Streamlight 69220 TLR-3 170-Lumen Lightweight, Compact Weapon Mounted Tactical Light with Rail Locating Keys, Black

I've just received this light, and put it on my Taurus PT111 G2 9mm. Here are some initial impressions, and a bit of advice from my experience mounting it. EDIT: I have moved my notes on which "key" to use with the above handgun to the bottom of this review, and edited them further. Ok, thoughts... 1) The light is plenty bright. Enough to make a person see stars & become disoriented (I checked on myself), bright enough to light a pitch-black room so you can identify objects, not so bright as to wash out those objects. This last bit is important & often overlooked in terms of a light intended to be used indoors. 2) The light is fairly lightweight. I measured 71.5 grams, or 2.52 ounces, on my digital home kitchen scale. Not bad. Just shy of the weight of 6 rounds of the 9mm SD ammunition I carry. I intend to use this setup as a "nightstand gun," though in my opinion the light is light, slim & small enough to be carried OWB (it would be tough to carry concealed, like any handgun equipped with an adequate light). 3) The instructions are straightforward, but their type size isn't super great. The important bits are written in a font that's slightly too small & not bold enough to be read easily, even by my young-ish eyes; the pictograms could also be larger. You may be squinting at them a bit. 4) The difference between the keys is the height, thickness, and fore & aft placement of the "ridge" on the key which will go into the cross-groove on the rail. Those factors all combine to give a tight, secure fit of the light to the rail, as well as place the activation lever close enough to the handguard to activate. See my further notes on the "keys" below. 5) The centrally-pivoted activation lever works really well if you have good hand placement on your handgun (support hand fingers wrapped around the front of your strong hand fingers, thumbs aligned parallel & pointed forward). I am able to activate the left-side paddle very naturally with my off-(left) hand thumb, and the right-side paddle easily enough, sweeping my right-hand trigger finger down from where it rests properly & safely on the frame. I have relatively small hands (for a man), and it wasn't a concern. The diagram depicting the function of the lever is easily understood & larger than the rest of the pictograms. Where I had slight trouble: I read the instructions for assembling the light mount, and for whatever reason, though the instructions do NOT say anything about mounting the light before assembling it, that is what I tried to do. Reading them again it's pretty clear the "rail key installation" segment should be performed while the light is NOT mounted on the firearm. I think I had the classic male "I got this I can just skim the instructions because it's obvious" syndrome, and because I was distracted with other things. Do not do what I did. Focus. The "assembly" instructions are for locking all the bits of the flashlight together, AFTER you determine which rail key will work best for your firearm (mock it up), but BEFORE you actually mount it to the firearm. If you try to install the little "e-clip" while the light is mounted to the rail, it won't work - the bolt is not long enough. The instructions don't really make it clear that this isn't possible - though it does not instruct you to put it on the rail before attempting assembly, like I assumed. ___________________ Altogether, I'm pleased with the fit and finish of the Streamlight TLR3, it's price on Amazon (cheapest around, of course), and the functionality of the light. I would recommend this as an excellent basic firearm light. I should note, I don't see how this would be good on any other kind of firearm other than a handgun - that's clearly what it is designed for - even though you could put it on an AR or something else with a rail. The design & operation would (in my humble opinion) not lend itself to a different mount. ____________________ SUPER EDIT: Key "A" works just great with a Taurus PT111 G2. I tried fully assembling the mount with key "A" instead of just mocking it up, and the fore-aft movement becomes nonexistent after the light is clamped tightly to the rail. I believe the proper height of the "A" key will eliminate any undue stress on the light mount clamp. I may still try to shave down the height of an "E" key to see if it works better. Original text: For those who own the same firearm as I do, wondering about the fit: I tried the "A" key, but found that it did not fit snugly enough. The ridge on the "A" key that sits in the cross-indentation on the rail was not thick enough to prevent slight fore/aft movement of the light. It wouldn'tve fallen off, but did rattle & didn't allow for sure repeatability of the activation of the light. So, I used the "E" key. It is thick enough to fit snugly within the groove of the rail. The rail had some moulding burrs within the groove, easily taken care of with a small file or a very sharp knife. I may elect to shave the "E" key's ridge height slightly to improve fit (I received 2 "E" keys for whatever reason, so modding one would be ok), but it IS a sure, solid fit as-is. EDIT 1: Looking again, I noticed that the "Key Addendum" list included with my light notes that "Key 'A' [fits] loosely front to back" on a PX4 Storm Subcompact...so I may try the "A" key again on my Taurus, and see what I think. If a "loose front to back" fit is OK according to Streamlight, it's probably fine.

First off, I read probably too many reviews on many Tac lights, so any purchase would make me feel reluctant because apparently all lights have downsides. That being said, this light is great especially if you're a Glock owner or the owner of a full size gun. I wanted my light to be bright, turn on easily, match the finish of my gun, be compact in size, low on price (compared to $250 model we have all looked at), and still be good quality. Tall order, but this light has pulled it off. To start, amazon gets it to my house fast, as expected. I opened the packaging. I read the instructions. Noticed the sticker on the light that read "Do not over tighten. Use a coin to tighten." I knew this after all the reviews that said the light broke right away. A few people said they followed instructions and it still broke. I don't believe them. I think they over tightened. It took me 1-2 minutes to get the right key picked out. Put the key in, put it back together, put it on the rail, and tightened it down. I tightened only with my fingers until it was snug. If you look at the design of the Glock Tac light, you will notice that it doesn't even have a screw to attach. It just has a spring loaded bar that drops into the rail groove. So, it doesn't need to be torqued down, just somewhat snug. I left mine loose enough that you can barely slide the light down the rail maybe .015" easily. Doesn't rattle or vibrate or fall off when fired. No coin was used, let alone screwdriver. Fits great, works great, and so far seems durable.

Compact, easy-on & easy-off, bright light with a strong core pattern (no dead spots), solid construction, and all a good price. I love it. Bought a few. Far superior to the "Glock OEM Tac Light Xenon 6V Lithum." I love Glock (have been shooting them for decades), so no "hater" here. But their flashlight sucks. Dim yellow bulb, dead spot on the center, and the whole unit has a longer over-all length (OAL) than this Streamlight TRL-3. I've tested this light on a long-slide Glock, compact Glock, HK VP9, and CZ P-09. Works great on all of them. Just swap-out the adapters. One minor complaint: The switch rocks both ways, but only locks one way. It's definitely meant for a right-hand shooter to put activate the switch by pushing down on the right side lever. Pushing up on the left side lever is not ergonomic nor intuitive. Bought one for a CZ P-09 and one for an HK VP9. See the attached picture for how the light looks on a VP9. Also, I compared the Streamlight 69220 TLR-3 with the Streamlight 69260 TLR-1 and you can see the result below (the TLR-1 is on the left and slightly brighter, and the TLR-3 is on the right). For a compact pistol I'd go with the TLR-3. For a full-size or long-slide pistol, I'd go with the TLR-1.

I wanted to make sure I tested this with a reasonable number of rounds at the range before reviewing and thus far the results have been positive. I have this outfitted on a H&K P2000SK, with the "A" key. The main test is, I have gone through about 200 rounds with this attached and so far it has not moved nor have I at this point noticed any degradation in the light quality. It took a bit of trial to determine which key fit, as this model was not explicitly listed on their provided documentation, this was minor however. The attachment method is simple. They recommend using a coin (Penny seems to work best) to hand tighten the attachment screw. This works well, and can be easily removed or added in the field. And so far with just hand basic (NOT excessive) hand tightness, it has not moved when firing. It is lightweight and actually adds some balance to the weapon to make firing a tad more comfortable. This is aided by the solid attachment mechanism. The buttons are easy to access and the light seems adequate. For sake of objectivity here are my "cons". The light while bright enough for basic tactical application is not as bright as one would like. However at $80 this is about expected. This light also lacks a strobe feature. Again this would likely be included with a higher model but I would think even at only $80 this could have been achieved. Lastly I have some minor concern about the overall longevity of the switches after a few errant clicks on my part. These matters are minor however and are likely improved upon in a more expensive model. Overall this is a well priced and quality item. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a quality inexpensive light to attach to a small compact or subcompact.

I use a Springfield XDm .45 as my home defense handgun and I added this light instead of a laser or a light/laser combo. I'm glad I did. At close range, the hot spot of the light is perfectly aligned and sized to use for quick target acquisition and I feel confident enough to use it as a point and shoot aid. The light is relatively tiny but bright. It protrudes only about half and inch past the end of my 3.8 inch barrel and the switch is easy to flick on with my trigger finger. The weight is minimal. It came ready to attach to my XDm but several keys are included to fit it to other models of handguns. I could have gone cheaper but I think this is worth the price. I also like this switch over a pressure activated switch some lights use. I want to decided when to hit the light instead of having it on as soon as I grab the gun. It's also got a momentary on feature if you jut want a quick flash of light (wish it had a strobe feature). It's bright enough to use as a flashlight, so when things go bump in the night, I can just grab my pistol and go investigate. I wish it used CR123 batteries instead of the CR2 but that's the price of going small. This is perfect for short barreled handguns but would work well on any gun or even an AR-15 or similar. For a longer barrel, I'd go for the TLR-1 with two CR123s and strobe but for a short barrel, this is the better choice. Glad I got it.

I installed this on my Sig SP2022. I did install the correct adapter and is easy to take on and off. Feels solid. This light has a hot center and will facilitate shooting quickly if the need ever comes up. Just put the hot spot on your target and you are good to go. I love the way it throws the light and is plenty bright for sure. No need to spend a ton of money buying the more expensive lights, his one is all that is needed. My Sig requires the E insert. That insert will also work on the Picatinny rails on my AR. I like that I can use this light on either gun. I've been using this light on my pistol for several weeks. It is a pleasure to use, and the quality of this item is excellent. The beam is throws is solid, by that I mean there are no distracting outer edge circles that I have on cheaper lights. It's just a pure strong center then the halo around is evenly distributed and allows you to see the surrounding area. I use it on my HD pistol and I no longer need a flashlight now, because I've got something better that a standard flashlight. I have been using this and testing it constantly for a couple of weeks and the batteries are holding up better than expected. I hope that after the new wears off and I quit constantly messing with it, that the batteries stay good and not trickle drain as I've read about on other similar items. Only time will tell unless someone out there has experience with this particular light. Some of the other lights stick out past the muzzle. This light on my 4 inch barrel is just about flush so I don't have to worry about muzzle blast messing this one up. I love the compact size of this light. I would give this 6 stars if I could.

I love this light. It is super bright, but only in the area you point it. By that I mean if you shine it at someone, it will absolutely blind them, but it won't blind yourself even if it is the middle of the night and your eyes are adjusted for the dark. This is very important for home defense situations. I have it mounted on my M&P .40. I've put about 100 rounds through and it hasn't moved a bit. The durability is great. This is on my bedside gun, but I also use it to throw in my truck and take places if I'm going outside of town (hiking, camping, dirtbike riding). It gets thrown around and keeps on ticking. I like the momentary on/ constant on feature. I wish it did have a strobe feature, because that is truly disorienting to intruders, but I'm not going to remove a star because I knew it didn't have it when I bought it. I've had the light for quite a while now and it's still running on the battery it came with, so battery life is excellent. I've even popped it off the gun and used it as a regular flashlight a couple times when my mini mag light battery dies.

Extremely bright, easy to attach, and stable firearm light. I thought that with the price & size that I was going to get a firearm light that may not be all that bright, and might be too small for my M&P 9. I figured it would be "good enough" but not great. I was totally wrong. This light is awesome. The TLR-3 light attached with no problem (less than 5 minutes installation), fits perfectly on the M&P without protruding beyond the muzzle, and kicks off insanely bright light. I'd say it's effective beyond 25 yards, and blinding within 10. It puts off a wide dispersion of light that easily fills a side of a standard room in a house. Would also be great for outdoors patrolling or investigating noises. The are two activation features: simply pressing lightly on the lever behind the light turns it on until you release the lever. Pressing all the way down on the lever, switches the light on and it stays on after you remove your finger unless you switch it back off. Easy to access with your index and fits snug just outside the trigger guard on the M&P. I'll be buying more for sure.