I am always celebrating replicas that have kept the functionality of their original counterparts and this grip mount is one of them. The original is made by Command Arms Accessories (CAA) and it's a relatively cheap thing for people who live in the US. For all of us who don't live there, now we have a close replica of a very nice accessory. I managed to get an original one (that is called Flashlight Grip Adaptor-FGA) for my WE SCAR and now I would like to see what DYTAC has over the one made in Israel.

The replica has three color options like so as the original, but here I can only compare the black ones. I don't have the original packaging for my FGA but it came in a similar plastic bag as the DYTAC one. In the bag you will find the grip itself and two side rails with mounting screws and I remember that there was an hex key included with my CAA but the DYTAC bag lacks any tools.

Rails on the side can be mounted using the included threaded rings which will fit the holes on the side of the light mount. Heating up these rings before installation is highly recommended so they will melt into place and won't fall off but of course some Crazy Glue will do the job as well.

Each side of the grip has one slot for remote pressure pads that you can hide under the soft panels. There is one dummy switch under each panel so they won't feel empty or fall out when you don't have a remote pad installed at the moment. These plastic fillers can be cut to size if the remote pad is shorter than average. The next removable part is the cap of the battery compartment. The grip holds two CR123 batteries or something else similar in size.

This DYTAC grip is considered large and the pictures will show you that it is barely smaller than a bipod grip but its weight is not an issue because it gets heavy after you install your flashlight and hide your spare batteries in the grip. Definitely not your pick when you like smaller grips.

After mounting the side rails I've installed an ICS adjustable targeting laser what you can see on these pictures and the nice thing about it is that if you don't need the flashlight and the laser they come off at once when you take the grip off.

The light mount part of the grip only works with 1" diameter flashlights and a spacer is not even a selectable accessory. Tightening one hex bolt is enough to keep our flashlight in place. As far as flashlight tail caps our grip will work with both kinds of tail cap switches as long as they are not wider than the body itself. The button on the side will act something like a directional switch on a power drill. Pushing that from one side to the other will control the depth of the main switch so push-on and click-on tail cap switches can be both used. On the top of this the main switch can be locked in the ON position by pushing it in and upwards.

Now that we went through all the functions we can compare the two brands. Color and material is roughly the same and it is hard to spot any difference between the two from more than a meter. The front part of the grip is slightly different in texture and both of the grips have equal molding flaws on different places. Probably the most noteable difference is the side panel. CAA is using rubber-like material as a remote pad cover but DYTAC is using harder material which is different in feel but similar in color. CAA have markings on the FGA on three different places while the replica has only one DYTAC logo.

Differences in function are huge even if DYTAC has something extra to offer (lockable main switch). First of all let's look at the mounting and then another issue. The bolts crossing the top of the mount are threaded and can damage our railing plus the tightening thumb screws will come off when we're not careful enough. The FGA will protect our rail with smooth mounting bolts and the end of those bolts are tapered out so it's impossible to  loose anything off on that one. Most of the real life mounting applications have this function (at least all the real optics and mounts that I own) but replicas just don't get it. Now the control switch on the side is too  loose to stay on one side while the one on the CAA firmly clicks one side to the other. I just mentioned three things that can ruin your fun with this product. The price is about one third of the FGA but still.... 

Not that I care too much what people say but it was warming when they all wanted to feel the FGA grip but now all they say is: "I know that DYTAC grip you have there, it's kinda cheap actually so I might get one too!". This is when I start smiling and just walk away.

Overall the Multipurpose Flashlight Mount is better than average but get the CAA if you have access to it. Maybe I was too hard on Dytac but we're only talking about a piece of plastic and not a Swiss watch.

The foliage green grip pictured with a green G2L and the black one has a G3 from Surefire under a Madbull JP front end with 260 mm barrel.