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Sale heads up and mini review of Cloud Defensive

3,965 Views | 10 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by BenderRodriguez
BenderRodriguez
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If you're in the market for a new weapon light, Cloud Defensive is having a "moonshine" sale next Wednesday. If you're cheap like me and care about performance more than looks, it will be worth checking out. I already had a couple of their lights but snagged two more last moonshine sale.

https://www.clouddefensive.com/

For anyone not familiar with the company, Cloud Defensive is one of several newer weapon light companies (along with Modlight and Arisaka) that are finally giving Surefire some competition and pushing weapon light development. They have 3 rifle lights: OWL, Rein Micro, and Rein (pictured here top to bottom). They're bright, durable and great lights.



That should give you a good idea of what the moonshine lights look like.

The OWL (Optimized Weapon Light) is kind of unique. Will fit on anything that a pic rail can be attached to and has the switch built into the body of the light. No wiring, no need to find extra rail space for a switch, bolt it on, go. It is also completely reversible with no tools. If you want the light on the opposite side of the gun, twist off the head and tail, flip the battery around, pop them on the opposite end of the light body, done. If you just need a basic light, it's a great option.





The Rein and Rein Micro are very similar. Micro is obviously smaller, runs off 18350 instead of 18650 batteries, slightly less output (but still super bright), less run time than the full sized Rein. When you buy a "kit" it comes like this:





You get the light, one battery, one charger, the remote switch+(pic rail mount for switch), a pic rail adapter for the light and a mlok adapter. Both Reins can also use any other scout mount on the market.

The mount for the switch has built in cable management and the tail cap is adjustable to help keep everything where you want it. If you mount the light then realize you need a little less or more more slack in the cable, take off the tailcap and put the switch at any 90 deg location on the light body to give you what you need. Kind of a neat feature.



Switch has momentary and on/off switch, tailcap also has a momentary/push on switch, so even if the cable or switch failed, you have another option to turn on the light(similar to the surefire DS00 tailcaps).

So you read all this, it sounds great, and then you go look at the price. $370 for a Rein kit?! Ouch. Good news! 1) that's why I mentioned the moonshine sale. I believe last sale Rein kits were $240 and OWLs were $270. So if you don't require monochromatic accessories, that's a great option. The other neat thing Cloud does is a trade in program. Send them any weapon light (or light that could be mounted as a weapon light) to get $100 off retail price of any of their lights.

If that's too much, stuff like the Streamlight HLX is still a good, cheap option. But, the Rein kits are really good deals compared to Surefire these days. $300 will get you a M600 with no remote switch and only a click tail cap. Compare that to everything you get with a Rein kit (especially a moonshine or trade in deal) and it's worth taking a look at if you need a new light.

Hope this helps somebody upgrade to a better light. If anyone has questions, I'll try to help.
bkag9824
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Thanks for the heads up, Bender.

One thing that perplexes me and I've spent an inordinate amount of time (stupid really) thinking about this, is the use of pressure pads for lights. I know they're easy to use for the average person. Heck, I have one on my AR due to budgetary constraints at time of build. But these lights you shared are comparably priced to quality lights w/o a pad.

To belabor the point.... the general consensus I've read/heard from DEVGRU and Unit folks is that a light AD is a cardinal sin. I recall one Unit member saying a light AD was grounds for immediate and permanent dismissal from the group... who knows if that's legit or their way to emphasize the point.

Yes, I know we're not talking about operating overseas, we're all a bunch of larpers, yadda yadda yadda.

But the thought process is intriguing to me from a SD perspective...
1. If the top echelon of military personnel view light discipline as worthy of their attention and focus, why should we not allocate similar consideration?
2. Is the ability to quickly turn on a light more important than control of the light source?

I know I have accidentally turned on my light during practice sessions. I've adjusted location of my pad several times, still happens due to grip, etc.

See... I've spent way too much time thinking about the subject and just need to spend the money on a light that fits the profile of what I'm looking for. Just an interesting consideration that a lot of folks might not consider.
BenderRodriguez
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bkag9824 said:

But the thought process is intriguing to me from a SD perspective...
1. If the top echelon of military personnel view light discipline as worthy of their attention and focus, why should we not allocate similar consideration?
2. Is the ability to quickly turn on a light more important than control of the light source?

Interesting way to look at it. I cut down the quote to your core questions.

I think the why behind it has to be the driving question. There was an article put out in the last year about a guy who spent 20 years in the Army with Ranger Batt and the AWG who really liked the HK 416 when he was in. So should I be shooting the MR556? If that guy thinks it's the best, should I be using it too? He definitely knows more than I do. But when you read more into it, he liked it so much because it would run without lube better than a DI gun. On and off helicopters all day in the middle east, a properly lubed DI gun would attract a ton of fine grit sand and potentially have issues and absolutely require daily cleaning, while the 416 could be kept dry and still be good for a magazine, even if it wasn't broken down and relubed every night. He liked the 416 so much because he was riding around in helicopters all day in the desert and he didn't want to do paperwork and mess with his gun every single day after missions. So knowing his why is really important for understanding that his choice of gun as a "cool guy" was based on factors that aren't actually problems for me.

Why are Tier 1 units so concerned with white light NDs? I don't know, I'm not them. My guess would be hitting targets at night wearing night vision makes an inadvertent white light much more of a problem for everyone else on your team, which may be why it's a huge deal to them. For myself in a self defense scenario, accidental white light use is treated same as intentional white light use. Brief use of light is good, gather as much information as possible, turn off light asap, move. Not ideal to happen accidentally, but not the end of the world either. If I was in a foreign country wearing NV with teammates, instead of by myself naked in my living room at 2 am, it would be more serious.

As a gear junkie, I also wonder how much of the issues for those guys with white light is based on old gear issues that retired guys are talking about too. Here's a pretty classic early GWOT cool guy AR set up:



Thanks to the massive freaking peq2 on top, the pressure pad for his white light is taped to the vertical foregrip. If that was the only location I had for my switch, I'd be much more concerned about negligent white light too. The other issue is the switch itself. Not sure how much experience you have with those old school surefire pads, but they're definitely different from the more modern switches too. I don't like them.

The cloud switch, modbutton and unity taps options are all a lot more tactile than the old (and new, honestly) surefire pads and even the streamlight options, IMO. Take a more deliberate action to activate.

If you're really worried about it, being consistent with hand placement (hand stops, foregrips, etc are all great for helping index hand position in the dark) OFF but near the switch is an option. That's usually how I have mine set up anyway: switches for the light at the 12" position on the rail, hand on the side/bottom indexed off a foregrip, arisaka finger stop, or other physical index on the gun. Easy and fast enough to roll wrist slightly over to activate switch when light is required, but makes accidental activation much less likely. Just one of those issues you'll have to solve with your gun and your switch, but I've done more low light/nv shooting than most recreational shooters and haven't had issues with accidently activating my white light. YMMV.
bkag9824
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Appreciate the add'l thoughts, Bender.

My understanding on light NDs being a big no-no is that said light gives away position (loss of surprise, allows for precise locating by enemy, etc.). The comments I've heard/read are in line with what you're talking about regarding gathering of info. But they want every single ounce of prevention/control available to them on light control.

A similar train of thought exists in the community around suppressors. As you know, suppressors don't Hollywood-quiet .223/5.56 rounds, but do take the edge off. A buddy who's a former green beret said they were more concerned with flash suppression than noise.

Here's a recent vid from a couple guys who left Devgru in the past couple years that go over their set ups. Certainly not meant to be definitive on the subject, but just a couple more examples of the paranoia around light.

Regardless, will look more into the company you mentioned.

Log
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That's DJ Shipley.
bkag9824
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Log said:

That's DJ Shipley.


Yes, yes it is.
SMM48
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Thanks for the video. Been looking for that rear stock qd mount from tac ten tactical.

And thanks Bender for the sale info.
BenderRodriguez
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SMM48 said:


And thanks Bender for the sale info.


No problem. Curious to check out the handguards they just dropped info on at some point.

Just got time to watch the video, left hander using an ambi safety. I have those on most of my ARs now. Got some grief from people here on why those were needed. Nice to see another lefty who gets it.
SMM48
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Understand the cats in the video are way more likely to use the ngal/peq/mawl/raidx for Lighting up the dark than they use the white light.

So certainly the white light does not have priority. For them.

Just a thought
marcel ledbetter
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There is no correct emoji to describe the interview between Shipley and Shawn Ryan on Ryan's podcast. It's very powerful and well worth the listen.
BenderRodriguez
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Sale starts in 20 min
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