With night games becoming a regular event at our field, we've stepped up our flashlight game and are starting to bring in new products such as the NcStar Keymod Flashlight Mount, the Classic Army Xenon Flashlight, and the NcStar VAPTF. The VAPTF was developed by VISM, a division distributed by NcStar. NCStar is known for its quality accessories; the VAPTF is no exception. The VAPTF is a airsoft pistol-mounted flashlight, but it can be mounted to any picatinny rail and is low profile enough to be used on the front of a rifle rail and not interfere with sights or optics.
Additionally, it is ambidextrous and features buttons on each side of the unit. The top button on the flashlight (if under-mounted) is your momentary on switch. Pressing and holding this button will momentarily turn on the flashlight until the button is released again. Right beneath the momentary switch is the constant-on switch. Pressing this button will turn on the flashlight, which can be turned off by tapping the momentary switch or pressing the constant switch again. The third button, which can be found in front of the two adjacent buttons, is the strobe switch. When the flashlight is on, pressing this switch will turn on the strobe setting, roughly 15hz (15 cycles per second) on its 200-lumen bulb.
The VAPTF uses the 200-lumen CREE flashlight, which is very bright and can easily illuminate a room or temporarily blind unsuspecting enemies.
On pistols, the flashlight can be used in one of two ways: with your shooting hand, or you can use your trigger finger to turn on the flashlight using either the momentary or constant buttons. However, depending on the size of the pistol, reaching the strobe button will be a bit of a reach. The pistol used in this photo is an ASG CZ P-09 (it sits snug against the trigger guard), and on large hands, the momentary and constant buttons can be easily accessed.
Alternatively, you can use your supporting hand to turn on the flashlight using your thumb. This frees up your trigger finger and allows you to momentarily turn on the flashlight and quickly get a couple of shots off and switch it off—they won't know what hit them. Using your supporting hand to operate the flashlight also allows you to quickly toggle the strobe function.
Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot that pictures and videos can do to show you how bright this flashlight is. If it's any consolation to some of you, this photo needed a bit of editing to bring out the background due to the automatic lighting sensors in the camera adjusting to the light - and the bulb wasn't even visible to the camera! The 200 Lumens on this light is bright enough to blind everyone on the receiving end but not enough to blind yourself in a dark room by turning this on, after finding that out through experience with brighter flashlights.
Inside the flashlight is a single 3V CR123A battery, which is included in the package and is all that this flashlight runs on. The battery can be accessed easily by removing the head of the flashlight, which means you do not need to unmount the unit to change out the battery. Additionally, mounting the flashlight is rather simple and is done by using two hex keys, which are also included in the box.
And there we have the NcStar VAPTFS! Currently, they are listed at $45.99, which is a great price for a pistol-mounted weapon light. The black, anodized aluminum body is definitely up to the challenge and is sure to hold up to most BB strikes; however, the bulb may not. If you have any questions regarding the flashlight and any of its features, feel free to contact us, and we'd be happy to answer any questions!
