Holosun is one of the fastest-growing red dot optics companies on the market. They started by just making quality, affordable, and simple red dots, but recently have become one of the more creative companies in the red dot market. They expanded into both vis and invisible lasers, and last year, we finally saw them create a variety of weapon lights. They are focused on handgun weapon lights for the time being, and I recently got hands-on with the Holosun PID HC.
The naming convention is fairly clever. Why do we have weapon lights? Specifically, handgun lights? Well, we have lights to establish positive identification, aka PID. That’s easy, but what about the HC? That stands for High Candela. The increase in candela is a big change we’ve seen in the world of weapon-mounted lights.
Cloud Defensive and Modlite have led the way in creating high candela weapon lights. We’ve all learned that candela is what helps drive those lumens we swore were so important a few years ago. A high candela design gives you a longer range and brighter light at a longer range. It also helps overcome photonic barriers. A higher candela provides a much more versatile tool.
The Holosun PID HC — Specifications
Now that we’ve talked all about candelas let’s discuss the actual numbers. The Holosun PID HC has 42,000 candela and 800 lumens on High. On Low, the optic packs 400 lumens and 21,000 candelas. These numbers are quite impressive for a light that costs $200. It’s not the best, the Modlite PL350 throws 54,000 candelas, and the new Surefire X300 Turbo has 66,000 candelas. Keep in mind, though, the Surefire Turbo and Modlite are much more expensive than the Holosun PID HC.
The PID HC does have a battery life on par with the Modlite PL350, which is brighter, so they do have that advantage. The battery life is a mere 60 minutes on Low and, in my testing, about 30-ish minutes on High. The Surefire packs 1.5 hours of battery life, so it does have an advantage.
The Holosun PID HC uses a rechargeable 18350 battery that is rechargeable. The battery does not need to be removed from the light to charge, and Holosun includes a charger to make things easy. The light can only use the 18350, and they advise anything outside of the 18350 may damage the light. So, just because a CR123 fits doesn’t mean you should use it.
The Holosun has all-aluminum construction that helps ensure a durable design for long-term use. It’s also designed to be water and dust-proof. It can be submerged to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes and withstand 2000gs of recoil. For the sub-$200 price point, the specifications are impressive.
The Ergonomics
The Holosun PID HC has a pair of dual switches at the rear. The light is activated by pressing the dual switches inward toward the light. The light packs both a Momentary mode and a Constant On. Constant On is just a flick of the switch, and Momentary is a press longer than a second. The light is fairly lightweight for its size and construction, but sticking five ounces on the end of your gun is noticeable. It does act as a nice weight to reduce muzzle rise, which is a neat effect.
The Arex Delta pistol this gun is mounted to is a compact pistol, and the light is only 3.2 inches long. That isn’t bad for such a powerful light. It’s shorter than both the TLR-1 and X300U series lights and it fits well on both full-size and compact optics.
Playing in the Dark
A near moonless night approached and was calling my name. I ended up testing multiple lights this night. With the Holosun-equipped weapon, I hit the front and back yards of my 10 acres. At first I was just playing with the light to see how impressively bright the High mode is and how far it throws light. I eventually stopped playing and headed out to a known distance. I have a straight line from the back of my property to the dirt road, and it’s exactly 1/10th of a mile, or 528 feet, also known as 176 yards.
On High, the light goes out far enough to cross the road, and I can easily make out the trees. If my vision was better, I could easily use this light for PID at this range. If I knew it was a threat, I would be able to engage. Would I hit anything with a pistol at 176 yards? Probably not. Even so, I appreciate this level of power. For more practical purposes, I used the light at 25 yards to light up my Century Arms Bob target. I most certainly had no problems identifying the Bob as a Bob.
The Holosun PID HC casts a very focused beam that’s quite tight, with a very noticeable difference between the focused beam and the corona. This focused beam is interesting for a handgun light. It peels away shadows, creating a light that’s hard to hide from. The focused beam still has plenty of spill, but less than lights with lower candela.
Beating Photonic Barriers
A photonic barrier is created by other light sources. It can be a direct light source, a reflection, or whatever. If someone has ever driven by you with their brights, then you’ve experienced what one essentially is. This can occur when someone else shines a light at you, and having a more powerful light can overcome photonic barriers.
To create one, I used my car brights. That’s pretty powerful and quite uncomfortable. Luckily, the Holosun PID HC cuts through the brights and makes it easy to see inside the car. If it wasn’t a car, but a flashlight, I would have overcome it and identified the user.
Lighting Up The Indoors
Realistically it’s not super likely I’d use this light outside in a defensive manner. Not impossible, but handgun lights and civilian defenders are more likely to use the light indoors than out. Indoors the Holosun PID HC shines bright and fills a room with light. It would instantly blind a bad guy for sure, and I can bounce light off walls and the roof easily enough.
The highly focused beam is plenty powerful for indoor use and would make finding and identifying threats very easy. That intensity ensures you don’t even need to point it at a potential threat to identify them. That can be valuable if it’s not a threat and maybe a sneaky teenager. Bounce the light as appropriate, and you won’t have issues identifying the target.
The Holosun PID HC — Powerful and Capable
The Holosun PID HC works hard. For such an affordable light, it’s extremely powerful. Indoors and out, it is capable. Photonic barriers aren’t an issue, and the presence of both a momentary and constant mode is nice. Not to mention sharp ergonomics and an easy-charge design. The downsides are, of course, the low battery life, but it seems like they are making the most of it with a pistol-sized light.
