Surefire 6P or Wolf Eyes Sniper

[HeadCSO]

I'm about to buy my first modern incan (been threatening to do it for a while) and have narrowed my choice to a 6P or Sniper. I have a few questions:

Are these lights similar sized. If anyone has both, could you possibly post a side by side picture.

Which has the more durable lamp assembly and the wider range of drop ins.

Which type of finish does the sniper have, HAII or HAIII.

Finally, if you could only have one, which one.

 

[fasuto]

I only have a sniper, i like it, the way it feels in hand and the switch. A little disappointed because LED dropins don't work, except wolf eyes, wich are expensive.

Ican lamp assemblies with good reputation are Lumens factory.

Main advantage of the sniper is that can use 18650 batteries. I think the HA is not as good as in other flashlights.

May be if you are interested I could post a pic of the sniper and a solarforce L2 (surefine clone) wich also is a good alternative for the price

 

[HeadCSO]

May be if you are interested I could post a pic of the sniper and a solarforce L2 (surefine clone) wich also is a good alternative for the price

If you could, it would be appreciated. Unfortunately, I have no local stockists where I could compare the 2 and must buy over the internet.

 

[fasuto]

I have the surefire clone still on the way, hope it arrives today.

 

[Mark@LF]

fasuto,

Thanks for the nice comment, we are happy that you liked our products.

Noticed that you are from Spain, have you used lights from "Ombu"?
They are a brand from Spain.

Maybe it is another choice that HeadCSO can consider.

Cheers, :laughing:

Mark

 

[Glen C]

HeadCSO, I am a Wolf Eyes Dealer but have both and can explain the differences.

Both have good lamp assemblies, in either choice I would use a Lumens Factory lamp as I consider them one of the best incan lamps.

The Surefire will have better resale and better HA.

The Wolf Eyes has better battery choices and is more durable. In Australia it is considerably cheaper. If you choose a rechargeable option (financially the only choice in Aus, not sure about the UK) the Sniper takes an 18650 with most having a capacity of say 2200mah. A 17670 fits in the 6P with say approximately 1400mah, 2/3rds the capacity. If you are using this light with LEDs either will be ok, but you specifically said incan so even with 50% incan use you can see the advantage.

A quick word on Hard Anodizing, which I have previously privately shared with some here. I predominantly sell to police, military, security, hunters and other users. All of these people are proud of their front line status and the fact that they are not pencil pushers. None of them have ever asked if the lights are hard anodized. I have seen a number of used lights and most are proud of the "battle scars" their tools wear, it shows they use their tools in the front line and are not pencil pushers. You have probably read that your self here, how many LEO's start a post 'my 20 yr old scratched, dented but trusty Maglite'? I well understand if you are a collector that HA is preferable, which is slightly different to someone using the tool.

You didn't state your use but my suggestion is if you are a collector buy the Surefire as it has HA, good resale and everyone should have at least one Surefire in their collection, the 6P in particular a light which spawned a whole category. If you are a user I would suggest the Sniper as you have lower initial cost, lower running cost and better runtime when you are using it. it is also more durable.

Hopefully that was relatively unbiased and some help, here is a photo of both:

 

[RichS]

SureFire and Wolf-Eyes lights make up the majority of the lights I own. Both are built incredibly well, and are extremely durable and trustworthy lights. However, as others have mentioned, the Sniper takes an 18650. This is a key advantage if you are looking to run it as an incandescent. Most of my incandescent lights are actually 3 cell or higher lights because of the extra power it takes to run a reasonably bright incandescent vs. an LED.

You can't go wrong with either light in terms of quality, but if you are running an incandescent the Sniper wins hands-down due to the 18650 capability.

-my 2 cents

 

[FlashKat]

If I recall you can buy a 18650 battery extender for the Sniper and run a brighter Lumens Factory lamp assembly.

 

[RichS]

If I recall you can buy a 18650 battery extender for the Sniper and run a brighter Lumens Factory lamp assembly.

Yep - you can also buy the brighter Lumens Factory 3.7v EO-4 190 lumen lamp if you want to run it with just one 18650.

 

[jbviau]

I agree with all that's been said here, except that the 6P is not hard-anodized. It's got type II anodizing. Various CPFers (especially Size15s) have drilled it into my skull that there's no such thing as HAII. It's either type II or HAIII. Not sure whether Wolf Eyes lights fall into the latter category.

For what it's worth, I think the 6P's ability to take a wider range of drop-ins trumps the Sniper's ability to take a higher-capacity battery.

 

[Glen C]

jbviau (and fasuto) out of interest, what drop ins wont work in your Sniper? I test a few here and haven't yet had one which wouldn't work though I tried 2 ones which required the Lumens Factory spring. Just wondering which brands in case I am asked. Thanks


Edit PS jbviau, thanks for letting me know the 6P is not HA

 

[jbviau]

Hi, Glen. I was just going off of reports I've read about LED drop-ins specifically from members like Fasuto and others. For instance, one of the most popular high-end LED drop-ins, the Malkoff, is incompatible with Wolf Eyes bodies (just checked Malkoff's website). There may be others. Could it be due to the distinctive head shape that Wolf Eyes uses? The Wolf Eyes LED drop-in that I use in my G2 has a sort of raised inner lip that ends up resting against the lens rather than seating inside the bezel's rim like a normal P60-sized drop-in would.

Maybe you could send me a Sniper for testing purposes!

 

[HeadCSO]

Thank you to everyone who has replied, especially Glen C. I think I am leaning more towards the 6P, especially because it is a design classic.

I forgot to mention in my original post that this light is for occasional use in the outdoors. I will only be using primaries as I think the rechargeable option will be wasted on me. I just need to be able to pickup the light and go.

In terms of dropins, it was more to guage availability of third party incan modules. I already have a number of Surefire and Fenix LED lights, so this purchase will remain pure incan (only have old 3D Mag in this department ).

 

[Glen C]

I think you will be happy with the 6P Head, I needed one for comparison beamshots and searched but couldn't find either a different coloured one or a patriot version, might be another thought if it is just getting occasional use. Will always stand as a collectors piece. Don't rule out rechargeables either, the lithium ion is always ready and has very low self discharge, in Aus a recharge kit pays for itself in 3 hours of 6P run time. The LF EO6 is a lamp you should have a look at if you stay primary, nice output.


Thanks for the info jbviau, we don't see a lot of Malkoff drop ins here and the guys who do have them know what they are.

 

[fasuto]

jbviau (and fasuto) out of interest, what drop ins wont work in your Sniper?

I tried one from dealextreme. From what I see from others too is that LED dropins are around 3cm lenght and incandescent LA from lumens factory are only 2cm

 

[generic808]

The versatility of the 6P is the biggest factor in my opinion. You can mod them any which way you want (extenders, drop-in's, detonators, tailcaps, etc). I guess that's why I have 6 of them in all different forms.

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

HeadCSO, I am a Wolf Eyes Dealer but have both and can explain the differences.

Both have good lamp assemblies, in either choice I would use a Lumens Factory lamp as I consider them one of the best incan lamps.

The Surefire will have better resale and better HA.

The Wolf Eyes has better battery choices and is more durable. In Australia it is considerably cheaper. If you choose a rechargeable option (financially the only choice in Aus, not sure about the UK) the Sniper takes an 18650 with most having a capacity of say 2200mah. A 17670 fits in the 6P with say approximately 1400mah, 2/3rds the capacity. If you are using this light with LEDs either will be ok, but you specifically said incan so even with 50% incan use you can see the advantage.

A quick word on Hard Anodizing, which I have previously privately shared with some here. I predominantly sell to police, military, security, hunters and other users. All of these people are proud of their front line status and the fact that they are not pencil pushers. None of them have ever asked if the lights are hard anodized. I have seen a number of used lights and most are proud of the "battle scars" their tools wear, it shows they use their tools in the front line and are not pencil pushers. You have probably read that your self here, how many LEO's start a post 'my 20 yr old scratched, dented but trusty Maglite'? I well understand if you are a collector that HA is preferable, which is slightly different to someone using the tool.

You didn't state your use but my suggestion is if you are a collector buy the Surefire as it has HA, good resale and everyone should have at least one Surefire in their collection, the 6P in particular a light which spawned a whole category. If you are a user I would suggest the Sniper as you have lower initial cost, lower running cost and better runtime when you are using it. it is also more durable.

Hopefully that was relatively unbiased and some help, here is a photo of both:

Glen, the SureFire 6P is type II just like a common Maglite. It is actually less scratch resistant than most Wolf-Eyes lights.

 

[Patriot]

I own both and I guess it comes down to a couple of factors for me. If I want to run the light as an LED then I like the 6P. If I'm going to run it incan, then I like the Sniper because of the 18650 option.

The other consideration is that the Sniper is fatter as the head, and a bit heavier. I think the 6P carries in a pocket better. If you're going to carry in a pouch or holster then I don't think the size/weight difference matters.

Both lights are typeII unless Boxer changed over HA recently.

 

[cernobila]

Well, I had both at one time....started with the 6P and 9P then when the WE lights started to come out I tried a few and eventually sold most of my SF lights including the P's. Now the biggest percentage of my lights are WE. They are just as versatile as any other system; there is a good choice of bezels, lamp assemblies, tailcaps etc that my main reason for concentrating on the WE is their ability to accept the 18650/168 cells. My favourite set-up's would be a Lumens Factory incan lamp in the front and the LED tailcap on the other end, you get a choice of both, high and low outputs. The only D26 drop-ins I have used have been SF, WE and LF, I have no experience in any other aftermarket drop-ins. The fact is that there are many issues here on CPF with aftermarket drop-ins in both the WE and SF lights, I simply stick with the above three brands of D26 lamps for peace of mind.

 

[Any Cal.]

I don't think you can go wrong with either. For running primaries only, the 6P is pretty good for it's size. If you like the idea of a clicky switch, the Sniper has a good one.

While Surefire has a better resale value, you also have to make sure you don't pay too much in the first place, as prices on them vary widely, especially when you factor in shipping.