Weapon light review: Surefire X300 Ultra vs. Streamlight TLR-1 HL

[scruff]

My Streamlight TLR-1 HL weapon light finally came today, so I got the opportunity to compare it to the Surefire X300 Ultra, and I figured I’d post a review.

A few months ago, I took John Brown’s carbine class with a Streamlight TLR-1s mounted on my Colt 6920. Between the 160-lumen TLR-1s, my eyesight which isn’t what it used to be, and the combination of fog and smoke on a cool, damp night, I crashed and burned in the night shoot part of the class. I definitely needed a better light, and I settled on the 500-lumen Surefire X300 Ultra.

Recently, I saw that Streamlight came out with a new, brighter light, the 630-lumen TLR-1 HL. I wanted a second light, and the Streamlight was significantly cheaper ($130 vs. $210 for the Surefire), so I decided to give it a try.

In all photos, the Streamlight is on the left, Surefire on the right.

The size, shape and weight are very similar, although the Surefire is slightly longer, so it may not fit in holsters designed for the Streamlight. They look similar too, except for a chrome ring on the Streamlight that’s a little tacky. They both run on 2 CR123 batteries. Both have to be taken off the gun in order to replace the batteries. The Streamlight, being brighter, has less runtime (1.25 hours/630 lumens vs 1.5 hours/500 lumens). Both are made in the U.S.A.

Mounting: The Streamlight has a thumbscrew that loosens up one side of the mount, allowing it to snap over the rail. It holds the light securely, but I wonder if the thumbscrew could loosen up over time? The Surefire slides down the rail, with a spring-loaded latch that snaps into the grooves in the rail, so there’s no way for it to loosen up and fall off. However, it was so tight that I could barely get it on the rail. The tight fit could be a problem if you had to take it off the gun quickly to change batteries. I had to take the mount apart and do some filing to get it to slide onto my rail.

Controls: both have a rotating switch on the tailcap, with two tabs 180-degrees apart. The Surefire’s switch is simple to use. It clicks on whether you turn it clockwise or counter-clockwise. With the Streamlight, CW is on, CCW is instant on. You can double-tap CW to turn on the strobe, and double-tap CCW for instant-on strobe.

One thing I noticed in comparing the two is that the detent on the Surefire switch is more secure. It takes more torque to turn it off than to turn it on. The Streamlight’s switch isn’t as secure, however – it’s easier to turn it off than to turn it on. Once the lights are turned on, it would be much easier to bump the Streamlight and accidentally turn it off.

Between the classes I’ve taken and the thinking I’ve done about the kind of self-defense gear I want, I’ve decided that I want to Keep It Simple, Stupid. The Surefire definitely wins that contest. Turn the switch and it stays on; turn the switch again, and it’s off. The Streamlight’s CW/CCW/on/instant-on/strobe is just too complicated, not to mention the risk of unintentionally turning on the strobe or accidentally turning the light off.

About the strobe function, personally, I think it’s just tactical fru-fru. That’s why I’m a big fan of the Streamlight’s function that allows the user to disable the strobe function. This helps to simplify its complicated controls.

Light: There’s a big difference between each light’s beam. The Streamlight has a whiter, more natural light. The Surefire’s light seems to be slightly more yellowish, but the difference is barely noticeable except when the two lights are compared side-by-side.
The spread of each beam is also different. The Surefire has a tight spot with a wide, dimmer secondary beam. The spot has an 8-degree spread, and the secondary beam is about 45 degrees. The Streamlight has one bright, solid beam with a 20-degree spread. Therefore, the Streamlight will throw a wider, brighter primary beam, but with a loss of peripheral vision compared to the Surefire. Which is better? It’s a matter of personal preference.

Final Score
Dimensions, weight, battery life: similar.
Price: The Streamlight is $80 cheaper.
Mount: The Surefire is more secure, but the Streamlight is easier to install & remove.
Controls: Surefire wins for simplicity of controls.
Light: Personal preference.
Brownie points: Streamlight is a Pennsylvania company.

Conclusion: I’m happy to keep the Streamlight as a cheaper backup, but when the chips are down, I definitely want the reliability and simplicity of the Surefire.

[625]

Interesting. How easy is it to turn these lights on when holding the rifle in a shooting position? I don't have any experience with this kind of switch, but I would want something that can be easily and quickly turned on with my thumb. Right now, I have a cheapo Streamlight Polytac that is great, but it's a bit too dim for anything outside as you found out from your night shoot. I like the push button switch and was going to get the Streamlight Scorpion HL since it functions the same way as my Polytac. I also like the way that you can change the batteries easily and can also use it as a regular flashlight. In addition it has a strobe and a low setting, which makes even more versatile.
The downside is that you need to spend another 50-60 dollars on a good mount.

Also, I'm wondering how easy it is to use either of these switches with winter gloves on. I never tried that yet.

BTW, the Scorpion can be found for $79 shipped from LA Police gear.

[scruff]

Interesting. How easy is it to turn these lights on when holding the rifle in a shooting position? I don't have any experience with this kind of switch, but I would want something that can be easily and quickly turned on with my thumb. Right now, I have a cheapo Streamlight Polytac that is great, but it's a bit too dim for anything outside as you found out from your night shoot. I like the push button switch and was going to get the Streamlight Scorpion HL since it functions the same way as my Polytac. I also like the way that you can change the batteries easily and can also use it as a regular flashlight. In addition it has a strobe and a low setting, which makes even more versatile.
The downside is that you need to spend another 50-60 dollars on a good mount.

Also, I'm wondering how easy it is to use either of these switches with winter gloves on. I never tried that yet.

BTW, the Scorpion can be found for $79 shipped from LA Police gear.

They're easy to reach with the lights mounted on my carbine-length handguards. I'm going to try mounting one on a bayonet mount, which I figure would put the switch right between my thumb and forefinger. The switch is easy to operate with gloves on. Streamlight and Surefire both have remote switches too, but to me, that seems like more things to go wrong.



I had also thought about getting a flashlight, and was looking at the Surefire P2X Fury Tactical, but it seemed kind of big and bulky compared to the X300, and would have been more expensive after buying a good mount, so I went with the weapon light instead.

[shooker8]

I've been digging the HL by streamlight. Just don't use it in your house, thats way way to many lumens. I love how much flood you get compared to a some of the finer focused lights.

[Emptymag]

Ewwww. Are you a leftie?

[M&P Chris]

What would really make a difference is if all the gun and ammunition manufactures completely stopped selling firearms and ammo to all federal law enforcement agencies.

Moving out of state is one thing, but it keeps the issue at a state level.

A real wake up call would come when the local federal thugs have no new firearms to buy and no ammunition to shoot out of the old ones they still have in stock.

Umm. I thought we were talking about weapon mounted lights.

Anyway, I had a streamlight tlr-1s and ended up selling it to fund a surefire x300 ultra. As was stated, I like the simplicity of the surefires controls.

[625]

What would really make a difference is if all the gun and ammunition manufactures completely stopped selling firearms and ammo to all federal law enforcement agencies.

Moving out of state is one thing, but it keeps the issue at a state level.

A real wake up call would come when the local federal thugs have no new firearms to buy and no ammunition to shoot out of the old ones they still have in stock.

AAAaaaahhh, zombie bots are attacking!! Me thinks this is a copy of a post from a different thread that someone else posted. I saw a similar thing happen in a different thread where the user was new and only had one post.