Extreme Tolerance » Flashlight

Surefire P2X Fury: 500 Lumens

Admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:03:09 +0000

500 lumen Surefire, what could possibly go wrong? That is a serious upgrade from my 200 lumen 6PX. $155 bucks is a bit steep, but when is Surefire ever not expensive.

Via Gear Scout

200 Lumens of Awesome (Surefire 6PX)

Admin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:49 +0000

I have been driving my 300hp Z around for a few months now. It seems when I drive it all the time I get used to the power, its not until I get back in my Subaru that I notice the difference. Playing with bright flashlights is a much more mundane example of the same principal.

Out of the box 200 lumen does not seem like a whole lot. Ya its bright, but how much brighter is it really?

So last night we had just turned off the lights when my wife asks, “You have your new Surefire over there?” She had hers and she wanted to see how much brighter my new 6PX is over her plastic version of the 6P. Think she know what I like…

The 6PX has two modes 15 lumen and 200 lumen. This is what 15 lumens looks like projected against the wall of our master bedroom. This is probably 15-20 feet from where I am holding the light.

200 lumens lights up the room pretty well.

The old 6P projected 80 lumens. The old LED design also had a much whiter light. The new LED design almost appears to be incandescent. 15 lumens does not get lost next to 80 but its not exactly impressive.

As you would expect 200 is quite a bit brighter than 80. 2.5 to be exact (isn’t simple math fun).

Well that was all the excitement I could handle for one night.

I got mine from LAPoliceGear. Amazon would probably also be a good bet. Its worth noting that LAPoliceGear sent out an email today saying the price was going up on Surefires, make what you will.

Reload Button

Admin — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:32:31 +0000

Once again LA Police Gear and UPS are going to hate me. I ordered a few bits of Search and Rescue gear. Even though pushing reload constantly does not actually speed up the UPS truck, it makes me feel better.

Anyway, picked up a sweet Gerber survival knife and the new 200 Lumen SureFire. Can’t wait to try out both.

Surefire LED Conversion

Admin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:19:57 +0000

This is an update to a post a did a while ago about the differences between a standard Surefire lamp and a LED Surefire lamp. A friend of mine bought the Surefire LED Conversion and I filmed the process from start to finish. All 1:10 of it. I think the Surefire LED Conversion set him back around $30. If he uses and abuses this flashlight for years to come, he will more than make that up in batteries.

Cool New Stuff from Surefire

Admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:47:09 +0000

M300A Mini Scout Light: looks like by Surefire E1L but brighter (110 Lumens), comes with a remote grip switch and mounts to a rail.

E2D LED Defender in now 200 lumens.

I wish Surefire would provide an upgrade path for product like the E1L to take advantage of the brighter E1D or M300A LEDs.

Surefire Outdoorsmen E1L

Admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:47:08 +0000

By this point its no secret that I am a fan of Surefire. So it should not surprise anyone that I have bought another. I found that my Surefire 6P was not really pocket sized and I needed something smaller. After doing a bunch of research I settled on the Surefire E1L.

The E1L is significantly shorter than the 6P. It is also narrower. You can carry it around in your pocket without giving up to much space. It has variable outputs. Low: 5 lumens and High at 45 lumens. On the low setting it has 45 hours of battery life! Surefire does make a similarly size flashlight that can match the 6P LED’s 80 lumen output, the Surefire E1B. And the E1B is actually the same suggested retail price.

I chose the E1L over the Over the E1B (B for Backup) strictly because I could buy the E1L at REI, thus taking of 20% (during REI’s fall sale).

The one complaint I have about the E1L is the clip. If the clip could be reversed it would be perfect for attaching to the inside of you pocket (think the clips on pocket knives). That would avoid the problem of feeling around in your pockets to find it, especially when you need it fast.

Overall I have been very happy with the E1L.

Surefire Standard Lamp vs LED / Aluminum vs Nitrolon

Admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:38:49 +0000

I have now purchased three Surefire flashlights. First I purchased a Surefire 6P LED for myself, mostly to see what all the hype was about. Because my wife kept stealing my 6P, I bought her a Surefire G2 LED. Then last week for my buddies birthday I got him a Surefire G2 Nitrolon.

While I am to some extent spreading the Surefire love, there is also a method to my madness. Basically buying Surefire’s for my friends gives me a great excuse to play with them myself.

Standard Vs LED

This is the money shot from my Surefire gift giving. You are looking at the beam difference between Surefire’s standard lamp (G2 Nitrolon) vs LED (6P). You can see the Surefire G2′s spot is much whiter, while the Surefire 6P’s is significantly more blue. I would say, if you are looking for total area brightening, perp shocking power, go with the standard lamp. For more day to day/endurance tasks stick with the LED due to longer life and run-time.

Aluminum vs Nitrolon
One of the aspects that made me love Surefires was/is the thick aluminum body. However that comes at a cost, both in dollars and in weight. By going with the ~~Nitrolon~~ plastic body you save 1.1oz, which does not seem like much on paper but adds up when you are backing these thing around. While I am sure the aluminum body is more durable I am not convinced its worth the weight.

Of course while writing this I am flashing on the Snatch quote from the black market gun dealer “weight is a sign of quality, if it doesn’t work, you can always hit them with it”. While getting hit with my 6P might not take you out, it wouldn’t make you very happy either.

SureFire V25 Holster

Admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:36:40 +0000

This was totally a weekend impulse buy with shaky justification.

I have been looking at the pyrex lens on my SureFire 6P and really hoping that I don’t one day scratch it. Not that a scratch our reduce its performance in any meaningful way. Additionally, Its not the sort of thing that really comfortable in your pocket.

Now when I am out adventuring I can clip it to my belt or backpack. Also, I can toss it without really worrying where it will land.

There are two versions of this, one with clip and one with a Nylon loop. I opted for the clip because I wanted to relocate it with ease. As for functionality, it seems to work as advertised. Not real complicated.

I got mine at ~~Sportsman’s Warehouse~~ Wholesales Sports for $12. I looked on REI’s site but it does not look like the carry them. If you have to order, Amazon would probably be the best bet.

Putting Surefire Flashlights to the Test

Admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:59:54 +0000

For a longtime I have been skeptical about Surefire’s claims of general awesomeness. I have checked them out at Sportsman’s Warehouse and was generally not impressed. My feeling was; why buy a flashlight when my Petzl Myo XP headlamp (topic for another post) was just as good, if not better. As much as I tried my inner gear geek could not resist. So when I spotted one at the GI Joe’s going out of business sale I had to buy it.

I purchased the SureFire 6P LED (6P at REI). Normally its around $80 but because of the sale I got it for about $60. Generally Surefires, like many other name brands, don’t go on sale (sign of the times I guess). To do some comparison, I put fresh batteries in my Petzl Myo XP headlamp and headed outside with a camera. It is hard to get accurate representations of what you actually see when using a camera in the dark. But in comparison you can definitely tell the difference.

Aprox. Distance	Ambient Light	Petzl Myo XP	Surefire 6P LED
10 yards.
30 yards.
5 Yards
2 Yards	I am 6′ lights healed at head

Pros:

At distance the Surefire is a hand cannon. The beam reaches way further than the headlamp. You could hurt someone with one of these if you were not careful.
The fact that it’s LED is a big selling point, the expected life of the battery is around 30 hours. Why anyone is still using conventional bulbs is beyond me.
This thing is rock sold. I am sure you could throw it out your window on the freeway, let a semi run over it and it would still work. From just holding it you can tell why the military loves these.

Cons:

First of all, it’s not attached to my head, so it occupies a hand. This is a downside for any task that requires both hands.
At close range it creates a white hot spot that almost blinds the user.

Verdict:

For in and around camp I think I would stick with my headlamp, the usability factor is just too great. However, any time I am messing around outside at night it would be great to have a Surefire. If you have to check something out at distance or you want to see every little detail, the surefire is the right tool. Granted it’s expensive, but if you are a geek for things performing at extreme levels, this is a must have.

Buying Advice:

I was lucky and was able to find one at a going out of business sale. As I stated before its a brand name so they do not normally go on sale. The best bet would be to look online. I like Amazon.com. Although if you are an REI member you might be able to use your next 20% off coupon or sign up for REI Gearmail and save 15%. Happy Hunting.