If you are currently in the market for an effective, and of course bright, attachable light for your gun, there are a handful of brands and product options worth looking at. Most of these brands use LED technology and are also leaders in the tactical flashlight segment of the market.
A weapon light is basically a flashlight that has rails and mechanisms that attach to a handgun, shotgun, or riffle. Most weapons manufacturers follow rail-mount standards such as the "Picatinny rail" which is used so that weapons can share aftermarket accessories like scopes and lights.
It is important that you know what you want from your weapon torch. Involved are characteristics like light color, throw, and spill. For weapons, a good light should have a directed thrower-style beam that has minimal spill for obvious tactical reasons. Below are just some of the popular brands that manufacture excellent lights and are available from most tactical products retailers.
SureFire
Of course, any LED tactical light talk is not complete without SureFire. SureFire is an American company that offers many illumination tools and other related products ranging from knives and batteries. Their weapon light line was pioneered by the X series of LED lights popular products such as the SureFire X200.
Streamlight and Insight
The two names are combined in this section simply because Streamlight has since been discontinued and now moonlight as part of the Insight Technology brand. Insight develops tactical products like night vision systems for the US military and other Federal Law agencies. If you want weapon lights that are tried and tested in the field, it does not get any better than this.
Safariland
Safariland is also a known provider and developer of weapons-related products for Law Enforcement agencies. They have been in the business for 40 plus years and manufacture items such as body armors, holsters, scopes, and of course, gun lights.
EOTech and Trijicon
Currently, these brands do not offer LED-style weapon lights but are relevant to this article because they have top notch light-related magnifiers and scopes that attach to riffles and handguns. Some of their scopes are electrically powered and the use of such eliminates the need for highly-visible tactical lights.
