The Sightmark LoPro isn’t much larger than a standard Zippo lighter, yet offers a bright white weaponlight along with a green laser designator.
August 23, 2024
By Will Dabbs, MD
The Sightmark LoPro combination tactical light and green laser weighs seven ounces and is not too much larger than a Zippo lighter. It mounts to any standard Picatinny rail and offers a 300-lumen bright white light along with a 5mWatt green laser. The LoPro runs off of a single, standard CR123A battery that is available anywhere. The LoPro is rated IPX5 water-resistant and comes with both onboard pushbutton switches as well as a remote pressure pad. The laser is readily adjustable for windage and elevation without tools. The LoPro is so small and so light you can bolt it onto your favorite tactical rifle and forget it’s there, right up until you need it.
War Story The Sightmark LoPro combination white light and green laser significantly enhances the lowlight capabilities of your favorite defensive rifle.My family and I live way out in the sticks. I maintain the philosophy that if I can’t pee in my front yard, I’d honestly sooner not live there. If the weather is good and there are no meandering school buses, the local Sheriff can get here in about 20 minutes. For those first 20 minutes, however, it is all me. My wife and I were enjoying a pleasant, moonless evening at home. She was in her chair reading some compelling British mystery. I was in mine banging out what I hoped would be some comparably compelling gun-related prose. Our reverie was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of glass breaking downstairs. This is my job. Trust me, I have the gear to deal with such stuff. My wife grabbed her phone and retreated to the designated safe spot. I retrieved my patrol rifle and headed downstairs looking for trouble. I cleared the downstairs spaces, finding nothing amiss. Now it was time to go outside. My primary defensive long gun has all the bells and whistles. That includes a top-flight red dot sight as well as a white light and green laser. While an onboard weapon light is a critical component of any defensive rifle, firing that puppy up as soon as you charge through the door just makes you a big honking target. You need to be able to turn the light on and off quickly and easily without interrupting your sight picture. Now hold that thought.
A Brief Theatric Interlude… The included remote pigtail switch plugs into the back of the LoPro, but the unit also has integral buttons for activation. Every gun nerd of a certain age met their first laser sight in the James Cameron 1984 sci-fi opus Terminator. The laserlock sight used in the movie was a one-off developed by Ed Reynolds of the Laser Products Corporation (LPC), which eventually evolved into SureFire. The Terminator’s primitive laser sight required 10,000 volts to activate and a constant 1,000 volts for steady operation. As a result, the wire to the external power supply ran up the sleeve of Arnold’s M56 field jacket. The activation switch actually snaked into his left hand. We’ve come a long way since then. The word laser is an anacronym—an acronym in such common use that nobody remembers its origins. It actually means Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The first effective laser was developed in 1960. Nowadays, they are found absolutely everywhere in optical disc drives, computer printers, barcode scanners, surgical instruments, rangefinders, communication systems, entertainment displays, et al. Five milliwatts is the upper limit of commercial eye-safe lasers. Laser sights seem to fall in and out of vogue. However, the Sightmark LoPro offers no appreciable weight or space burden. I like having the option.
Meanwhile, Back in my Yard… I cracked the door open and soaked in the sights and sounds of the surrounding forest. Nothing seemed amiss. Firing up my weaponlight, I swept the back porch to find big shards of glass strewn liberally about. I dropped behind a brick pillar and swept my light across the woodline until I saw him. The compact criminal was even wearing a mask. I fired up my green laser and let it settle on his forehead. Had he been a real bad guy and not a racoon, I would have had him dead to rights. As it was, he just scampered off to sow chaos elsewhere. I came out the next morning with a broom to clean up the remnants of the giant glass bowl the little monster had inadvertently kicked off the table.
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Tactical Talk At an affordable $140 MSRP price point, the Sightmark LoPro is a no-brainer upgrade for your defensive rifle. So, it was just a racoon. No harm, no foul. However, I personally know half a dozen folks who responded to the sounds of mischief late at night and discovered more sinister business afoot. While a proper red dot sight is a great tool for clearing a structure fast, it is confining when teasing out a single target at a modest distance in the dark. That weird evening with the racoon, I found the laser to be the perfect tool to align my weapon while allowing me to retain my situational awareness. This is where laser sights, whether pistol or long-gun mounted, offer great advantages. A laser sight cannot and should not ever replace your primary sighting system, but they are especially useful when shooing from unconventional positions. Whether it’s around a weird corner, from beneath a car or from an uncomfortable position, a laser sight allows you to get a good aim onto target when you can necessarily get a good sight picture through your primary optic. Laser sights are also useful in levels of force escalation. There is just something about a bright laser on one’s chest that makes a bad guy think twice about their next steps. It’s always a good thing to deescalate a situation without needing to pull a trigger.
In addition to the LoPro laser/light unit, this rifle also features a Sightmark Red Dot and 3X magnifier, which makes this a great general-purpose setup. The Sightmark LoPro offers up to 23 hours of operation on a single battery. With both the light and laser running continuously, it will keep going about 38 minutes. The LoPro is rated for .308 hosts and is a drop-in fit for Picatinny and Weaver rails. Zeroing the sight does not require firing the weapon. Once your optics are zeroed, just orient the weapon onto a target at a typical engagement distance and then adjust the dot onto the aiming point. Once it’s zeroed, you need not think of it any more. The white light on the Sightmark LoPro is compact, easy-to-use, and effective. This rugged rascal takes up little space, too. Twisting the bezel lets you select between bright, strobe, and a soft running light. The laser sight is a bit like a parachute. It’s always there if you need it. The MSRP for the LoPro Combo is $149.97. That gets you plenty of capability along with GI-grade ruggedness at a fraction of the cost of other comparable offerings. The LoPro Combo is a lot of light/sight for the money.
