About a year ago, I bought an U2 Ultra from CPF MP.
It turned out to be the new version.
I quickly turned it on, saw the color of the light and put it on the shelf... where it became a shelf queen, until a week ago I decided to give it a second chance.
First thing that is really great on this light, is the UI with that selector ring for the brightness setting. It is a true one-hand, no hassle system.
Second good property is the enormous range of the brightness settings. You have a 1:50 brightness ratio from the lowest to the highest setting (2 to 100 Lumens).
Third, is the great throw of this light. On paper, it may be quite identical to the P60L drop in (100 vs. 80 Lumens) but the difference is in the throwing capabilities. You won't notice this until you take the light out! Play with this light in your home and you'll probably be disappointed, take it out and you'll be impressed
Almost forgot to tell, that Surefire did quite the impossible here: combine this great throw with more than enough flood!! This is infinitely better than on the L1 Lumamax for example (the TIR-system provides nearly no spill at all!)
Beam quality is overall flawless. No dark spots or whatsoever.
The fourth good property for me, is the standard forward-clicky tailcap. With most Surefires, this will be an extra, here it is provided as a standard feature.
And, a fifth very good reason to actually use this one a lot, is the fact it can run from 2X Li-ion rechargeables without any problems! You won't loose your low modes, because of direct driving related problems.
Now, it's time to take a look at the current draws and run times on 2X Li-ion:
2 Lumens: 8.6mA
5 Lumens: 12.5mA
10 Lumens: 18.7mA
25 Lumens: 33.2mA
50 Lumens: 88mA
100 Lumens: 460mA(!)
Runtimes are pretty high, calculated on basis of 600mAh:
2 Lumens: 69 hours(!)
5 Lumens: 48 hours
10 Lumens: 32 hours
25 Lumens: 18 hours
50 Lumens: > 6 hours
100 Lumens: > 1 hour
Notice from this list, it's best to avoid the highest setting when you want decent run times. However, not only the current draw has a sharp increase here, the light output has too. When optimum throw is required in the field, just USE the highest setting and make sure you bring extra batteries. You won't be disappointed...
So far, so good! It is undoubtedly the most versatile light in my collection, not only when I take the Surefires only! I simply do not own any other flashlight that has such an easy UI and such a huge ratio of brightness-settings.
You may ask yourself: WHY has it been a shelf queen for a year then? Well, it's because of the color of the light :sick2:
I'm an incan guy, and I do love that warm, nice tint of incans over all others.
This U2 however, has sooo many good properties, and just one that's (to me) less favorable, that I simply have to overcome this, and USE it
Timmo.
It turned out to be the new version.
I quickly turned it on, saw the color of the light and put it on the shelf... where it became a shelf queen, until a week ago I decided to give it a second chance.
First thing that is really great on this light, is the UI with that selector ring for the brightness setting. It is a true one-hand, no hassle system.
Second good property is the enormous range of the brightness settings. You have a 1:50 brightness ratio from the lowest to the highest setting (2 to 100 Lumens).
Third, is the great throw of this light. On paper, it may be quite identical to the P60L drop in (100 vs. 80 Lumens) but the difference is in the throwing capabilities. You won't notice this until you take the light out! Play with this light in your home and you'll probably be disappointed, take it out and you'll be impressed
Almost forgot to tell, that Surefire did quite the impossible here: combine this great throw with more than enough flood!! This is infinitely better than on the L1 Lumamax for example (the TIR-system provides nearly no spill at all!)
Beam quality is overall flawless. No dark spots or whatsoever.
The fourth good property for me, is the standard forward-clicky tailcap. With most Surefires, this will be an extra, here it is provided as a standard feature.
And, a fifth very good reason to actually use this one a lot, is the fact it can run from 2X Li-ion rechargeables without any problems! You won't loose your low modes, because of direct driving related problems.
Now, it's time to take a look at the current draws and run times on 2X Li-ion:
2 Lumens: 8.6mA
5 Lumens: 12.5mA
10 Lumens: 18.7mA
25 Lumens: 33.2mA
50 Lumens: 88mA
100 Lumens: 460mA(!)
Runtimes are pretty high, calculated on basis of 600mAh:
2 Lumens: 69 hours(!)
5 Lumens: 48 hours
10 Lumens: 32 hours
25 Lumens: 18 hours
50 Lumens: > 6 hours
100 Lumens: > 1 hour
Notice from this list, it's best to avoid the highest setting when you want decent run times. However, not only the current draw has a sharp increase here, the light output has too. When optimum throw is required in the field, just USE the highest setting and make sure you bring extra batteries. You won't be disappointed...
So far, so good! It is undoubtedly the most versatile light in my collection, not only when I take the Surefires only! I simply do not own any other flashlight that has such an easy UI and such a huge ratio of brightness-settings.
You may ask yourself: WHY has it been a shelf queen for a year then? Well, it's because of the color of the light :sick2:
I'm an incan guy, and I do love that warm, nice tint of incans over all others.
This U2 however, has sooo many good properties, and just one that's (to me) less favorable, that I simply have to overcome this, and USE it
Timmo.
Last edited:
