Do you know? According to surveys from Pew research, about 40% of adult Americans own a gun or live with someone who does. While you’re reading this, someone in the U.S. is thinking about owning a gun.
When asked why they own a gun, most owners cite protection as their primary reason for owning a gun. Most claim that having a gun at home makes their homes much safer.
If you’re reading this article, there is a high chance that you’re either planning to own a gun or have already got one. You don’t land on this page by chance.
Whether you own a gun or plan to have one in the future, the two most important weapon accessories you will need are – the laser sight or the flashlight. In some cases, you may wish to have both.
If you can only afford one and you have to choose between a flashlight, Laser Boresight, or flashlight laser combo, which one will you choose? This may not be an easy decision to come to because all the lights are equally superior on their own and will be suited to particular situations and uses.
Let’s break down each light type and see which works best for you.
Flashlights
Flashlights are mainly divided into two categories, tactical flashlights and everyday carry flashlights (EDC). Though we have many EDC flashlights in the market that are as powerful as the tactical light, experts and online gurus will recommend using a tactical light or flashlight with a laser.
Again, tactical flashlights are of two main types based on their purpose: weapon-mounted and handheld tactical light.
Gun owners who want to keep their setup low weight often opt for a handheld flashlight. Weapon mount flashlights are preferred by those concerned more about illumination while shooting.
Advantages of Using Weapon Flashlights:
- Both weapon mounted, and handheld flashlights are better than laser light. Depending on how many lumens your flashlight can produce, it can light up a small or large area. No matter the lumen output, a tactical flashlight will give a better situational awareness than laser light.
- Weapon flashlights give you ample light to find and recognize your target. A laser dot wouldn’t be helpful if you were to walk inside a dark room where you think a potential threat might be.
- Any tactical flashlight producing 300 lumens and above can be used as a temporarily blinding tool. Flashlights can do the job for you if you don’t want to shoot the threat and just want to make him run away.
Disadvantages of Weapon Flashlights:
- If you have a large budget for a weapon flashlight, the cost is of no concern, but for people on a tight budget, the cost could be a disadvantage. If you compare laser and flashlight prices, the cost of a flashlight can be double the time of a laser.
- Another disadvantage of using a weapon flashlight is broadcasting your exact location. Suppose you’re a law enforcement officer in a shoot-out with a gang in the middle of the night and need a flashlight to follow them. In this type of situation, your flashlight can be both helpful and dangerous.
After learning about weapon flashlights and their advantages and disadvantages, you know that flashlights can be one of the best weapon accessories. You must decide whether to go for a weapon-mounted or handheld flashlight.
Whichever flashlight you choose, ensure it has a decent lumen output for tactical use and an easy-to-use light control switch.
The Laser Sight
Laser lights are also getting equally popular as flashlights. Though laser beams are not as effective as flashlights in some situations, still it could be a lifesaver in some tactical scenarios.
Laser lights come in many different colors, but among all the colors, green is the brightest and most visible one.
Let’s look at some advantages of mounting a laser light into a gun:
- The laser helps to make accurate aiming and shooting, especially for novice shooters. With the help of a laser dot, even a 15-year-old teenager can shoot the target. If not the target, at least close to the target.
- Laser light is one of the cheapest accessories you could add to a gun. It will cost you half the price of a flashlight.
- You can use laser lights for a longer time than a flashlight or flashlight laser combo. Laser lights are calculated in terms of milliwatt (mW). Now just imagine much battery will a single green laser dot use.
Drawbacks of Laser Light:
- Lasers can make you a bad shooter. If you use a laser with your gun for a prolonged period of time, you will get used to only using the laser while aiming. In situations where you don’t have a laser or your laser light doesn’t work, you won’t really know how to shoot effectively.
- Unless you use an infrared laser, laser light can be visible in some low-light situations.
- Green laser lights can be dangerous if they’re not used properly. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions and never point the beam of light at anyone’s eyes or onto the aircraft.
- Laser pointers in countries like the U.K. and the U.S. are not illegal to own. However, you could be jailed if you misuse it.
So, can you use a laser in place of a flashlight? Again, it depends. In the dark, a flashlight could be a better option, whereas lasers can be a better option for targeting. It all boils down to how you want to use those accessories.
One final note for laser light: Practice aiming with and without laser. This will not only sharpen your shooting skill but also help you not to rely on a laser for aiming.
Flashlight Laser Combo
A flashlight laser combo is a weapon attachment that gives gun users access to both laser sight and flashlights. Depending on your need and situation, you can toggle between the two or use both at once.
Advantages of Flashlight Laser Combo:
- Combining two lights into one unit makes a flashlight laser combo versatile for all tactical situations.
- With a flashlight laser combo, you will never miss your target. The bright white light will help you identify the threat, and the green or red laser will give you precise target aiming.
Drawbacks:
- The only drawback is the battery. As flashlight laser combos are two different lights in one unit, they both consume the same battery, which leads to faster battery draining.
Which one is best?
If you ask me which one you choose, I would say flashlight laser combo. But that doesn’t mean you should choose the same flashlight I do.
Depending on the situation and how you want to use your gun, you can choose either a flashlight, laser, or flashlight laser combo. All three are very useful for different reasons.
But if you have to pick one, go for the flashlight laser combo. Arkfeld is one very powerful flashlight with a laser on the market.
Featured Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com
