Adding a light to your personal defense firearm is a great way to tip the odds in your favor in low or no-light situations. After all, it’s almost impossible to adequately assess the situation if you can’t see it!
There are plenty of companies making aftermarket lights. Some mount to the trigger guard while others attach to the grip. Either way, you have to take into consideration the change in shape that these lights create for your sidearm.
Generally speaking, this means you’re going to need a new holster that is specially formed for your firearm’s new lighted shape. That means yet another holster in your box of holsters (admit it; you’ve got a ton of them!). What if there was a way to add a light without changing the shape of your gun?
That’s what the stainless steel Guide Rod Weapon Lights from Deadpoint accomplish. Because the light is an integral (and internal) part of the gun, it doesn’t change the external shape of your carry gun. This allows you to continue using the holster of your choice.
Installation is very simple:
- Ensure the gun is unloaded
- Fieldstrip the gun, removing the current guide rod
- Insert the included batteries into the Deadpoint guide rod
- Install the Deadpoint guide rod in your slide
- Remove the current slide lock from the receiver
- Install the Deadpoint slide lock, which is the on/off switch
- Reassemble your gun
The extended slide lock from Deadpoint is designed to engage the guide rod light and complete the circuit when it is pressed from either side of the frame. The ambidextrous design uses the centered position of the slide lock as a neutral off position for the light.
The Deadpoint guide rod light provides 45 minutes of continuous light, which is (hopefully) far longer that you’ll need it to last should you find yourself in a situation where illumination is required.
To my knowledge, Deadpoint is the only company making an integral handgun light. LaserMax offers both red and green laser guide rods for a variety of handgun models, but they don't offer any lights. An internet search for such products only turned up the Deadpoint product, so it really is a one-of-a-kind offering out there.
I ran 50 rounds through my Glock 19 Gen 3 both with the light on and the light off. Because the Deadpoint design places a light on such a high impact part of the gun, I was circumspect as to how it would perform. To my surprise, the light stayed on for the 50 rounds I fired with it in that position.
Firing 50 rounds with the light off was a bit different. Because of the way the light completes the circuit with the gun's internal components, it was prone to split-second "on" sequences as the gun recoiled during normal firing. This will obviously count against the 45 minutes of run time on the batteries, but you'll have to shoot for a very long time before those split-seconds add up to 45 minutes.
Currently, the product is only available for Gen 3 and 4 Glock pistols. MSRP is $149.99. For more information, visit www.deadpointlights.com.
This piece of gear is an interesting and compelling option and it certainly offers a novel solution to mounting a light on a gun. But having a light that's only the size of a guide rod comes with certain limitations——in this case, the output on the Deadlight is just 90 lumens——paltry compared to gun lights on the market today. Plus, because it all has to fit in the size of a guide rod, the battery arrangement is very...particular.
In short, this is a good idea and it's possible that a company that pays more attention to detail and quality control could produce a superior product. All in all, the Deadlight is neat, but because of its build quality, it's not completely reliable and not quite worth it's $150 price tag. But, if you can find it for less and it would make a viable solution for you, it might be worth a shot.
