Alpinewoman.com had the PT Blast (see my earlier review) on sale for $4.00 and I wanted a bunch of them for spares and gifts. They also had the Surge for $20.37 and I always wanted one of those. I also wanted a PT40 for my glove compartment, but for some reason they wanted $19.95 for that light (vs. about $10 elsewhere). They also had the PT20 (sort of a 2AA version of the Blast) for $6.00, which didn't interest me much. Finally they had a special on shipping, you got UPS ground shipping for 1 cent on any order over $50.
I filled out the order form for a Surge and eight Blasts, total $52.37. Then on a whim I figured I'd try a PT20 for variety, so I removed two Blasts (leaving six) and added a PT20, making the total $50.37, barely enough for the one cent shipping. I placed the order, feeling a little buyers' remorse already about the PT20 but figuring it would make a decent glovebox light as an alternative to the PT40.
A day or so later I got an email saying the Blast was no longer available and couldn't be backordered and did I want to substitute something else or should they just ship the remaining items? I checked the web site and it was now priced at $9.95 but marked as unavailable. I wrote back saying if I still got the $.01 shipping they should ship the remaining items, otherwise cancel the order (that would get me out of buying the PT20). To my surprise they emailed me saying they'd honor the 1 cent shipping and went ahead and sent the Surge and PT20 for just $26.38 total, an extremely good deal. There had been some aspects of their operation which bugged me, but giving me the semi-free shipping on an order just over half the advertised $50 minimum, with items that were loss leaders already, was a generous gesture, so I'll give them a cheer. I wouldn't have held it against the in the least if they'd declined the 1 cent shipping on the smaller order.
Onward to my Surge review. I'll post about the PT20 separately.
First thing I did was got the Surge (in its box) from the shipping carton and scrounged up four NiMH cells to put in it to try it out (I didn't have eight charged ones. For those not familiar, the Surge uses eight AA's in two parallel sets of four, so you can run it on 4 cells with diminished runtime). Then I opened the box the Surge came in and found there were eight Duracell AA's included. I had thought that the Surge was normally sold without batteries. So now I don't know whether there's two versions of the packaging, or they all come with the AA's.
To install the batteries, you first unscrew the bezel (easy). Then you squeeze two tabs to pull out the battery holder. That turned out to be quite difficult, needing a bunch of squeezing and jiggling. Maybe it will get easier. Next you have to put the batteries in the holder. That also is not so easy. Instead of normal contact springs, there's contacts with bits of foam under them. Getting the cells in is a tight squeeze. I had quite a bit of trouble getting the last one in, and while doing so I noticed the cell was quite hot in my hand, i.e. something in the holder was shorting it. I pulled it out, pulled out a neighboring cell, and put the warm one back in by popping it in with a screwdriver. Then I put the other cell I'd removed back in and kept feeling the cells for a while to see if they got warm. They didn't, so I put the light back together, also not the simplest of operations because it took some attention and effort to get the snaps to catch. Also, the bi-pin bulb wasn't centered; I straightened it out by pushing against it through my T-shirt, to not get finger oil on the glass.
The light itself works really well, which it should given all that hassle. It's much smaller than I'd imagined it. I'd thought of it as being the size of a generic 2D light. In fact it's more like a 2C light, though a bit thicker and a lot heavier because of the 8 cells inside. It's just a half inch or so longer than a 2AA Minimag. As mentioned you can run it on 4 cells for reduced weight. You get less runtime, but it says the light will then float head upwards. With 8 cells I think it will sink like a rock.
The on-off switch is a lever on the barrel which does a nice job of operating a microswitch mounted on the PC board where the lamp is. It seems like a reliable switch when you're handholding the light, that's easy to use even with gloves on. Its problem is that the light can easily get turned on by accident if something bumps into the switch, say while the light is bouncing around in your backpack or glove compartment. The instructions say if you're going to bring the light somewhere, you should remove the battery holder and rotate it 180 degrees (so the microswitch that actually activates the lamp is now on the other side of the light from the outside lever switch). That indeed makes the light safe to carry. But it's quite a pain in the neck, having to take the light apart and reassemble it before you can turn it on, if you pull it out of your backpack. It's especially annoying because of the somewhat difficult disassembly. And of course you have to repeat the process when you put the light back in your backpack. I think it would be much better if this light had some other type of lockout mechanism, maybe even a thumbscrew or something to keep the lever switch from operating. Or PT could have just given up on the lever switch and used a twist bezel switch.
Changing the batteries in the field could be a PITA and you should certainly have another light with you (maybe a headlamp) if you have to reload the Surge in the dark. The light is small enough to backpack with but heavy enough (10 or 11 ounces) that I'd rather leave it at home unless I thought I'd actually need such a bright light. I'm sticking with the 2.2 ounce UKE 2L or the even lighter and much cheaper (but less bright) PT Blast ($6.49 at TTS) as a bright hiking/camping light to supplement a 5mm LED light.
The beam. It's a little bit lumpy (not like Surefire smoothness but nothing like Mag rings), medium-wide, and very bright. It's supposed to be about equal to a Surefire P61. But it should get several hours of runtime on eight AA's. It started out very white but seems to have yellowed slightly after just a minute or two of operation. I wonder if something inside could be draining the cells with the light off. Could mismatch between the cell voltages do that, because of the series-parallel arrangement? Anyway, this is certainly the brighest flashlight I've ever owned, it makes my 3D Mag look sick. It doesn't wow me like the SF M6 did, but it sure costs a lot less.
Conclusion: I think if you want a bright flashlight for occasional use, at just over $20 the Surge is a very good value. However, because of its battery changing hassle and the exposed switch, I think if you're going to use it a lot you might want to look for something more serious, possibly a 3-cell Surefire or a Tigerlight. The Surge would be ridiculous as a police duty light or anything like that.
I'm probably going to put this light in my glovebox replacing the junky 2D light that's there now. The Surge isn't really that much bigger than a PT40, and weight isn't an issue for a car light.
Anyway, no regrets about buying it, I'm happy with it, but that's with the awareness that I'm going to be a relatively undemanding user for this type of light.
I filled out the order form for a Surge and eight Blasts, total $52.37. Then on a whim I figured I'd try a PT20 for variety, so I removed two Blasts (leaving six) and added a PT20, making the total $50.37, barely enough for the one cent shipping. I placed the order, feeling a little buyers' remorse already about the PT20 but figuring it would make a decent glovebox light as an alternative to the PT40.
A day or so later I got an email saying the Blast was no longer available and couldn't be backordered and did I want to substitute something else or should they just ship the remaining items? I checked the web site and it was now priced at $9.95 but marked as unavailable. I wrote back saying if I still got the $.01 shipping they should ship the remaining items, otherwise cancel the order (that would get me out of buying the PT20). To my surprise they emailed me saying they'd honor the 1 cent shipping and went ahead and sent the Surge and PT20 for just $26.38 total, an extremely good deal. There had been some aspects of their operation which bugged me, but giving me the semi-free shipping on an order just over half the advertised $50 minimum, with items that were loss leaders already, was a generous gesture, so I'll give them a cheer. I wouldn't have held it against the in the least if they'd declined the 1 cent shipping on the smaller order.
Onward to my Surge review. I'll post about the PT20 separately.
First thing I did was got the Surge (in its box) from the shipping carton and scrounged up four NiMH cells to put in it to try it out (I didn't have eight charged ones. For those not familiar, the Surge uses eight AA's in two parallel sets of four, so you can run it on 4 cells with diminished runtime). Then I opened the box the Surge came in and found there were eight Duracell AA's included. I had thought that the Surge was normally sold without batteries. So now I don't know whether there's two versions of the packaging, or they all come with the AA's.
To install the batteries, you first unscrew the bezel (easy). Then you squeeze two tabs to pull out the battery holder. That turned out to be quite difficult, needing a bunch of squeezing and jiggling. Maybe it will get easier. Next you have to put the batteries in the holder. That also is not so easy. Instead of normal contact springs, there's contacts with bits of foam under them. Getting the cells in is a tight squeeze. I had quite a bit of trouble getting the last one in, and while doing so I noticed the cell was quite hot in my hand, i.e. something in the holder was shorting it. I pulled it out, pulled out a neighboring cell, and put the warm one back in by popping it in with a screwdriver. Then I put the other cell I'd removed back in and kept feeling the cells for a while to see if they got warm. They didn't, so I put the light back together, also not the simplest of operations because it took some attention and effort to get the snaps to catch. Also, the bi-pin bulb wasn't centered; I straightened it out by pushing against it through my T-shirt, to not get finger oil on the glass.
The light itself works really well, which it should given all that hassle. It's much smaller than I'd imagined it. I'd thought of it as being the size of a generic 2D light. In fact it's more like a 2C light, though a bit thicker and a lot heavier because of the 8 cells inside. It's just a half inch or so longer than a 2AA Minimag. As mentioned you can run it on 4 cells for reduced weight. You get less runtime, but it says the light will then float head upwards. With 8 cells I think it will sink like a rock.
The on-off switch is a lever on the barrel which does a nice job of operating a microswitch mounted on the PC board where the lamp is. It seems like a reliable switch when you're handholding the light, that's easy to use even with gloves on. Its problem is that the light can easily get turned on by accident if something bumps into the switch, say while the light is bouncing around in your backpack or glove compartment. The instructions say if you're going to bring the light somewhere, you should remove the battery holder and rotate it 180 degrees (so the microswitch that actually activates the lamp is now on the other side of the light from the outside lever switch). That indeed makes the light safe to carry. But it's quite a pain in the neck, having to take the light apart and reassemble it before you can turn it on, if you pull it out of your backpack. It's especially annoying because of the somewhat difficult disassembly. And of course you have to repeat the process when you put the light back in your backpack. I think it would be much better if this light had some other type of lockout mechanism, maybe even a thumbscrew or something to keep the lever switch from operating. Or PT could have just given up on the lever switch and used a twist bezel switch.
Changing the batteries in the field could be a PITA and you should certainly have another light with you (maybe a headlamp) if you have to reload the Surge in the dark. The light is small enough to backpack with but heavy enough (10 or 11 ounces) that I'd rather leave it at home unless I thought I'd actually need such a bright light. I'm sticking with the 2.2 ounce UKE 2L or the even lighter and much cheaper (but less bright) PT Blast ($6.49 at TTS) as a bright hiking/camping light to supplement a 5mm LED light.
The beam. It's a little bit lumpy (not like Surefire smoothness but nothing like Mag rings), medium-wide, and very bright. It's supposed to be about equal to a Surefire P61. But it should get several hours of runtime on eight AA's. It started out very white but seems to have yellowed slightly after just a minute or two of operation. I wonder if something inside could be draining the cells with the light off. Could mismatch between the cell voltages do that, because of the series-parallel arrangement? Anyway, this is certainly the brighest flashlight I've ever owned, it makes my 3D Mag look sick. It doesn't wow me like the SF M6 did, but it sure costs a lot less.
Conclusion: I think if you want a bright flashlight for occasional use, at just over $20 the Surge is a very good value. However, because of its battery changing hassle and the exposed switch, I think if you're going to use it a lot you might want to look for something more serious, possibly a 3-cell Surefire or a Tigerlight. The Surge would be ridiculous as a police duty light or anything like that.
I'm probably going to put this light in my glovebox replacing the junky 2D light that's there now. The Surge isn't really that much bigger than a PT40, and weight isn't an issue for a car light.
Anyway, no regrets about buying it, I'm happy with it, but that's with the awareness that I'm going to be a relatively undemanding user for this type of light.
