Paul Perkerson (WPS Training Director) often quotes a few axia:

1. This is 80% hard-and-fast evidence mechanics, and 20% art form.
2. Everything is a trade-off. Make sure you understand your most probable context and then make a decision that works for you. Then do that and train, train, train. Have a defensible reason for your choice better than, "Because John Lovell does it!"

I think that you'll be like the rest of us and you'll find you'll have some buy-once-cry-once moments that you'll cry twice for. Just shelved a buttstock on a build and an optic mount that sucked. Didn't work for my context.

For example, if you're going to have one weapon (i.e. you're not a rich YouTuber with unlimited budget), you'll probably start with one weapon. The probability that you can buy a dedicated weapon for home defense (Paul talks often about answering threats in his underwear, but don't think about that too long or you'll want to bleach your brain) and one for EDC (every-day-carry) / CCW and the amount of time that your budget will allow you to execute that purchase in make a difference in what you do.

My strategy is to keep my options open. So you might by something, and then as you add on, you might find that those purchases were a waste. Buy from a place with a liberal return policy!

But perhaps the biggest thing is to get what you think is going to work for your context, then...TRAIN HARD WITH IT! There are instructors and others on the range who will be jerks and laugh at your gear. Screw that! Who cares! Be bold to learn. No one becomes an expert by watching YouTube. It can close some gaps, but in this space, you'll find bullies who just want to laugh at you and call you a LARPer. Who cares. Those same people won't be there to answer the call in the dead of night in your context. That's on you.

You're headed in a great direction at the beginning of a journey. Be bold to ask people doing it (Check! You're doing that!) and then don't hesitate to deviate from that. Also, don't hesitate to say, "Yep. That purchase was a dud." later if you find your idea wasn't as good as you'd have liked. Innovate. And Learn. Someone once told me that "Plans are necessary. Plans are what you deviate from when you make first contact."

I have a G5 G19 with an Insight Wild 2 in a Safariand holster that I wear as a drop-leg and everyone makes fun of me. Which is fine. Exactly zero percent of them will be at my side in the SHTF. So I train hard with it. I have my context and my reasons. They have theirs. They're not wrong. They're not me. Or you.

I also EDC a Springfield XDS in a Urban Carry G3 because...in my context, it's got drawbacks, but it's not a gimmick. It works well for my context, and...forget the haters. Again. Exactly zero of them are sitting with me. So I train hard with it, and I understand the limitations of my choice by....PURPOSEFUL PRACTICE!

Welcome to the WPS community. I'm not affiliated with them, but I have a passion for teaching people, and I love people with the boldness and humility and excitement to ask questions. It shows courage. Hope my babbling helped....(if you got this far!)

I just wanted to say how much I appreciate this attitude, and how refreshing it was to read your post, compared to so many forums where "Do this because So and So said to!" is the final answer. Your acknowledgement that what works for you may not work for me, and vis a versa, while encouraging the experimenter to proceed boldly but with humility, shows a lot of wisdom and experience.
Cheers!

I also! agree ! one size didnt fit all !

100% on the handheld.

I am weak on the training with the handheld. I appreciate the push to consider it. I have focused on training with a WML because...Yeah... I, too, avoid dark spaces where I can be ambushed. I do consider that the most probable home defense scenario is...mid-afternoon. But the next after that is dark of night. So...that's not a dark space I can avoid.

For this reason, I have chosen to prioritize my training time to this point with a WML because I consider that Groggy Me doesn't need to look for multiple pieces of gear. I prefer to have my light on my weapon for that. Hoping the ideal scenario will allow me time to don nods. That would be better! But unlikely. Not that I'm "hoping" for any scenario!

I appreciate your thoughts. I need to carve out some time to do more one-handed work...of all types. Great reminder.

Turning on lights is probably the high percentage play and is probably going to scare off most burglars, I think. Most want an "easy score", not a gunfight. That avoids those possibilities. There is some risk, to be sure that if the person has already decided that they're willing to kill the occupants, or if there is more than one, that successively turning on lights means that when one walks around "the next corner", they're an easy target in a fatal funnel.

Wouldn't at all tell you you're crazy. I believe your suggestion is the high-percentage play.

Everyone gotta "do you". Good things to consider, friend.

I leave a couple lamps on and kids rooms all have night lights. Burglar can take what they want downstairs so long as they stay down there.

OP, what everyone has said is right on the money from my perspective. The first reply was fantastic. I bought my first pistol (Springfield XD9 4” barrel 16rd mag) 13 years ago when I got married and have carried it ever since with some slight modifications to it. It’s my daily CCW and what is right by me at night.

Over the years I’ve had an itch to buy other pistols, so I went to ranges that rented them out (XDM9, Glock 19, M&P9 2.0) but just didn’t see the need to replace what I already had. I did a couple of mods to the pistol like stippling the grip (stock is far to smooth) and installing a PRP trigger. The last and final mod will be an optic ready slide and Holosun 507C.

I found all those other pistols to be fantastic, but not so superior where it was worth the cost. I’m 5’8 175lbs and can carry my XD9 (similar in size to a G17) and an extra mag in a tier1 axis slim holster (appendix carry) with a claw and wedge very comfortably and it conceals in the summer and winter with ease. The claw and wedge are key for concealing a little bigger pistol. If I have to wear a shirt tucked in (dress shirt) then I wear a modified glockstore belly band with the same pistol in appendix and an extra mag just to the left of it. It’s next to impossible to know I’m carrying that size pistol and an extra mag in that belly band.

I have an XDS-9 and an XD9 Sub-compact, but those are what my wife carries. I just like having the same pistol for various scenarios so I don’t need different holsters, mags, etc. It’s all preference and this one pistol works for me.

My suggestion is see if you can keep the same pistol for multiple scenarios. If you can make it work then you saved yourself some money and can put it towards whatever else the family needs or more ammo/mags.

Good call on renting guns and trying them out whenever you can. Sometimes the little ergonomic differences make a big impact on how an individual shoots.

That's a really good point about recoil. I hadn't considered that.

My Mrs. Poet had to do an "investigation" of a possible home invasion a few weeks ago at night...in a context where she expected multiple unexpected and unknown people to be lurking in the area who were not legitimate threats. It would have been REALLY bad for her to be muzzling non-threats in order to identify if the ONLY light source she had was attached to a muzzle...because she didn't have a handheld light! The after-action debrief we discussed a need to have both a WML AND skills with a handheld.

I watched a video of an LEO using a WML to put down a threat at distance (Active Self Protection - Lessons on Light and Distance, on YouTube). In that case, at distance, it was ABSOLUTELY the best thing to have a WML because of the need for accuracy at 25+ yds with a pistol. In my wife's case, a handheld was a necessity because of the need to assess the situation.

I think watching this discussion and the great points everyone is bringing up, maybe it shows a need for both? And skills with both? One could argue one's EDC is for daylight (primarily). Which is good...except when one takes Mrs. Poet out for dinner at night.

Colion Noir did a video on the Surefire recently on YouTube. He emphasized the need for low-light training (not just having one) AND the difference between candela (how much light hits the intended target, beam shape, etc.) vs. lumens (i.e. how much the device puts out).

I have no affiliation other than a please user when I recommend the NITECORE TM9K 9500 Lumen 5000mah USB-C Quick Charge Rechargeable LED Flashlight and LumenTac Keychain. It is super powerful. And it has a tactical aircraft aluminum crenelated bezel on the front. Which means it is ridged to allow one to cut a skull (i.e. hand-to-hand combat) or break a window if necessary by punching things with the front of the light. My elderly mom carries one because the 9500 lumens will blind a threat...and she has that sharp skull-crushing bezel on the front to bop an unwise purse snatcher.

i got some really strange looks from TSA over my Cloud MCH but they never say anything about it lol