I guarantee this is the cleanest picture you'll see of the Elzetta combo in this review
I’m always looking at upstart gear companies for new and interesting products. Typically less tied down by product lines, inventory, and consumer expectations, many times the small guys are more easily able to offer innovative, cutting edge products. When the name “Elzetta” was compared to big-name flashlight manufacturers in forum discussions relating to tactical lighting, my interest was piqued.
Picking the item up out of the packaging, the first characteristic one notices is the heft. This is not a light flashlight, despite its use of 6061-T6 Aluminum. When comparing it to other flashlights, it feels like the M1 Abrams vs. an up-armored humvee: while standard flashlights do just fine in most cases, the thicker body of the ZFL-M60 tells you to bring it along when you have serious business to take care of.
The body machining is excellent, with no burrs present or machine marks to be found.
The design appears to be well thought out, with no sharp edges to snag on pockets or gear while the subtle contours and checkered grip ensure a strong, affirmative hold on the light. The anodized matte black finish on the light is immaculate, which, coupled with the natural properties of aluminum, should make this a very corrosion-resistant body.
I elected to get to the push button switch. It operates on the standard “push partially down for momentary and all the way for ‘on’ ” activation employed by many other companies. It’s simple and works.
While the switch is not overly sensitive, it is not recessed very much, which leaves me concerned of an accidental discharge when mounted as a weapons light. Incorrect indexing on the rifle or simple shifting of the grip might be enough to activate the light under stress. Purely conjecture at this point, but time will tell.
The beam itself is very bright. I’m constantly amazed by the advances made in handheld light technology, and the ZFL-M60 is riding the wavetop right now. Its Malkoff M60 LED module is much talked about among light aficionados, and I look forward to finding out if it lives up to the hype. The light uses a lens rather than a reflector, which does provide a nice, stepped, light reduction from the source and a desirable fade at the extreme edges. The result seems to be decent throw with equally good flood.
I like this combination on a weapon light as I feel this makes scanning whole rooms faster by being able to illuminate a wide area. On the same note, throw will always be important for the ever-present dark alley. My only complaint is the thin, faint “rainbow ring” about halfway from the middle to the peripheral. It is not noticeable past 20 ft. or so, but is probably one of the small downsides of this particular lens. A small but fair point that I did notice.
Hands down, one of the biggest advantages the Zorm has over its competitors is the ability to mount flashlight with a diameter from 0.7 to 1.1 in. That range covers just about any flashlight worth mounting on your weapon. Now, if you still like your 4 D-cell maglight on your weapon, there is always duct tape.
The mount itself is made of the same 6061-T6 Aluminum with a similar matte black anodized finish. Lights are mounted by inserting the light into the clamp and tightening with the provided hex wrench until snug. I don’t predict any problems with loosening, but a permanently fixed light would benefit from a drop of loctite to keep Murphy away.
The mount is attached to the rail by a standard mounting block which is tightened by a castle nut. The included cotter pin can be used to physically block any movement of the castle nut once secure, which is a primitive but effective way to permanently mount the Zorm. I’ll stick with loctite, but the field-expedient locking ability is noted and appreciated.
I really can’t find any apparent negatives to this system straight out of the box. We’ll see how it holds up.
. . . and the ZFL-M60 is still performing like new. The Malkoff M60 LED module performs superbly. No issues with overheating even when run for 30 minutes at a time. True to promise, the light gives out the full luminosity (235 lumens) for 1.5 hrs, with a gradual taper after this point. After about 2.5 hours of use, it clearly was time to change batteries as light output dropped significantly by this point.
Something that is interesting to note, but certainly not surprising, is the fact that this light is significantly brighter than Chinese knockoffs rated at 300+ lumens on the packaging. Apparently this is measured at the emitter, not out the front like the Elzetta, which accounts for much of the disparity. A huge plus for Elzetta for taking the professional high road and rating their lights in a practical manner.
I stumbled upon a video of this model being used to hammer nails into a 2x4 and I fully believe it to be standard for Elzetta. One look at my weapons tells you I don’t baby my firearms and any accessory better be equally tough. The body shows minimal wear, with nicking on the front edge from shooting the rifle against pavement with the flashlight in-between. The light experienced zero issues while mounted for over 4,000 rds of 5.56 on a 16” AR platform. There was no flickering during recoil, nor any problems turning on or off. I attribute this partly to the CR123 battery fit within the body which give a snug fit and prevent any sort of flexing.
Still impressive is the gradual light stepping and throw vs. flood choice. I have found I prefer no central “hot spots” as it tends to focus my attention almost solely on items within the beam. The taper provided by the lense is simply fantastic and I can see why so many admire the Malkoff modules. On that note, the ZFL-M60 is still bright enough to adequately illuminate to 50m and more, even outdoors.
If I could wish for one improvement, I’d ask for weight reduction. This is a heavy flashlight (5.4 oz) due to the body and bezel thickness. Not that it was designed with jogging in mind, but I usually take a light with me when I’m out running during the evening. The Elzetta is simply too heavy to throw in a pair of gym shorts and take off at a normal pace, however. The weight ends up hitting your thigh with a vengeance. Can reliability and toughness be maintained while shaving off weight? I think so. As someone who carries a weapon for hours at a time, I’ll take anything I can get to lighten my load. My confidence in the superb performance of the Elzetta ZFL-M60 means I’ll take the extra ounce or two, though. It’s staying on my weapon, without a doubt.
My fears concerning accidental light discharge proved to be unfounded, however. While the tail cap button is fully exposed, I never experienced any problems. Much like trigger discipline, keeping your finger off the light until ready to use will prevent a slew of mistakes. Moving on to the Zorm mount – it works, but with one caveat. There is a small rectangular rubber insert that fits on the tightening arm, fitting between the arm and the flashlight when the light is in the mount. This insert provides additional grip inside the Zorm.
Without this insert, the ZFL-M60 will gradually break loose from the mount after 150-200 rds, no matter if the hex tightening nut is is snugged down. If the insert was pinned in or otherwise held securely in place, I wouldn’t have an issue. It is merely glued on to the ¼” tightening band, however, and taking the light in and out will inevitably knock out the insert, as I found out by mistake. Placing the insert back and retightening will remedy the situation. To be clear, the mount will not fail with the insert in, but, during maintenance, the loss of this feature has the ability to render the mount relatively inoperable. As a backup, Elzetta includes two rubber O-rings with the ZFL-M60 which fit into grooves on the main body for use with the mount. They can be used in conjunction with the rubber pad for additional retention strength, possibly even acting as stand-alone retention should the insert be lost. Plastic inserts are included for use with smaller diameter flashlights and may not depend on the rubber insert, but I did not get a chance to try this combo out with other lights.
I encountered no such problems with the picatinny rail attachment point on the Zorm. I loctited the thumb screw and never had an issue after that. I very much like the slotted design which allows the use of a knife or other “field expedient instrument” to tighten the nut. I’m always a fan of simple and effective. As mentioned before, a hole runs through the center stud, allowing a cotter pin to be inserted and provide a physical barrier to any loosening. I didn’t find it necessary, but it’s a feature that literally costs nothing in terms of weight or increased complexity.
Finally, the body itself is as bombproof as the ZFL-M60 light. The light and mount received some pretty good hits going prone, into doorways, and around barriers but simply shrugged off the abuse. You simply are not going to break this mount short of the force necessary to shear it off along with the picatinny rails.
As the ink (Ed: Pixels?) dries on this review, my next weapon light is looking to be a ZFL-M60. Absolute reliability coupled with solid performance and technology ensure its continued viability well into the future. As for the Zorm, so long as care is taken during assembly and maintenance and the included O-ring are used with the ZFL-M60, your light will remain mounted and available well beyond your barrel's useful life.
If you’re still on edge about buying an Elzetta, consider the fact that all their lights and mounts are proudly machined and assembled in the US. TTELLC gives a big thanks to Elzetta for making this review possible and I guarantee we’ll continue to monitor their website for future products of such high caliber.
Written by 2LT Reid I.
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