Nitecore Defender Infinity as a weapon light? Thoughts and opinions....

What do you guys think of this? For the owners of the NDI's, do you think they are durable enough for use on a semi-auto weapon without the questionable clicky switch (clicky will be replaced with a tape pressure switch)?

I have two NDI's and was thinking about converting one over for use with my Noveske N4 rifle. I know OLIGHT has a 20mm diam. mount available for their T-series lights to be used as a weaponlight. I can fabricate my own tape switch assembly. I also thought about my EX10 for this type of use, but with the quick momentary tapping that will occur with the tapeswitch assembly, I don't want to set it in programming mode accidentaly by going into full power or minimum power settings.

I love the idea of having such a lightweight powerful light much smaller than the current "standard" offerings that I know of. I can post pics later if I decide to do this mod.

Let me know how that goes. I'm quite interested in that. I have an NDI and I've been looking for a weapon light for my Glock 19. I leave my NDI on full power at night in case I need it for one of those situations but that'd be cool to mount it to the gun. I wonder if you could find a way to mount it to the gun that allows it to slide backwards to just activate it by the normal switch touching the trigger guard (having some sort of bar that comes back that your fingers on the grip will activate)? I don't know, maybe that's not secure enough. Anywho, keep us updated on what you do.

The NDI is a tactical light in name only. In reality, the stupid way in which the low-battery warning system was implemented can cause it to start flashing before it should, which is very much not what a tactical light is expected to do (last as long as possible, even if it kills the cell).

This changes if you use NiMH AAs, but then you get less output and less regulation, which is probably not what you want in a firearm light.

I would still think it's bright enough to clear your own house in case anything like that happens. And that's the use that mine would be put to. Granted, if you're a LEO or something....a real weapon light would be much better. But for home defense I would think anything over 100 lumens would be plenty to clear your own house or semi-dissorient someone breaking in long enough for you to do something about it. I mean, if someone breaks in and they have a bright light shined on them and it's attatched to a gun....I'm sure it'd give them pause.

In that case your NDI powered by an Eneloop or similar NiMH cell would probably do just fine.

Best weapon light that I have found that is not mountable is the Tomahawk. I know this was a bit off subject but the way you can use this light and aim is natural.

I think a NDI is only useful for short range. It lacks the throw necessary for longer distances. Either way, I would not use NIMHs as the recoil will eventually damage the button top on the battery. Stick with Energizer L91 E2 Lithium AAs.

Good point Toaster. Do you think it'd also possibly crack the circuit board since there is no spring between it and the battery (with any battery chemistry)? I hadn't thought of that. I also didn't think it's force would be enough to crush the top of the battery. And yes Fallingwater, I do use eneloops in it.
Maybe the NDI would just best be used as a normal EDC light (like it is currently) or as a hand held light instead of weapon mounted.

I don't think cracking the circuit board is gonna be an issue seeing as the NDI isn't being mounted on a 12 gauge. Short term I doubt there will be any problems. But over time the repeated slapping back and forth will eventually pound that button down. Not an issue for a primary cell as it will be tossed long before that happens. E2 lithium should also minimize stress against the driver as it weighs the least.

I wish someone made a LED weapon light as small as the Insight X2 and with the output of the NDI or D10 ect. Don't think it would be that hard, but no company seems to want to do it.