Best Weapon Lights Under £250: Half the Range, Compared

Under £250 you can buy a genuinely capable weapon light. That band covers exactly half of the 120 weapon lights in our catalogue, all from Streamlight, Holosun and SIG Sauer. For a rifle, the Streamlight ProTac Rail Mount HL-X and SIG Sauer FOXTROT-MSR are the all-rounders. For reach, choose the Holosun RAID or the light-only Streamlight ProTac 2.0 Rail Mount HP. For a pump shotgun, the Streamlight TL-Racker. No SureFire weapon light comes in under £250.

£250 is not a tidy number we picked. We sorted the price of every active weapon light in the catalogue, and the line between the cheaper half and the dearer half falls between £249.99 and £259.99. Prices correct at the time of writing (23 September 2026); check the product page for the current price.

The distribution behind the band

The £200 to £250 band is the busiest in the whole category, because that is where the current 1,000-lumen rechargeable rail lights have landed. The practical consequence: every SureFire weapon light we list is above this band. The sub-£250 lights are Streamlight (48 of them), Holosun (6) and SIG Sauer (6). If SureFire is what you want, our SureFire vs Streamlight comparison explains what the premium buys.

Lumens are the wrong number to shop on

Almost every listing leads with lumens, and lumens alone will mislead you. Lumens measure total output; candela measures intensity in the beam, and candela decides how far the light reaches. Under the ANSI FL1 standard, beam distance in metres is 2 × √candela.

Four lights in this band make the point on their manufacturers' own figures:

• Flood. The Streamlight ProTac 2.0 Rail Mount puts out 2,000 lumens at 17,700 cd, for 266 m of ANSI throw (Streamlight). That is enormous output, deliberately wide.
• Balanced. The Holosun P.ID runs 1,000 lumens at 23,000 cd (Holosun), the general-purpose shape.
• Throw. The ProTac 2.0 Rail Mount HP (light only) keeps the 2,000 lumens but concentrates them to 85,000 cd, for 583 m (Streamlight). Same output as the first light, more than twice the reach.
• Throw from a small head. The Holosun RAID is currently published by Holosun at 900 lumens and 100,000 cd on an 18650 (Holosun).

The arithmetic, and the distance each candela figure corresponds to, is in our lumens vs candela chart. Read it before you spend.

What we hold under £250, by job

Streamlight and Holosun figures are from the manufacturers' pages; SIG Sauer lumen figures are from our listing titles.

Rechargeable or CR123A?

This band contains both, and the choice is a genuine fork rather than a straight upgrade.

• Rechargeable and multi-fuel. The TLR-7 X USB runs on Streamlight's SL-B9 pack or a CR123A, giving 725 lumens on the pack and 550 on the primary (Streamlight TLR-7 X). The SIG Sauer FOXTROT2R and the Holosun P.ID family are rechargeable too.
• CR123A only. Simpler, and with a 10-year shelf life quoted by SureFire for its 123A cells, better for a light that lives on a rifle used a few times a year. The TLR RM 2 and TL-Racker both run on two CR123As.
• Cold weather. Lithium primaries cope with cold better: Streamlight rates its multi-fuel TLR-1 HP-X to -40 °C on CR123A but -20 °C on SL-B9. If you shoot on January nights, weight that accordingly.

The full trade-off is in rechargeable vs CR123.

Mounting and switching

The mounting interface is where orders go wrong. Check whether your handguard is Picatinny or M-LOK, and whether the light includes the mount you need. On a rifle, the light needs to sit where your support hand falls, which usually means a remote switch. Streamlight's TLR RM 2 System includes one in the box. Keep the contacts and tailcap threads clean, too: a dirty contact is the commonest cause of a light that has "failed".

What the money above £250 buys

• Beam quality and throw from a small head. SureFire's Turbo Scout Lights publish up to 100,000 cd from a compact body.
• Modularity. Interchangeable tailcaps and remote switches, particularly on SureFire.
• Infrared. Nothing under £250 in our range has an IR illuminator. The P.ID Dual carries an IR laser, but a laser is not a floodlight. The Streamlight ProTac Rail Mount VIR Pro, for example, sits above the band.
• Remote-switch kits and laser combinations in the upper TLR and SureFire ranges.

For a light on a range rifle or a practical shotgun, none of that is decisive. For a light that gets used hard and often, it may be. Our best weapon lights guide covers the whole range.

Lamping and night work

If the light is going on a foxing or vermin rifle, read our guide to optics for fox and night vermin control. It covers what gets used on British ground and the rules around night shooting. For whether a light or laser itself needs a licence, see do you need a licence for a rifle scope, red dot or torch.

Frequently asked questions

How many lumens do I need on a weapon light?

For close work, a few hundred to 1,000 lumens with a broad beam is plenty. For identification at distance, stop looking at lumens and look at candela.

Why is there no SureFire in this guide?

Because none of the SureFire weapon lights we list comes in under £250. That is a fact about the price list, not a judgement about the brand.

Is the ProTac 2.0 Rail Mount HP really under £250?

The light-only version is, at the time of writing; the version with a remote switch is above the band. Check the product page for the current price.

Is IPX7 good enough for British weather?

Yes, for rain and splash: IPX7 means immersion to 1 m for 30 minutes. IPX8 goes further, to a depth the maker declares.