Best Streamlight TLR-2S Rail Mounted Strobing Tactical with Laser Sight Deals

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List Price: $502.79
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I spent 8 years in the Marine Corps and trained with surefire optics. I used to think that there was nothing better than surefire, until a friend of mine introduced me to streamlight. The streamlight tlr-2 is a fraction of the cost of the surefire x400. Having tested surefire optics on the battle field and knowing them to be tried and true I was skeptical of trying a new brand. My friend convinced me to give streamlight a try. I borrowed his streamlight and headed to the shooting range. I was immediately impressed with its easy installation, light weight, and ease of use. After test firing it I new I had to have one of my own. The laser was easy to adjust and extremely accurate. The tactical light is extremely bright and the strobe feature is also quite impressive. The surefire tactical light offers 170 lumen output and the tlr-2 offers an output of 160 lumens. The price difference between the two is 150 dollars and the streamlight is just as durable and just as good if not better than the surefire x400.

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I recently purchased a new gen. 4 Glock 22. It has the mounting rail built into the frame (for those unfamiliar). I started researching the options that can be mounted on the rail.

I quickly zeroed in on the Streamlight TLR-1S & TLR-2S as my finalists. Streamlight offers a smartly designed, solid, well built product with tight tolerances. Somewhat of a rarity in today's consumer market, flooded with less than acceptable, Asian knockoffs, that more crappy than cheap.

For me, I wanted a strobe option; a laser was a potential bonus. My choice was between the TLR-1S (no laser) and the TLR-2S (with laser), the laser does add both a price and size/weight component. I will not be carrying it daily and if I need it in a moment of crisis, I prefer the deck stacked as far in my favor as possible.

What's up with the title of this review? Many of the previous reviewers mentioned the trickiness of the controls, when using the strobe mode. That held up my decision for a few weeks. In the end I determined that I need to apply the same reasoning to this light as I would any firearm purchase.

First, is it a high quality and reliable item? Yes it is, I read at least 100 reviews on many sites; it is state of the art. Second, am I willing and able to put in the practice time to be both confident and competent with it? Yes I can/will, that is a non-negotiable piece of the equation. Finally, does it essentially "fail safe"? Yes, even if you fail to double tap the switch fast enough to put it in strobe mode, the light and laser still switch on, just not in strobe mode.

All in all it is great product that will do what is supposed to do, if you do what you are supposed to do. Practice regularly.

Best Deals for Streamlight TLR-2S Rail Mounted Strobing Tactical with Laser Sight

I've been using a TLR-2 for four years now without fail. Since then they've upgraded the unit to the C4 which is twice as bright as the original, and more recently they've added a strobe function. These improvements prompted another purchase which I've been using for about a year.

The TLR-2 is easy to set up, swap from gun-to-gun, and use. I regularly swap the units on various handguns without having to resight the laser. It takes just seconds to unmount or mount the unit. You can use the unit in light only, laser only, and light/laser combo modes. I've used the units in night shooting courses and they really perform.

I also like that the TLR-2 uses lithium 123 batteries which allows the light to sit for long periods of time without having to worry about the batteries draining or leaking.

Honest reviews on Streamlight TLR-2S Rail Mounted Strobing Tactical with Laser Sight

Great gun light. Installed easily on my Glock 19 (Gen4).

The power switch works well (though mine is a little tight). It is nice that it is ambidextrous since we have a righty and a lefty in the house. There is a second switch to easily change between laser, light and laser+light.

The laser is very bright and well focused. The light is impressively bright centrally and has enough bleed to light up the rest of the room fairly well.

My biggest disappointment is the strobe function. I find it fairly difficult to activate the strobe. You have to quickly tap one direction on the power switch and then VERY rapidly tap it again to turn it on. You have very little time to make that second tap (the instructions say half a second and that's probably generous). I repeatedly find myself making the second tap too slowly, especially when I want to lock the strobe on (not just have it come on momentarily). I really feel they should give you more time to make that second tap (at least a full second, maybe two like some other tac lights I've seen). I seriously doubt I'd be able to quickly and confidently activate the strobe in a life or death situation. That said, being on the receiving end of the strobe (I set the light down on the counter and strobed myself in a dim basement) is like being in the middle of the end of the world. Any bad guy caught in that strobe is NOT going to be able to see what the heck is going on and will be extremely disoriented.

So, overall a great tac gun light but not perfect. If the strobe was easier to activate I'd give it 5 stars.

Since the strobe model is about the same price as the non-strobe model, I'd say to go ahead and get the strobe model.

UPDATE 6/25/11: I've changed my rating from 4 stars to 2 stars.

I've had this for a few months now. Last week I went to remove the light from my firearm and the battery compartment cover broke off. I've have not mistreated the unit have never dropped it or hit it against anything. The only time the battery compartment has been opened was to initially put the batteries in. I've only fired ~20 round with it attached to my gun. I've removed it/reattached it to my gun about 6 times, but this has always been an easy process and never required any force.

I think the issue is that the battery compartment latch puts too much tension on the battery compartment hinge (which is plastic holding a metal pin it is this plastic that broke). As a device like this failing at the wrong time could, quite literally, mean the difference between life and death, a failure of this kind in the absence if any kind of abuse (and very minimal normal use) is unacceptable. I e-mailed Streamlight 6/21/2011 (evening) and they replied early the next morning, saying they'd send out a new battery compartment lid we'll see how long that takes to arrive. In the meantime I'm left without a weapon light/laser.

UPDATE 6/27/11: I've upgraded rating from 2 stars to 3 stars.

I received my new battery cover today (probably as fast as they could have gotten it to me without doing overnight or second day). It was a bit of a pain to get on and didn't include instructions (though it was fairly self explanatory). In light of the speedy, hassle-free manner in which my issue was resolved, I decided to add another star back to my review.

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I recently retired from law enforcement and served on our tactical team. We used the previous model without the strobe. Unfortunately I had to turn in all of my gear when I went 10-42 and I bought this light for my home defense pistol to replace the department's. The new model is much brighter...don't look into it. And the strobe is a big tactical advantage. I have a Blackhawk Gladius light on my M-4 I used on raids that strobes. I can attest to its effectiveness strobing into the eyes of suspects at 0400. When you strobe someone they turn away instinctively giving you time to take them down safely.

Pros: Very bright light. Fits any anything with a picatinney rail. Strobe feature. Surefire brand.

Cons: Wish laser strobed also. Good intimidation factor when you don't actually need to activate the flashlight. This is why I only gave ir 4stars.