I was thinking about the M900 with the LED nav lights.  

For a civilian in his/her own home it would seem that they would not be a smart thing tactically.  I know my way around my house pretty well in the dark, the occsionaly toy car or horse notwithstanding, and i would think the LEDs would give any BG a grand indication of exactly where i am without spoiling his night vision to badly.  I would think if you need light you should ILLUMINATE and see everything, that is unless you want to do the Flash dance thing.

nav lights can be used to not spoil your night vision while manuevering into a defensive position. You use the main light for contact.

quack, sounds like your talking about a military operation.  In my home my defensive position is right where i started out, my bedroom.  If i leave my room to investigate a noise and encounter someone then i won't be doing any navigating, contact has happened.

My buddy and I went on a midnight patrol of his property.

I would have killed for nav lights or a red filter

Couldn't afford to use the regular lights or we'd trash our night vision for the next 10 minutes.

ARFCOM Rule #2

You might not need them, but you WANT them anyways [:D]

C4, lorton just south of the springfield interchange.

maverick, of course! how could i forget!  Rule 2 is why i have credit cards in the first place.

fight4, of course for walking around in the dark outside or in the woods with no one waiting to shoot you i can understand.  My property can be patrolled by looking out 2 windows, unfortunately.

Are you just wanting to argue?

You can't get a new M900/M500 with an "LED delete" option. So you really don't have a choice.

Next even if you have an M900/M500 with LED's, nobody says you have to use them.

And yes you should be doing "flashdance" illumunate, scoot, illuminate, scoot, illuminate-recognize threat, take appropriate action, scoot.................

My house is messy so I can trip over things.  If I use the main light of the M900 in my house I blind myself.  If I use the nav LEDs I can see just fine and its not making me blind.

c4, if by the va shoot you're referring to the 10/11 thing in s. va. probably not as i'll be spending the previous weekend in a pistol class and i'm sure i'll be sorely needed to manage the monkey herd.  If another let me know as i didn't see it in the hometown.

Oly- nope i have a wife for that, was just thinking about one wasn't thinking about buying one unless these nav things are great, don't dance if i have to light i'll light by god.

Devl- good point not so big a problem for me as i like to move around at night in the dark anyway and know the problem areas (got the bruises to show for it).

Better to have and not need than need and not have.

That's my "Tao te Hokie" for the day.  You're welcome.[:D]

Curt:
If you plan on staying defensive & not moving out to engage any intruders, you probably wouldn't need the nav lights. I have two SF 500s, one with white nav lights & the other with none. I use the one with nav lights on my duty entry gun, because they enable me to establish a position or move around without killing my night vision (the blue or red would probably be even better, but I can get by with the white). The other advantage to the nav lights is that they don't drain the batteries like the main lamp does.

Unless you have had a lot of practice on house clearing drills, your plan is the safest way to go. Just secure a strong defensive position, & call for help. It also puts you in a clearly legal position as far as the use of deadly force, since you obviously did not seek out an opportunity to shoot someone. Of course, if you have kids in other rooms, you need to be in a position to defend everybody, either by taking a position allowing you to protect all the rooms where you have family, or by getting everybody together in your position.

I personally prefer them. I use them frequently when outside and they've never failed to fully perform their intended purpose.

Don't think that just because you purchase a piece of quality equipment that you have to applicate it to every scenario you might possibly encounter.

Ok, the LED lights are fairly weak, like those key-chain led's. They give of a diffused, un-focused light. Probably less powerful than most clock radio's displays. I think they are kinda tought to pinpoint, source wise, due to their un-focused nature.

Tactical lights, and probably LED's should only be momentarily activated, in most situations.

I think that if you put the batteries in the M-900 backwards, the main beam will still work, and the LED's won't.

If your posts were more asking if LED's are worth it, ie buying used vs. new, that's up to you. If you get a light that has 'em and you don't like 'em you don't have to use 'em. The choice is your's, if you have a source for the older style lights.

I have a non-LED M-500, and have messed with M-900 LED, and M-500 LED lights. I like my M-500 just fine, simplicity is a virtue. I liked the M-900 with LED's also. But the M-500 w/LED's scored a little lower on my review.........

Natez, could you expand more on what advantages you expect the LEDs will offer?  I'm thinking that maybe making a tactical entry with guys assigned to corners etc may make it more desirable to cut down on the wattage since there will be more lights and you don't want to blind each other.   Whereas it would seem it would be to my advantage to really light up the room since i have to cover everything myself.  I am looking with interest at the devlopement of the 5W luxeon LEDs with 60 or so lumen they are not exactly nav lights but they seem to provide more diffuse powerful illumination than an incandescent with a hotter focus.

I concur with your advice to positively identify even in a defensive posture.

I have an M3 LED. The LED alone is enought light for target identification indoors.