I already have a HLX  and a surefire scout.
Both work fine, stream light is cheaper. I’m not a cop or operator.
Just fitting up one more rifle.

Depends on your budget. You just missed (I think) the Modlite garage sale where you can score a PLHV2 head for $120.

I gave it a look but they only had red

I’ve used one of these or one of these on my last five builds and they’ve been great

What are you putting it on? My Gen 1 cloud works great, but is annoyingly long on an SBR. I prefer the surefire 340 there. Compared side by side, for my uses I prefer the cloud. But, the smaller size of the 340 on a short rail is worth the tradeoffs to me. I had/have a streamlight. It worked fine and lives on, on my kid's AR. People complain about pressure switch issues. I like clicky caps, so no help there

Will probably go on the Aug, use tail cap

Streamlight < Surefire < Modlite < Cloud

Streamlight is the only reputable Chinese light maker IMO. Surefire is a big step up from them still.

I've been using Streamlights for many years w/o a problem, currently using the HLX & HLX Pro on rifles & shotgun and am very happy with them.
Streamlight gets my vote.

Yeah, at the current price range I’ll probably get the stream light. If I was searching building, jumping out of airplanes it would be different.

A couple of handhelds and one WML from them. I've had no issues. I'd buy another. The internet's not going to fall at your feet, but id bet it does what you need for like 1/3 of the price. I have a less used rifle that will probably get one soon. It's not a cheap gun, but it doesn't see a lot of use. I can't see spending $300 for a light I'll probably never use. I'm confident in throwing a streamlight on it.

Scout turbo.

In my opinion it’s the best light available.

This.

Get the long or short one to your liking, same output just different run times with the rechargeable batteries.

Another vote for Surefire Turbo

Pretty accurate

The best engineered solution is the Surefire. It has a spring loaded contact in the head that is also buffered from recoil by a polymer pedestal, like all Scouts. Cloud takes the battery jack approach, but this is more issue prone, as it is not a passive solution. Streamlight is a well assembled Chinese product. Nothing really innovative,  but their reputation is solid, minus their remote switches. Modlite is the simplest American option. It's just a quality die, reflector, and driver smothered in epoxy with a spring on the back as a contact.

Digging deeper...

Cloud and Surefire are the only ones to offer dual fuel single cr123 lights.

Cloud pushes roughly 2x the lumens of surefire, but also at 2x the amps. 3ish vs 6ish. For the single cell 18350 lights, this becomes a runtime consideration.

The surefire ecosystem allows use of unity tactical and surefire switches, which currently are the only IR/Crane integrated options (we won't discuss streamlight here, due to their track record with tapeswitches).

Ultimately, the trend is for "mini" scout lights to be the size of the OG fullsize models, by and large, all save for the Malkoff and Modlite 18350s, which won't take dual fuel. I have tried them all, and prefer the Cloud 3.0 Micro and Surefire 340dft. The surefire allows more switch options and has an integrated mount, while the Cloud has much higher lumens, but similar lux, at a 100% more amp draw penalty. Not insignificant.

This is my current setup.
Attached File

Attached File

SF 340 scout turbo.