LED Flashlights from Leapers/UTG Tactical – Gear Review

The ELF240 is a light made for either mounting on a rifle, or being a handheld. It boasts a good number of features and functions commonly seen on far more expensive lights. This is everything you get with the ELF240, giving you a wealth of options with how to use it. The smaller EL202R is a small light that mounts to any Picatinny rail with a cam lock system and gives a 150 lumen power light. The EL202R comes with a pigtail pressure activated on/off switch. It is long enough with coiling to make is go where ever you need it to on the weapon. Close up pf the cam-lock on the UTG light. It’s simple, reliable, and very sturdy. It can come off or be put on in a second. The pistol-mounted ELP223Q is a 150 lumen light that attaches securely with the UTG cam-lock. A close up of the cam-lock on the UTG pistol light. While it’s design makes it simple and rugged, it also makes it difficult to find a holster to fit both the gun and light. The UTG pistol light uses this small paddles to activate the light, up for continuous on, push down for a momentary on-off.

UTG/Leapers LED Weapon Lights
https://www.leapers.com/led

By Brian Jensen

In the Law Enforcement Market, the weapon mounted light is pretty much standard. That’s because when you carry a gun for a living you owe it to yourself to have a light ready for things like searches of a dark room, etc, and it’s better to have that light mounted to your gun to keep your off-hand free. Weapon lights have also gained wide acceptance in the civilian world as well, but when you don’t depend on something for survival, it is difficult to spend over $300 for what is really just a flashlight.

What you may not know is that most law enforcement officers buy their own gear, and a lot of them have discovered that the UTG/Leapers lights are good enough. They may not be as bright as a SureFire or Streamlight, but they aren’t that bad either. A lot of LED patents expired in the early 2000s so we now have a host of new lights that don’t use an incandescant bulb but “Light Emitting Diodes” instead, or LEDs. They put out a tremendous amount of light at a fraction of the battery drain. One set of batteries in my new LED light outlasts five sets in my old incandescant light, and they don’t break as easily either. These new lights are now part and parcel of the tactical light world.

I have used a UTG/Leapers cope for years, and have found it to be solid and functional. I also had one of their older lights on my duty rifle, it was big, but bright. But better yet for my police department, it was cheap enough to buy them in bulk and outfit almost 100 staff with a light for their M-4. Now we are evaluating LED weapon lights, and for the money, the UTG/Leapers products are still a lot for the money.

Long Distance Spot Focus ELF240

After SHOT Show 2013, I received what UTG referred to as their Long Distance / Spot Focus light (model #ELF240) from UTG for testing and evaluation. It’s powered by two CR123 Lithium batteries, and uses an LED light that gives a 200 Lumen beam. The beam itself is unusual because it has a larger, almost “halo” portion that floods the close in area, and a focused beam that is a much more precise spot for distances. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never really seen anything like it.

It also has multi functions: bright (200 lumens), medium (100 Lumens), dim, (50 Lumens), a bright strobe function, and a pre-programmed strobe that does a Morse code “SOS” flash sequence to signal for help (extremely cool btw).

The light’s body is made of robust aluminum and is nicely finished in a businesslike black. The bell of the light is about 1 ¾ inches in diameter, and can be mounted to rails by a second body unit that has integral Picatinny mounts using a cam-lock. The ELF240 also comes with three tailcaps, two pressure switch ends, or a pigtail pressure switch to mount to a forward handle.

The light was easy to mount with the included mounting portion. The pressure portion of the pigtail was very easy to use. However, I think this light, with it’s weight and size are better suited as a hand-held light. It was extremely bright, and the focused portion of the beam made it work extremely well at distance. This would be an ideal hiking or survival kit light, with long lasting battery life of the CR123, the multiple functions and the dual-purpose beam. Additionally, were you to get lost, the light’s “SOS” flash would be an invaluable assistance to summon help. The beam’s brightness would be seen from a great distance, especially from something like a search aircraft.

A Smaller Rifle Light, EL202R

In addition, UTG sent me a copy of their EL202R light, which is a smaller LED light that uses a 150 lumen light. The light was noticeable smaller than the ELF240, but had the same solid aluminum construction and black finish. This unit came with only one body that has an integral mount that uses the same robust cam-lock that came with the ELF240. It mounts easily, and is very sturdy. It also had either a pressure switch and a pig tail on/off switch.

I mounted this to my M-4, and it has been on there for almost five months now. Once I mounted the light to the rail on my fore end, and secured the pigtail to my forward grip, it has not moved or even become loose. The pressure sensitivity of the pigtail switch is set up well enough that it’s not too easy to activate so it could accidentally turn on the light while in it’s case, but goes on naturally with the typical pressure used to hold the handle. The pigtail comes with a Velcro adhesive patch to mount it to your weapon. I tried to use this, but with the amount of handling the gun took going into and out of the case I opted for simple electrical tape.

While the EL202R is not as powerful as the earlier mentioned ELF240 light, it is plenty bright for most uses on your rifle. If you are clearing a room, I found that it lights it up perfectly, without being too bright to flash back and blind you when you’re inside a building with light colored walls. It’s not as adept at distance, but it’s far lighter than the other, larger ELF240, which in my opinion is a good trade off. That’s especially true if you are carrying the rifle at the ready for any length of time.

Pistol Mounted Light

Another light that seems almost standard today is the pistol-mounted light. These days, they are pretty-much everyday equipment on police weapons. I would ask however, if there any reason that the prudently armed civilian shouldn’t have one? If you are carrying a gun for protection, a light is a good option to have. Albeit, they don’t work on all CCW weapons, but when it’s possible they are a great tool to have with you.

I recently looked at the UTG entry into this market. It’s an all aluminum 150 Lumen LED, model ELP223Q. It’s similar in size to my old M3 I used to use, but far more powerful. The light is operated by an ambidextrous paddle switch that you can easily manipulate with your off-hand. The light is a powerful white/blue LED that is ample for most applications.

The light attaches to the standard handgun rail found on most modern combat weapons using a cam-lock lever system. This is a simple, reliable and quick method for mounting, or even removing a light. It is absolutely solid for a mounting. The bad news is the cam lever protrudes out to the left side of the light’s body, making it too big to mount into any of the usual mass produced platic or kydex holsters. I’m certain a custom one could be made, or a more flexible nylon one would work fine. Otherwise, it would serve excellently on a night stand gun.

Value:

The one thing I find in lights today from the big name manufacturers is that they are just darn expensive. I see pistol mounted lights over $100, and handhelds costing as much as gun in the $300-400 range. So one of the best qualities of the UTG models, or anything from UTG for that matter, is value. The big light, the ELF240, is around the $70 range, the EL202R in the $50 range, and the pistol mounted ELP223Q at somewhere just under $60. All of these are made of aircraft grade aluminum, quality finished, and functioned 100%.

Whether you need a serviceable light for work or home, UTG has continued to supply well made products at a value. These latest additions are a good option for the person who wants a light, but doesn’t want to spend a mint.