older SF flashlights

I have a SF E2E Executive and a E2O Outdoorsman in new condition, are these worth keeping or upgrading ?

On 3/9 I posted a thread regarding the value of two older SF flashlights and my thread was closed. I don't want to sell them. I just want to know if they're worth keeping as is or converting to led. davemp

Discussion about keeping / converting is fine. Price fishing threads that seek to appraise items, or thinly veiled "sales" threads, tend to get closed or deleted.

Thanks for understanding.

Lumens factory, Tana, Tad bi pin and a few others are some ways to upgrade to led or keep them going as incandescent.

What you want to do with them is up to you. Some people like incandescent for its warm beautiful beam. While others prefer led for the longer runtime and less of a chance of a bulb breaking or burning out. You can get some led upgrades that can be similar to an incandescent. There are a few threads on the forums discussing this. Have a look around and enjoy!

What models do you have? There are many different options for some, and less for others. But there are great reasons to keep them incan, and great reasons to upgrade to LED. Completely depends on your use case. For example, I have 6Ps with LED drop ins that I use in situations where my life depends on a bulb not breaking, and I have 6Ps that I use every day around the house and yard with incan lamps because I truly enjoy the beam and tint of the incan bulbs much better than any LED I have come across.

deleted. (Advice already given...)

The only Surefire lights I own are incandescent because I don't like their LEDs. I'm also pretty sure the modern LED lights from them don't use a replaceable module, so the modularity of the lights is somewhat lost in my opinion. The old Surefire lights are basically just a shell in my mind. What goes inside is all up to the end user.
If you like incandescent for the lovely black bodied radiator, Tads Customs or Lumens Factory makes some good options.
If you want an LED, depending on which Surefire lights you have, there are options from Malkoff Devices, Lumens Factory, and Tana a custom builder here.
Can you post which lights you have? I can give more specific recommendations if I know what lights you have.

InvisibleFrodo said:

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Can you post which lights you have? I can give more specific recommendations if I know what lights you have.

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Threads edited and merged, thanks

Definitely worth keeping or upgrading as long as they are still round enough to change batteries and modules. If they're so bent that cannot occur then, no.

Honestly, even if the body or head was so badly damaged that it was unusable, the best part about Surefire lights in my opinion is the widespread adoption of their dimensions as a sort of "industry standard". One can easily find a replacement head or body, even if it's made by another manufacturer. The modular design allows for "LEGOing" parts and pieces from various manufacturers or various lights to make custom combinations. For example, if one owns a Surefire 6P, it can be converted into a sort of 9P using a Malkoff Devices MD3 body.

InvisibleFrodo said:

For example, if one owns a Surefire 6P, it can be converted into a sort of 9P using a Malkoff Devices MD3 body.

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The Z44 head on a 6P is not compatible with a Malkoff MD3 body, to convert a 6P to a 9P it's easier to source a 1 x CR123 A19 body extender.

davemp said:

On 3/9 I posted a thread regarding the value of two older SF flashlights and my thread was closed. I don't want to sell them. I just want to know if they're worth keeping as is or converting to led. davemp

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Folks around here tend to avoid discussing values because Surefire is a status symbol brand much the same way Apple is or Bugatti. There will always be people who would take advantage of those who aren't aware of their samples value on the market. Refusing to discuss prices won't change that.

Anyway, fortunately with your models you can pretty much just swap em back and forth. You don't have to change them irreparably in order to convert them to LED. Personally I would say keep them original, remove the batteries and store them away for a while until you are more informed about them. There are plenty of other lights you could replace them with that are going to have more useful features and likely cost less even than you likely paid for them originally...or at least a similar price. Plus with other more modern lights you will be able to use common 18650 cells instead of having to go with harder to find 16650s or 123A primaries.

lightfooted said:

Folks around here tend to avoid discussing values because Surefire is a status symbol brand much the same way Apple is or Bugatti.

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The forum rules are clearly against price phishing, or asking about what a light is worth, regardless of manufacturer. Thats why folks avoid discussing it. Furthermore, stating that Surefire is a status symbol is your opinion only. I don't feel that this is shared by most. I don't share that opinion at all. The brand caters their products to those who need a light for practical purposes when reliability and basic functionality are critical. They're not blingy or flashy, they aren't loaded with features and creature comforts, etc.

Archi don't discriminate about closing only SureFire price fishing threads....
He closes any ole price fishing thread regardless of brand.

I wouldn't say that Surefire is a status symbol brand. I would say Surefire is a pretty well known brand and there is certainly brand recognition. For some reason, to me, when I think of status symbol lights I think of McGizmos, Muyshondts, Cool Fall Spys, other various lights with elaborate machining, and at the same time I think of lights with over inflated lumen outputs that are mostly for bragging rights. I don't think of Prometheus Lights, Malkoff Devices, HDS, Streamlight, or Surefire.
For some reason, the fact that I can go to a local store and walk out with a brand new Surefire takes away from the status symbol feeling to me.

archimedes said:

Threads edited and merged, thanks

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I have the E2E executive elite and the E2O outdoorsman. davemp

The E2O uses that 25 lumen bulb that gets long runtimes. It's a really perfect amount of light in my opinion, but that bulb assembly (MN02) is really hard to find nowadays. That light can always use the E2Es MN03...

My plan for my E2E I just got is to use a tads customs adaptor and bi-pin bulb assembly and carry a small container with a spare bulb and a singLED module. Run both on a 16650 and carry a spare cell in my pack. That way I can convert the light from incandescent to LED and back in under a minute, just as easily as I swap batteries.

InvisibleFrodo said:

I wouldn't say that Surefire is a status symbol brand. I would say Surefire is a pretty well known brand and there is certainly brand recognition. For some reason, to me, when I think of status symbol lights I think of McGizmos, Muyshondts, Cool Fall Spys, other various lights with elaborate machining, and at the same time I think of lights with over inflated lumen outputs that are mostly for bragging rights. I don't think of Prometheus Lights, Malkoff Devices, HDS, Streamlight, or Surefire.
For some reason, the fact that I can go to a local store and walk out with a brand new Surefire takes away from the status symbol feeling to me.

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Well one can also go to an Apple store and walk out with a brand new iPhone, or a pair of RayBans. Sure they are more affordable than a Bugatti but the association is more or less the same for the most part. Brand identity that is associated with higher cost and therefore also a higher quality. Surefire is not known for having low cost quality lights.

This is the only enthusiast forum that I have participated in where discussion of what your "things" are worth is forbidden. I suppose there could be others, but I have not found any. I didn't think anyone would really give my comments a second glance. I was simply trying to communicate to the OP that SF lights can command quite a price due to the people who choose to collect them. I think now I might even suggest selling them for a reasonable price and using the money to replace them with a few of the better competing lights. Possibly even just buying one or two and using the rest of the money for something else.

lightfooted said:

....This is the only enthusiast forum that I have participated in where discussion of what your "things" are worth is forbidden....

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I believe that you need a "Gold Membership" on BladeForums to discuss pricing.

InvisibleFrodo said:

The E2O uses that 25 lumen bulb that gets long runtimes. It's a really perfect amount of light in my opinion, but that bulb assembly (MN02) is really hard to find nowadays. That light can always use the E2Es MN03...

My plan for my E2E I just got is to use a tads customs adaptor and bi-pin bulb assembly and carry a small container with a spare bulb and a singLED module. Run both on a 16650 and carry a spare cell in my pack. That way I can convert the light from incandescent to LED and back in under a minute, just as easily as I swap batteries.

Click to expand...

Hey I like that! Might have to set one of mine up like that.