Most folks are familiar with Crimson Trace for its excellent line of Lasergrip laser sights. More recently the company has adapted the Lasergrip activation method for their Lightguard line of firearm-mounted lights. While both the Lasergrip and Lightguard units can function in tandem on a single firearm (there's a Smith & Wesson M&P45 thusly equipped in this editor's armory), it does tend to add extra bulk and heft to the firearm in question.
Crimson Trace ingeniously solved this problem with its new Rail Master Pro series, which combines a 100-lumen LED light and a 5 mW green laser in a unit that attaches to a standard Picatinny rail. The unit is compact, features four different modes of operation (light, laser, light with laser and strobe with laser) and is powered by a single CR2 lithium battery.
It took a little getting used to the activation initially, but it turns out that I was vastly overthinking how to use it. Push paddles in, light turns on. Push paddles in again, light turns off. Hold paddles in for a few seconds and it cycles through the different modes. The unit is so small that it fit on the teeny nub of a rail on my Ruger SR9C. If it fits on that little amount of real estate, it will fit anywhere.
Crimson Trace Rail Master Pro. It's a light! It's a laser! It fits on (just about) anything with a rail. MSRP: $379 for green laser, $279 for red laser.
