My Love Hate Relationship with my A2

[kelmo]

I bought a red A2 when they were half off at Sportsman's Warehouse. I was immediately underwhelmed. After hearing all the hype I just didn't feel the love right away. The red LEDs are not really a great trail light. The incan doesn't run long enough to inspire confidence when out in the boonies. Even with a full SC3 thats only about 2 hours of burntime. It's a little to large to pocket carry. So it gets tossed in a drawer and left for months on end.

But I find its a great utility light when camping or staying over in crowded get togethers. The red LEDs are great for navigating around sleeping people. The regulation circuit keeps the beam bright and white and while it sacrifices some runtime it makes up for it in beam quality. The switch is by far my favorite UI. And its an INCAN!

Everytime I fish it out of storage I am happy I didn't get rid of it. Its my casual carry "Party Light."

kelmo

 

[fespo276]

I feel the same way. I don't use it all that much, but I just could never see myself getting rid of it.

 

[Kestrel]

Its my casual carry "Party Light."

I recall reading a post from Size15 some time ago where he said that when SureFire was working on a name for the A2, it came down to a choice between "Aviator" and "Party Light".

 

[carrot]

By two hours you mean three, right? One set in the A2, two in the SC3...?

 

[Snow]

I feel similarly, mostly because of how finicky my A2 can be with the Strion mod. When it's working, it's my favorite light. It looks twice as bright as a stock A2 and puts a lot of my LED lights to shame. Unfortunately, much of the time it doesn't work.

 

[Patriot]

My Strion mod A2 is a little monster with nearly double the output. It's a fantastic all around light when extended incan run times are not a concern.

 

[Size15's]

I recall reading a post from Size15 some time ago where he said that when SureFire was working on a name for the A2, it came down to a choice between "Aviator" and "Party Light".

I don't recall saying this :thinking: but hey, I could well I done I suppose...

 

[Solscud007]

I love my A2. It is now my EDC. Before I EDC my Kroma. I like the low level white leds that I have. although red would be nice some times like my kroma.

I find the A2 to be the most comfortable light in my pocket. Im used to pocketing my G2Z, C2-HA, M2, and or the kroma. So I dont have small lights like the E1 to compare which im sure are really comfortable.

 

[Arthur D]

The e-series sort of stole the joy for me on this light. Comparitivly in regard to ease of carry and handling. Hard to explain really.

I totally get the love hate thing.

 

[kelmo]

By two hours you mean three, right? One set in the A2, two in the SC3...?

Hey Carrot!

I'm basing this on a minimum burn time of 45 min per battery set. I did a night hike at Pinnacles National Monument to test my then new A2 out. I got around 45-55 minutes on a new set of batteries. It definitely was not an hour, I guess I should have paid more attention.

 

[GarageBoy]

I LOVE the form factor, hate the fact that it's only 1 hr

 

[rcashel11]

The A2 is still one of my favorites. I recently replaced the MA02 LA and I love the bright white beam. Runtime is about 50 minutes.

 

[Illum]

Hey Carrot!

I'm basing this on a minimum burn time of 45 min per battery set. I did a night hike at Pinnacles National Monument to test my then new A2 out. I got around 45-55 minutes on a new set of batteries. It definitely was not an hour, I guess I should have paid more attention.

no...depending on the trail temperature the most optimistic runtime is 50 minutes but it usually resides around 45 minutes before you begin to notice dimming.

Carrots just...distributing misinformation because hes an A2 fanatic... NOT! :nana: Surefire just rates ~1 hour = 50 minutes on the A2. If your run for the A2 for an hour its essentially dead even with the LEDs...which will start dimming around the next hour.]

the A2 is a great light, but it will not become my main light, for exactly those reasons you've illustrated on the thread post :thumbsup:

 

[Solscud007]

Hey Carrot!

I'm basing this on a minimum burn time of 45 min per battery set. I did a night hike at Pinnacles National Monument to test my then new A2 out. I got around 45-55 minutes on a new set of batteries. It definitely was not an hour, I guess I should have paid more attention.

Was this continous usage? Seems a bit over the top to need the bright Incan fornthe hike. Wouldn't the low light help instead? But then again you have red and my white is brighter.

 

[kelmo]

Was this continous usage? Seems a bit over the top to need the bright Incan fornthe hike. Wouldn't the low light help instead? But then again you have red and my white is brighter.

It was continous. I was for most of the hike in wide open spaces on a ridgeline. The ranger warned me about a big cat prowling the area so I was constantly sweeping the the tree and brushline. It was fun!

 

[Illum]

It was continous. I was for most of the hike in wide open spaces on a ridgeline. The ranger warned me about a big cat prowling the area so I was constantly sweeping the the tree and brushline. It was fun!

if that was your application I'd consider getting an E2L...which should push you beyond the typical 1-2 hour bottleneck with most lights.

the A2 was actually designed for use with the LEDs most of the time and sporadic usage of the xenon. I bought the A2 to be used as a main xenon lamp but eventually I figured out that it wasn't one of its strong points...it was the ability to access the xenon in a hurry after long hours of using the LED and to find the beam shine as if the batteries were brand new.

 

[kelmo]

"...it was the ability to access the xenon in a hurry after long hours of using the LED and to find the beam shine as if the batteries were brand new. "

Exactly!

My main trail lights are the L1 and Tikka+.

 

[thermal guy]

I kinda feel the same way bought and sold three of them.But as soon as i sell one i get an itch to buy another.It got the most use while i was on my ghost hunts.I kept it on my neck with a long lanyard and would turn on the led's only.It was a great walk around light then if i needed to see something further away the mail beam was seconds away.

 

[Snow]

Well I cleaned the contacts on my strion modded A2-WH and now it works like a dream. It's funny, I'd tried that before with no improvement. I also picked up a strion modded A2-GR on the marketplace and it is a beast! The runtime isn't the greatest, but it is such a satisfying light to use that I deal with it.

Last week I played some disc golf at night with a few friends. With constant LED use and intermittent Xenon use, the light lasted for about 2 hours. At the end of the night the Xenon was fading a little, but I had been using it pretty heavily to track thrown discs and spot where they landed. The color and definition definitely gave it an advantage over the L1, which I'd lent to my friend for the night. Another friend brought an Olight M20, which was much brighter than the A2, but looked cold and sterile. I will happily put up with the short runtime of the A2 to enjoy its advantages.