My first Surefire! Help me make it shine!

[sylathnie]

Well I bit the bullet and went out and bought an actual Surefire 6P. I wanted to try something basic and get a feel for what all the hubbub is about.
First, my opinion of the light. I am not excessively impressed. The threads on the tail cap are sloppy. The whole tail cap kind of wobbles when I press on it. The aluminum seems thin and the interior machining isn't exactly pretty and smooth. The battery tube isn't even close to smooth inside.
Now I do understand that I did buy about the cheapest surefire I could. I guess my expectations may have been excessively high. I did buy it just for the purpose of modifying it.
And that leads me to my next point. I want this light to be bright! And by bright I mean I want to start fires with this thing. I've snagged one of these and one of these to get started with.
I'm going to try and get a Deerlight R2 and MC-E dropin and I have been looking at Gene's dropins.
Anything I'm missing?

 

[GreyShark]

First off I'm concerned about your tail cap. While there will always be a very tiny amount of play in anything that's threaded but not screwed down all the way there shouldn't be any wobble. I own several 6P's and none of them wobble.

The aluminum is thin in a couple places like under the o rings on the tail cap but the body is quite thick. I don't have a mic but I would estimate 1/8th of an inch.

Two things you could pick up are an A19 1 cell extender and a few IMR 16340's to play around with various 2 and 3 cell configurations. You'll need WA1111 bulbs for 2 cells and WA1185 bulbs for 3 cells. I'm working on this myself right now.

Eventually you may want a 2x 18650 or 2x 18500 body tube. IMR's are now available in both sizes.

 

[Bruce B]

Well I bit the bullet and went out and bought an actual Surefire 6P. I wanted to try something basic and get a feel for what all the hubbub is about.
First, my opinion of the light. I am not excessively impressed. The threads on the tail cap are sloppy. The whole tail cap kind of wobbles when I press on it. The aluminum seems thin and the interior machining isn't exactly pretty and smooth. The battery tube isn't even close to smooth inside.
Now I do understand that I did buy about the cheapest surefire I could. I guess my expectations may have been excessively high. I did buy it just for the purpose of modifying it.
And that leads me to my next point. I want this light to be bright! And by bright I mean I want to start fires with this thing. I've snagged one of these and one of these to get started with.
I'm going to try and get a Deerlight R2 and MC-E dropin and I have been looking at Gene's dropins.
Anything I'm missing?

I'd personally call Surefire and explain what you've noticed with your new 6P original and see if they'd be willing to replace it for you. Then go from there.

 

[AKDoug]

This does not sound like Surefire quality, even for there cheapest light as you point out. Definitely call Surefire or go to there web site. Towards the bottom of the left hand side there is a button for customer feed back. I can speak from experience that Surefire has EXCELLENT customer service.

 

[seaside]

Are you sure its surefire, not superfire? That doesn't sounds good. Ask the dealer for a replacement/return or contact surefire to see what they can offer.

You looks like a incan guy, but have you ever thought about getting LED module instead of incan? There're lotta p60 drop-in modules out there if you want one.

 

[sylathnie]

I'm certain it's a surefire. Came from a reputable dealer and in the surefire packaging. I will try and post some pics of the problem. But I digress, the focus of this thread was supposed to be making this thing bright.

I should clarify my position a bit. I'm an incan guy when it comes to crazy bright but I'm mostly an LED guy for actually useful lights. I will certainly have a few LED dropins for this to make it actually useful. I'm more looking for raw power at this point. Runtime is unimportant, I'm just going for the extreme. If the most light is going to come out of an LED then that's what's going in there. Anyone want to help me convice FlashCrazy to sell a few MC-E dropins?

Where does one purchase these extenders.... and how long does this thing get? Could I maybe make a walking stick like light? (It should be noted that I just set my surefire head next to a 36V 400W bulb... just to see :devil.

 

[GreyShark]

You can make your 6P as long as you want, one CR123 at a time. Here is one source for A19's,

http://www.opticsplanet.net/surefire-adapter-convert-6p-flashlight-to-9v-system-a19.html

www.lighthound.com has other replacement bodies, for wider batteries even.

 

[325addict]

If you want to keep it simple, and go to the extreme:

1. Get two of those RED wrapped AW 16340s. They can handle large currents
2. get a SF P91 or a Lumens Factory IMR-9 lamp assembly
3. sit back, relax, switch on and... enjoy!!

And indeed, there MUST be something wrong with your Surefire. I own two (a C3 centurion and an L1 LumaMax) and both tailcaps have very little play in them. This opposed to UtraFire, here you could easily ruin the threads by not screwing the cap straight on!

Timmo

 

[sylathnie]

Well all have the batteries have arrived and I've had time to play. I'm torn between the WA1111 and the FM1794 as incandescent power houses. I can't decide which I like better. I have noticed a slight problem. My tailcap spring has heated and deformed. These Surefires are pansy lights. :sigh: My crappy stock mag switch was going strong with more than 5A running through it.
I am very impressed with the throw and brightness of the R2 drop-in that I purchased from Flashcrazy/Deerlight. I have a feeling that is going to be living in the light most of the time. Does anyone know where I can acquire the Deerlight MC-E dropin?

I have also recieved my response from Surefire:

Dear Customer,
Please send the light to the following address:

Surefire RMA 24424
17680 Newhope Street, Suite B
Fountain Valley, CA 92708

You may want to keep a copy of the RMA # in order to track the progress of your RMA in the future.

Thank you

Gregory Lin
Technical Support
SUREFIRE

I have to say I'm not too impressed. I have a warranty claim with Fenix right now as well and they are just shipping me a new part. No RMA and no fuss. I haven't decided if I'm going to bother shipping it back or just write it off as a learning experience. It's not that bad.

 

[sylathnie]

Oh a few beamshots.
WA1111

FM1794

Deerlight R2 Dropin

Sublimator

 

[mesa232323]

lol