Every light comes with a number printed on the box. Some of those numbers are honest. Some are not even close. Over at Low Light Defense, we’ve tested roughly 110 lights in our own lab, so we built a way to put any two side by side: the Light Lab Comparator. It’s linked from the werkz.com menu too.
What it does
Pick a light for slot A and a light for slot B, and you get our measured lumens, candela and runtime side by side. You can filter by pistol, rifle or handheld, and sort by any of those numbers, price, or how each light did against its claim.
These are our numbers, not the box’s. We model our testing on the ANSI FL1 standard and get as close to it as we can with calibrated equipment, testing three samples where possible: lumens are measured in an integrating sphere 30 seconds after turn-on, and candela at the same 30-second mark. The lights are bought at retail and run on fresh batteries. If we haven’t measured something yet, it’s shown dotted so you know it’s a prediction.
Each card is also colored by how honest the maker’s claim turned out to be, from Common (more than 10% under the claim) up to Legendary (25% or more over). That rates the claim, not the brightness. A modest light that beats its spec outranks a bright one that misses it.
If you’d rather see everything at once, switch to the table view: measured lumens, candela, runtime, colour temperature and CRI for every light, sortable by any column.
A few match-ups worth a look
- TLR-1 HL-X vs X300 Turbo. The HL-X is the standout pistol light in the whole lab: 1,655 lumens, 66% over its claim, and 18,440 candela. The X300 Turbo goes the other way: 748 lumens (+15%) but 61,070 candela, more than three times the HL-X. Both beat their lumen claims; one is a wall of light and the other is a spotlight. Pick by the job.
- Cloud Defensive EPL Duty vs X300U-B. Nearly identical lumens, 1,127 and 1,165, but the EPL Duty throws 37,223 candela to the X300U-B’s 8,958, more than four times the intensity. The catch is runtime: 34 minutes on the EPL’s 18350 cell versus 1 h 11 min for the SureFire on two CR123As. Both came in under their candela claims, the EPL by 28% and the X300U-B by 21%.
- TLR-7 Sub vs XSC (P365). The TLR-7 Sub measured 622 lumens (+24%) and ran 1 h 37 min. The XSC measured 397 lumens (+13%) and 2,304 candela (+15%), but runs just 32 minutes. Two small lights, both beat the box, and the Streamlight does it for three times as long.
We just launched Outlier holsters for the TLR-1 HL-X and the whole X300 family.
We sell the lights too
Once the comparator points you at a light, you can get it from us along with the holster, and we offer a discount when a light and holster are purchased together. A sampling of what we stock on the Werkz.com lights page: the Streamlight TLR-7 HL-X, TLR-1 HL-X and TLR-1 HP-X, the TLR-7 HL-X Sub for the P365, the SureFire X300T-A and X300T-B, and for a handheld, the Streamlight MegaStream.
Shopping for a weapon light? Put your short list in the comparator. Once you’ve picked one, the holster finder on the Werkz.com home page will show you what we have: pick your pistol’s manufacturer and model, then your light’s manufacturer and model.
