which Surefire for my daughter?

G

Gary007

Joined
May 17, 2002
Messages
1,452
My precious daughter is 15, and growing up fast. :( Thinking about getting her a good flashlight, since she's growing up and going here and there so much. Infact she's off to a beach party tonight and borrowing my Inova X-5

Which Surefire? Executive Defender E2D perhaps? I've never had a Surefire so I'm not really familiar with them or which model might be the right size/brightness.
 
Gary, they're small lights but extremely bright. I'd go for a G2 which is the least expensive but a fantastic 2 cell incandescent light or one of the LED models such as the E1e with the 3 watt head which is single cell light. She's more likely to carry the smaller light and so might actually have it with her in daily life. The larger lights are much harder to carry especially if you are a fashion conscious teenager with one of those tiny purses.
 
I like the Executive series lights, mine is an E2e HA. Really nioce light, and carries easily in a pocket. Fair warning though, it chewed a nice size hole in the back pocket of my Carhart cotton Duck work pants!
 
E2D is the right choice for a young girl. Teach her to carry it on her person always and how to use it as an impact weapon, or as my wife refers to it a "bash you in the face" light. Anything you can do to help protect your daughter in in today's predatory environment is a good thing.

Buy yourself one while you're at it:)
 
15!? Is she pretty.... I mean available!?

Umm, I'm Kyle. I like long walks on the beach, and cuddling during romantic movies. :D



Anyway, I'd say E1: small enough to be comfortably EDCed, good power/throw for it's size. and stuff. I'd say X1 if it had a pocket clip...
 
How about something that doesn't gulp down 123As as quickly as the above options (or even use 123As at all...)? Its not a Surefire, but I think this would make a great purse light:

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=90729

Act quickly...

For those who are familiar with some of the other small lights out there, this picture should give you an idea of scale:

bf2vm1.jpg


(its the second from left)

Pic is from: http://www.cones-stuff.co.uk/

Mark
 
I carry the Dorcy 1w, $25 at Target and it takes AAA batteries so I can use rechargeables. There's a new version with a pocket clip and tailcap clickie switch at some Walmarts for $20 now, too. It hasn't reached my local Walmarts yet but there are reviews on this forum. Both of them have 1 watt Luxeon LEDs, plenty of light and no bulb to burn out or break.

There are other Dorcy LED flashlights with varying numbers of 5mm LEDs for less brightness but longer runtime. I gave my mother the 1 LED 1AAA, $6 at Walmart. That's keyring size and although it doesn't have the long distance cast of the 1w it's just right for finding a keyhole, walking without tripping on things, reading maps ... I carry a similar flashlight that I modded in addition to the 1w because there are times when the 1w is too bright.
 
if you guys got 15 y/o daughters who will/can carry around e2e and e2e d's. Well your ahead of me. Mine lives in gym shorts t- shirts and jeans she will carry a cell with a few bills in it. She seldom carries a purse as well.

We go over awareness,what to do etc. she lifts weights does cardio and hits a bag, but her mode of dress don't let her carry much stuff, which she doesn't want to carry anyway.

When she goes for a walk at night or on a babysitting job she will take a G2.

Then there's the fact she still loses stuff, at least she can "call" her phone to find it.

That said I love my ede.Size matters and being a little smaller than the G2 makes for easier pocket carry if she will do that, the clip makes access quicker as well.
 
If you`re wanting to give her a SF, get her a G2. If I were to get a 15 y.o. of mine a decent first light that I know they would carry, then I would get them a Photon II. More than decent light, thats light weight and inexpensive. The Photon can be carried around her wrist or neck and it wouldn`t be a hassle.
 
My most expensive light is the SF Winelight II, it's an E2E in burgundy HAII. If I'm wrong, let me know. I got it for $57 as a special because I refuse to pay over $60 for a light and I'm sticking to it. They also made the Winelight in the E1 configuration.
It's a real handsome looking light. It comes with the lower output bulb so runtime is more than 1hr.
The G2 is nice but for a lady, any E2 would make a better match.
If it were for my son, then he'll get the G2.
edit to add, We did a little test on a G2, 6P and my E2 with the 25 lumen bulb.
The throw was the same as the others but it's hotspot is less than half of the 60 lumen bulbs.
People were still impressed with it. just goes to show you lumens only tell half the story.
 
I have an E2d and love it, but it may be a bit large for her to want to carry all the time and isn't exactly cheap if it gets lost. If she is responsable about things and likes the size, I say go for it, the fact that it can be used as an impact weapon is a nice plus :thumbup:

Also check into PEAK LED Solutions, I just had 3 of their models to play with for a week in a current pass-around and they where great, they have AA-cell, AAA-cell and 123-cell lights. They are well made, perform great and are reasonably priced. Check out this thread http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=357123 and PEAK's site http://www.peakledsolutions.net/index.html
 
SureFire G2. Great light! She can also use it as aless than lethal weapon, by shiningh the light in a bg's face. They are less expensive, so if she looses it, it is no big deal. It is an extremely high quality light!!
 
If she likes the x5, check out the x1.

About as bright, if you don't mind a concentrated spotlight, and runs on a single AA batt(they say 10hrs on a batt).

Carried my x5 for a long time, bought the x1 about 3 weeks ago and it's lived on my belt since... the x5 is on my desk by the printer right now.
 
my thoughts:

the stock surefire G2 is over-recommended as a light for family or as a first light. to be honest, if you ever actually need a flashlight for longer than a few mintues the G2 sucks. after using mine every day i realized it eats batteries like crazy (i was using 4-6 cells daily) and is usually overly bright for most situations. during the short tenure the G2 was my work light i also found that straight drops from about head-height killed the lamp assembly and left me in the dark trying to work my back-up light out of my pocket.

Also; for the runtime and output the X5 is outdated. It is not a bad light and was my first EDC but it will only run for about four hours on 2 123 cells and has output that is a fraction of what the newer luxeon model lights are running with much greater runtime.

my personal recommendations (i use at least one of these lights daily for at least a few hours):

-Inova T-Series (I use the T2 daily because of the outstanding runtime)

-Surefire G2 with the Bugoutgearusa 3Watt LED Module

-Gerber LX 3.0 It's probably larger than your daughter would feel comfortable carrying but if she just wants a light to toss in her purse this is a good one. It is a direct drive Luxeon so with fresh batteries it's an absolute screamer but will still give a good runtime of about 2 hours 50 minutes per set of batteries. It also takes AA batteries so it is cheaper to feed than most 123 lights. Runtime Graph Here

-I will second the new dorcy with one caveat: It is a little thicker than most lights so it may not be as comfortable to carry for your daughter but it is cheap and bright and so far has shown to have a good runtime. Review Here This light can also be had at your local walmart/target: be sure to look into the packaging and find one that has the emitter of the LED centered in the reflector. The brightness/tint of the LED varies greatly so i recommend buying two and taking the one that is dimmer back.

-I think this may possibly be the best recommendation I can give. Buy a mini-maglite (AA model) and replace the bulb with one of these. The mini-maglite is skinny and can be had in some decent anodized colors, even a few daughter friendly ones.

P.S. Be sure to check out flashlightreviews.com for a good overlay on surefire lights as compared to some of the newer LED models.
 
I think the reason the G2 has been mentioned so much in this thread is that he asked , which Surefire.
Thats not to say thats there is not other ideas and your complaints of your G2 are the exception and not the rule.
That being said, I think I`d like to try a Inova T2. They sound very promising.
 
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