Streamlight 69414 TLR-8 X 500-Lumen Tactical Weapon Light with Integrated Red Aiming Laser for Select Handguns, Includes Rear Switch Options, Mounting Kit, and Keys, Black

The product description says TLR-8 X but I received the TLR-8 A. I don't see a lot of difference between them so I am keeping it. I bought this primarily for home defense and its perfect. It is an excellent piece of optics! Precision made and fits the Glock 19 rails perfectly with the correct rail key. The light is bright and useful in almost any situation. The red laser is also bright and could be a deterrence in itself when an intruder sees it shining on them! I was going to buy tritium night sights but I think the TLR-8 was a much better option!

To start with I Have two .40 cal glocks. They both have crimson trace grip mounted lasers and I love them. Lasers are great in situations where you can’t, or don’t have time to use your sights. For example you just pulled to a stop in your car and a threat appears outside your window, particularly if the threat is somewhat to the rear. It would take a lot of effort to bring your sights into play in this situation but with a turn of your head you can cover the threat with a laser. Now getting back to this laser/light. I bought a 10mm glock 29sf. I love the power of a 10mm! Crimson trace doe not make a laser grip that will fit 29sf. They do for a 29 but not the sf. Some ads say it will fit but it doesn’t, I tried them and had to return them. So I had a tlr8, with the side buttons, and put that on my 10mm. The side buttons did not work well for me and I knew the rear mounted buttons of the tlr8a or g would be better but since I already had the tlr8 I would be spending over $200 just for buttons. Well after a couple of years I finally broke down and bought this tlr8a. Wow! What a difference! Operation of the rear mounted buttons is so intuitive its almost like the grip activated crimson trace lasers. Its very fast to come onto target with the laser, the light or both. Which brings me to something I haven’t even mentioned yet, it gas a fantastic light. Very powerful and just as easy to operate. This is a great laser/light. I guess I’ll put my old tlr8 on a shotgun or something.

This review is for the TLR-8A light with red laser.I bought this for my Springfield Armory XD 9mm Service model (4" barrel). Installation was easy as was installing the battery. It comes with the Univ-1 mounting plate already installed and this is the plate for my handgun so I just had to loosen the mounting screw a bit, mount it on the rail and tighten it. It fits perfectly with the end of the light matching the length of the barrel exactly.I left the back switches on that came with the light, but it comes with a second set of switches you can installed to replace the stock switches in case you don't like the feel of the stock switches. For my gun and thumbs, I can operate both switches very easily barely altering my grip. Turning it on and switching modes is very easy.I zeroed the laser with a laser bullet I have. This too was pretty simple. Then I took it to the range. I generally practice without the laser because I want to be better using the metal sights on the gun. But I also fired off a bunch of rounds using the laser. First shot was dead on target. After about 50 rounds the TLR-8 was till secure and zeroed. I did not see any movement resulting for the recoil of the rounds I fired.Just a note about red vs green lasers. I read green lasers are easier to see in bright light. I originally ordered the green but it was backordered for more than 2 months. I don't shoot outside in sunlight much so I just ordered the red laser. It is very bright and I had no problems seeing it at 15 or 20 yards at the range other than my eyesight. Someone had a green laser on the shooting lane next to mine and honestly, my red laser was much brighter downrange than his green laser. So, I am happy with the red.A note on the battery. I read some people complain about the battery because it is hard to find. It is type 123, which is not a typical flashlight battery, but I have looked around and a few stores have a good supply of this battery. They are not cheap though. I believe the brightness of the light and laser are because this is a good powerful battery type for this application. Do not let it stop you from purchasing the TLR-8. It is a great product.

My 1st shipment the streamlight was used. I could tell because the adjustment screws were starting to round off and area around the screws were scratched/chipped/salty.The laser is a nice feature but I don't think I'll use it enough to justify the cost difference over the TLR-7. Once installed it does it's job and it's a good quality bright light.

TLR-8a (red laser): I bought two of these and gave one to my father for Christmas. His worked flawlessly (although it took him a while to figure out the buttons). Mine had a bad LED, so I returned it. The replacement, unfortunately, had a problem with the elevation - the laser would not move in either direction. Returned that one, and my third unit works just fine.As a few others have noted, the little included hex wrench can easily strip the screws, especially the windage screw. I used one of my own better quality 0.050" wrenches with had a better fit. I realize these screws are mas produced, and it seems the hex broach (die) was just not right for this batch. I was a bit surprised that it was not a metric size. Once mounted, ti was very easy to dial in.The customer service was responsive, and I was happy that we resolved the issues. I hope that this was a statistical anomaly to have received two defective units in a row, although looking at the reviews I now see there have been a few other issues with the adjustments. The TLR-8 is over a year on the market, and I hope Streamlight gets these bugs worked out. Other than that, the units seem pretty solid.