Do led make the best weapon light?.

Are they the best option too startel an attacker? or what other options are there in terms of weapon lights that are not led out there?
pros and cons?.
As you can probably tell im a noob.

Weapon lights (ie those that are mounted to a weapon) are for target identification, not to startle an attacker.

If you mean 'a light that can be used as a weapon' I suggest you use the search feature, there are numerous threads on this topic that are all pretty similar.

A brief search through Surefire's website will give you a good idea about the range of different weapon mounted lights available, and while LEDs have their uses (principally recoil resistance and good size to brightness for smaller weapon lights), incandescent are still very much in use as they give better colour rendition and therefore an improved ability to define your target, especially at longer ranges outside.

LEDs have a few advantages but only one disadvantage over incandescent.

Pros: Strength and brightness while retaining good run time.

Cons: If you want to use any kind of night vision device, an LED emits no infrared radiation, so you cannot use an filter to block visible light.

However, with the recent release of the Vampire series from SF, the cons can be pretty much eliminated.

However, from your post, I can already tell the cons mean nothing. Buy an LED.

Like nzgunnie said, your lights only job is making sure you hit your target the first time.

The brighter led's 100 lumens or better can very briefly take away an attackers vision giving you the chance to run like the wind! I used one (100 lumen) to breifly startle a growling dog giving me a chance to hop a fence & get away.

You just have to be careful, too many lumens inside (especially around lightly colored walls) can almost act like mirrors, temporarily blinding you.

It might not always be smart to keep your light on always, acting like a tracking beam, so you might want just enough light for your environment. If you burst 500 lumens in a hallways, your also going to turn it off and not see anything.

Search said:

If anyone cares about color retention when there is a weapon in their hands, then they are either spoiled beyond belief or their priorities are upside down.

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Hardly - at longer ranges outside, LEDs wash out to the point where you are asking yourself what it is you are illuminating - and if you are doing that you can't be shooting it.

There's a world of difference between a pistol mounted light at 10 meters and long gun mounted light at 100m.

nzgunnie said:

Hardly - at longer ranges outside, LEDs wash out to the point where you are asking yourself what it is you are illuminating - and if you are doing that you can't be shooting it.

There's a world of difference between a pistol mounted light at 10 meters and long gun mounted light at 100m.

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Then I retract my statement, it's a personal experience. I always had a better time with LEDs at long ranges than I did warmer colors like a warm LED or incan. I forgot reading others were having problems with cooler tints at distances.

At 100 meters though, that's about 109 yards or so, that's a long long range to be shooting at targets in personal defense.

Search said:

At 100 meters though, that's about 109 yards or so, that's a long long range to be shooting at targets in personal defense.

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That's a valid point, for personal defence, at 100m someone is rather unlikely to be an immediate threat to life.

If you just want to for close range, particularly indoors, a good (ie reliable) LED is a better choice.