Do you have a light rig hanging from your nightstand gun that’s roughly the size of a Pringles can? Are you worried that if you hear that dreaded bump in the middle of the night, you’ll have to warm up before attempting to hoist that thing around the house? Is that what’s keeping you up at night? Never fear. Mission First Tactical is out with three slim, reasonably-priced options for your home defense gun. Their TORCH Backup LED lights are available in white, white/red and red/IR for you night vision-equipped operators. MSRP for each is $59.95 . . .
BENSALEM, PA (February 2014) – Mission First Tactical, LLC (MFT™) is proud to introduce TORCH™; the new MFT series of lights and IR for home defense, law enforcement, security and as a primary light source backup. The TORCH™ line includes three models all are USA made by Princeton Tec.
MFT TORCH™ Backup Light White (TBLW)
The TORCH™ Backup Light White (TBLW) is a low profile, Picatinny mounted light with dual white LED’s. It has a recessed pressure pad for easy activation and a power button for simple ON/OFF functions. The illumination is low output for signature reduction during patrol, stealth structure search and approach to the target and breaching operations. The TORCH™ Backup Light White has a 10-year storage lifespan, a 12-hour burn time with a 20-lumen bright white output. It weighs just 22 grams and has an IPX7 water resistant rating. MSRP is $59.99.
MFT TORCH™ Backup Light White Red (TBLWR)
The TORCH™ Backup Light White/Red (TBLWR)illumination tool has many of the same features of the TBLW, except the dual LED’s are white and red; it has a 24-hour burn time and a 10-lumen output. Also, power button features a one-click for low, a second click for high and a hold for 2-seconds brings on the primary light functionality. MSRP is $59.99.
If I put my 160lumen tlr-1s on the mantle 10yds away from me in my living room, I can barely see anything if I’m on the bright side of the bulb….
My 300 or the 630? might as well be the sun.
My house also has very dark stained pine walls. I’ve tried the 630 in the bathroom, brightest room in the house, next to a solid white door. While it’s bright and being 6 inches does “blind” you persay, in home defense distances, it will be fine.
I’m generally of the opinion that super-bright tactical lights are overrated.
Have you ever tried to clear your house at night with a WML? I have. Lit up the white-walls of my hallway and promptly blinded myself, and completely destroyed my night vision. At least up to that moment I had the advantage of having my eyes already adjusted to the darkness.
Blinding the enemy is overrated anyways, as lights attract bullets. They’re just going to start shooting at the light, and you’re right behind it. This I can also confirm from doing dark force-on-force training.
Granted, there is a lot to make fun of here, but hear me out…
I’m thinking that the nightstand already has a large-frame auto and a good [handheld] light. If there is also a low-profile light hanging off the rail, that sounds a little bit interesting.
Though I suppose if I was going to put a light on the gun as a backup to the handheld, I might just go with a real light and use a TLR-1 or similar.
Without actually handling the product to see how it disperses those 20 lumens, e.g. beam, flood, etc, It’s hard for me to make a determination on whether or not one of these would be useful at average room distances.
However, inside my house I have a 62 Lumen Surefire G2 that illuminates the maximum distances of my house sufficiently without me being blinded by reflection from white walls. I like something with more output outdoors for sure, and I consider my Surefire G2 the bare minimum I’d want for indoor use, since it is only barely enough to blind me when shined directly in my face in a dark room.
Therefore I am dubious at best about the 20 lumen output of the TORCH mentioned here. That sounds like just enough light to give away my position to aggressors while remaining insufficient illuminate an area large enough, or far enough away, to acquire an effective target picture. 20 Lumens sounds about right for a pen light used for reading maps or writing in the dark ( http://www.streamlight.com/en-ca/product/class.html?cid=13 ), not for illuminating or deterring a predetermined threat at any distance beyond that at which it is already too late.
I am suspicious of any marketing that references a universal mounting standard that only works on a few firearms. Maybe the design does not have clearance on other makes?
Looks like something you might mount on a rail in front of a IR class optic. Course then you only want the one.
Looks like some overpriced junk to me, but what do I know.
Small, light, and has more than a 1hr burn time. 20 lumens may seem low until you are woken out of a dead sleep in a pitch black environment. Try it sometime. 100+ lumens is painful and blinding when fired up in the dead of night. Also, if you are coming down a hall or about to turn a corner, the intruder will see you coming with plenty of time to think up a good ambush point.
Actually, yes. You sacrifice your night vision and will be blinded or spotty for a few seconds. Supposedly this light mitigates that while not providing enough illumination for you to be easily detected and location triangulated from the beam by your invader.
Now I’ve played with a similar light and really it shines outside in the dark for a pathfinder light in pitch black. You shine it at the ground with weapon at low ready to avoid hazards but the light doesn’t alert anyone else because only you can see it. Doing an outside patrol of your land on a dark night without giving your position away is the most practical use of this I can find right this second.
That scenario is limited in scope and not particularly well applied in a house however.
They may not be top of the line but some of us can’t afford or just plain don’t need a more expensive Surefire. I’ve used one for about a year now on my trail guns(walther p-22 target / Ruger 10-22) and had no problems with them. I also have one on my bedside CZ-40P.
They’re much brighter and have a 2-way switch for “on” or “strobe”.
Lol…it uses the cheap old school big LEDs. The type you see in the 99 cent store LED flashlights.
Most quality lights have a low setting (20-50lm) along with their high (120-600+)
For that price you can get a good REAL light
While I definitely like the idea of a lower profile WML, no matter how small it is it’s still going to require a custom holster to fit. At least you can find holsters to fit common Surefire and Streamlight models, you’re never going to find a holster to fit this thing.
It’s so you don’t fall down the stairs or bump into furniture you goofs.
I plan on putting one of these on my SBR, which already has a 200 Lumen surefire X300 on it. You don’t walk around the house with the light on like you are out walking the dog. You need something low power to navigate with. 20 lumens is actually too bright.
I’ll look into the Red/IR one. Both modes are friendly on night adjusted vision and devices. For the white light… I’m not changing to one of these. The Red/IR would be something convenient to save my vision or put out some extra IR illum for NODs.
The price is $60 because its an american made light.
People are crying that they can get a 20 lumen light from the $1 store, but thats Chinese junk. If the lights specs dont do it for you, then DONT BUY ONE.
If you need a small, dedicated low poer light then support your fellow Americans and buy one.
Not enough lumens. You want to make it so bright that the invader cannot see you.
You also don’t want it so bright that it blinds you as well. Any light held in front of you isn’t going to make you visible.
Ummm…
If I put my 160lumen tlr-1s on the mantle 10yds away from me in my living room, I can barely see anything if I’m on the bright side of the bulb….
My 300 or the 630? might as well be the sun.
My house also has very dark stained pine walls. I’ve tried the 630 in the bathroom, brightest room in the house, next to a solid white door. While it’s bright and being 6 inches does “blind” you persay, in home defense distances, it will be fine.
Ymmv
Is it considered bad form to laser the Bad Guy in his eyes?
No but it IS considered bad form to laser your kid while searching for that “bump in the night”. Thats the down side to gun mounted lights.
And no green light? Green is much less likely to be noticed by an enemy than white or red.
Cite actual source material on your wavelength claims or go away.
I’m generally of the opinion that super-bright tactical lights are overrated.
Have you ever tried to clear your house at night with a WML? I have. Lit up the white-walls of my hallway and promptly blinded myself, and completely destroyed my night vision. At least up to that moment I had the advantage of having my eyes already adjusted to the darkness.
Blinding the enemy is overrated anyways, as lights attract bullets. They’re just going to start shooting at the light, and you’re right behind it. This I can also confirm from doing dark force-on-force training.
20 lumen output? Youre probably better off throwing glow sticks down the hall than using this thing…I think I’ll stick with my $50 Surefire G2…
The gas station sells a brighter LED that’s cheaper.
”signature reduction during patrol, stealth structure search, approach to the target and breaching operations”
Operator as f#&k!!!1!
Granted, there is a lot to make fun of here, but hear me out…
I’m thinking that the nightstand already has a large-frame auto and a good [handheld] light. If there is also a low-profile light hanging off the rail, that sounds a little bit interesting.
Though I suppose if I was going to put a light on the gun as a backup to the handheld, I might just go with a real light and use a TLR-1 or similar.
Okay, never mind.
Without actually handling the product to see how it disperses those 20 lumens, e.g. beam, flood, etc, It’s hard for me to make a determination on whether or not one of these would be useful at average room distances.
However, inside my house I have a 62 Lumen Surefire G2 that illuminates the maximum distances of my house sufficiently without me being blinded by reflection from white walls. I like something with more output outdoors for sure, and I consider my Surefire G2 the bare minimum I’d want for indoor use, since it is only barely enough to blind me when shined directly in my face in a dark room.
Therefore I am dubious at best about the 20 lumen output of the TORCH mentioned here. That sounds like just enough light to give away my position to aggressors while remaining insufficient illuminate an area large enough, or far enough away, to acquire an effective target picture. 20 Lumens sounds about right for a pen light used for reading maps or writing in the dark ( http://www.streamlight.com/en-ca/product/class.html?cid=13 ), not for illuminating or deterring a predetermined threat at any distance beyond that at which it is already too late.
That doesn’t look like something that would make a beam. It’s basically a Microlight on steroids. I have some Microlights.
But do you have steroids?
I am suspicious of any marketing that references a universal mounting standard that only works on a few firearms. Maybe the design does not have clearance on other makes?
Looks like something you might mount on a rail in front of a IR class optic. Course then you only want the one.
Looks like some overpriced junk to me, but what do I know.
Small, light, and has more than a 1hr burn time. 20 lumens may seem low until you are woken out of a dead sleep in a pitch black environment. Try it sometime. 100+ lumens is painful and blinding when fired up in the dead of night. Also, if you are coming down a hall or about to turn a corner, the intruder will see you coming with plenty of time to think up a good ambush point.
Surefire Backup FTW.
I have an older one that does only ~105 lumens. The newer ones do ~200 and look to be a slimmer design. Buy once, cry once, never look back.
Any reason to not turn the lights on in your house if you heard a noise?
Actually, yes. You sacrifice your night vision and will be blinded or spotty for a few seconds. Supposedly this light mitigates that while not providing enough illumination for you to be easily detected and location triangulated from the beam by your invader.
Now I’ve played with a similar light and really it shines outside in the dark for a pathfinder light in pitch black. You shine it at the ground with weapon at low ready to avoid hazards but the light doesn’t alert anyone else because only you can see it. Doing an outside patrol of your land on a dark night without giving your position away is the most practical use of this I can find right this second.
That scenario is limited in scope and not particularly well applied in a house however.
Save yourself a couple bucks and get one of these….
https://www.nebotools.com/prod_details.php?id=95&cid=29
They may not be top of the line but some of us can’t afford or just plain don’t need a more expensive Surefire. I’ve used one for about a year now on my trail guns(walther p-22 target / Ruger 10-22) and had no problems with them. I also have one on my bedside CZ-40P.
They’re much brighter and have a 2-way switch for “on” or “strobe”.
Backup to your backup to your backup!
Seriously though, for some builds/circumstances, I could see a few legit use-cases.
Lol…it uses the cheap old school big LEDs. The type you see in the 99 cent store LED flashlights.
Most quality lights have a low setting (20-50lm) along with their high (120-600+)
For that price you can get a good REAL light
And it works well as a field expedient laser pointer for PowerPoint presentations.
Why can’t the SWAT guys get these with flashing red and blue LED’s? that way the no knock warrants will go smoother…. /sarc off
Streamlight. Enough said.
Expensive.
While I definitely like the idea of a lower profile WML, no matter how small it is it’s still going to require a custom holster to fit. At least you can find holsters to fit common Surefire and Streamlight models, you’re never going to find a holster to fit this thing.
LOL
It’s so you don’t fall down the stairs or bump into furniture you goofs.
I plan on putting one of these on my SBR, which already has a 200 Lumen surefire X300 on it. You don’t walk around the house with the light on like you are out walking the dog. You need something low power to navigate with. 20 lumens is actually too bright.
I’ll look into the Red/IR one. Both modes are friendly on night adjusted vision and devices. For the white light… I’m not changing to one of these. The Red/IR would be something convenient to save my vision or put out some extra IR illum for NODs.
The price is $60 because its an american made light.
People are crying that they can get a 20 lumen light from the $1 store, but thats Chinese junk. If the lights specs dont do it for you, then DONT BUY ONE.
If you need a small, dedicated low poer light then support your fellow Americans and buy one.