Is this bezel a Surefire?

[buickid]

I bought a bezel from a member on the marketplace, and what I received puzzled me a bit. It was advertised as a Surefire bezel, but was nothing like the other 6P bezel I have. First, it has a snap-in plastic window, and second, it lacks the Caution Hot Surface engravings. It does have the hex anti-roll ring, and looks pretty quality.

From my searching, I believe really old Surefire bezels were like this. Did Solarforce or anyone clone the snap-in window bezels?

 

[greenLED]

Do you have pics, or links to the BST thread? I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "snap-in plastic window".

Maybe you got a Nitrolon bezel? Just a wild guess.

 

[buickid]

No, its an aluminum bezel, but the window is pressed into a groove instead of held in by a threaded aluminum retaining ring. The old windows were held in this way, and window replacement (due to frequent melting) required forcible snapping out of the old lens and press fitting in the new one. I'll get some pics, hold one a sec.

 

[buickid]

The one on the left is the old one, weighs about 16 grams.
One on the right is a known 6P bezel, weighs 20 grams.

 

[Chrontius]

Looks like either an early-generation 6P (before they introduced the P61, which ran hot enough to require glass lenses), or a ... yeah, I should have read the thread before whacking reply. You might ask Size51 for confirmation, but I understand that Surefire really did make them like that.

 

[sween1911]

My Z3 came with a bezel like that...

- aluminum
- no markings
- snap-in lexan lens (ie: no screw-in retaining ring)
- anti-roll hex base

It looks legit.

 

[Owen]

Legit, and you got screwed over by whoever didn't post a pic, or describe it as the old style-with an easily scratched and melted lens that you can't upgrade. I've had those bezels come on older SFs like the discontinued Z3s sween1911 mentioned, and gave them away with other stuff I was selling.
I'd tell that seller I want my money back, or a current bezel, if that's what you were led or allowed to believe you were buying.

 

[tx101]

I have a Z2 with the exact same bezel
I guess I brought it years ago

 

[buickid]

Hmm interesting. I guess I'll keep it on a light. I wonder if SF still has the Z19 replacement windows, or what they would do if it needed replacement...

 

[sween1911]

It's a shame that you thought you were getting a current bezel, but it's not a bad part, it's just evolved a bit since the one you have. All the original 6P's and 9P's were that way originally. The lexan lens is lighter than pyrex. It's also fairly impact-resistant. (You really have to wail on the pyrex to break it, but Size15's proved that was possible.) It can get scratched up and melted, but there are people carrying 6P's everyday that they bought years ago that still work fine.

 

[1wrx7]

Hmm interesting. I guess I'll keep it on a light. I wonder if SF still has the Z19 replacement windows, or what they would do if it needed replacement...

Yes they still have the replacements, I need to order one too.

 

[yellow]

really old sf 6P (and 6R and 3P and 9P) bezels were totally round
(and looked a lot more pleasing)
so this is a "mid-old" one

 

[Kevbodian]

The one on the left is the old one, weighs about 16 grams.
One on the right is a known 6P bezel, weighs 20 grams.

I'm a little confused. The one on the left is an old one or the one you just bought?

 

[buickid]

The left one is the unknown bezel, the one in question.

The right one is a bezel that came off a genuine 6P, modern era.

 

[dano]

SF used plastic lenses for several years, including the hex-bezels.

SF also used to sell kits to replace the plastic bezels. The kit included a small piece of foam that you'd used to protect the lens from the nickel (i.e. 5 cents) that you'd use in combination with a vise to pop the new lens into the bezel.

I had to do this a bunch as I had a habit of melting lenses with a P61 lamp.