Comments on SF A2 Aviator

[weaponlight]

Bullzeyebill, had to comment on your daughter's boyfriend's being hard on his lights. I am a soldier currently in Iraq and very hard on my lights. Recommend to him a Surefire Z60 lanyard. Slip his hand thru the loop and slip the cinch to his wrist. This has saved my C-2 and A-2 Surefires many times. If he works on ladders and such, or just has to quickly use both hands, he can just drop the light and it will dangle from his wrist ready for easy retrival.

 

[cslinger]

Guess I will add my 2 cents. I have two A2s and I simply can't think of a better all around flashlight to own. Their only drawback in my opinion is their price, but in reality I have never paid more then $140 for an A2.

The burn time is phenominal when you consider the fact that most all your lighting needs will be accomplished by using the LEDs. 50 minutes of pure bright white light is better than 60-65 of continually dimming light in my book and the fact is you just don't use that beam all that often.

The lamps last longer, the batteries last longer (in practical use), the beam is nicer longer and it's all wrapped up in that Surefire durable shell.

I am really a LED guy at heart and didn't want to like the A2 but if I could I would have one in each car and a couple in the house. It just fills such a wide spectrum of needs so well and does so with that spectacular instant switching system.

Once again cost is high $130-$190.
Can't use PILAs, which I don't use anyway.
Battery run time with Incand. is short.
LEDs could have a prettier beam spot.

These cons all look horrible in paper but all of them go away with real world use. Well except that pesky, we are Surefire so you will pay through the nose thing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I also have an L2, which I paid more for and although it is a spectacular light as well it just doesn't have the same versatility as an A2.

Chris

 

[leukos]

[ QUOTE ]
Size15's said:

[/ QUOTE ]

Has anyone tried modding their A2 with the newer 26,000 mcd LED's? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[this_is_nascar]

What new LEDS? Tell us more.

 

[leukos]

I suppose they're not all that new. Here was a GB for some, or the uncut (MJLED) at the Shoppe

Actually, if someone wanted to do a mod for this and a subsequent groupbuy, it could be quite popular. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Cornkid]

It would be a VERY easy mod.

-tom

 

[beezaur]

Mods aside, does Surefire (or anyone else) sell replacement LED modules? It would be nice to try a different color without having to get a whole new light.

Scott

 

[davidra]

No. I am lucky enough to have a spare LED ring that came up on BST a few months ago, so I can switch from red to white. I haven't seen any others come up. Occasionally Al will torture us with his pictures of multiple rings. I would love to have a yellow-green....

 

[vontech]

Are these LED rings not available -- not even from Surefire?

 

[ACMarina]

I don't think you can just call and order them, although I'd guess if you knew somebody you could probably get them. Really, though, it doesn't look like it would be too hard for somebody with some skills to make those, either. I'd love to have a set of red, blue, green, white and UV /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Vortex]

Would it be feasable to modify the ring? Would it be easy to un-solder the originals and replace them with some white 5mm nichias. I wish I had a ring in front of me. I hear that there a some smd resistors soldered onto the ring as well. Could one use the same resistors with the 5mm nichias? I was planning on picking up an A2 but it had those yucky blue LEDs /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

 

[Size15's]

I don't think it's possible to order the A2's LED Rings from SureFire (this is a shame I feel).

Having the ability to swap out (although this is not an instant-process) and change colours has been useful to me.

The issue with modifying an LED ring is that the resistors are matched to the LED and so you'd need to find an LED type that could accept the resistors, or swap out the resistors as well.

Sorry, none of the 'spare' LED Rings I have are for sale.

 

[KevinL]

Come to think of it.. drive current should be the same across the InGaN family - blue, green, cyan, WHITE. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was thinking about an A2, buying the one with blue LEDs, exchanging them for 26K mcd white ones, but I already kinda messed up changing the Widget's LEDs to 26Ks, so..

Yes it LOOKS easy, until you actually start picking it apart and wondering how to hold the LEDs in place while you solder. Admittedly the Widget had two PCBs back-to-back so I could not access the solder dots on the underside (the proper way to solder) so it did make it a bit more difficult.