This is why I have Surefires:
My folks and I went on a hike in a small state park near my house this afternoon. In the middle of the park there is a huge wooden lookout tower that you can climb to see the lake and surrounding woods and area. We climbed to the top, and immediately it occurred to me that it would be a great time for a bit of a torture test for a flashlight. :devil: I had a G2L and a Ra Twisty 100 with me. There was no way I was trashing a prized and discontinued Twisty, but I had no problem chucking a G2L off the top. It's a Surefire, it'll survive, I was sure. Here's an opportunity to prove why a Surefire is a good investment. And they're not very expensive to rebuild if it breaks, thanks to lego-ability.
Here's the tower. It's 60 feet tall with three platforms evenly spaced that you can stand on and look around.
I had my choice of surfaces to drop it on: mud, gravel, or the concrete supports at the bottom of the tower. I was sure this light would not care about the mud, and even the gravel seemed like not much of a challenge, so I determined that the concrete would be the only way to go. Go big or go home, right? :naughty:
Here's the concrete block at the bottom.
My parents went to the bottom of the tower to see what would transpire. My first drop was lame as I didn't account for the outward tapering of the tower and it simply fell 20 feet, bounced off a railing, fell 20 more feet and landed on a platform. :thumbsdow I ran down and grabbed it. No problems. I may as well just have dropped it in a pile of feathers. Clearly two 20 foot drops is not enough to frighten a SF.
So I tried again. I leaned out farther and dropped it. This time it fell the full 60 ft and smacked the concrete. The tailcap popped off and batteries flew out and the body/head section skidded the other way. Good thing I had eyes on the ground.
My mom and dad picked up the cap and batteries and told me the tailcap was cracked. But they put the cells in and screwed the cap back down, and pointed it at me at the top of the tower. "It still works!" they shouted. :thumbsup:
Yup, the cap cracked, and there were a few scuffs on the head, but basically it was fine. I fully believe that if it had fallen on the side of the light or even on an angle instead of squarely on the tail, it would not have cracked and there would be no real damage at all. And despite the crack, the body threads are unscathed and I can still screw it down well enough and the light functions perfectly! I pulled out the P60L and the cells and everything looks great. I will pick up a new tailcap on the MarketPlace, but until then, I intend to keep using this baby. Now it's got a story! That's why they call them Surefires. They are Sure to Fire up. :rock:
Here's a couple pics of the damage and proof that it is still working as intended.
My folks and I went on a hike in a small state park near my house this afternoon. In the middle of the park there is a huge wooden lookout tower that you can climb to see the lake and surrounding woods and area. We climbed to the top, and immediately it occurred to me that it would be a great time for a bit of a torture test for a flashlight. :devil: I had a G2L and a Ra Twisty 100 with me. There was no way I was trashing a prized and discontinued Twisty, but I had no problem chucking a G2L off the top. It's a Surefire, it'll survive, I was sure. Here's an opportunity to prove why a Surefire is a good investment. And they're not very expensive to rebuild if it breaks, thanks to lego-ability.
Here's the tower. It's 60 feet tall with three platforms evenly spaced that you can stand on and look around.
I had my choice of surfaces to drop it on: mud, gravel, or the concrete supports at the bottom of the tower. I was sure this light would not care about the mud, and even the gravel seemed like not much of a challenge, so I determined that the concrete would be the only way to go. Go big or go home, right? :naughty:
Here's the concrete block at the bottom.
My parents went to the bottom of the tower to see what would transpire. My first drop was lame as I didn't account for the outward tapering of the tower and it simply fell 20 feet, bounced off a railing, fell 20 more feet and landed on a platform. :thumbsdow I ran down and grabbed it. No problems. I may as well just have dropped it in a pile of feathers. Clearly two 20 foot drops is not enough to frighten a SF.
So I tried again. I leaned out farther and dropped it. This time it fell the full 60 ft and smacked the concrete. The tailcap popped off and batteries flew out and the body/head section skidded the other way. Good thing I had eyes on the ground.
My mom and dad picked up the cap and batteries and told me the tailcap was cracked. But they put the cells in and screwed the cap back down, and pointed it at me at the top of the tower. "It still works!" they shouted. :thumbsup:Yup, the cap cracked, and there were a few scuffs on the head, but basically it was fine. I fully believe that if it had fallen on the side of the light or even on an angle instead of squarely on the tail, it would not have cracked and there would be no real damage at all. And despite the crack, the body threads are unscathed and I can still screw it down well enough and the light functions perfectly! I pulled out the P60L and the cells and everything looks great. I will pick up a new tailcap on the MarketPlace, but until then, I intend to keep using this baby. Now it's got a story! That's why they call them Surefires. They are Sure to Fire up. :rock:
Here's a couple pics of the damage and proof that it is still working as intended.
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