Not having good luck with my Black Widow Venom Laserlyte...

[estuardo]

Was looking forward to some good range time yesterday with my brand new Black Widow 22lr/22mag conversion I purchased a month ago, and I bought the Venom Laserlyte to go with it.  Looks Boss, and I will say this is my first laser sight, so I'm not familiar with it's idiosyncrasies. It fits just fine on my Black Widow; no problems before I took it to the range, but when I finally did...after the third round, it just shut off.  And when I finally got it to turn back on, it changed modes.  This would happen each time, usually after the third round.  I fiddled with it; no problem with the batteries.  I tolerated this for about 50 rounds before I gave up.

Has anybody else had a similar experience with this laser?  I know it's a fairly new product for the Black Widow, so maybe some glitches need to be worked out. Was really hoping this would work. 

And an aside...the Black Widow insignia fell off the grips, I think it looks gitchy anyways, planning I just getting the solid black grips, but thought WTH!  Easy fix with a glue gun.  

[cwlongshot]

I have looked at it and almost bought one once... I held off figuring it might be as your describing...

CW

[TwoGunJayne]

As far as the insignia falling off, they can do that. I used DUCO cement to bond the emblem back into the rubber. Once I glue them back on, they don't seem to come off again.

As far as the laser... I'm not fond of them, they either have or develop a flaky switching mechanism or develop a loose connection and act weirdly under recoil. There's a reason that the "nice ones" cost so darned much...

[estuardo]

Update: I contacted Bud's (where I bought it from), and Laserlyte. Bud's was going to let me return it for a full refund, but then reneged after they found out it wasn't broken in shipment or something like that.  I paid $98 for it a little over a month ago, and now they're advertising them for $58... . Anyways, Laserlyte contacted me, and will replace it with a bench-tested one for free.

I think after I get this new one, i'm just going to sell it...I've never used one before, and thought since they are supposed to be already sighted in, I wouldn't have to do much screwing around with it, but that doesn't seem like the case.  For those of you who do use a laser, is it really difficult to use? I'm too much of a novice to know, and probably the wrong gun to learn on anyways.

Oh well, lesson learned...BTW the gun shots great, and I still love it!

[TwoGunJayne]

I have the topstrap clamp laser for NAA minis.

When you can see the dot, you realize how bad your trigger control is. The laser is fantastic for dry firing (with cylinder removed.) You can witness your mistakes by the moving dot.

Even in the afternoon shade, I can barely see the dot and about 15 feet is all I can get, but the groups can be pretty wickedly tight. It's pretty good at night. I can pop eggs at 15 feet with my laser mini. I wouldn't carry it for SD.

[Goatpacker]

I would like to hear any positive experience with these lasers. Would consider buying one to put on for night time woods excursions. Are they set pretty close to poi t of impact or is that anothe issue to deal with along with the switch?

[TwoGunJayne]

It is a phenomenal improvement over the rough sights. Rather than nitpick a few inches in point of aim versus point of impact, you see dramatic tightening and extension of range until you are unable to see the dot.

Night fire is prime time for these devices, as daylight seems to be their kryptonite.

[estuardo]

UPDATE:  I took my Black Widow with the new replacement Laser to the range this past weekend, and still had issues.  My son came along, and I had him shoot with and without the laser to see if he was experiencing the same problems.  Things were working fine, until about 25 rounds into it, the laser would shut off after the 2nd or 3rd round was fired.  And since I'm not accustomed to using a laser, I found it difficult to use, though my son did much better.

Bottom line-not for me, but it does look sharp on the Black Widow!  I will use it for target practice, but not in normal carry.

FWIW...I will say the Customer Service from Laserlyte was excellent! They were very accommodating, no haggling or hassle, and gave me 12 extra batteries, which I'm guessing falls close to the $20 range depending on where you live.  I really wish the laser wouldn't give me such fits. I'm not certain if this is common with laser sights to begin with. It would be nice to know if others have similar experiences with ANY laser sight. Thanks for reading.

[NOTL21]

I have perhaps a dozen handguns with lasers...no problems as long as you remember to turn them off...crimson trace excepted!