I never thought Harbor Freight, of all places, would release a weapon light. Once they did, I never thought it would be hard to get. Harbor Freight must be selling piles of these things because I couldn’t get one for months. They were constantly sold out, and you couldn’t buy one online; it was in-store only.
Finally, after many months, I got lucky, and the Harbor Freight Braun 1000 lumen tactical rail mount LED Light is in my hands.
Harbor Freight — Why?
Harbor Freight is known for its cheap tools. I use them for tools I won’t use often because their quality is often below par, but the price makes up for it. They expanded into the world of firearms slowly. It started with ammo cans, which I have a ton of, and later entered into the realm of rifle cases.
The Apache case series are Pelican case wannabes, and they are rock-solid options for the average person. Branching into firearms accessories wasn’t all that surprising. What intrigued me about the Braun weaponlight was its footprint and price tag.
The price tag is $49.99, which makes it cheaper than the competition by far. Even when compared to budget brands like OLight, the Braun light is much cheaper. There are $50 weapon lights all over the world these days, but they tend to have weird footprints that aren’t compatible with most holsters.
The Harbor Freight weapon light uses a familiar footprint, and it’s clear Braun copied Streamlight’s homework because this thing is identical to the TLR-1. In fact, if you go to their website, they even have the “Compare to Streamlight At $154.09.”
In fact, Streamlight sued Harbor Freight over the Braun weapon light. It seems like they sued over the silver ring around the head of the optic. That’s now been removed, but I’m not sure if the suit is over.
Let’s see if the Braun 1000 lumen weapon light is going to disrupt the budget weapon light market.
The Harbor Freight Weapon Light: Breaking It Down
The simple packaging houses the light, and just like Streamlight, you get a variety of swappable keys to fit a variety of weapons. We have Glock, Beretta 90-Two, 1913, SW99, etc. It matches Streamlight to a T. It even comes with batteries!
Out of the box, it feels cheaper than the TLR-1. It’s got this plasticy finish to it, and it looks cheap. Looks can be deceiving, right?
There are some definite differences between a TLR-1 and the Braun light. The Streamlight switches are much smoother with more tactile feedback. The Braun light switches feel like plastic rubbing on plastic.
I do like the Allen key slot on the Braun light, which makes it quick and easy to attach to a handgun and tighten down.
I confirmed that the Braun weapon light is compatible with Streamlight TLR-1 holsters. It fits my Safariland duty rigs designed for the TLR-1 light. This is incredibly valuable because it opens you up to tons and tons of different holsters due to the popularity of the TLR-1.
If you remove the lens and reflector, you can look inside both lights. Internally, you can see a substantial difference in soldering. The Streamlight has these massive solders that are extremely secure. The Harbor Freight light has the minimum solder required to keep wires in place.
This will make a difference in long-term durability. A weapon-mounted light will live a rough life: being repeatedly holstered, facing recoil, and things like falls, drops, and even just climbing in and out of a tight cruiser. That’s all rough on a light, and those thicker solders will help ensure better reliability.
Field Performance
How’s the light perform? It’s fine. I don’t have the tools to measure lumens or candela, but the Braun certainly seems to be as bright as the TLR-1 and other 1,000-lumen weapon lights. Harbor Freight doesn’t publish their candela, but the range is on par with similar lights.
The beam is a little on the cool side, which gives it that slightly bluish tint. The beam itself has a visible hotspot that’s quite solid. That’s fine, but the transition from hot spot to spill is jarring. The spill halos around the hotspot instead of gradually turning into spill.
This means your spill has a lot less brightness than your hot spot, and your peripheral vision isn’t served as well. It’s noticeable, especially when compared to lights from Streamlight, Surefire, and Nightstick.
To climb outside of light nerd talk, I can simply say the beam works decently. You’ll be able to see a target inside your home and establish positive identification. Outside, the light works brilliantly out to 25 yards; beyond that, we can still see, but within 25 yards, you have an excellent beam.
I want to test for flickering, so I attached the light to a gun and went to the range. I used my phone to record my shooting with the light on to find flickering. There was no flickering with recoil over several different firearms.
This thing has clung to whatever gun I’m reviewing, and it’s been reliable. I’m not a police officer living the duty life 12 hours a day, but this Harbor Freight weapon light has been part of hundreds of rounds fired, tons of draws and reholsters, and exposure to rain and dirt, and it’s surprisingly held up.
Final Thoughts
I firmly believe that every home defense firearm needs a weapon-mounted light to ensure you always positively identify the threat.
If you only have $50 and need a weapon light for home defense, the Harbor Freight Braun light will be fine. It’s solid for that role. If you can spend more money, I would.
While the Braun has worked fine in testing, I don’t have long-term faith in the light’s capabilities. It’s cheaply built, and the beam isn’t impressive. It’s all fine, but “fine” doesn’t inspire confidence for me in a life-or-death scenario. I don’t want fine, I want excellence.
The Braun light is fine, and for $50, fine is just right. For long-term use and for hardcore use, go with excellence; go with brands with an established history of success.
