Surefire incan lamp longevity-realistically

[LED61]

Lately I see many SF lamp assy´s being sold, and the thought occurred to me that some CPF´rs doing the selling either use their lights a lot less than they thought they would, or that the bulb life is pretty good and ended up stocking up on bulbs.
Having put nothing more than about 5 hours total run time in terms of battery changes in each of my M6´s, I cannot really tell about real bulb life, but maybe some of the more knowledgeable folks that have really used their lights a lot could tell me just how much life to expect out of a Surefire lamp ?

 

[mdocod]

20 hours, +/-20.

and this is pretty consistent across the board for all tactical lamp assemblies.

 

[leukos]

I've only burned out one SF lamp, the A2 lamp (MA02) after 60 hours.

 

[schrenz]

The only burned-out bulb I have is a MN15 for the M3, it had never really worked, only 2 Lumens when had been brand-new :laughing: , but Lighthound sent me a new one for free.
I have some pre-historical P60 and P90 bulbs (Laser-products writing on the bulb) still working, I guess they have dozens of hours burn-time.
Greets
Jens

 

[mdocod]

I guess I could elaborate more on what I said...hehe...

When dealing with lamps that are being driven pretty hard, and used in flashlights that may get dropped or knocked around once and awhile, it's very hard to determine how long they will last. Another major factor is how you power them. Some people put fresh batteries in before they are totally used up to get more "WOW" factor... People like me charge up our Lithium-Ions frequently and are constantly using our lights in a state of "white WOW bright"....

My first Surefire P91 died the day after I got it when I dropped the running light on a hardwood floor. Surefire was kind enough to send me another free of charge no questions asked. The second one has been used almost every day since (that was ~9 months ago)... And it is being powered by a pair of 17670s, so usually it is driven very hard. It still works great and has no noticeable darkening of the bulb or anything.
It usually gets used in very short increments, 5 seconds here, 10 seconds there. It probably has around 10 hours on it, 85+% in short bursts.. it's probably been turned off and on nearly 1000 times. great performance so far.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Alberto,

During the development of the B90 NiMh replacement battery pack, I did a lot of testing with the X80 lamp used in the 8NX and 8AX. I have 4 dead lamps on the shelf and each one ran around 75 hours before dieing.

I believe SureFire rates their lamps at around 35 hours.

Tom

 

[Size15's]

None of the lamps I have used have died or aged enough to be retired before 25 hours of use, and all of the lamps I have used more than 25 hours are still working great.
I did retire an MA02 after about 45 hours due to some deposits dirtying the bulb but the beam is just the same brilliant white as a fresh MA02.