so this is my first post. i monitor this board constantly and love reading what most of you have to say. but unlike most of you flashlight-philes i dont want a zillion different kinds of flashlights--just the best of the best.
i actually had almost ZERO interest in high end flashlights until about 8months ago. i always liked getting maglights for xmas or little keychain lights to help me tinker around the house. the truth is, i really had NO clue what was out there. after doing research for about a month i jumped into getting a streamlight strion. it seemed to be the most powerful light in its size and the range was amazing. some guy at copquest spent like an hour talking to me about what i wanted it for. for me i have only 2 uses, tinkering around the house and walking/hiking at night with my dog. so the strion it was...
after spending $99 on it and 2 chargers i was a happy camper. but not for long. once you get a taste of the good life you always want more. now i'm not one that needs to count pennies so if i want something i buy it (and lie to the wife about what it costs) so to me $99 was a lot for a flashlight, but not very much in general and not a lot for something of high quality. so after more research i decided to buy the ultrastinger so i could see 1000 football fields away. i figured since i had the baby (strion) the daddy would be even nicer. as with the strion the beam was well focused and had an amazing throw. so i again, was content for a while...
until may, when i decided after reading about the surefire U2 as being the most versatile and high quality light out there. after a good month of reading up about it i decided to brightguy the light for $279ish but when i got it i was SO disappointed. the light itself didn't shine nearly as far as the strion and seemed to generate only as much as the strion up close. so my conundrum was, "how in the world was this a better flashlight, especially for 3x the cost?" additionally the beam had a donut hole (that everyone wrote about in reviews). so i called surefire and figured i would keep it for close to the 30days brightguy had for returns and see if it grew on me. unfortunately for my wallet it did grow on me. my initial impressions were pretty far off. the beam itself is pure white and amazing. it illuminates a wooded area with an amazing focused beam plus a great secondary (spill) area. basically it would light up 3 walls of a room as opposed to JUST a straight shot beam (strion). and of course its usefulness with the low settings makes it a much better light to help fix things. i dont need to be blinded by 80-100 lumens when 5-15 is just perfect for fixing something.
so of course i decided to hold onto it and what a great toy it is. and for those of you who love the idea of rechargeable lights (as i initially did with the streamlights) their usefulness is limited over longer periods of time. the surefires just keep pumping out more light for longer plus a quick battery change as opposed to a long recharging process. so again i was happy...for a bit.
it wasn't long after that i started reading about the surefire kroma. now for me, as this point, quality and uniqueness is really all i want. there comes a time when you dont need anymore flashlights to get by in day to day life. i'm sure most of you would disagree, but that's just a flashaholics take. reality is...1-2 versatile flashlights is perfect for about 99% of occasions. so for me the kroma was more of a neat toy rather than something useful.
i again did a TON of research, but the kroma was still months away from being readily available so the research was thin. after about a month i decided $300 for another flashlight might be pushing it with my wife. her questions about "is that ANOTHER flashlight in a 4 month period" and "how much did THIS one cost?" were getting too close together. so i let the matter drop until about a week ago. it appeared as if they were out there and being shipped around so after seeing steve from tacticals ad about 20% off to cpf members i couldn't resist any longer.
it arrived today and i'll give some initial impressions based on house use in the daytime and using it in darkness in the bathroom only. i will put a + next to the number when i feel its good and a - when i feel its a negative...obviously
1)+the low white beam is better than the u2 lowest setting. its probably half as strong making it more usable for everyday non-blinding use.
2)-the high beam white is somewhere in the u2 4-5 setting neighborhood. its hard to pinpoint exactly how bright it is comparatively. but its far from the u2 6 setting. for me this is somewhat disappointing. personally i'd like a massive power output to illuminate the woods 800 feet away, but that's me. one thing i've learned about flashlights is that 98% of needed light can either be VERY dull or VERY bright. i say this because there are very few times i use the u2's 2-5 settings. so for my own personal use and findings something should be like 10lumens or 200 and that would take care of almost every problem out there. bottom line, i'd like the white high to be probably double what it is now.
3)+both the blue and red are very nice, however i find the 2 different settings (high and low) to be of almost no use. this is a tough balance for the flashlight because the milspec one uses 4 LEDs for each of the 4 colors whereas this uses 8 leds for the 2 colors. the red/blue lows dont seem to be useful and could've been replaced with a different setting of some sort. of course i know this to not be possible since red/blue high each use 8 leds so there wouldn't be room for anything else.
4)+the quality is like every other surefire. good solid build, strong feel, easy grip, etc. the one gripe i have about surefire is i feel they might be TOO well built. the truth is the metallic sandpaper grip makes it impossible to stick in your mouth. i'm sure you're all like "WHAT?" but think about how often you're holding something in one hand, a screwdriver or wrech in another hand and you've got the flashlight in your mouth trying to make what you're doing easier to see. anyway, whenever i do that with a surefire it feels like my tooth enamel is being ground away by the metal grooves. the weight seems a little off too. almost seems too light and less strong than the u2. has a slightly less quality feel to it. obviously its not of lower quality tho.
5)-a lot of people dont like the click cap to turn the u2 on. personally i LOVE it. i dont like having to turn the bottom to keep something on. grabbing a flashlight and using it with one hand to activate is great. its quick and easy. this one has a momentary on but you MUST turn it to keep it on. not really a fan. its one of the reasons i wanted a surefire in the first place. the strion must be turned and i wanted to see how other things went. i like the tactical aspect of momentary on or perma on using the click button. thats just me maybe. all the aspects of use take a little getting used to. you turn the bottom for on. turn it more for higher white. push the button for low on, push it more for high on. its just too much for that bottom to do. its a little annoying to have to pay THAT much attention down there. and of course low light vs high light momentary on takes some exact pressing for periods of time possibly. just not a fan.
6)+the indicator clicks (to choose, blue/red/white) as opposed to just turning on the u2. i like the easy swivel of the u2, but i can see why this needs to be different. you need to know exactly what click you're on and it needs to stay there. so no big deal imo.
7)+the beam itself is a square up close. again no big deal. more importantly there is no donut on this light. its seems to be fairly uniform. the spill is a little weak too. on the bright side the beam is even more white than my u2. i wasn't sure that was possible but this appears to be more of a purer white. i love the more white color this seems to be.
a lot of my interpretations and reviews are subjective obviously. they should be taken with a grain of salt for a few reasons. 1) i hated the u2 when i first got it and now i would probably jump off a cliff if it was taken away from me or i ever forgot to bring it out at nighttime or if i ever went on vacation without it. 2) i haven't had a great chance to test my new light yet. shining on walls and in a bathroom doesn't do a flashlight justice.
i will say with definitive certainty the low light is just more useful than other high output flashlights for working within a 2-3ft distance of your eyes. for now i dont have any beamshots and cant think of anything else to write.
as for recommendations. for now i can say 100% that the u2 is a better all purpose light. without being a scientist or a hunter the red/blue is more of a novelty meant to calm a 30yr olds need for a new toy, rather than something of extremely high necessity. i will hopefully repost later with updates.
