Anyone edc a surefire?

[vadimax]

Even 2 6P of them... kind of. Both feature P60 modded inserts: a Super rare Vinz 4x Nichia 219b with a red LED (flood) and another -- a less rare P60vn with SST20 4000K (throw).

 

[ilikeguns40]

Surefire needs to bring back their old school E series lights with upgraded LEDs. Disappointed the E1D defender 5/300 lumen and E1L-A outdoorsman 90/5 lumen models were discontinued

 

[Fuzzywuzzies]

I confess I've always been partial to the looks of the older generation Surefire lights. But when they could be had I couldn't afford them. I got a Solarforce and modded it instead! =) I've always meant to get a stock 6P or something just to put some use on it.
I stuck with that Solarforce for so long though - once I finally figured out a way to retro-pot a drop-in, it was actually a surprisingly good light for the money. I went straight from that to the Elzetta Bravo once I could afford it, and never had the chance to own a Surefire. Who knows, maybe if I had, I would still be carrying it...!

 

[ilikeguns40]

That’s some nice wear

 

[knucklegary]

@Fuzzywuzzies solar force reminds me of a member who worked in a molten metal foundry. He showed off his Malkoff's that looked like it got caught in the end of a jet engine blast. Well worn with spots of ano here 'n there

 

[Fuzzywuzzies]

@knucklegary & @ilikeguns40 Haha, yeah I wear my lights pretty hard. Between myself, my Dad and my large family, we have a lot of "torches", as we call them here down under, and they get a massive amount of use put on them in our line of work. We take good care of our gear, but both Dad and I in particular used to wear a drop-in down to nearly 50% output in a couple of years tops, just with the hours of runtime. Elzetta changed all that for us though, which is one reason why I'm such a fan.
That's the main reason I'd like to get my hands on a stock 6P, just to see how well the legend holds up.
But yeah, that Solarforce sure did the miles eh!

 

[FPSRelic]

@knucklegary & @ilikeguns40 Haha, yeah I wear my lights pretty hard. Between myself, my Dad and my large family, we have a lot of "torches", as we call them here down under, and they get a massive amount of use put on them in our line of work. We take good care of our gear, but both Dad and I in particular used to wear a drop-in down to nearly 50% output in a couple of years tops, just with the hours of runtime. Elzetta changed all that for us though, which is one reason why I'm such a fan. Four years to around 75% so far, and counting.
That's the main reason I'd like to get my hands on a stock 6P, just to see how well the legend holds up.
But yeah, that Solarforce sure did the miles eh!

What are you doing to your lights to get them to burn out so quickly? The L70 rating (the point at which they get to 70% output) for XML emitters is rated at 72,600 hours at 1.5A. That's a runtime of about 8 years if you ran it 24/7. Are you overdriving them or something?

 

[Fuzzywuzzies]

What are you doing to your lights to get them to burn out so quickly? The L70 rating (the point at which they get to 70% output) for XML emitters is rated at 72,600 hours at 1.5A. That's a runtime of about 8 years if you ran it 24/7. Are you overdriving them or something?

TL;DR - Yes, ultimately overdriving would probably be the best summary.
This was from a more innocent time when I hadn’t looked into the effect of circuit design and component selection on thermal management and emmiter lifespan. Potting of course interfered with the thermal side of things, maybe more than I realised, but we still drove them with everything they’d give. At the time I was working with my dad in the bowels of massive commercial buildings, and often literally wouldn’t see the sun for days on end. In before dawn, out after dusk. It was a tough job and the headlamps and other form factors wouldn’t do it for a variety of reasons.
I guess it was a combination of factors, starting with the fact that Solarforce was a Chinese company with some, er, limitations shall we say. That alongside the bangs and drops, massive hours of back-to back use, and possibly unprotected batteries (those things got HOT sometimes) all combined to make a bit of a perfect storm for emitter life I suppose.
I’m working a different job now, and still put some decent hours on my lights, but it’s vastly more switch cycles and less emitter hours.

Edit: It probably would have helped if we had discovered Malkoff too…. Some of the drop-ins we were experimenting with were of dubious quality!

 

[bykfixer]

^^^^ Epic!!!

 

[GMT2330]

Yes, a red HA oveready 6p bored for 18650 with a Malkoff m61.
Also a stock 6p body with a lumens factory old style smoothy bezel running on 16650 and Malkoff m61nl.
Both 6p have McClicky tailcap conversions.

 

[GMT2330]

Surefire E series are nice to edc as well.
E1e Incan converted to LED with a Lumens Factory drop in. Has that lovely grey/green anodising.
Also a 30th anniversary e1b body with z68 tailcap, oveready EtoC adapter, nitrolon hex bezel/head, and a Malkoff M31LL 219b.

Not so keen on the newer Surefires. Most of mine are 10+yrs old. I prefer natural hard anodising to black but the e1b MV looks interesting.

 

[sween1911]

Surefire E series are nice to edc as well.
E1e Incan converted to LED with a Lumens Factory drop in. Has that lovely grey/green anodising.
Also a 30th anniversary e1b body with z68 tailcap, oveready EtoC adapter, nitrolon hex bezel/head, and a Malkoff M31LL 219b.

Not so keen on the newer Surefires. Most of mine are 10+yrs old. I prefer natural hard anodising to black but the e1b MV looks interesting.

Right there with you. When I got an E1 (20+ years ago?) I wanted a black one so bad. They were out of stock so instead of getting HA, I got "Gunmetal" which I realize now we could have all saved time and confusion by calling it SILVER. It grew on me and was my daily companion for about 10 or so years before I got an L1, but if I had to do it over I would have gotten the E1 in HA.

 

[Monocrom]

For a hot minute awhile back, a SureFire Tactician.
But I quickly realized it was a One-Trick Pony. Granted it was a Master at pulling off that one trick, but I wanted more. Hate that thin metal, freely rotating lanyard ring that I'm never going to use. And, bezel-up carry no longer works for me. Years upon years ago I came up with a pinch-grip that allows instant and easy orientation in the hand from bezel-down carry. (One that apparently none of the Tacti-cool "Experts" on YouTube with their massive channels have been able to come up with for some bizarre reason. And, still show that ridiculous method of drawing a bezel-down light from a pants pocket.)

Yes, one YouTuber found a way to reverse the Tactician's clip. But then the lanyard ring becomes more of a headache.

Had to stop carrying the Tactician. Still own it though. I might have come up with a solution. But it's sitting in a delivery box near me. Day off today. I'll start testing it very soon. Basically, imagine a Tactician with over double the output, a more useful beam for all kinds of use, black body instead of O.D. Green, and bezel-down design. No, unfortunately it's not from SureFire.

 

[GMT2330]

I like the fact that the Tactician is one of their more compact E2 designs. The edcl2-t is a large 2xcr123 light which makes tricky to edc. Something the Tacticians size is much closer to the original E2 incan and much more pocketable.

 

[scalpel_ninja]

For a hot minute awhile back, a SureFire Tactician.
But I quickly realized it was a One-Trick Pony. Granted it was a Master at pulling off that one trick, but I wanted more. Hate that thin metal, freely rotating lanyard ring that I'm never going to use. And, bezel-up carry no longer works for me. Years upon years ago I came up with a pinch-grip that allows instant and easy orientation in the hand from bezel-down carry. (One that apparently none of the Tacti-cool "Experts" on YouTube with their massive channels have been able to come up with for some bizarre reason. And, still show that ridiculous method of drawing a bezel-down light from a pants pocket.)

Yes, one YouTuber found a way to reverse the Tactician's clip. But then the lanyard ring becomes more of a headache.

Had to stop carrying the Tactician. Still own it though. I might have come up with a solution. But it's sitting in a delivery box near me. Day off today. I'll start testing it very soon. Basically, imagine a Tactician with over double the output, a more useful beam for all kinds of use, black body instead of O.D. Green, and bezel-down design. No, unfortunately it's not from SureFire.

This is how I carry the Tactician.

Or like this:

 

[Monocrom]

That's not stock.
Body, clip, and tailcap look familiar. But which Malkoff parts are those, specifically? (Yes, I plan on completely copying your set-up. Not going to lie.)

 

[scalpel_ninja]

That's not stock.
Body, clip, and tailcap look familiar. But which Malkoff parts are those, specifically? (Yes, I plan on completely copying your set-up. Not going to lie.)

First photo is a Malkoff 16340 body; but any single cell body works because the Tactician can run one Li-ion.

Second photo is the Lumens Factory clip in place of the stock ring. LF’s tail tool is useful for the swap. I also put in the blanking stud for where the stock clip was.

 

[Monocrom]

Those are SWEET set-ups. Thank you for the 411. (y)(y)

 

[vicv]

Surefire E series are nice to edc as well.
E1e Incan converted to LED with a Lumens Factory drop in. Has that lovely grey/green anodising.
Also a 30th anniversary e1b body with z68 tailcap, oveready EtoC adapter, nitrolon hex bezel/head, and a Malkoff M31LL 219b.

Not so keen on the newer Surefires. Most of mine are 10+yrs old. I prefer natural hard anodising to black but the e1b MV looks interesting.

Have you actually used one of the lumens factory drop-in? Nothing against lumens factory, they did what they could with that tiny reflector. I find the LED to be an absolute mess in that reflector. Much, much better with an incandescent bulbs

 

[GMT2330]

Yes, I have the current (gen 6) 519a LED in cool white.
I quite like it :) .
They claim 420 lumens but that must be on li-ion 3.7v. It looks more like 200-250 to me on 1xcr123. It's definitely not a thrower!

The fact that mine is the gen 6 version suggests there's been 5 less successful versions previously. Perhaps you have one of these earlier versions or maybe we have different tastes.
I also like the stock Incan bulb but battery life is poor in this configuration and the output is relatively low.