Thinking About Getting My First Surefire but Hesitating

[Liquidspaceman]

I was thinking about getting a Surefire. Maybe the 6PL or maybe the E2DL.

My dilemma is that I have $200 dollars worth of Budget Flashlights. I'm afraid of buying one of these and have the rest of my flashlights become Obsolete. As painful as it may be for some of you to hear, I love my little cheap Romisen.

Once I start moving into the 80 to 120 dollar lights, I feel I will never go back to cheap lights. That kind of makes me sad to think about. I almost want to keep to budget flashlights so as to never see or experience what a Surefire has to offer so that I will always be happy with a good budget light.

So should I get that 6PL and blow my innocence of what a flashlight is supposed to be? Will the poor wittle Fenix L2D be left in the drawer from then on? This would be sad. By the way, I got the Solarforce L2 finally and I must say, this is my new favorite flashlight. I love the way it feels in my hand. I love that it's solid. It's the perfect size for walking around the woods.

I'm afraid that I'm going to get the 6PL (which is almost identical to the L2) and realize it's much better and then my poor L2 will sit on the shelf from then on.

 

[Easy]

Go ahead and take the plunge. Buying higher-quality items is never a bad thing.

Just because you buy steak doesn't mean you can't enjoy a hamburger.

 

[Outdoors Fanatic]

I was thinking about getting a Surefire. Maybe the 6PL or maybe the E2DL.

My dilemma is that I have $200 dollars worth of Budget Flashlights. I'm afraid of buying one of these and have the rest of my flashlights become Obsolete. As painful as it may be for some of you to hear, I love my little cheap Romisen.

Once I start moving into the 80 to 120 dollar lights, I feel I will never go back to cheap lights. That kind of makes me sad to think about. I almost want to keep to budget flashlights so as to never see or experience what a Surefire has to offer so that I will always be happy with a good budget light.

So should I get that 6PL and blow my innocence of what a flashlight is supposed to be? Will the poor wittle Fenix L2D be left in the drawer from then on? This would be sad. By the way, I got the Solarforce L2 finally and I must say, this is my new favorite flashlight. I love the way it feels in my hand. I love that it's solid. It's the perfect size for walking around the woods.

I'm afraid that I'm going to get the 6PL (which is almost identical to the L2) and realize it's much better and then my poor L2 will sit on the shelf from then on.

If I had a spare 200$ to blow on lights, I'd definitely buy a SureFire A2 Aviator!

 

[Zeruel]

I think most of us has quality and budget flashlights. If not, how do we know what we need and desire the most? My first SF is E2DL, never regretted it, yet I still like and use my other lights.

 

[bluecrow76]

Once I start moving into the 80 to 120 dollar lights, I feel I will never go back to cheap lights. That kind of makes me sad to think about.

You won't miss them... I don't... you'll just start using them as mod fodder! :twothumbs

 

[Kato]

Do it.

Buy the Surefire and use your other lights as emergency lights. Put them in your car, in different rooms of your house, and in your emergency kits (at least until they are also replaced with more expensive lights :duh2.

 

[HKJ]

Surefire makes very good lights, but they are a bit slow on updating them, i.e. they do not always have as high output or long runtime as cheaper light, but the design and construction is very good.

 

[Zatoichi]

As you have an L2 I'd skip the 6P. It is better made than the Solarforce, but you won't notice the difference as much as with one of the E series.

 

[Cosmo7809]

Certain ligihts have there uses. You wont regret buying a more expensive light. There is plenty of times where using my 150$+ light is just not needed and I go over to my cheapo lights.

Besides, now you will have those cheapos to loan and keep the good ones with yourself.

 

[chmsam]

Depends on how you want to use them as well.

Think of the cheapo lights you have now like used cars with some mileage. A new, quality light would be like a new, quality car.

 

[Sgt. LED]

E2DL

 

[PetaBread]

Go ahead and take the plunge. Buying higher-quality items is never a bad thing.

Just because you buy steak doesn't mean you can't enjoy a hamburger.

Do it.

Buy the Surefire and use your other lights as emergency lights. Put them in your car, in different rooms of your house, and in your emergency kits (at least until they are also replaced with more expensive lights :duh2.

Surefire makes very good lights, but they are a bit slow on updating them, i.e. they do not always have as high output or long runtime as cheaper light, but the design and construction is very good.

+1

 

[MarNav1]

I hesitated at spending $99 on a E1L. Never hesitated again. Now I have a couple dozen Surefires. Do I use the other lights? Yes but usually a ML1 is in my hand or nearby.

 

[Ajay]

Go ahead and get a surefire. You need at least one surefire just so you know what it is like to own a light from the company that set the benchmark for which other lights are judged.

If you have no problem using 123A cells the 6PL is a great choice for a first timer. Beware you may not like the z41 twisty tail switch, a surefire clicky is expensive ~$42.
You can probably buy a cheap DX drop-in and use rechargeable cells but you instantly reduce the reliability by using a cheap drop-in. Too bad surefire LED drop-ins are not made to handle more than 6v or 9v.

Here are things to consider before buying a new SF:
-Will you stick with the 123A cells? You can get a 18650 bored out 6p body in CPF marketplace.
-can you afford the SF accessories such as clicky switches, drop-ins etc?
-HAII or HAIII? Maybe go for the C2 right away?

I could have bought a Jetbeam bada$$ light for under $100 but I did the following:
-6p incan $46
-18650 body $35
-cheap 5 mode Q5 drop-in $10
-2 mode circuit $3.50
-Cheap clicky to mod the Z41 tail $3.50 (in transit from China)
-novatac clip - $5 + shipping
Total=~$103.50

That was just to give you an idea of the possible mods and the prices. I do not regret spending the cash, I use my 6p all the time because of rechargeable 18650 cells and because it feels so damn good in your hand.

I would choose the 6p over the e2dl because of more and cheaper modding options. Give the L2 to a friend so you don't have to worry about using it since it is inferior to the 6p....you will see.

Keep the other cheap lights...they won't rust....
and are great for future mods.

Let us know what you finally choose....Good Luck!

 

[american lockpicker]

I would go with the 6pl. Also you still find uses for your old lights like using them as loaners, reading a book at night, etc.

 

[Guy's Dropper]

I still use my cheap lights. Heck, I still use my 4D mag(Which I'm going to mod as soon as the bulb burns out).

 

[Liquidspaceman]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I think I will get one just to know what it feels like to own one of the top lights in the business.

Now it's going to be a matter of which one to buy. On the one hand, people are saying the 6PL looks like the Solarforce L2. So therefore, it might not have a wow factor for me out of the box.

Maybe the E2DL or something else? What are your suggestions?

I go camping a lot and hiking in the woods so I'd need a good amount of flood with longer runtimes (hope for 4 hours minimum). I don't mind the CR123 format, though I must admit that AA is always going to be king for me just because they are easy to buy at your local store wherever you go.

When I went hiking in Julian last week I needed 2 CR123's and they were $10.00 a piece at a local store. Luckily I had my AA flashlights but if I had been in a bind, that would have made me a bit angry.

That being said, I know that most Surefire (if not all of them) run on the CR123 format. So that's my other dilemma.

Are there any brands with a build comparable to Surefire that have some AA formats? I'm talking about lights that are bombproof, waterproof, drop proof, etc.

Flashlights that you would trust while in a cave, 700 feet underground with the nearest help nowhere to be found. In addition to Surefire, what should I look for? Or is Surefire just "IT?" Ajay, you mentioned the Jetbeam. I've read a lot about them here and I know there are Jetbeam enthusiasts but would you trust it over a Surefire? If not, what flashlights would you trust "as much" as a Surefire?

And to the other poster, you're right, I do like Clickys but I understand the clicky tends to have higher failure... ???

 

[american lockpicker]

Have you thought about Streamlight?

 

[Zatoichi]

Obviously the 6P does look like the L2, but the reason I think something like an E1L or EL2D would be better is because the difference is more noticable. For starters, the finish on the 6P isn't going to blow you away. I can imagine someone um'ing and ar'ing over how much better the 6P is than the L2, but I can't see that happening with an E series.

You said you want to see what Surefire has to offer, so go for something a little more fancy than a 6P.

 

[Mjolnir]

Ajay, no offense, but your 6p isn't really a surefire light anymore. It seems like all you have from the original 6p is the head. If you replace the body with an 18650 body and get a cheap chinese dropin, you no longer have a "surefire." If I was going to do that, I would just get the solarforce and save some money. In my opinion, buying a light that you know is not adequate (that will need to be upgraded to a more current dropin, like the 6p) is not a good use of money. The 6PL doesn't have type III anodizing, and has far less output than many of the other lights around the same price. You shouldn't buy one of those just to buy a surefire when there are better options out there.
If you are going to get a surefire, get one that you won't need to spend 100 dollars on to upgrade. Not only will you waste money, but you will not really have a surefire anymore. If I was in your position, I would probably get one of the more expensive surefires, like the E series lights, since they have the surefire pedigree and a reasonable amount of output.