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!!!