This will be a several part thread a bit data and image heavy, and long.  And for many, this very topic is an abomination.  Which is great - purists keep everyone more honest.  For others, this may be useful for the non-serious/casual/budget limited.

This is for the purposes of casual home usage for me.  For the world I live in and the service and life I live, I'm not inclined to spend the premium for the premium name brand lights.  That and I have enough firearms that I want multiple units; and spending 4- figures for an array of appropriate dedicated light/laser systems is just not appealing.  

Also, FWIW, nobody pays me shit, and never have - I'm just an engineer, and a frugal one who optimizes.  I'm here posting this because professionally I learned a long time ago: "writing the report forces you to actually study and analyze your data, and form more sound conclusions".   So mostly I'm using you and this venue to write the report, to better process the data and observations I've collected so far.  I probably should put this on youtube, there are probaby dozens of such video's in fact - but I'm just not a youtuber.

This is NOT a hard-core or professional level review.  If you are looking for serious Duty Service items, that's on you - these are cheap Chinese made lights sold on Amazon for under $100.  They're sold for closer to $30 in fact.  This is a casual review and most of the images you will see are literally on a family members front porch with beers and saying (with dismounted units), "I wonder comparatively how these look against each other".

One item of note and a calibrator for the scoffers to pause at - is it's well understood that historically cheap Amazon lights have been crap, and cheap Amazon lasers, even worse - to the point it was a certain fail to actually run one for anything.  Where "historically" is as recent as early 2020's even.  But in the last year, things have changed.  Or I'll say, in the last year, I finally noticed that things have changed.  Here's why and how:

Here are what I see as the biggest change items in the cheap Amazon (et al) options:
-Elimination of the removable batteries.  This is a big deal because that tends to be one of the biggest problem areas, and the cheaper the rig, the worse that got.  First, the batteries tend to be semi-exotic, and if running cheap-laser/light - you're going to run cheap-amazon batteries as the only option to not wrecking the whole economic point.  And those cheap Amazon batteries suck Suck SUCK .  that hasn't changed - if you see a pack of your semi-exotic batteries on Amazon for cheap - they WILL be shit, and WILL all be dead within under a year, just sitting in the packaging.  They'll likely also leak.  Further, the housing and systems for the removable batteries involve imperfect contact points, and take up space for walls, springs etc.  Switching to on-board integrated and USB recharged batteries eliminates a lot of that, allows for custom-battery shapes to fill the housing better, and gives more reliable connectivity, mitigating bump and impact failures (we'll do a half-assed demonstration of that below).  It also hosts the latest battery power technology to go into them, which are pretty good.  Result is a higher voltage and wattage battery with more charge in a smaller and lighter package, and a rig's power system that can take abuse better since now hardwired.
-Integration of the light and laser.  In particular, much smaller light fixtures for still quite high lumens allowing for an integrated laser, at the same time.  Not sure if there's been a tech improvement in LED bulbs recently or what, but it feels like they all of a sudden got a lot smaller.
-Plastic housings.  Yes, plastic housings.  This makes for a notably lighter package.  Again, is this "duty rated"?  No.  But plastics 2024 are not plastics 1994 either - ask MagPul etc what they think of plastic construction.  How well does the plastic hold?  While obviously not a definitive test, I'll post a video where we beat and smack around one on a pistol, and then zero check (it held up fine).

One item of note kind of hinted at via the above - the appeal of the Amazon units is only partially cost savings (which indeed is a big appeal of course).  Where they really appeal to me, is the size.  they are small, light and tiny.  Combined with the cheap cost, I can purchase a handful and mount&forget these things - which I do now.  As to duty and and service grade, I guess we'll see; because based on our tests and user experience improvements - a family member just pulled off his all metal heavy duty grade laser off of his pistol, and put one of these units on, for the appeal of the light plus laser in a lighter and smaller package, that hold up to our usage and abusage tests.  The real test will be time, as his unit bounces around over the years.  Will it still keep working?  Will it still hold zero?  Will the usage requirement of periodic USB recharging be problematic?  For reference, in my few tests, the light is only good at full power for about an hour, laser good for about 6 or so hours.   We will see, but that was his decision.  Not saying it should be yours.

Next posts will be based on on casual porch shining's done on a neighbors house at night.  This is NOT a high quality scientific comparison, but it's a comparison.  Then a post showing abuse and performance testing.

First our baseline test.  

Setting and method:  A location across the street from a relatives front porch - photographed at 1/30 shutter speed, with the (dismounted!) light pointed to the tree.

Tree = 25 yards
House bricks = 40 yards
House Garage (on right) = 70yards

This isn't perfect as the smartphone camera will autoadjust to make it look way brighter and clear that it really is - which looks like this in the camera (but NOT in actuality)

BASELINE SMARTPHONE AUTOADJUSTING - THIS SETTING NOT USED, BUT SHOWN FOR COMPARISON

again - way too falsely "bright" from the sensitive smart-phone camera and it's internal adjustments.  So that's no good for our purposes.

So by setting the shutter speed to be 1/30, it looked more like this:
BASELINE SMARTPHONE SET AT 1/30 SHUTTER, AND THIS BASELINE CAMERA SETTING USED FOR ALL TESTS NOW

The smartphone can still try to adjust for things, but this helped make things a little more consistent at least, by just locking the phone to only shoot at that speed.



And here's the light we're starting with as our reference point.  Purpose being these LUMEN's reported are probably accurate.  Though, the light degree of beam focus makes a big difference, and that's harder to notice and account for, but here's the starting point anyway.


For the analysis, I mostly looked at the tree, and how bright it looked, and sometimes at the house.  There are some features on the tree trunk that get more noticeable the brighter the light.

OK, so




BASELINE REFERENCE IMAGE: FENIX BIKE LIGHT AT 1000 LUMEN


BASELINE REFERENCE IMAGE: FENIX BIKE LIGHT AT 400 LUMEN



BASELINE REFERENCE IMAGE: FENIX BIKE LIGHT AT 150 LUMEN



BASELINE REFERENCE IMAGE: FENIX BIKE LIGHT AT 50 LUMEN


And as an alternative comparison, here's a Foxelli headlamp at 1200 (rated) lumen.  

BASELINE REFERENCE IMAGE: FOXELLI 1200 Lumen Headlamp

I don't know if that's really 1200 LUMEN, but will say it too is STUPID BRIGHT

And for another Comparison, a Foxelli handheld light rated at 160 Lumen (which is a bit tame by today's standards for a handheld light - got this 4 years ago or so)
BASELINE REFRENCE IMAGE: FOXELLI 160 LUMEN

Bookmarking this one. Great work L E

Great topic.  I got a couple to try out.    Pretty impressed with what you can get for ~ $20.      The lights on mine are small, but sufficient.  The lasers clean and were right on point of aim at 40’. The On buttons are robust, well located and intuitive.
Won’t be carrying them, but I’ll put one in a hot car and the freezer as a test.

Now on to the actually weapon light/lasers.  I'm not going to post Amazon links, as nobody is paying my ass, but will post photos from their listing, so you'll figure it out.

GMConn "350" lumen light / green laser.  

Advantage is this is the very smallest of them all.  Disadvantage is it is also the dimmist (and possibly most dishonest) light.  And the cheapest construction - with USB micro port not protected by anything (no water-resistant rubber flap), and worst of all, the screws are threaded directly into the plastic - so overall cheapest construction.  But, it's also the smallest, which has appeal.  It also will fit on an AR rail and be low enough that most low power scopes still go over it and dont' really see it - which I like.


(somewhat difficult to interpret picture, as there apparently wasn't enough light to make the camera happy, or I otherwise botched the photo, but if you get past the blur, you can see it does light up the tree decent enough.  For indoor usage, this wouldn't be bad at all actually).

I have a few of these, and run this as mount-and leave on this rig - at least for now.






---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The second unit stepping up, is the
Solofish 450 or 500 Lumen light and green laser

It's bigger and a bit taller and bulkier.  Enough to potentially obstruct a little on a low-power scope if mounted on the top main rail of an AR.  But, the light is a lot more honest Which is more than a little remarkable.  It also had much better construction, with the screws engaging brass inserts, rather than directly into the plastic.  Which I value.  It's still quite light, but sure, it's a touch heavier than the other - though you won't really notice with your bare hands any difference there.  So right now, this one is kind of my favorite general purpose choice - mostly due to the brass insert and better construction; as well as USB-C powered with water-resistant rubber flap.  It has a few extra mounting adjustment options with the rail-tab.  

and in comparison to the Fenix comparison baseline posted above, actually pretty close.

FWIW, I just ordered 2 more of these right before posting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The third unit I've messed with the biggest and brightest
Solofish 700 Lumen light and green laser

This one is the "best one" in terms of power and has all the construction advantages of the previous one - yet at the same price.  But also kind of my least favorite, as it's starting to lose the appeal of being tiny, and tiny enough to mount and forget (for me).

The brightness rating is actually pretty close to honest, and does decently well in comparison to the FENIX reference light - relatively speaking based on the settings.  For ~$25, this is a performance unheard of even 2 years ago - this is impressive.

Durability - now let's talk about durability.  

Obviously, promises of high expectation can't realistically be made for a $25 item of this kind of technology and complexity.  Seriously, I have no idea how we're even having this conversation.  

But I will say, I own probably half a dozen mixed of these, and have yet to be disappointed in the admittedly just few months of ownership.  As noted in the first posts above, I DO have an expectation of considerably better durability than we've seen in times past, and my first post goes into detail on why.  But then again, it's a $25 product.  I can barely buy the included USB-C charging cable and Allan wrenches for that.  

OK, so, on that note, we dismounted the 3-figure duty-quality metal green laser on a relatives Sig pistol, and mounted this one (the 500 lumen one).  We zero'd the laser for about 15 yards, and shot it some, and it did pretty good for the 50 rounds we ran.   So we then beat it against the table and basically gave it rough handling.


Tested the zero again after that:

Kind of wow.  (Plus I did puff up a bit *strut* after that grouping - SKILLZ baby)

He then convenient left my laser/light on his pistol, and scooped up the box and allan wrenchs - after burning up my ammo!  (F'ing relatives man!!)  So that tells you what he thinks of it.

As a final item - for some guns, mount&leave can still be a bit-bulky, depending on the gun and service and its mounting systems.  So to that end, I'm starting to experiment around with quick-release systems like this, with them pre-zeroe'd and dedicated to a particular gun.  It won't be perfect for the laser - but it doesn't have to be.

Good thread.  
I was wondering when you would make this as you have mentioned that particular laser light combo a few times now.  

No need to convince me of course, I picked up a cheap Amazon laser a couple years ago (actually, almost exactly 2 years ago, April 14th of 2022) for $29 (it is down to $18 now) and it was one of the best purchases I ever made.   I lives on my .22LR.

And yes, you are correct, a KEY feature is it being rechargeable.  I love that part.  




Because I have a couple of Streamlight TLR-RM2's with green lasers on 300blks at 12:00, I also added this cheap QD riser to help mimic the height difference my .22 set-up.  These also makes it easy to quickly remove the entire laser if I want to.




I'm interested in seeing what else is out there for dirt cheap.  

Good reply and I prefer those quick release levers, but in my case I need the offset mount for the light/laser to keep it out of the way of the main optic,, which is why I'm playing around with those cheap offset rigs.

I'll post weights later when able.

Good post, OP.

There's been some discussion about similar IR/IR laser illuminators from a brand called "Toughsoul" (Amazon-sold, from the OEM "Defendtec / MSH Electronic"). Monstrum and a couple other brands probably made by the same OEM.) It's interesting that what would have only been poor copies of "real" illuminators are taking some different form-factors and actually making some interesting directions in mounting and ergonomics.

See:
This link for some Amazon IR/Laser wunders

I weighed them yesterday.  Just to keep it simple, here are the Amazon links (these guys totally should be paying my ass).  As a reminder, all of the units are plastic, which keeps the weight down, but some folks aren't going to like plastic. I don't mind - but you might.

All of these are under $30.  Which frankly just blows my mindt.  Be aware, there is no remote-switch option for any of these.

350LM unit is 1.4oz



450LM unit 1.6oz (sometimes they call it 500 LM, same unit; it's Chinesium, so when in doubt, assume the lesser)


(FWIW, this is the one I settled on for my general purpose needs mostly)

and the biggest:
700LM unit 2.2oz Though see below, I had a difficult time getting this one to hold zero




And for rifle usage (my main usage), I tend to prefer offset mount.  If I can explain: When the light itself is directly mounted on the top they can interfere with main optics systems usage (which is why I do sometimes like the 350 LM unit, as it's the smallest and won't interfere with a 2.5X sight, typically, but that's the lowest quality one here too).  If I mount on the bottom then they bump into field rests etc.  Mount on the side is OK, but I typically don't have side-rails on most of my guns, and the can also bump into V-notch monopod/tripods.  My nightmare scenario is for it to bump the V-notch while night-hunting with a Thermal, and bumping the light engagement button on!  So, I like mounting on an off-set mount attached to the top rail on a quick-release system, and this lets me avoid adding side-rails.  

Which is something like this  I got a 6-pack of these for $9 with a coupon code.  They're OK - I just wish the Quick Release system was a lever or wing-nut, rather than a round knob.  We'll see how they work out.  I'd be OK if they were plastic even, but they are aluminum.


and weigh 1.2 oz each

make the above three systems when combined with this have a total effective weight (in order) of
"350LM" 2.6oz
450LM 2.8oz
700LM 3.4oz

All of which is still quite light.  For comparison, a $300 1000-lumen SureFire weighs 4 oz (without an offset mount, which would make it 5.2 oz).  And is a notably larger item, with no laser.  For me, my budget, and my interests, I'm happy with the $25 450LM unit.  If you are Going Into Harm's Way - I suggest testing it pretty hard first, I can't comment on that beyond the simple tests done here.  For my guns, I'm actually willing to rely on them, for my own domestic world.

To follow-up, I did a range-outing this weekend.  It went about as many would have expected - some wins, some losses.  I ran several units on several guns.  

First off, the 700 lumen unit, which is much larger, and also a 600 lumen unit I since bought - also larger - did kind of terrible with regards to holding zero.  Can't say I really endorse those if the plan includes any value to the laser as well.   The 450 and 350 lumen units actually did OK.

The cheap "quick release" offset rails sure did "quick-release" all right.  By not having a throw level but just a thumb-tight screw, the screw untightens itself and the thing falls off, under any degree of heavy usage.  Not a huge surprise, but this means either torque them down with a tool if want them to stay (undermining the "quick release"), or switch to a different system.  

On a 5.56 gun mounted under the scope, the 450 and 350 units actually did pretty well.  My only complaint there is the light hits the rail, and that becomes a blinding bright section of the gun, which I don't care for.  But otherwise it's a well tucked system that adds no mass or dimensions to the gun or its profile, that one can mount and forget.  

I'm going to return the 600 and 700 LM units, since they won't keep zero, and are large and bulky.  They're still "small" for that level of lumens, and VERY cost effective, but they don't serve my purpose.

Here's the SBR'd MK18 with the smallest unit (the 350 LUMEN) one left on it.  I figure this guns mission is close enough, that just going with a simple 350 (smallest), is worth the trade-off.  Especially since unlikely I'll ever actually run that one at night, but for 1.3 oz adder.. sure, and it's a back-up sight (green laser) for CQB option.  

The problem with this approach is the light hits the rail and just makes it super bright, which in low light, sucks.  not sure if I'm going to stick with it this way or not. But if I put it out at the end, it bonks into things, and gets in the way of the RDS primary sight out there.


Here's how I'm configuring the RDB now, with a 450 LM unit, that holds zero decent enough.  Item there is the gun gets HOT, so I have it offset to temper some of the heatflow from the rail (which is a heat-sink for the gas-system).  For a 1.6 oz adder, I'll give it a shot.


For the rest, I'm probably going to keep an eye out for offset mounts with QR levers on them, and grab some next time on sale.