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We take a look at the Streamlight ProTac HL-X Pro, one of the excellent long gun light options available at GunMag Warehouse.
When it comes to choosing accessories for your modern carbine or rifle, GunMag Warehouse has a lot of options available, but the two pieces of kit that should always have top priority are a sling and a weapon light. Optics, suppressors and everything else are great, but in terms of practical importance, all pale in comparison to the sling and light.
Without a sling, at least one of your hands will always be occupied with retaining your gun. Without a light, you’re at a major disadvantage whenever the sun is down or you’re in a dark building. Today, we’ll be taking a look at GunMag Warehouse’s most popular long gun light model, the Streamlight ProTac HL-X Pro.
Why Streamlight?
GunMag Warehouse carries weapon lights from just about every manufacturer you can think of, so why is the Streamlight ProTac HL-X Pro their best-selling model of long gun light? It comes down to value.
Yes, there are some better weapon lights out there, but they also cost two or three times more. If you’re not putting your gear through heavy abuse on a regular basis or using it in a professional context, those options are probably overkill for most people. That’s where Streamlight comes in.
The MSRP is $248.99, but GunMag has it listed for only $137.99. As far as rifle lights go, it will be hard to find a better bang for your buck than that.
Streamlight ProTac HL-X Pro Features
The specific package in question we’ll be looking at is the Streamlight ProTac HL-X Pro CR123A Battery Weapon Light System. This bundle includes the light with a Jack-Cap, a momentary pressure switch, an M-LOK mounting kit, some hardware, an Allen wrench and the two necessary CR123A batteries. With what’s included, you can mount the ProTac on either Picatinny rail or M-LOK and activate it with either the button on the tail of the light or with the remote pressure switch. You’ll even find a strip of double-sided tape and some zip ties in the box to help mount the pressure switch on a variety of setups. Whichever way you do it, mounting the light is quick and easy.
For testing, we threw the ProTac on a mid-length retro AR-15 using a bayonet lug Picatinny mount and attached the pressure switch with some good ol’ 100 MPH tape.
The light itself features a durable yet lightweight 6000 series machined aluminum housing and an advertised output of 1,000 Lumens and 50,000 Candela. Streamlight says the beam is capable of reaching out to 447 meters. Are there brighter lights out there? Sure, but the ProTac proved more than capable of illuminating pitch black hallways and lighting up tree lines at night out to respectable distances.
As for battery life, it depends on whether you’re running it on the high or low setting. Using Streamlight’s TEN-TAP system, the light can be programmed to feature a high setting only, a low/high toggle setting or a high/strobe toggle setting. The low position is great for anyone trying to maximize battery life, as the ProTac is capable of running for up to 21 hours on this setting. On high, it’s up to 1.25 hours.
That said, the double-tap strobe feature on the high/strobe setting would probably be the best choice for a home defense setup.
Parting Shot
Frankly, for anyone in the market for a great long gun light that won’t break the bank, the Streamlight ProTac HL-X Pro is a no-brainer choice. It’s dependable, bright, versatile and feature-rich, all for a very reasonable price. GunMag Warehouse carries other flavors of the Streamlight as well, such as versions with rechargeable batteries and integrated lasers. They even have less powerful versions like the standard Streamlight ProTac for about $40 less than the HL-X Pro model if you don’t need your setup to be as bright as possible.
Regardless of whichever one you think will suit your needs best, you should have a light on your rifle if you don’t already.
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