Review: Crimson Trace Lightguard
Suggested Retail Price: $149.00
Find the Crimson Trace Lightguard at Amazon.com
| The Good | The Bad | The Ugly | Our Rating |
| The Crimson Trace instinctive activation feature is outstanding on this unit. No levers or stretching of the digits – it just gets turned on easily. Like Tiger Woods. | While easy to remove and reinstall, if mounting on our carry gun, you’ll need a new holster. | We’re really tempted to get yet another Glock to dedicate to a ‘nightstand’ configuration – Lightguard plus Lasergrips. Maybe a G31… |  Four Nuns! This is a bright and effective light in a small package. Couldn’t be more intuitive. |
We’ve used a Streamlight TLR-1 rail mounted light on a Beretta PX4 Storm as the ‘nightstand gun’ for several years now. The TLR-1 is a great piece of equipment – tough, bright, and intuitive to operate.
But now we’re spoiled.
With the new Crimson Trace Lightguard mounted on a Glock 17 Gen IV, we’ve got more light, less weight, and even simpler activation.
What’s the big deal?
The Crimson Trace Lightguard is designed to mate seamlessly with it’s respective gun model. The polymer (OK, plastic) color and texture are close to a perfect match with the Glock frame. The two halves of the Lightguard unit join together over the front and bottom of the trigger guard, and also clamp onto both sides of the Glock’s rail. Once installed, it’s solid – there’s no wobble or shake. The integral activation button is depressed with your middle finger – with no road rage gestures required.
In short, once you pick it up, it’s turned on. If only dating were that easy.
Features
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The Crimson Trace Lightguard features a 100 lumen output – plenty to see, and potentially disorient
- The light is LED for long life and durability
- Approximately 2 hours of continuous operation
- Positive on/off switch to deactivate the pressure switch
- Battery type: (1) CR2 lithium
- 3 year warranty
- Compatible with the following Lasergrip models: LG-617, LG-619, LG-850, and LG-851
Installation
Installation of the Crimson Trace Lightguard on our Glock 17 Gen IV was a snap. We used only one tool, which was included, made no trips to Wal-Mart for batteries, and had no parts left over when all was said and done.
All in all a successful project.
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Crimson Trace Lightguard includes everything you need for installation in the box: battery, hex tool, lens cleaner, and directions.Note to the Crimson Trace marketing team: Clever you are, making the boxes white on for the Lightguard series. We noticed! |
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The Lightguard attaches to the Glock like a clamshell which covers the trigger guard and part of the rail.The first step is to insert the battery in one half of the clamshell and fit it over the frame as shown.Hint: Make sure the activation button portion of pushed hard into place. That makes alignment of the other half of the Lightguard much easier. |
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Insert the second half of the Lightguard into the lamp end of the first half and close as shown.If you experience difficulty lining the two up, don’t force things. See the hint in the previous step. It fits like a glove when everything is lined up properly. |
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When both halves snap into place, insert the two included screws and tighten them down using the enclosed tool. |
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That’s it!See? No parts left over.This photo shows installation with the Lightguard compatible LG-850 Lasergrips. |
The light show
With 100 lumens of light, the Crimson Trace Lightguard offers plenty of instant visibility indoors. We found that the residual light splash allowed us to easily get a sight picture with standard Glock sights – no tritium. Using the light and LG-850 Lasergrips together worked quite well. As the included photo shows, the light does not tend to wash out the intensity of the red laser dot. Both light beam and laser point of aim were clearly visible.
Closing arguments
While the jury is out for us as to whether we would want to equip a carry gun this way (holsters are available) it sure makes for an impressive home defense gun setup. We still keep a hand-held flashlight on the nightstand for looking around, but for night shooting, this combination can’t be beat. Target illumination, laser sighting, and no levers, buttons, or switches to fumble with.
Nice.
Check out other My Gun Culture product reviews here!
BUY NOW: Crimson Trace Lightguard For Glock 17 19 22 23
Has anyone tried this (Crimson Trace Lightguard) on the subcompact frame Glock (26/27)?
Not available for the sub-compact yet. I await patiently.
Only problem is, the company that makes Crimson Trace sucks. I ordered a laser from them through Amazon (Amazon doesn’t stock them; they send the order on), and two days later they said the order had shipped and billed my card. That was over a month and a half ago. Checking back with Amazon, I found several other unhappy buyers. The equipment may be good, but I STRONGLY reccomend only buying from a dealer who has what you want in stock, on hand.
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