Surge vs UK-SL6 witch to buy?

TrevorNasko

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Jul 23, 2001
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Atlanta, GA>> The Flashlight that was broken shall
The SL-6 is the light you want. The beam is tighter and brighter with a butterfly design. Secondary light is quite decent and you need look no further for an indistructable body layout. the surge is riddled with small weak parts and is very unfreindly to the user. The sl6 has 3 parts to deal with if you incounter the need to feild strip: head, body, bezel. The surge has many parts that are unaccessable and those that are able to be gotten are so small that you would be a fool to feild strip the thing. I love the solidity the sl6 imparts as well. It is comforting to have in hand while navigating unfreindly and unfamiliar terrian. The choice is obviouse - The choice is the UKE SL6.
 
These are both very bright lights with nice beam characteristics. The Surge has a noticeably larger hotspot. I just took both into the back yard to compare them and I can say this: at 100 yards the SL6 would be more useful for spotting an object because its corona is less bright and generates less reflectance from nearby objects. The Surge would be more useful for spotting an object at 30 yards, especially if there were few or no reflecting objects closer to the lamp.

The Surge is more comfortable to handle and aim, so it would be my choice for most situations. I'd select the SL6 when watching an object through trees or brush, where I wanted to concentrate on a distant object.

Underwater or in fog, the SL6 shines. :)
 
This is a really excellent review written by Geoff in Philly. I hope he doesn't mind if I repost it:

I have both the SL6 and the Surge and have been meaning to post a full review...In the meantime, here are some observations. First, the method... I started with fresh Duracell ultras (dated like 2008) in both lights; the Surge had 3 hours on the bulb, the SL6 was new. (Both from Brightguy, both with clean, no wholed beams).
I have access to a walled-in yard 100 ft. x 300 ft. with trees and some shrubbery around the perimeter. There are some trees in the middle as well. When looking at the beam as it leaves the light, the Surge starts out as a 1" tube, then flairs broadly after about 4'. The SL6 starts as a 1" "tube" of light that looks like a light sabre out to about 15'-20'. The SL6 also has a broad ring that is dimmer than the PT, but so bright that nighttime walking in bad terrain is no problem at all. At about 50 ft., shined against a wall, both lights have almost the same hotspot, in diam. and brightness.
At 150 ft, the surge lights up everything in its path with a 25-35 ft. spread: the SL6 has a much tighter spot (like about 3-4'), but b/c of its brightness illuminates out to the side almost as much as the surge. At 250'-300', the Surge illuminates the back fence line to the point where you can identify the bushes against the fence. Without the Surge , it is complete darkness. The SL6 at the same distance can focus on the same shrub, create shadow behind it and illuminate to the side about 10' on each side of the hot spot.
These two lights, at least the versions I have, really duplicate function until about 150'. I use the surge and recommend it when you want to light up everything in front of you out to about 125-150'. At this distance, the Surge still has enough oomph to penetrate bushes and light up things behind the bushes. The SL6 is the light I use to see a more narrow perspective out to about 300'.
I used the SL6 to spot a leaking gutter during a rain storm..it was so bright, and narrow, I could actually distinguish the varying rates of the water droplets. The Surge did the same, but not at the same distance. I must say, it is rewarding to hold the SL6 at shoulder level and spot 300' away with nice white light. Recently, I escorted an elderly neighbor to her home where her ex-con son sometimes lurks in the shadows of the bushes against her house. I used the SL6 to light up her driveway and the bushes . The SL6 beam rips through the vegitation out to 75' with ease...I mean you could see squirel marks on the ground, and pine needles in the bushes 50' away no problem.
Both lights are excellent for output and beam. I like the switch on the Surge much better...as much as I like the SL6, it is a tad awkward and bulky...both lights do fit in a winter coat pocket, I have even put the SL6 in my back pants pocket to conceal it from my wife so she doesn't know how many lights I am taking for my "walk". Hope this ramble was illuminating....
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From reviewing past postings I gather the surge has premium beam ; but has other problems..battery pack accessibility...switch nitpicking..and bulb change. The UK-SL6 has a narrow beam ; what about the quality of the beam? Any dark spots or rings? Any info. would be appreciated.
 
Thankyou all for your informative posts! Even though I like the size&weight of the surge; I'm leaning towards the SL6 due to the penetrating nature of the beam , simplicity of design and I like the Idea of an aluminum reflector and also the c-cells have a good capacity for burn-time.
Whew! My teachers always where critical of run-on sentences. So if I'm going to haul 12 oz (surge) what's 9 more oz's? Not a big deal.
 
I do not have the SL-6, but I do own two Surges, and two Brinkmann Legend LX.

I prefer to carry the Brinkmann Legend LX over the Surge, because it is smaller and lighter than the Surge.

The Surge was my first "post mag" premium light, and I really like it. For general walking, it puts out a very wide, bright, white light, with no rings or shadows. It is not for spotting something 400 feet away, but for 0-250 feet it acts almost like a floodlight!
 

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