Discover New Affordable Weapon Lights Shaking Up the Market

As gear editor here at Handguns, I’m a light geek. I run illumination on almost all my pistols, and I think others should do the same. The problem for many, however, is economics. They’d like to run a pistol light on their home defense or everyday carry guns, but they aren’t willing to spend $200 or more per light to do so.

Enter the Hilight Primal and Peak Performance lights. With a starting suggested retail of $50, these lights offer many of the features found on more expensive competitors at a fraction of the price.

The Primal series is the less expensive at $55 and $62 depending on which body color and laser combination you select. Controls for the light and laser are independent. Pressing the button on the right rear paddle of the light turns on the laser. The button on the left light paddle activates the Cree XM-L2 LED light, which offers either 400 (black or Cerakote tan body color) or 500 lumens (OD green Cerakote body). Light modes include constant-on and strobe.

The Primal offers various laser color options: green, blue, purple or cyan (a bright greenish-blue) in the black version; all those laser colors except green with the tan body; and blue laser with the OD green model.

Laser Combo Selection?

Hilight’s Peak Performance model is priced from $72 to $82 and offers some upgrades—most notably 500 or 700 lumens (again, depending on color/laser combo selection)—and twin lasers.

Why two lasers? Vision issues like color blindness and astigmatism often mean people will be able to see one color better than another. Further, having such a redundant sighting system can be beneficial.

Like the Primal, the Peak Performance model limits laser color based on the body color of the light: blue/green, purple/blue, purple/cyan or purple/green laser with the black model; blue/green or purple/blue lasers for the Cerakote tan body; and purple/blue laser only with the OD green model.

The Peak Performance’s control layout differs from the Primal, with large soft-touch pads on the sides of the paddles. These pads are divided into top and bottom sections. The bottom of the pad on either side activates the light while the top pad activates the laser on the same side as the button. This means you can activate the light in constant-on or strobe mode from either the left or right pad, and you can activate the lasers independently.

Size

Overall length for the Peak Performance is 2.0 inches, and width ranges from 1.25 to 1.4 inches depending on which light/laser combination is selected. The Primal measures 1.8 inches long and 1.2 inches wide. Peak Performance lights measure 0.75 to 1.13 inches tall compared to 0.8 inch for the Primal. Both lights weigh 2.3 ounces.

They feature a clever magnetic charging setup that uses a standard USB charging block (not included). A charging stud on the included cord snaps into a port on the base of the light and is held in position by a small, strong magnet. It’s a handy setup—provided you don’t lose the special cord.

Both Hilight models incorporate attachment points that are designed to work on Weaver or Picatinny rails. Mounting requires loosening the transverse hex head bolt and clamping the light into position on the rail. There are two holes for the bolt, one slightly in front of the other, and an additional bolt is included. The transverse bolts are not as wide as the rail slots, but the gap did not cause the light to loosen during testing.

Hilight provides a “required clear space” specification for each light on its website. This dimension is a minimum distance between the rail slot and trigger guard necessary to accommodate the light. For the Primal, that value is 0.91, and for the Peak Performance it is 1.1 to 1.5 inches depending upon the model.

Rail Accomodations

The rail must also be wide enough to engage the clamps on either side of the light. For example, both lights fit on a Palmetto State Armory Dagger and an FN FNS-9 without issue. However, even though my Glock G43X had the mandatory required clear space to accommodate the Primal light, the rail was too narrow to allow the clamps to lock in position. Hilight lists firearms compatible with each light on its website.

The clamp incorporates a small spring that exerts lateral pressure on the clamp. An extra spring is included in a small baggie with each light.

Also in the baggie are hex wrenches for the transverse bolts and to adjust the laser’s windage and elevation. Those adjustment screws are also slotted, so you can use a small screwdriver as well.

In testing I preferred the Peak Performance light’s activation pad layout because it was larger and easier to access on both sides. While I didn’t have any issues activating the Primal’s light—sweeping down with the support hand thumb activated it without issue—I found it more difficult to activate the laser with my trigger finger.

Shooter Preferences

This was largely due to the gap between the rear paddles and the trigger guard when the Primal was mounted on the Palmetto Dagger. Activating the light required me to adjust my shooting grip and reach forward a bit to locate the button.

The Peak Performance allowed me to press once to activate the light and laser, which was also a benefit. However, it takes a bit of practice to activate the light and not the laser or vice versa because the buttons sit on top of one another.

I compared illumination for both the Primal and Peak Performance—500 and 700 lumens respectively—alongside SureFire’s 550 lumen/7,200 candela XC3. Hilight does not list the candela figures for its lights on the website or in the manual, but company owner Joe Reilly told me the Primal offers 5,000 candela while the Peak Performance generates 9,000 candela.

Working in my basement, which measures 30x15 feet, the SureFire was noticeably brighter than the Primal and on par with the Peak Performance, but the SureFire illuminated the dark corners of the room more effectively than the Primal.

Flood Light

Both the SureFire and Peak Performance offered lots of “flood” light for illuminating large rooms, but the SureFire provided a clearer view of the far corners—including an open doorway at the two o’clock position. I could see through the doorway with the Peak Performance, too, just not as well, and the Primal lit the doorway but not beyond.

Both lights are rated to run for 55 minutes continuously with the light turned on from a full charge, and my testing showed both will do just that. The lights got warm, but neither was hot to the touch.

Laser-only runtime is listed at five hours for both lights and 45 minutes for the light and laser. Total charge time from dead battery to full charge took about an hour with both lights. While the unit is charging, there is a red light around the magnetic charger that turns green when the light is fully charged.

The Primal and Peak Performance lights have an IPX4 rating, which means the unit is water resistant and protected from splashed water. That means they’ll stand up to incidental moisture exposure like rain and perspiration.

Both of these Hilights have a lot to offer for the defensive handgunner. And thanks to their low cost you can add them to all your pistols without breaking the bank. They come with a one-year warranty.

Hilight Tactical Primal & Peak Performance Specs

• Type: LED light/laser (Primal), LED light/twin laser (Peak Performance)
• Body: aircraft-grade aluminum
• Output: 500 lumens/5,000 candela (Primal as tested); 700/9,000 (Peak, as tested)
• Power source: rechargeable
• Runtime: 55 min. (light), 45 min. (light/laser), 5 hr. (laser only)
• Length/Width/Height: 1.8/1.2/0.8 in. (Primal); 2.0/1.4/1.125 (Peak, as tested)
• Weight: 2.3 oz.
• Waterproof rating: IPX4
• Price: $55–$62 (Primal), $72–$82 (Peak)
• Manufacturer: Hilight Tactical, HilightTactical.com

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