I am in the market for a rail mounted tactical light with strobe for my H&K USP that is used for home defense both inside and outdoors.

I definitely want the strobe. Not sure I need or want a laser.
I want 500-800 lumens. Reliable. Good battery life.
I'd like for the controls to be simple. If the light is cut off when in strobe mode, I'd like for it to remain in strobe mode when cut back on.

Tell me about what you have used. What did you like about it? What did you not like about it?
Thanks

I know I don't know what I'm missing - but I don't like the idea of having a 'battery' as part of my handgun.

There is Surefire, and there is everything else.

And you don't need a strobe.

I've got Surefire and Streamlight. I've seen both break. The Surefire lights are infinitely more difficult to get them to fix when they break.

I don't know about the strobe functions because they're a terrible idea that I refuse to have on a weapon mounted light. (The only potential use for them is when directing traffic in the dark, and the usefulness they add then is completely negated by the terribleness they add any other time.)

The gun still works if the batteries die. And dead batteries are so easy to avoid that it's a non-issue anyway. It bothers me to carry a pistol without a light on it.

Really? I have precisely the opposite luck. Surefire has, on the two occasions I have needed service, overnighted me the parts to fix them. Streamlight, however, has always been a bear to deal with.

Ditch the strobe. I hate those things. Surefires and Streamlights are what I would look at.

Does that USP have the HK rail?

Viking: yes it does.

You will likely need to purchase an adapter.

I don' t have one. I don't see giving a thug an advantage of knowing where I am.

Crimson Trace has one that has a light with strobe and laser.

Thanks Hawkeye. I do have an adaptor.

IME the people who definitely don’t want lights and the people who definitely do want strobes are both the people who have never spent much time with bad guys in the dark.

Maybe it was a fluke. We had 3 SFs and 1 Streamlight go down within a month with the customer service I posted about. But it could have just been a rough patch for them that passed.

It really is glaring, isn't it?

Kinda late with my $.02, but yeah the HK will need an adapter. I know years ago some guys used to carry the compact model (undercover) and they had lights, I believe they were HK brand lights.

Finding a holster might be a challenge too, unless you find someone to make a coustom Kydex.

I am happy to say that I haven’t spent ANY time in the dark with bad guys. For us less experienced, please expound on why you don’t like strobes.

Thanks Viking. This weapon will reside in the pistol safe beside the bed. No holster needed.

Weapon lights are a tremendous tool when used properly. We have to make sure of our target before giving someone the good news. I will always say that making the decision to shoot is what can make us slower. Having to descriminate a target with little to no light is always going to be harder and slower. While strobe lights will disorient those on the receiving end, it also has a effect on the user. This will also slow down our ability to process threats and make good shots. There are a lot of people that like strobe because they think it will force their opponents to look away or be unable to see. This is probably true, but this also works with 1000 lumen lights like surefire and streamlight. The difference is that the light does not have a negative effect on your vision and allows you to take in more information.

So if this is just a bedside gun, you might think about when you'd use it (i.e. woken up in the middle of the night, etc) and how much light you really want in those circumstances.

I don't claim to be any sort of tactical expert, but I do know that when I get up in the night, a bright 800 or 1000 lumen light is a bit much, especially indoors with white walls in the house. A milder light seems to be plenty for me. That's not the popular trend, but is what I've found works for me.

Of course, keep in mind that a lot of flashlights (especially the chinese stuff) have ridiculous high lumen value claims on what are really 80-100 lumen lights, so that might skew your frame of reference if you're basing it on that.

There is never a scenario where too much light is a detriment. Again, it is glaringly obvious who has had to use a weapon light in any real capacity, and who has thought about it.

Riiight....

I'd love to use a weapon light, but as a non-LEO the liability is too much of a concern - I don't get to point my gun at people and then say, "nevermind". As such, a good ol' handheld flashlight works just dandy.

How is a strobe light going to help you? I really see no use for a strobe unless you are lost and hope it’s use will be seen by rescuers.

The hope is that the muzzle flashes from the bad guy's strobe-induced magazine dump will cause him to have a seizure.

Because they strobe on both ends. The Supreme Court has described situations like this as "tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving". There's nothing about a situation that's tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving that is made better with a light that's flickering on and off. In fact, in scary movies when they want to make everything worse, or in haunted houses when they want to make something moderately intense seem terrifying, they just add strobe lights.

When things are at the worst in the dark and you're having to make a decision to shoot someone or not what you need is to SEE and SEE everything you can as well as you can. Strobes don't help that at all.

In a word, I don't like strobes because they STROBE. Ask yourself, if you had to be stuck in a room with someone, decide if they were good or bad, and then make the hardest shot of your life--Would you rather have the lights off, on, or flickering?

I agree 100% with the fatheroflily.

Yes, if you put your face 6" from a white wall and pop the light directly in front of your face, it will be very bright. So don't do that. (If you find yourself dealing with a bad guy and you're staring at a wall from 6", you're gonna lose anyway.)

In theory, it's a problem. In actual practice, it's just not a big deal. What is a big deal is not being able to see and discriminate. The brighter and higher quality your light is, the better you can do that.

The other side of that coin is the liability associated with shooting the wrong person because you couldn't discriminate well enough in the dark....or having to make the hardest shot of your life with one hand because you're holding a flashlight in the other.

There's liability involved in all of it. I'd opt for the liability that also keeps me and everybody else the safest.

ive always felt that anyone who thought a strobe feature was a good idea has probably watched too many movies

i cant argue or really add to anything that Blue has said.

I went to the light and felt warm and peaceful the perp said, while being interviewed by St. Peter. 😜

You do realize that you can use the light to identify the target without actually pointing the gun at someone.....right?

So, you've never got up in the middle of the night and experienced that feeling of the lights being too bright for the first few minutes so it's hard to see? Have you ever got up in the night and shined a really bright flashlight around the room right away? The claim that there's no such thing as too much light is just as ridiculous as claiming a moderate amount of light isn't enough to see your target, inside your own house. It's also ridiculous to pretend that anybody who hasn't been shot at by bad guys also hasn't used a flashlight in the dark.

The OP already clarified that he's asking about a nightstand gun, implying it'd mostly be used reactively at night. That's a whole different application than being some sort of LEO/mil door kicker, or even CC. You're a reasonable guy generally, so I bet you understand the difference.

For inside your home, consider a DC powered independent security lighting system. Mine is outdated technologically, with it's first generation LEDs that are nearing 25 yrs old. Still useful and reliable, but any system I replaced it with today will be easier, cheaper and probably more reliable.

I now have 3 control points, 2 of which are shielded by internal wall hardpoints.

This all seemed a bit over the top til we had our first neighborhood swat raid last spring. Seems the new nearest neighbor runs and does "business" with the wrong crowd.

This summer I put in all new external motion activated security lighting on the outside as well. The outdoor system has no independent power source, and critters even the size of a coon can be a nuisance, but it gives some peace of mind.

Nobody said anything about being shot at.

Sounds like what the OP needs is to just hook up one of those clapper things in his house so e can turn the lights on from bed, or motion sensor switches in the other rooms. Couple that with dimmer switches and he can have light at whatever brightness he wants.

Frankly, that's ridiculous. Right, I'll respond to a threat without actually pointing a flashlight at things that are in the dark.

Regardless, it still can be considered brandishing. As a non-LEO my handgun has to stay concealed until the situation warrants.

I have a feeling that I know a lot about things that you think you know a little about, but I could be wrong.

id suggest a bit more research. and yes Lilysdad is absolutely spot on

'Strobes' give me Disco Fever - And I'd rather spend time with 'bad girls' in the dark!

It's 2018 and every person who is seriously using a gun to deal with bad guys in the dark has a light on it. And the lights, even when used inside buildings that contain white walls and mirrors, are made by Surefire or Streamlight and have between 800-1000 lumens.

Now if folks don't want a light then by golly they shouldn't have one. But don't pretend that you've got something figured out that every professional on the Earth doesn't.

I think he's referring to the fact that with today's lights you can illuminate someone while pointing the light (and gun) at the ground in front of them. You can't see as well as if it's pointed at them, but it's better than a swift kick in the nuts. That way if you were to ND at something that wasn't dangerous at least you wouldn't murder them, which is something.

But if a brandishing charge is a concern, you could carry a handheld and WML. I do.

Use one for when you don't know what's dangerous and the other for when you do know what's dangerous.

Don't pretend a professional going into a situation proactively is the same as a homeowner being woken in the middle of the night. Also don't pretend that people who aren't professional shooters don't know anything about lights in the dark.

I disagree with your claim that any professional these days is using an 800-1000 lumen light. Sure, that's the popular trend that sells a lot of lights, but that's not the advice I've gotten from other professionals who actually do the door kicking. Is your professional better than my professional? I don't know and don't care; I'll stick with what works in my reality.

We do agree on strobes, I'm not arguing with that.

Thanks for the comments. Not getting a strobe will simplify the controls and use of the weapons mounted light.

What about a laser on a self defense weapon? Essential? Useful?? Useless???

I am going to go with gimmick.

I've used a laser a little bit, and to me they are a distraction. This is likely a training issue and I believe that a laser could be put to use in many situations.

Me? I'm looking for a sight picture...

Lasers are perhaps most useful on guns that do not have usable sights--S&W J-frames, for instance. But they also are useful on guns that you anticipate shooting from unorthodox shooting positions, or shooting weak-handed, or shooting at very close (arms length) ranges where you may be entangled and the gun cannot be brought to eye level.

They have a use, but that use is specialized and may not be for everyone. For myself, my serious guns have lasers on them because the technology exists, it works, I know how and when to use it, and I want every advantage I can get.

On the weapon mounted light question, I want a WML and all the lumens I can get with a lens that provides a good amount of "spill" for use indoors. If you want to use the light without pointing the gun at an unknown object, a powerful WML can bounce light off the floor with the gun at low-ready, or can bounce light off the ceiling with the muzzle pointed straight up. This indirect lighting can be useful for illuminating whole rooms and can substitute for a handheld light in circumstances where you may want to have one hand free.

I realize that you are a know it all, but I’ve never ever seen a case at night where I wanted Less light from my flashlight. I’ve experienced many times where I wanted more light. I’ve replaced my lesser light with Streamlight 1100 lumen lights and definately prefere more light.

The "professional" viewpoint is useless to me. A couple years ago I heard a commotion out by the garage and I went out to investigate, flashlight in hand and handgun out of sight. I went around a corner and find a police officer waiting for me - unbeknownst to me the neighbor had called them. He might have been the coolest professional on earth, but I wouldn't have wanted to round that corner with a gun in my hand.

This summer an electrical transformer blew and the neighborhood lights went out. Again, I went out with a flashlight in hand and a handgun out of sight. My hope was to see if I could spot which transformer went out - my hope was that would speed up the repair after I called in. I came back around to the street side and a cruiser lit me up with a spotlight.

Similarly, my flashlight has found dogs, cats, neighbors, daughters, daughter's boyfriends, sons, etc. The animals and kids are not a problem, but any of the neighbors could give me legal grief if I brandished a gun.

Bluedreaux's advice it have a weapon light AND a separate flashlight is legitimate, but since I have to wait for the threat to be visible and real before I show a gun the scenario will likely be over before the weapon light is any value.

Search with a hand held light, shoot with a weapon mounted light.

And I for one, like the strobe feature but not when I'm trying to shoot. I run at night and carry a little Streamlight ProTac 2L, it get's drivers attention and has turned 3 dogs away so far.
I'm also one that has never wished for less light.

A proper weapon light pretty much renders the weapon invisible to anyone in front of it.

If, on my own property, I have a gun in my hand, it's not gonna mean anything to anyone. It is, after all, my property. A policeman on the front walk or on my porch is an entirely different matter than a policeman lurking in the dark near my garage.
See my post above about security lights.

Even before I did the external security lighting, No one came around un-noticed. Dogs and chickens...

I like being able to give away my position.

Surefire X-300 Ultra.

I use two. Streamlight TLR1 and a Surefire 300X. Both are reliable, very bright and easy to use.

I have been using a TLR-1 and I find it to be UBER reliable. Matter of fact, I find anything Streamlight has made to be UBER reliable.

I think everything SureFire puts out is an overpriced POS. On a good day.

That being said, I'm not sold on the weapon's light idea in general. I certainly don't oppose them, but I don't find them necessary day to day. Kicking in doors and yada, yada may be a different story.

I'm in the fortunate position where I've been able to kill tons of schit (legally) in the dark and I can tell you flat out that if you put a guy with a weapon's light against a guy wearing a headlamp, the headlamp wearer will win 10 times out of 10.

642. That's the only gun I have one on.

Edit: never mind.

Logical to me.

It’s sure not a stretch of the imagination to think that you might sometime want to 1) See something in the dark 2) Point your gun at that thing, or at least have it in your hand and 3) Also do anything else like use a phone, open or shut a door, grab a kid, pick someone or something up.

Without a WML, good luck doing more than two of the three.

I don’t get what the aversion to them is. I just bought a TLR7 for $200 that weighs nearly nothing and adds almost nothing to the size of the gun. It adds zero to its carryability or concealability.

Don’t want the bad guy to know your position? Then...don’t turn it on you ninja, you.

Having been fortunate enough myself to hunt at night, I had very different results than you did. Head lamps were for looking, gun mounted lights were for shooting. When I look through a scope, my headlamp isn't pointed where I'm looking. But maybe my head is crooked.

I have a Surefire X400 and a Surefire X400 ultra... one is mounted on a Glock 19 next to my bed and the other on a Volquartsen Scorpion 22lr... they do not have the strobe feature... I've killed all kinds of critters in the dark with the Volquartsen... unfortunately I haven't had the luck that Dave has with Streamlight products...

Retired LEO here fwiw. I've used both flashlight and handgun/shotgun/rifle mounted lights for duty. Mounted lights are the way to go for things that might do you harm in the night. Force on force with strobes your eyes are attracted to the strobe if you are down range. However if things go wrong its likely bad guy is just going to shoot at the light whether using strobe or not in order to break contact or end you. That said I have a Olight PL-2 Valkyrie on my G17 and Ruger SR-556. 1200 lumens. A TLR-6 with laser on my G43. If you do this for a living Surefire is a no brainer and buy the best you can afford. If your not kicking doors its hard to go wrong with many of the lights out there today.

I was using iron sights.

I thought after I posted, this is the handgun section, duh!