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blah blah blah, Surefire sucks, Streamlight sucks. OK. Got it.  Has anybody actually received one of the new Streamlight X models?

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I got an HL-X last week.  Seems like a nice light for the money.  I haven't fired my rifle with it yet though.

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Stupid tinypic flipping pics on me
http://i64.tinypic.com/152ck9e.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/i8scKD9.jpg
Thats beta
http://i.imgur.com/h5aHweI.jpg
Gets nice n hot when lit.
No flickering
http://i.imgur.com/VnEKoae.jpg
Damn i hurt my Iz
Lol

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What did you use to test flickering? What caliber weapon did you fire it on, etc?

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I want one.  

Do these use the same mounting platform as Scout lights?  For if I already have a Scout light mount?

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HK94dude has a point.

I was wanting to outfit all my rifles with a torch. Surefire pulls on the hemorrhoids, so I tried to retreat for the sake of 2/1 ratio. So I bought a couple Streamlight units.
My RM-1 & RM-2 arrive, and I honestly tried to like them. I didn't, but I mounted the RM-1 for the sake of trying too. It was removed and put back in the box. Plain rice w/soy sauce.
You get what you pay for. They're JUNK, and it screams it. Both of mine will hit the EE soonish.

Is the HL-X a derivative of the same flavor? Someone let us know. Tear one down and do a review.

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Also curious

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I assume you are not a fan of light bulbs in your home then right? Since they are often over 1000 lumens? A 75 watt bulb is 1100 lumens. A 60 watt bulb is 800 lumens. We all know that two 60 watt bulbs inside the same room causes irreparable eye damage.

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Haha. This is great!

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With all the bitching months back when nobody actually had one of these, being six or so months after release, does anyone have an update or report to offer?

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Then don't point it at the wall. Anyone utilizing proper technique will not blind themselves.

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I have been using HL-X handheld and HL-X rail mount for a while now. The beam is IMO ideal. It has great throw, great spill, and is just inside the uncomfortable and painful threshold when you have misapplied the light. While a tiny bit more range would be nice, it is great as is. While better lux than my M600U and X300U and EB2 it does not seem as high as the listed spec. More of that over estimation by Streamlight and underestimate by Surefire. It's not the build quality of Surefire, but seems adequate. Finish is holding up.

The negative is the size and bulk. It's 50% heavier than a Scout with enough tube size and head size that with a Arisaka Keymod offset mount and Magpul MBUS it can only fit in one position and one location or something gets in the way of something else.  That made it require a longer barrel after the end of the rail. You need 2-3" or more past rail or the light will get the crap blasted out of it. A fellow officer has one on his 11.5" with 10" rail and I will be intetested to see hiw it holds up there. For me I had to mount on a 13" KMR Alpha with 16" DD  lightweight CHF barrel on my budget rifle build to not have the head over a flash hider. It is quite heavy and noticable out there with the added weight on a semi light gun. It is right on the threshold of wishimg it had a QD mount to remove it sometimes but not enough to want the extra weight of a QD mount or take the thought seriously.

I have had no flickering or anything unusual. No drain or weird issues. If it were not so big and heavy it would be the perfect light. Alas, I can only hope the next Gen of Surefire Scout will have the same beam profile and brightness. The color is a little on the blue side to get max lumens, but not disagreeable in tint. I have not used the tape switch, other officer is not using it either.

Batteries have been 3400 and 3500 Keeppower. Best 18650 for the money IMO.

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I personally have not had good luck with the HL-X. I purchased two of them, both of them I sent back to Streamlight because of functioning issues.

It's been my experience so far that they aren't up to snuff to handle the concussion from being mounted near the muzzle of the weapon. On the two lights I sent in for repair, AND the two lights I received back as replacements I've experienced the same issue. On all the lights I've function checked them at the beginning of a range session, then sometime after firing a few magazines I've function checked again only to find the lights would not turn on. It takes a bump with the palm of my hand or fiddling with the tail cap to get them to turn back on.  

The muzzle devices the lights were near were a SilencerCo ASR flash hider and a BCM mod 1 comp.

I will say Streamlight has great customer service. I received the two replacement lights in roughly a week they received the lights sent in for repair.

Wish I could say I can trust these lights in a defensive situation, but I can't.

Anyone else have similar issues?

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No, I'm just passionate about directing consensus opinion in the right direction and cutting down faulty, unsound, or misguided ideas when I see them, lest people reading to gain knowledge on the subject think those concepts are good and valid.

It's not a personal preference thing, it's a right or wrong thing. It's like people who though an Aimpoint on a carbine was an inferior choice on this forum in 1990s, when ARFCOM was first becoming ARFCOM and shifting from a discussion board to a website. Those people were wrong, period. While it is common knowledge now, it was not always so. Other misguided ideas I have been passionate about stopping included.

Free float rails are inferior to standard M4 heat shielded handguards.
A two stage trigger, like a Geissele SSA, is inferior to a milspec trigger and more prone to failure.
A flashight on a weapon is a bad idea, because you should rely on your night adapted vision.
If your rifle is too heavy, you should lift more weights.
Anything outside the Colt TDP in an AR is inferior.
Polymer magazines are always inferior to USGI magazines.
Increased magnification does not allow you to shoot with more precision and accuracy.

Nowdays, most of these are DUH concepts but it was not always so. Just like now people think 1000 lumens is too much indoors. There are tons of work arounds, such as, using indirect light to illuminate, not looking directly at your hot spot, and not shining your light into mirrors or white walls for no reason. If 1000 lumens bothers you, it's a software issue, not a hardware issue. And 65 lumens was never enough light indoors.

The concept of sub 1000 lumen lights being better indoors is an inherently wrong concept that should be countered at every turn... like people who espouse an Aimpoint should not go on a rifle because it is battery operated. Sure, you can pull a battery out of the Aimpoint and demonstrate use of BUIS through a dead Aimpont to be inferior to straight irons.  Sure, you can shine a bright light into a white wall, leave it on, and stare at it to blind yourself. Those ideas still ignore the fact that an Aimpoint and 1000 lumen light usually work, don't blind you, and allow you to be more effective the majority of the time and certain techniques and procedures minimize the potential negatives to almost zero.

I will admit I had a "piston superior to DI" phase that was wrong... people who vehemently told me I was wrong eventually straightened me out. That's why this place exists.

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Back on topic, I just got the 1000 lumen model hL-x. Are people still having flickering problems with these after some recoil?

Thinking of selling it and just getting an Arisaka 600

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I had mine out 3 times. No flickering issues.i was also using a 18650 rechargeable battery.

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Lots of problems with a batch of HL-X's that we are running on 10.3/11.5/16 inch rifles.  Have maybe 15-20 in service.

Worst case was one I mounted straight out of the box, it worked one minute, failed when I doubled checked five minutes later.  Never fired a round, battery swap did no good.

Lots of other ones are going out under recoil or seem to need the battery case cap twisted super tight or to just the right spot.

All of ours are using the 123's.

Worst performance from Streamlight weapon lights I have ever seen.
TLR-1's of all flavors have held up fine.
ProTac Rail Mount 2's seem fine

Not sure what the deal is with the HL-X but a call to Streamlight is on my list to do before we buy any more lights....

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Right, because clearing rooms and hallways that are filled with walls is for suckers.

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Lots of problems with a batch of HL-X's that we are running on 10.3/11.5/16 inch rifles.  Have maybe 15-20 in service.

Worst case was one I mounted straight out of the box, it worked one minute, failed when I doubled checked five minutes later.  Never fired a round, battery swap did no good.

Lots of other ones are going out under recoil or seem to need the battery case cap twisted super tight or to just the right spot.

All of ours are using the 123's.

Worst performance from Streamlight weapon lights I have ever seen.
TLR-1's of all flavors have held up fine.
ProTac Rail Mount 2's seem fine

Not sure what the deal is with the HL-X but a call to Streamlight is on my list to do before we buy any more lights....

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Lots of problems with a batch of HL-X's that we are running on 10.3/11.5/16 inch rifles.  Have maybe 15-20 in service.

Worst case was one I mounted straight out of the box, it worked one minute, failed when I doubled checked five minutes later.  Never fired a round, battery swap did no good.

Lots of other ones are going out under recoil or seem to need the battery case cap twisted super tight or to just the right spot.

All of ours are using the 123's.

Worst performance from Streamlight weapon lights I have ever seen.
TLR-1's of all flavors have held up fine.
ProTac Rail Mount 2's seem fine

Not sure what the deal is with the HL-X but a call to Streamlight is on my list to do before we buy any more lights....

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So now I'm stumped. I'm new to AR's and weapon lights. I had decided I do want to add a light and had been researching the topic with I found the HL-X.  I was all set to purchase when I ran into the end of this thread.  Now what? Is this just a bad batch or isolated cases being reported.  This thread kinda died with no updates the last month. Do I continue to wait for additional reports or go for the 600 lumen Streamlight Protac 2?  I do like the slightly more compact size, but does it make sense to go with that model with the Hl-X just $10 more for double the lumes?    I've looked for a  review comparing the brightness of  Protac 2 to that of the surefire 600 scout but haven't found much.  Any ideas there?

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So now I'm stumped. I'm new to AR's and weapon lights. I had decided I do want to add a light and had been researching the topic with I found the HL-X.  I was all set to purchase when I ran into the end of this thread.  Now what? Is this just a bad batch or isolated cases being reported.  This thread kinda died with no updates the last month. Do I continue to wait for additional reports or go for the 600 lumen Streamlight Protac 2?  I do like the slightly more compact size, but does it make sense to go with that model with the Hl-X just $10 more for double the lumes?    I've looked for a  review comparing the brightness of  Protac 2 to that of the surefire 600 scout but haven't found much.  Any ideas there?