MN bulb life

[ADDICTED2LITE]

Do the MN series of bulbs last longer than the P series? I had a P90 goe out on the first set of batteries. Just wondering if the MN series hold up better.

 

[mdocod]

bulb life is a tricky situation, especially on CR123s, which can have very high initial voltages, and rather low settling voltages in a circuit.

SF lamps are all sortof generally rated for "30 hours" but I would imagine that number is an average of all the lamps and the wide range of possible failure points...

Many people here have P and M series lamps with 50+ hours on them and sill running strong, others have popped multiple lamps within the first few hours...

I think it depends more on the cells, temperature, and resistance.

Dude... SF has an awesome warranty... and while they don't specifically say that they will cover lamps assemblies they will usually replace extremely pre-mature burn-outs like you have experienced.

I'll leave it up to you if you want to check into having them replace it.

 

[ADDICTED2LITE]

I emailed surefire about the bulb, but haven't heard back yet. I'll give them a day or so and then call. I have about 11 or 12 surefire bulbs and this is the first one that blew in a unreasonable amount of time. I have blown a couple by putting the wrong bulb in and . But this light was actually on when it blew. How rugged are these bulbs as far as dropping them when off. Do the M series shock resistant heads really help if you drop it?

 

[defusion]

well, i dropped my M3 with MN11 a few times on purpose from varying heights, and it was working fine, but thats no guarantee that it will continue to do so.
also, this was tested with the light off, and I'm told it would blow more easily when it's on.