Surefire G2 Nitrolon Incan P61 Review

[rockingthe2]

Hey everybody,
I'm rather new here and I have been mostly lurking and reading up on flashlights for a few weeks. I thought I should at least try and contribute to the community by reviewing my Surefire G2 Nitrolon with the P61 Light Engine. It is fairly bright for an Incan
Either way enough with the boring intro, the review is on my blog here: http://rockingthe2.blogspot.com/2011...andescent.html
If you like it leave a comment or something, kinda new to the whole blogging thing as well so any input recieved is good.
tl;dr version: Blah, Blah, Blah... Surefire, Blah, Blah, Blah...

[Justin Case]

Your 20 min run time isn't because the light overheats and shuts off. It's because the 123A cells are drained. You are getting exactly the advertised run time.

The photo of you with a rifle in single kneeling shows incorrect technique. You have the wrong knee down for a right-handed shooter.

[fyrstormer]

Ouch.

[rockingthe2]

Your 20 min run time isn't because the light overheats and shuts off. It's because the 123A cells are drained. You are getting exactly the advertised run time.

Interesting, I always thought that it had some sort of overheating safety feature or something, good to know! I'll correct that.

The photo of you with a rifle in single kneeling shows incorrect technique. You have the wrong knee down for a right-handed shooter.

Hah, thanks. I'm still working on that one but I shoot weird because I'm left eye dominant. I'm pretty much blind in my right eye and we were just screwing around that day (SAFELY!) I was not acctually shooting at that point lol.

[Justin Case]

It's possible that the PTC in the 123A cells cut off the power, but again that's not something in the P61 itself.

Also, IMO 123A cells are not hard to find. Numerous vendors sell them on the Internet. Yes, the price perhaps is "high" relative to a AA, but you also get far greater performance than for a AA alkaline in terms of Wh at some relevant constant current discharge rate (e.g., 1A or 2A). And today's 123A Internet price is about 5x-10X cheaper than before SureFire came out with their own 123A labeled cells. $1 to $2 per cell is a far cry from over $10 per cell.

Shoot left-handed.

[T45]

Rockingthe2
Please fix your link....it has "http://http://...." at the beginning. Cool Zippo Lighter!

[rockingthe2]

Rockingthe2
Please fix your link....it has "http://http://...." at the beginning.

Fixed, sorry I'm used to posting links in other forums but this one is slightly different.

Cool Zippo Lighter!

Thanks! It was kinda fun making that, kinda like coloring, except it was a blowtorch and not crayons.

[bouncer]

Try putting a p90 and two of AW's r123 batteries in there as much light as p61 and guilt free lumens !! And welcome to the addiction.

[rockingthe2]

Try putting a p90 and two of AW's r123 batteries in there as much light as p61 and guilt free lumens !! And welcome to the addiction.

HA! I'm already broke and yet I find these cool new toys! I've already got a nice wish list (I also frequent EDCF, Gear Journal, and a few forums for cars) so I think broke will be where I stay for awhile! Is there a Flashaholic's Anonymous I can go crash and bring some people back into the light?

[ampdude]

It's possible that the PTC in the 123A cells cut off the power, but again that's not something in the P61 itself.

I'm not aware of any lithium primaries that have a protection circuit.

[Justin Case]

Duracell, Energizer, SureFire.

[nfetterly]

Try putting a p90 and two of AW's r123 batteries in there as much light as p61 and guilt free lumens !! And welcome to the addiction.

While not necessarily good in a G2 - but two IMR 123s and a P91 pretty much ROCK - guilt free lumens. I picked up the P91s with a WTB for $10 to $15 each.

[ampdude]

Duracell, Energizer, SureFire.

Cool, thanks for the link. Lots of detailed pictures there. I wonder what the current threshold is on Surefire cells then?

Seems to be a more passive type of system than the RCR's then as those tend to fail if you put them in the freezer. I think it is partially attributed to the chemistry though as well.

[Justin Case]

I probably would limit any quality 123A primary along the lines of the specs in the Energizer 123 datasheet -- 1.5A continuous, 3.5A pulsed, 60C max operating temp. Duracell's datasheet doesn't have any max discharge limits and their max temp limit is 75C. To be conservative, I default to the Energizer datasheet temp limits.

[ampdude]

I probably would limit any quality 123A primary along the lines of the specs in the Energizer 123 datasheet -- 1.5A continuous, 3.5A pulsed, 60C max operating temp. Duracell's datasheet doesn't have any max discharge limits and their max temp limit is 75C. To be conservative, I default to the Energizer datasheet temp limits.

1.5A continous seems a bit low, since the P61 and P91 draw around 2.7A if I recall correctly. Though I think I once read that Surefire doesn't recommend running the HOLA's more than 5 minutes continuous. I thought it was more related to the bulb than anything, since people who run HOLA like the MN21 for more than a five minutes on rechargeables seem to have problems with exploding bulbs, like the MN21 on IMR's. Though I thought it may be related to voltage levels that would normally have gone further down on primaries.I know the batteries can go into thermal shutdown, but I thought it was related to chemistry, not an actual PTC.

[Justin Case]

I'm just saying what I would do in terms of driving a 123A cell.

I've measured about 2.3A for a P61 driven by 2xSF123A. The SF N62 draws about 3.7A from 4xSF123A. I don't consider either lamp useful for general purpose flashlight use and long, continuous on times.

[HotWire]

The G2 is an excellent light. I own several of them in several flavors. But... bright for an incan? Read this:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?198582-The-BIG-Lights