when you’re tired of thumbing the light on/off while mounted to a weapon.

      http://www.fenixtactical.com/fenix-tk15.html

  5. I’m a lighting designer and own several very good Sekonic light meters. If you will send me your Streamlight I promise I will do all the proper testing for you.

    Just won’t promise to return the Streamlight when I’m done. Ooooops.

  6. Thanks, Chris- another great review. (And thanks Dracon about the comment on zero). Been waiting for just this kind of real-world review before buying.

    This would be handy to swap from Glock for HD,
    to 870 to AR for night time work, for ex: depredation permits on hogs, coyotes, etc.

    I agree on the brightness- great outside, but at 630 even more than the Surefire Fury hand-held at 500 lumens – great for lighting up the animals in a field, but way too too bright for indoors for me – blinds me on bounce off close white walls.

    I’d ideally like to see two settings low and bright- but I suppose thats asking a lot of a weapon sight of such compact size. The bright light is very helpful as a deterrent, or another option on the first step-on-the-force continuum.

    One thing I have noticed when using a very strong light walking the dogs in a wooded place near my home with homeless, is they tend to associate that with police/security, and avoid you, or to react with more restraint, than they might to someone with a “normal” flashlight coming upon them.

    You have to use restraint, of course- no one likes having a bright light shined in their eyes, but just flicking it on bright, aimed at the ground or nearby sends the message, and simply having that tool to temporarily immobilize an opponent, or reduce their ability by taking away their night-sight is a good defensive capability.

    Strong light helps with the pesky urban coyotes too. Can see their eye-shine up to a half mile away, or chase them off in close with just a couple flashes.

    Any thoughts from any MIL or LEOs experience/perspective on red vs green laser? I see the Streamlight product page refers to the red combo light as a “sight” but the green as “aiming device”. Is there a difference in accuracy?

    • Red laser illumination is difficult to pick up past about 10-15m in daylight. Green is visible at much longer ranges even in full daylight because the human eye is far more sensitive to green light.

  7. for those of us who dont use a laser, the TLR-1 HL Can be had for about $120 from primary arms. (if you are a texas resident who doesnt live in the south houston area, try your local stocking dealer as we get shipping and taxed). i found one locally for about $130ish.

    ive not found a need for a visible laser.

    i have a tlr-1s 160 lumen on my glock 17 gen 4 for my HD gun. a Tlr-1s 300 lumen rides on my 15-22 and i might get the HL for my AR-pistol after the stamp application has been sent off. the 300 is plenty bright to illuminate anywhere on my property where 2 hands on the gun is necessary. im not sure i could hit reliably under stress what it doesnt illuminate.

    i also live in a house with dark solid wood walls, both lights are perfect. i have a 650 lumen jetbeam to spot anything on my land. i also have a surefire g2x pro as a backup backup light in my pistol go bag.

    yes, i own a lot of lr123 batteries. $40 for 40 of them shipped from ebay is a deal.

  8. I got one a few months ago and put it on my Glock 21. Apparently the recoil of a stock Glock 21 was too much for the switch on the Streamlight. Within 6 rounds, the goddamn thing turned off without fail.

    30-day, no questions asked return policy to the retail location of purchase. At least that part worked.

  9. Is it just me? I have a $20.00 Streamlight Protac (600 lumens) and a Barska green laser that cost less than $140.00 for both. Why does a Streamight laser/light cost 250.00 plus?

  10. The author mentions the laser-only setting won’t get much use. I use a couple TLR4’s on firearms and they have identical controls (but only 1 battery, so not as bright). I use the laser only setting if I’m placing the pistol or rifle in a case, in the gun safe, etc. If the firearm ends up resting in a way that happens to press up against the paddle, turning the beam on, it won’t drain the battery or cause a heat buildup in a confined space.

    I love my TLRs. They’re easily the best bang for the buck. The reviewed model above will likely be my next purchase. Even the TLR4 lights up an entire pasture while poking around on the farm.

    If I had a complaint, it would be that surefire weapon lights have an off setting on the light/laser selector, something that would be nice on the TLRs. But as a fraction of the price, it isn’t a complaint.

  11. I have one streamlight flashlight for my AR and just bought one for my son in law for Christmas.
    I am checking out the TLR-4 G but have not decided quite yet.
    Maybe someone can help in my decision.
    The only question unanswered is. What is the size of the beam at different distances out to 100 yrds.

  12. “HK owners are still screwed, but what’s new about that?”

    Like nearly every modern duty pistol being made today, Heckler & Koch included an Picatinny-type accessory rail on the VP9. The rail allows a shooter to easily pop on a light or laser.

    Unfortunately, there have been problems with reliability in polymer pistols from another maker when certain ammunition and accessory lights were combined. I believe that company solved the problem, but HK was determined never to have the problem in the first place.

    Extensive testing by HK proved the VP9’s accessory rail is completely reliable with any light or laser unit with a weight up to 5.6 ounces.

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