Questions about SF G2

[InovaGuy]

So I've been carrying an Inova T2 as an EDC for a while now. For the size it outputs a decent amount of light and has a great battery life (5+ regulated hours). I plan to continue carrying the T2, but I am looking for a second light to add to my EDC. It will be more for the "holy crap what was that noise?" sort of situations when I am out walking my dog at night, for example. I am currently looking at the Surefire G2. I have read a bit about it, and it seems that it is pretty bright, but on the downside it has a very short battery life. The short battery life won't bother me much, because I will still use the T2 as a primary light. Despite all of my reading, I still have a few questions about the G2.

First, I was wondering how bright it would really be compared to my T2. Inova rates the T2 at 40 lumens, and Surefire rates the G2 at 65 lumens. Is this accurate? Flashlightreviews.com seems to have conflicting results, indicating that the G2 is significantly brighter than just ~150% of the T2. Is this true? Would it be worth carrying as a secondary light for those situations when you really need something bright for an emergency? Also, how quickly does the light Dim on the G2? From the runtime charts I have seen it seems like the G2 will be down to 75% within a minute or so of turning it on.

Thanks for any help, comments, or suggestions.

 

[John N]

I don't have a T2, so I can't address your overall question, but the G2 is quite bright with a nice beam. I haven't really been following the Inova Tx line, but I recall they are very "spot"ish. The G2 beam throws well, but also gives a fair amount of spill (it kind of tapers off from the hotspot, nice and gradual). So in general, the beams are likely to be a bit different. If the T2 is as focused as is suggested and puts out 40 lumens, my guess is the hotspot might look similar, but the G2 probably has a bigger hotspot and also lots more spill. Basically more light. Just a guess.

The only real point I can really address is the brightness dropoff from a normal use / human eye perspective, which is that the light appears to run at normal brightness for quite a while (~1 hr), then you can visibly see the output drop off, although the light is still fairly bright at this point. I think of this as the 1 min warning bell. A short time after this the light output will quickly drop off to almost no output.

This has been my experience with pretty much the lithium based SF incandecent lights.

-john

 

[clays]

Recently picked up a new LOTC model G2 as well. Love it. Having seen but not personally owned a T2, I can say that the G2 has oodles and oodles more total light output, and the throw is a lot further from what I could tell.

 

[InovaGuy]

[ QUOTE ]
John N said:
The only real point I can really address is the brightness dropoff from a normal use / human eye perspective, which is that the light appears to run at normal brightness for quite a while (~1 hr), then you can visibly see the output drop off, although the light is still fairly bright at this point. I think of this as the 1 min warning bell. A short time after this the light output will quickly drop off to almost no output.

This has been my experience with pretty much the lithium based SF incandecent lights.

-john

[/ QUOTE ]

So this means that the light will not dim noticably for the first hour, and then drop off suddenly? I was under the impression that the light dims very noticably, very quickly, as the runtime charts seem to indicate here:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/images/surefire_g2/p60-2.gif

 

[madecov]

G2 is way brighter than a T2
I have both. If you want to really "wow" them try a P61 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[John N]

I've never noticed that first little bump at the begining, although I have no doubt it is there. In normal use, I don't notice the slow dropoff over time.

-john

 

[CLHC]

My agreement is with the other SF G2 owners here. I don't have a T2 but have compared the XO3 with the G2 (both with fresh batteries) and from my perspective, the G2 appears a lot brighter (w/P60) than the XO3. Maybe it's just that particular unit. I don't know about the T2. After about an hour or close to it, you'll notice that the light does taper off but certainly not within the first 5 or 10 minutes of use, at least with the one I have.

Oh and HEY YES, if you use the P61 there is certainly a VAST difference! But with shorter run time as already been discussed elsewhere in CPF.