What to do with old Surefires since I've discovered LED's?

I don't keep up with flashlight technology and have a few old Surefires. I just got a Streamlight PolyTac LED and am amazed by how bright it is. So now my quest is to replace all my old lights with LED's.

So my question is can I get anything out of my old incan Surefires if I decide to sell them or am I better off keeping them? I am aware I can change heads but the way I figure it that costs as much as buying a whole new light.

As yes the brighter light is a godsend as I live on a few acres in the country and it gets very dark out here at night.

You could sell them (easily I might add), but I would definitely get a Malkoff to try in them first...welcome to CPF btw! They're still the best IMHO...I stareted off with a G2 in '04...now I have 20+ SF's...3 with Malkoffs (M60, M60F, and M60L! IT'S A SICKNESS!!!

I have my old incan Surfires on the shelf with burned out bulbs. If they are in your way you could sell them on the market place. Some one will buy them to mod.
Billy

C'mon.. incandescents are not so bad...

Lumensfactory also makes some good LED modules for Surefires!

http://www.lumensfactory.com/

and for even less money, there are a ton of LED dropin modules available from other manufacturers: Solarforce makes some good ones, and you can get some decent ones really cheap from places like ITC Shop (eBay seller).

http://sbflashlights.com/

You can definitely sell your Surefires with no problem if you decide to go that route.

I also agree with Dioni: I have quite a few LED lights, but I love my incans and don't want to give them up.

Which 'old' Surefires do you have?

Any of the D26 style ones (G2, C2, 6P, Classic series weapon lights, M951, 9P, C3, M2 etc) can all take a huge variety of LED Drop ins.

M series have less available, but if you look in the custom forum here you'll find a couple of different products for those too.

"Which 'old' Surefires do you have?"

Three E2E's (2 round head, 1 hex head)
One Z2

well you could get a KL4 head for the E2E, other LED options are a little more problematic, there have been micro towers offered in the custom BST forum in the past, but I don't think they are available right now. As you say, the KL4 is quite expensive, although keep an eye on the CPFMP

Z2 is pretty east - Malkoff M60, or a Lumens factory drop in if you don't want to spend the money on the Malkoff.

For the E2E, why not keep it incan? Get an LF E2R for example. There's a lot to be said for incans.

You can get as many, or more lumens out of them with incan mods as with LED mods.

For example: Take an E2e and put an FM D26 bi-pin lamp holder/reflector assembly on it using a E2C adapter and an appropriate D26 bezel. Run an FM-1794 bulb on 2x IMR cells for 1000 lumens.

My personal recommendation - put them in the back of your closet for when you realize that LEDs are really only good for one thing - long battery life and that incan rocks for everything else.

I've sold off almost all of my LEDs - hanging onto the TK40 and NDI - and use incan exclusively now almost everything.

You could give a few to me I don't even have a Surefire...

If I decided to sell the E2E's what would be a fair asking price?

The best idea would be to search through the CPFMP and look at recent sales to see what similar conditioned ones have been selling for.

I just picked up a used in near mint ccondition e2e for $40, and it was like walmart on Black Friday in that sales thread. I think you should get a malkoff m60 for your Z2. I think they are $55 ish, malkoffdevices.com.

Now, you will develop the "sickness" also know as flashaholism, so I would also suggest you keep At least one of your e2e's. They are praised here, and for good reason.

definitely don't sell them. At first I was also WOW'ed by LEDs, but then after some indeterminate amount of time. I realized I could actually see better with incans, especially outdoors and off in the distance. I have LEDs of course for their multiple strengths, but as far as illumination tools go and actually seeing what I am illuminating, I will always have incans ready for use.

I say keep them, maybe mod them with hotter LAs and IMR cells.

One of my favorite general use lights is a 2D mag hosting 2x 26650 cells and a MAG 6-cell Xenon PR lamp. Its ~150 Lumens, which for me is a perfect for general around the house stuff. It only draws .9A, runs for ~4 hours. Sometimes I use this setup with 2x18650.
:twothumbs

If you're already well set for led's right now, then see about enhancing the bulb and battery combo's you're using for your lights. With some rechargable batteries and bi-pin bulbs you can breathe new lumens (life) into the 'old' lights.

Placing a thread in the Incan section saying you don't think you have a use for incans any more could be regarded as a little provocative.

However, you haven't posted all that frequently, and I'm sure your query is a perfectly genuine one. The urbane and highly civilised inhabitants of the Incan section have taken it in that spirit, and I'm sure you will want to give them credit for that, despite the pained expressions I can imagine on their faces, lol.

I'll move the thread to the General Flashlight Discussion section.

Hi GaryXD:

LEDS have never overtaken incands when it comes to outdoor colour rendition, especially in rain or fog.

I use my LED lights for close range use, such as changing a tyre or reading a map, looking for my car keys etc... but when you need to scour rain soaked vegetation for an animal that doesn't want to be found at 50yards or more and put it down with one shot, lets see a LED light that will perform better than an incand.

GaryXD said:

I don't keep up with flashlight technology and have a few old Surefires. I just got a Streamlight PolyTac LED and am amazed by how bright it is. So now my quest is to replace all my old lights with LED's.

So my question is can I get anything out of my old incan Surefires if I decide to sell them or am I better off keeping them? I am aware I can change heads but the way I figure it that costs as much as buying a whole new light.

As yes the brighter light is a godsend as I live on a few acres in the country and it gets very dark out here at night.

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nzgunnie said:

Z2 is pretty easy - Malkoff M60

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+2 on the Malkoff M60 LED drop-in for the Z2. :thumbsup:

Also + whatever on an IMR configuration in one of the E2's. 2x IMR16340 rechargeable cells have the ability to supply up to 30 watts of incan goodness in that host. BTW, for comparision, does anybody know what the wattage of the stock incan E2 is?

Kestrel said:

2x IMR16340 rechargeable cells have the ability to supply up to 30 watts of incan goodness in that host. BTW, for comparision, does anybody know what the wattage of the stock incan E2 is?

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MN03 draws about 1.1A. Keeping it simple, and just calling it a 6V lamp...~6.6 watts.