Surefire U2 Digital Ultra comparative beamshots

[KevinL]

The stork brought my U2 and life has never been the same since it got here. I already took it out on its first 'working' mission, where I was trying to repaint a corroded spot on some equipment in the dark. NORMAL people wait for sunrise. Flashaholics do it in the dark. I remember the last time I did something like this, the light I carried had all the awesome lumens of a MiniMag2AA - yes, believe it or not - that was the light the last time it happened!! What an AWESOME upgrade! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drool.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/huh.gif

I love the variable power control. When you are taking a walk, you can 'dip' the beam using lower power, with full power at your disposal immediately. When going closeup, I can drop to level 3 or 4, when scanning the area, level 6. Level 5 is already very powerful while simultaneously DOUBLING battery life - something I find very useful.

The bezel-down pocket clip is *THE* definitive way to carry it. It is not for everybody, but somehow slips into my front jeans pockets and disappears - and I'm quite thin on top of that, so.. anyway like I said I WOULD find a way to EDC it.

I am pleasantly surprised to note that the U2 has lost some of its length. Surefire's catalog says 6.13", but in actual fact it measures out to be 5.75" (as posted by another CPFer), with a little bit more, maybe 5.85" with the button. The larger bezel doesn't seem to impact its carry dynamics. The deep reflector is beautiful. The U2 is occupying a spot that the C2 used to, and as is already known, the C2 is a 5.1" light with 1.25" bezel.

The Z60 lanyard is perfect, just clip it around the pocket
clip. I just hope the clip doesn't scuff the U2 (yeah yeah I know it's HA3, but.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif) Believe me I AM carrying this one with the lanyard looped around my belt.

It's been the last two weeks from HELL for me with everybody inside and outside of work giving me grief, and everything that could have gone wrong did - but all it takes is one light and suddenly it all seems different.

And of course I had to take some pics.

Note that all of these beamshots are *RELATIVE* and the lights pictured can only be compared to each other within the same picture. All of these were shot on automatic exposure and automatic color balance.

First, my comments.

Just for s(*ts and giggles, I restored a MiniMag from its sandwiched condition to its original status and fired it up. The U2 on level 1 handily stomps it. Ouch.

Most Luxeon 1s (or Lux3s, really, driven at 1W) are somewhere around level 3. A boosted Luxeon 1 at 500mA in my modified KL1 clocks in between level 3 and 4 - it still doesn't quite get to level 4!

My WX1U Luxeon V that's OVERDRIVEN to 917mA gets SMACKED by the U2!! I had to go out and do the ceiling bounce test to confirm, and yes indeed, the U2 is brighter! Whatcha got in there, XWAK?! (random speculation only /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

 

[Kiessling]

Re: Surefire U2 Digital Ultra comparative beamshot

Welcome to the club /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif !

[ QUOTE ]
My WX1U Luxeon V that's OVERDRIVEN to 917mA gets SMACKED by the U2!! I had to go out and do the ceiling bounce test to confirm, and yes indeed, the U2 is brighter! Whatcha got in there, XWAK?! (random speculation only )

[/ QUOTE ]

Well ... my LuxV (unknown but good bin) driven at 917mA kills my U2 ... so either your U2 is indeed a very good bin or your W-bin is an underachiever or my U2 is weak or my LuxV is an overachiever or one of us did his test wrong ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

bernhard

 

[cy]

Re: Surefire U2 Digital Ultra comparative beamshot

Kevin, my U2 has a beautiful white beam at all levels. total lumen output is almost identical to my Xbins.

So yours is not the only example of an overachiever. I suspect there is an Xbin in my U2.

or simply a Wbin overachiever with output equal to Xbin. if output is equal to Xbin, smells a fish, feels like a fish..

 

[JanCPF]

Re: Surefire U2 Digital Ultra comparative beamshot

Kevin,

Thank you for the review and the very nice beamshots. Have you done any test with the Pila cells yet. Is your U2 also out of regulation on level 6 like Anthony's is, and if so, how much would you say the output has decreased?

Jan

 

[KevinL]

Re: Surefire U2 Digital Ultra comparative beamshot

Kiessling: this WX1U is actually a 'borderline' V bin, which clocked in at 155 lumens. On Endeavor's Very Last Group Buy, he was purchasing from someone who was re-binning them using his own integrating sphere (the guy has some kind of production line too). This one was a 155 bin. Overdriving it by 20% should yield at least 10% more light (170 lumens).

My speculation is that if this U2 of mine ain't an X-bin, it may be a seriously overachieving W bin (as high as 190 lumens), as cy has noted. Either way I am very happy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif of course as noted this is all speculation, but the net result is that now I have this really awesome 5W in an EDC-able package, so I have no need to complain.

Heck I have no need to build or buy any more lights. I look at the U2 and I look at B/S/T and I'm thinking "Nope, don't need to buy any more"....!! finding something that will top this U2 will be hard till X bins hit the road in quantity.

Jan, I wish I could afford $70 for a baseline entry level Pila setup. That'd buy me 35 hours of full power runtime on the U2, and since I do use the other levels, probably as much as 70 hours of runtime. The Pilas just don't make sense /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[cliff]

Re: Surefire U2 Digital Ultra comparative beamshot

KevinL;

Run that by me again about Pilas not making sense. I thought you could recharge them 500 times, so why would you only get 30 - 70 hours out of one of them? Would the U2 fry them or something? I was thinking it would be more like 500 hours per battery, or more in low power.

I'm not going to want a U2 if I can't use rechargeables. Have to start out every day with a totally full charge.

 

[KevinL]

Re: Surefire U2 Digital Ultra comparative beamshot

cliff,

Yes, the Pilas should be able to last through hundreds of charge cycles if cared for properly. Actually, if you discount the cost of the charger, you only need to run them for 15 hours to break even. A 168A will cost $30, which will buy you 30 CR123s divided by 2 (U2 eats two at a time), for 15 hours on max runtime or perhaps 30 hours on level 5 (twice the runtime). Beyond that, everything is truly 'free' (except $0.15 per kilowatt hour to charge 'em batteries.. that buys you hundreds of recharges anyway!)

I was thinking more of my personal situation. I need to buy a charger, so that would be $43 + $30 + $6 shipping straight up, which would get me 80 batteries. Since I am not such a heavy user, it would take me months to reach the 40-hour breakeven point and even longer to reach the 80-hour breakeven point. I might as well go with primary cells. No hassle from the chargers, no need to haul another wallwart when I travel, just carry a compact SC3 and go.

Whether rechargeables are worth it largely depend on their intended application. I believe your usage pattern may be conducive to them - if I was using my U2 for a minimum of half an hour every day, the Pilas would be on the plane to me right now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[cliff]

Re: Surefire U2 Digital Ultra comparative beamshot

Thanks for the explanation. Since I don't know how much light I'm going to need on a given day, I pretty much have to be sure a light is completely gassed up. If I used primary cells I'd have to throw them away every morning and put in new ones to be sure and that would be big $$$. For a minute there I was worrying that Pilas wouldn't work in a U2 for some reason.