Have we found the best rifle light for the money in 2023? Just a few years ago, an 1,800 lumen, 30,000 candela light for under $100 was unheard of. But in this new era of tactical flashlights, performance is going up, and prices are going down.
Back in May, Trustfire reached out to me to evaluate their R8 rifle light. As a long time fan of Streamlights, I was hesitant at first to give the R8 a shot, but figured if nothing else, it would reinforce my dedication to the Streamlight brand. After all, until then, I had never even heard of Trustfire and had my reservations to testing a Chinese light. But as the title of this post may suggest, after putting the R8 to the test, they blew my expectations out of the water.
Initial Impressions
At 1800 lumens and 30,000 candela, it’s the most powerful light I’ve ever used, even compared to my Streamlight HL-X and retails at a comparable price. In fact, at the time of this review, the light sells for considerably less than the Streamlight equivalent. Using an 18650 battery, it has over an hour of battery life, which is also comparable to other high performance lights on the market and just so happens to be my favorite battery type for a rifle mounted light.
Trustfire boasts that the R8 has a maximum range of 350 meters, and while I don’t have a sufficient range to test that claim, I certainly believe it from the testing I’ve conducted (out to 300m), though without magnification, you may not be able to identify a target at that range, especially if said target is camouflaged, still, or otherwise presenting a challenging target.
At 100 meters, the light is daylight bright, more than powerful enough for positive identification. At 300 meters (pictured below), it illuminated enough to see the treeline, but without magnification, one couldn’t see me standing there (however this was the case even during the day). Unfortunately, the topography of the land simply doesn’t allow me to stretch the light out much further than that. While not an apples to apples comparison, the above pictures show the difference between the popular Streamlight TLR-1 (left), and the Trustfire R8 (right) shown at a V-TAC barricade board 100 meters downrange.
Obviously, the TLR-1 is a pistol light with only 300 lumens and 12,000 candela, and the R8 is a high-power rifle light. The Streamlight HL-X would have made for a better comparison, but unfortunately, mine is no longer working as I got a battery stuck in it (and thus why you should remove your batteries before long term storage). Still, the TLR-1 is a quite popular and powerful light, giving a point of reference for the performance of the R8. Anecdotally, I can attest that the R8 is more powerful than the similarly priced HL-X, which is also indicated by the light’s specifications.
As you can see, not only does the R8 have a brighter hot spot, but it has a further throw and wider flood as well. Being a rifle light, the former was to be expected, as the anticipated range of engagement of a rifle is further than that of a handgun, but the latter was surprising to me. Generally speaking, with the rifle lights I have used in the past, I’ve come to expect a bright light with a tight focus. This is great for taking precision shots at extended ranges, but not so much for scanning for targets. The wide beam divergence of the R8 makes scanning for targets, whether human, animal, or paper a breeze as you can take in a lot of information quickly.
Pictures and video simply don’t capture the shear power of the R8 weapon light, so I encourage everyone to pick one up and try it out for yourselves.
Torture Testing
Its one thing to make a bright light, but a good tactical light has to be equally as durable. In the words of Aaron Cowan, “I go where the lumens are and where the durability is, but it’s got to be both.” Que the torture testing.
When I was doing my initial research on the company, I found this clip of one of their older lights flickering under recoil, something unacceptable for a weapon mounted light. Of course, this video was of a pistol light (where you can expect the light to be subjected to more violent recoil) and I was sent a rifle light, but I was still concerned and wanted to run it through it’s paces. As such, my first test was simply shooting with the light mounted on my rifle. Over a couple mags of 556, I encountered zero issues. In QuinTintin Gun Guy’s video, the GM23 light only flickered on his handgun, not the rifle, but as this light is specifically designed for use on long gun, I considered this test a success – the light worked as intended.
Then I wanted to see how it performed with drop testing. This was the test I dreaded the most, as after the death of my HL-X, I really needed a working light for my rifle and didn’t want to destroy this one. Still, drop tests are a staple in torture tests, so I proceeded with my evaluation. The R8 is rated for 1 meter drops, so of course, I had to drop it from the 2nd story of my barn – repeatedly. It took these drops no problem, without even a scratch on the light, leaving me both relieved and impressed.
Next was the submersion test as the R8 claims to be IP68 rated. This is the highest level of dust protection and the second highest for water resistance, being rated for extended immersion in water. As expected, the light had no issues being submerged for over an hour, but I was determined to find its breaking point. Finally, after over 6 hours underwater, a few drops made their way inside the housing, but the light continued to perform flawlessly. As such, I’d argue that the R8 may actually have an IP67 rating (dust tight, and water resistant for up to 30 minutes at a depth of one meter). However, this may be due to the fact that I disassembled the light previous to the testing, potentially damaging one of the O-rings, and is not recommended as per the user manual. Still, whether the light is IP67 or IP68, the light is certainly resistant to brief submersion and continues to function flawlessly after extended submersion.
Finally, being such a powerful light, I wanted to see how the light performed under a constant duty cycle. As with all high-power flashlights, the R8 gets noticeably warm after mere seconds of use. To mitigate this, the R8 is designed to gradually dim to prevent overheating the battery and other critical components. What I wanted to determine was 1, how much it would dim, and 2, just how hot it would get. For this test, I simply turned the flashlight on for 10 minutes, checking the temperature every minute. As you can see from the side-by-side comparison below, the light didn’t dim a noticeable amount, and the temperatures never exceeded 93 degrees Fahrenheit.
Room For Improvement
While the R8 certainly exceeded my expectations, especially at the price point, it’s not without its flaws, and no proper review would be complete without a critical examination. But before we dive into its potential areas for improvement, I’d like to point out that I have been in contact with the Trustfire product development team about these and they seem quite receptive to feedback. That being said, I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with and have high hopes for both the future of their rifle lights, and the company in general.
Less Than Ideal Quick-Detach Mount
The quick detach lever for mounting on the picatiny rail is extremely easy to disengage, making it very likely for the light to fall off a rifle, especially when brushed up against something like a sling. Considering a weapon light is a critical piece of equipment, this could be disastrous, but if you’re like me, you probably replace your included light mounts immediately anyway, and I always opt for a bolt-on solution over a quick detach. Not only does this provide a more reliable mounting surface, but it gets the light closer to the rail. Besides, I have never been in a situation where I needed to quickly remove my rifle lights.
My solution was to mount the light via one of my favorite mounts – an Arisaka Inline Scout Mount. I also found that all my Streamlight mounts also worked with the R8, including the thumbscrew style mounts that came with my Streamlights. So if you’re also a Streamlight fanatic, you probably already have a mount that will work in your drawer of spare parts.
No Lockout Feature
Being such a powerful light, a negligent discharge could be disastrous, whether giving away your position, accidentally shining the light in someone’s eyes, or simply draining the battery. As such, I recommended the addition of a safety switch to prevent accidentally turning on the light. This is a feature we usually only see on high-end, high-dollar lights, but given the shear power of the R8, I view this as a logical evolution for the light, and is a feature I’d like to see more of from the industry in general. Sure, you could fashion a lens cover to prevent negligent discharge, and it’s best practice to remove the battery for storage, but an integrated lockout function would offer an extra layer of security and make the R8 a more refined product.
Pressure Pad
To be fair, there is nothing ‘wrong’ with the pressure pad that comes with the R8; it’s simply something I didn’t care for. Perhaps it is just my bias towards Streamlight shining through, but I do prefer the Streamlight pressure pad that I have become accustomed to over the years. A lot of this has to do with the Cloud Defensive LCS, which has been used to mount my tape switches and manage the cables on my rifles for years. As with all critical rifle accessories, I am a big supporter of bolting remote switches directly to the rail to prevent movement (or worse, having the switch dislodged). The rubber boots that come with the R8 to mount the remote switch to the picatinny rail provide more surface contact than the ones that come with Streamlights, but it still has too much play and can be unintentionally moved up and down the rail. Unfortunately, the remote switch is not compatible with the Cloud Defensive LCS, though it works exactly as intended. For this reason, I opted to simply run the light with the standard tailcap, which alleviated the need for managing cables and saved a little weight anyway. Again, this is less of a design flaw and more of a personal preference.
One of the Best Tactical Flashlights for the Money?
While it may not be a Cloud Defensive OWL, over the course of a month, the Trustfire R8 has more than surpassed my expectations for an affordable Chinese rifle light. Personally, I have found it to be worthy of being mounted to my PWS rifle, which is the highest acclaim I can give it. But is it the right light for you? That’s for you to decide. I encourage you to pick one up today using one of our affiliate links to help support the growth of our company and give it a try for yourself.
To see the full video review, and torture test of the Trustfire R8, check out our YouTube Channel, And don’t forget to subscribe to both our email newsletter, and social media, to stay up to date with all our latest developments.