SureFire EDC1-DFT and EDC2-DFT

[Deleted member 786475]

Has anyone had a problem with their light in that when using a 123A primary, if the cell is past halfway depleted and slightly below 3.0 volts, the light won't switch into Low / 25 lumen mode?

I've seen that with a few different lights. Think the SF G2x Pro is one of them. Also with a different china light that used CR123. Although voltage seemed lower than 50%.

Seems common to that specific primary cell, when voltage drops below a certain level.

 

[R.VanWinkle]

First time I've had this issue with a SureFire, but hey, it's certainly not a deal breaker for me, I'd buy the light again knowing this ahead of time.

I do think SF ought to fess up about the issue, even if just to keep people like me from thinking they got a bad 'un. The SF website doesn't state a runtime on low, but the User Manual states 12 hours on low with 123.

Bottom line is I know this light won't give up on me unexpectedly, you could just about use this for a battery vampire if you're into that moonlight thing.

 

[Deleted member 786475]

By the time it occurs, it is time for me to replace the battery. So I didn't consider it an issue.

 

[Robin24k]

Robin, just saw your post. That would be an interesting test of the open load voltage, but I'm afraid I'm not set up for anything but manual logging with a DVM.

Tonight's "test" (dog walk) only showed me that the results with a one year old battery are the same as with a nine year old battery, other than one example of the voltage sag in action.

Starting 3.26v, after 25 mins on High light would not go into Low (wish I had started checking earlier, duh). Got home at 35 mins, 2.6v. After 15 mins rest, cell recovered to 2.8v. First few double-taps got into Low, then not. Letting it recover for about 15 secs, could again go to Low. Very brief window for this.

F89, your post came in as I was typing, that is a very valid point. A man with an HDS Rotary should never leave it at home when he travels. BTW, after 2 1/2 hours the EDC1 is at at 1.9v, drawing 40mA. A good useable @ 5 lumens whatever mode it is in. Have a good night, all,

RVW

I recently did a runtime test and have a pair of nearly depleted primaries to test with the EDC1-DFT.

Open circuit voltage was 2.68V and light only has one mode. Output was ~30% that when using SF18350 or ~200 lumens.

 

[R.VanWinkle]

Robin, thanks for checking! I have no idea what goes into designing a circuit but it is a curious effect. Light is a keeper regardless. Have a great weekend all, RVW.

 

[PinarelloOnly]

Has anyone had a problem with their light in that when using a 123A primary, if the cell is past halfway depleted and slightly below 3.0 volts, the light won't switch into Low / 25 lumen mode?

I have tested this with three separate US made cells. Temperature of light makes no difference. No low. (I tried these cells in an e2dl and an e1dl-a, both of which switched to low like normal.)

I received the light new at the start of the week and have been testing it out on the nightly dog walk. I love the performance on 18350s but always like to observe how a light fares on the last gasps of a primary. I don't imagine any of us bought this light for the low feature alone. But in case of exigency, if I were down to just one light and one cell, or had to lend a light to a friend or family member on a hike, etc., it would be nice to know the low was there.

I would be much obliged for comments from members on how their light functions on a low primary. Have a great weekend, RVW

Yes, l have the same "problem" on both my EDC1-DFT & 2. I was told over the phone by a surefire rep that being tactical lights they are designed to stay at the higher brightness depending on voltage. That's the limited info I finally got from them. The first couple calls to them they didn't even know what was going on. They wanted me to send in the light but I didn't do that after I found out that the issue went away after the battery was fully charged.

My guess is, the switching back and forth from high to low takes more power in the circuitry so the default is on high when voltage drops below a certain point. I would be interested if they changed that in the DFT this year, 2025. I think I got mine in December of 2023. I definitely get better performance in the 18350 surefire battery it came with than 123's

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

SureFire sells primary cells...what would you expect? The faster the cells discharge, the sooner you have to change them out. With secondaries, the sooner that you recharge them, the sooner you run it through it's cycles, and then you have to replace it.

Although the tactical explanation works too. 😗

 

[IMA SOL MAN]

SureFire sells primary cells...what would you expect? The faster the cells discharge, the sooner you have to change them out. With secondaries, the sooner that you recharge them, the sooner you run it through it's cycles, and then you have to replace it.

Although the tactical explanation works too. 😗

 

[Kestrel]

The CPF rumor back in the day was that SF didn't make any money on their CR123's at all; they tried to price them as low as possible to support their overall platform(s) in the marketplace, to best compete with the AA or D competitors.

 

[Kestrel]

I have enjoyed my EDC2 as a recent addition to the collection; on my next modest road trip (where I'll be a car passenger so wont have lights stashed everywhere, lol); it will be the packed backup light to my 18650 BOSS70.

 

[Robin24k]

The CPF rumor back in the day was that SF didn't make any money on their CR123's at all; they tried to price them as low as possible to support their overall platform(s) in the marketplace, to best compete with the AA or D competitors.

I think there's still some truth to that.

12-pack of 123A's from SureFire is the least expensive option compared to Duracell or Energizer, and even Streamlight (not looking at any third-party sellers).

 

[Monocrom]

I think there's still some truth to that.

12-pack of 123A's from SureFire is the least expensive option compared to Duracell or Energizer, and even Streamlight (not looking at any third-party sellers).

That wasn't my experience back in the day. The SureFire CR123s cost more than those other brands. If anything, Streamlight was the least expensive out there for a 12 pack.

 

[Robin24k]

That wasn't my experience back in the day. The SureFire CR123s cost more than those other brands. If anything, Streamlight was the least expensive out there for a 12 pack.

SureFire 12-pack is $25 and Streamlight is $32.75, both are sold by Amazon and not third-party sellers. Even Amazon Basics branded 123A's are $27.

BrightGuy has the Streamlight 12-pack for $24.60 and the SureFire for $28.50, but they require $60 for free shipping so I suppose the Streamlight ones would be marginally cheaper if you ordered enough items to reach that threshold. It's just easier to reach $35 for free shipping from Amazon instead.

 

[Kestrel]

I know we're going a little OT now, but being patient has gotten me some decent sale prices on CR123's over the years. My records have qty.18 SF-branded for $36 incl. shipping in 2018 which I didn't find too objectionable. In 2015 I was able to purchase a bunch of SF-branded ones for $1.10 each incl. shipping, which I seem to recall being an old-stock closeout with an approaching expiration date. LAPG, if you folks happen to recall that offering.
I will say that the 10 year dating of US-mfg CR123's is very conservative, and I have went way past that with no issues at all.

One important aspect with past-date CR123's is to utilize them in single cell applications.

Going back further, any prior CR123 purchases of mine were pre-2011, and I think were Streamlight cells @ $1.35 ea. I only bought china-mfg once, when I was a CPF newbie in 07-08.

Overall, I've been very happy with CR123's, despite putting most of my runtime on LiIon rechargeables. It just never seemed cost-effective to have LiIons in seldom-used backup lights; 1xCR123's in SF L1's for instance.

 

[Monocrom]

SureFire 12-pack is $25 and Streamlight is $32.75, both are sold by Amazon and not third-party sellers. Even Amazon Basics branded 123A's are $27.

BrightGuy has the Streamlight 12-pack for $24.60 and the SureFire for $28.50, but they require $60 for free shipping so I suppose the Streamlight ones would be marginally cheaper if you ordered enough items to reach that threshold. It's just easier to reach $35 for free shipping from Amazon instead.

Oh, I stopped using Amazon years ago due to massive Fraud. My C.C. company immediately helped me and cleared things up. Amazon sent me a very angry e-mail. Basically saying, they didn't care that a bunch of genuinely fraudulent charges were made in my name. They didn't care that every legit charge was from the very same address, but all the fraud charges were to a bunch of different addresses across America. They didn't care that the idiots working for them hadn't noticed that fact. Amazon still expected me to call up my C.C. company and tell them to put through all of the fraudulent charges. I told Amazon to go Folk themselves. They locked me out of my account. I didn't care. Everything over the years that I could get through Amazon, I could get for a few more bucks on eBay or going to the various companies themselves that made the products sold through Amazon.

But yes, outside of Amazon, I've found SureFire CR123s to be the most expensive online option for such cells.

 

[R.VanWinkle]

I would be interested if they changed that in the DFT this year, 2025.

I don't think so.

I wasn't going to bring this up previously so as not to incite the SureFire haters out there, but since it has come up again here is my experience. To make a long story short SF sent me a brand new light in blister pack last month in exchange for my DFT I sent them. The new* light performs exactly the same as the old one regarding not going into Low on a low battery. I'm still glad to have the DFT in my arsenal, just miffed that SF won't acknowledge the issue; I would be happy with an asterisk and a note explaining the issue in a revised user manual.

When I described the issue to the SF customer service rep, he stated this was unusual and I must have been using bad batteries. I explained I had used three different U.S. made 123As, with the third being an SF battery less than a year old. He still recommended trying another battery. I said I would be glad to ship the light on my own dime if he would issue an RMA. He agreed and so I shipped the light naively hoping I might get an email from an actual tech somewhere along the line. I received the new light without explanation at the end of the allotted period. No lasting hard feelings here, I now have a second SF18350 (the original since I was told to ship just the light). And when I called to check on my RMA I mentioned to the nice fellow that I would like to order a replacement pocket clip for an older light; SF got that in the mail the next day no charge.👍

* I'm assuming I got a recent production light. The original light was SN A06XXX; replacement is A39XXX. Funny thing is both lights were packaged with an SF18350 dated 0423. Mebbe they just use up older stock packaged with lights while new production goes straight out the door?

The EDC1-DFT is an awesome pocket thrower and I would still highly recommend it. I have well over a dozen SF lights (mostly PK era designs), but this one appealed to me enough to be the first brand new SF light I have purchased since 2014. I was probably just whining 'cause I wanted it to be perfect.

 

[Robin24k]

* I'm assuming I got a recent production light. The original light was SN A06XXX; replacement is A39XXX. Funny thing is both lights were packaged with an SF18350 dated 0423. Mebbe they just use up older stock packaged with lights while new production goes straight out the door?

I had the same thing happen with a P1RZ that I sent back to them.

The replacement light was brand new from a recent production run and came with a SF18650B 24760-1 Rev C that had a date code of 0324. My original P1RZ came with a SF18650B 24760-1 Rev E that had a date code 0524.

Someone is not rotating inventory properly if the light I bought in January had a newer battery than one manufactured in July...

However...your replacement light seems to actually be old stock. It has a much lower serial # than my EDC1-DFT with serial # A67xxx, I got that light in January of this year and it came with a SF18350 that had a date code of 0424.

 

[R.VanWinkle]

Huh. Sneaky varmints.

Now I gotta regurgitate that old conspiracy theory / legend and or myth about how SF culls the lights with the worst anodizing match to become replacement lights. The latest one I got has the craziest combination of shades ever. I kinda like it though. Distinctive. They should call it HA Harlequin.

I remember about 15 years ago there were always a number of people parting out multiple P and C series lights on CPF Marketplace and the bay. Must have been surplus but I always thought it was a little fishy. I remember buying a bezel and several tailcaps and coming up with near perfect matching on a C2 and a C3. Thankfully I'm over that now.

 

[Monocrom]

....I was probably just whining 'cause I wanted it to be perfect.

In fairness, it's a SureFire. They're supposed to be perfect.

 

[dc38]

In fairness, it's a SureFire. They're supposed to be perfect.

And any imperfections that occur should either be reflected in the cost before acquisition, OR while under the influence/usage of the owner/user.