Need advice on surefire lights

I am the proud owner of many a Surefire, that being said... buy a Fenix L2D Rebel or Cree. They simply make ANY Surefire look anemic for a quarter of the cost. Just the other day I was at a sporting good store and the salesman looked at my fenix light on my belt and told me, "You need to step up to a realmans light, these Surefires right here..." I then asked him to pick any SF light in the display and I would show him a "Step up". The light he choose was $165 LED SF, mine runs on AA batts and blew that surefire in the weeds, embarrasing to say the least!
 
try a 4AA or 3C streamlight LED, poly pro. The 4aa will fit in your pockets, its got plenty of light, costs about 25 dollars, and its throw it against the wall in anger tough.

For a truck/tractor light, The streamlight stinger LED costs about 80 dollars with a truck charger, batteries will last most of a year in heavy use, and has the advantage that at night in the cold, it will always be ready to go if you keep it resting in its hanger.
 
OK - this thing has some drawbacks :
1.) It's outright cheap -$20 or less
2.) It uses a cheap and easily obtainable battery - single AA - lasts around 7-10 hours .
3.) Want to extend it's cold weather performance plus add a little to the run time -go to a AA Lithium -again -drawback is relativly cheap and available.
4.) It has no boost and cut off regulator - it will gradually - very gradually go dim.This actually is a bit of a drawback in that you have to remember to throw a new battery in every 7-10 hours of use to get max ligfht output - on the other hand -it's not gonna leave you in the dark when the regulator shuts off current draw from the battery.
5.) Min pride of ownership - min sorrow when you lose it or run over it with a fork lift.
6.) Throws a beam far enough for your use - not up to being employed as a tactical device.
7.) Small and light enough to carry with you all the time -it's there when you need it.
I do have one question - are you worried about sparking causing a dust explosion?
BTW - I carry a Surefire G-2 in the glovebox for when I really need to throw a lot of light -just expensive to run -2 CR-123's per hour.
 
Personally, I'd go for a Fenix P2D or P3D. They are both small enough to fit in your pocket and provide ample lumens. They can also be had for a lot cheaper than Surefire lights. That's just my 2 cents anyway.
 
There's more to a flashlight than the overall brightness it provides.

Quality of the aluminum? The anodizing? The ergonomics? Switch reliability? Ruggedness? Quality of the circuitry, lens, reflector? Warranty?

I've owned several models of both brands, and the only thing Fenix and Surefire lights have in common is that they shine light out of one end. Surefire's are time-tested, overbuilt lights that have unsurpassed ergonomics. Fenix, although they revolutionized the AA and AAA form-factor lights, seem to be trying to reach the finicky flashlight user by simply sticking the Emitter Bin of the Week into their current line up. Any manufacturer can do that (just look at all of the Chinese knock-off crap on DealExtreme or Kai Domain).

IIRC, Surefire ceased R&D on their incandescent lights years ago. They're great for color rendition, but the runtime truly sucks to LED technology. They seem to be slowly reverting their lights over to LED's. Surefire just released the P60L LED drop-in that will fit in your G2.

The new E2L and L1 are great lights with fantastic runtimes. The L4 is a classic. The U2, even with it's "old :rolleyes:" technology, is still unsurpassed for it's usability.
 
I like surefires, and I could even live with less powerful LED. But at the price they charge, you think they'd have reliable tailcaps. Maybe they do now, but the didn't for quite a while.
 
What company has been making quality lights for awhile?? Surefire.
There are plenty of good lights, and I have had a few, but I have settled on a Surefire L1 and a Fenix L1P for back-up(you can always find a AA battery). Then a few Photons to back-up my back-up.
The L4 might be what you are looking for, and someone makes a 2-stage tail cap if you want 2 stages.
I like my L1, low beam for everything, high beam when I need to look under my brothers house from one end to the other.
Let us know what you decide.



Blades
 
A $165 SF LED... would be the L4 or L2. They are not designed for throw like the Fenix lights and would look pretty anemic by comparison. They are also using older LED technology in the L4 and L2 as Surefire has not yet gotten around to updating them. The L2 and L4 are designed for lighting up large spaces, and so put out a wider hotspot and is less focused, as they use the 4-die LuxeonV. I would bet that the L4 and L2 are putting out as much total light as the Fenix.

I recommend the Surefire E2L. (The newer model, which is what you want, comes with a head marked "KX2.") As it is designed for outdoors use the optics allow the E2L to throw a nice beam of light reasonably far, well enough to compete with the Fenix L2D-CE and Surefire 6P/G2/Z2/G2z, with 9 times the runtime. IMHO the top two Surefire LED lights at the moment are the E2L and L1, and I would say you can't go wrong buying either. But my preferences are towards the E2L which is easier to activate (clickie) and easier to grasp (longer).
 
carrot said:
I recommend the Surefire E2L. (The newer model, which is what you want, comes with a head marked "KX2.") As it is designed for outdoors use the optics allow the E2L to throw a nice beam of light reasonably far, well enough to compete with the Fenix L2D-CE and Surefire 6P/G2/Z2/G2z, with 9 times the runtime.
Click to expand...

Just to make sure we're on the same page here, I believe that even the 2nd generation Surefire E2Ls and L1s you've mentioned are still fairly significantly below the output level of the latest Cree and Rebel emitters being offered in some of the Fenix products. According to the LA Police Gear site, you won't get more than 65 lumens out of either of those Surefire lights. Admittedly, Surefire is famous for being very conservative with their claimed output figures. But even so, with some of the Fenix lights now approaching the 200 lumen mark, it's a pretty safe bet that the Surefires are only putting out about half the light and at a higher price point.

I don't intend this to sound like I'm knocking Surefire - they have many positive attributes and attractive features. In fact, even while I own and am very happy with a stunningly bright Fenix Rebel light, it's a Surefire M2 that rides in my truck with me. At the same time, however, I think we need to be fair to the competition. I don't think Ottoshot's silo inspections qualify as "tactical" situations. And it may well be the case that, while peering 60 feet down a pitch black hole, he could benefit from the extra photons that a Fenix LED light is capable of producing.

Then again, I hear the boys at bugoutgear are offering Cree Q5 drop-in modules for several of the Surefire flashlights. Decisions, decisions... ;) :D
 
I have used (and own) the E2L and L2D-CE side by side and due to the way the E2L focuses the light the lux appears quite comparable. But now that I think about the price difference involved the L2D-CE is quite a good contender, as well...
 
If there's any dust, or if the bins aren't stainless, you'll probably find all of the suggested LED lights useless.
I only have to look down in bins and tanks that are about 12ft. deep, and a bright LED is fine for checking out clean stainless, but throw steam, condensation, dark coloring, dust, or whatever into the mix, and you can't see crap.
I'd get a tough incan from a company like Pelican or Underwater Kinetics that hopefully uses batteries your employer will supply. I carry SureFires at work, but only because flashlights are one of my hobbies, and I use rechargeables.
I use LEDs for closeup stuff like backlighting guages when I make my rounds, but they don't do well at any real distance in an industrial environment.
If you're set on a SF, check out the G2 and G3. The finish on aluminum SFs take a beating when the surroundings are mostly concrete and steel, while the Nitrolon models don't show much wear. A pair of 17500 rechargeable lithium ion batteries is a quick solution to expensive batteries for the 3x123 SureFires. A lanyard ring and lanyard is available for the models that don't come with one, and is a good idea--beats dropping your light into a 60ft. deep bin or hopper with a screw running.
 
As mentioned by Lukus, Surefire's L1 is a good choice for what you want. Make sure you get the new version. The low mode of 10 lumens should be plenty for normal closer range work and you will have plenty of battery life. When you need more power, the high mode of 65 lumens should be good for inspecting the grain bins.
 
I've got a G2 and an A2 and love them both. The A2 is my EDC. It's got incandescent mode and LED mode. Once the incandescent goes out (battery drain) the LED's are good to go for a long time. Works great for me. I'm a utility serviceworker and got caught under a house once with my G2 and the batteries died. Pitch black! Never again. Now I've always got LED backup. Maybe not much light, but it'll get you out of the pitch black.
A2 is kinda expensive though - $200
 
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