What is the pinnacle of Incan Flashlights in your opinion?

[cland72]

+1

Sometimes I sit and wonder... what if the LuxV never made the show and blew the works. What would Willie create next with this magnificent concept.

I'll also toss my vote in for the A2.

I agree with you - Surefire had a number of digitally regulated incandescent projects in the pipeline until the emergence of the LuxV. Then they all got scrapped

 

[DRoc]

I have to agree with the A2 consensus...but it's my number two, just my opinion:
I'm a huge M2 fan. I own a few. IMO, no one else came close to a D26 offering with the shock absorbing bezel like SF did with their M2. I've lost a few lamps in a standard SF light without the shock absorbing bezel, but none in an M2. I use mine everyday, at work as a tech in the Air Force, home, in my hobbies like working on my trucks...it holds up.
That and my favorite D26 lamp is the P61. Yes, I know runtime sucks. Yes I know primaries are a pain...but I think there is only one lamp that trumps it in output (LF IMR 9), and even then I'm not sure if two 18350's could allow that lamp to throw more lumens than a P61 on fresh primaries in a P60 compatible host. That's debatable I suppose...
I've seen some threads where folks claim they can't tell the difference between a P61 and a P60, But I sure as heck can.
M2 gets my vote. Endless mods, compatibility, can still be EDC'd (IMO, as I do), many of them still out there (you can obviously make an M2 with just the bezel and a C2 if it's not in your budget...
Plus, I can dissemble every single part of my M2 and acquire replacements without difficulty. Glass, tailcap, etc...I know it's much more difficult to find replacement parts for my A2's.

 

[socom1970]

+1 for both the SF A2 and the Wquiles SF Ph-D M6. There's nothing like the REAL HCRI of properly regulated incans.:thumbsup:

To quote a fellow CPF'er, "LED's impress, but incans satisfy."

 

[ma tumba]

+0.25 for the a2 (with stirion kit and calypso/koala ring), +0.25 for an m6/phd-m6, +0.25 for e2e, +0.25 for P61

BUT

the most versatile and useful incand setup that I use every day is the Fivemega 2x18350 e-series light with the adjustable turbo head a CL1499 and the AW 3 level soft start. This is 75% of perfection. And a SF FM34 diffuser adds the remaining 25%

 

[LuxLuthor]

There are too many excellent incan lights to limit to only one. There are those that are small and pocket sized, with tiny WA or custom Carley made bulbs, hand held Mag variations from 1C to 3D with Osram, WA, or Carley bulbs, then the regulated types with either wquiles M-6, Alan, or Jimmy's regulators, then the various elephant size lights that all pinnacles in each of their categories. LED's are great too, but they are not "better" than incans, just a different type of light, akin to HID, LASER, spotlights, candles, etc.

 

[leon2245]

Easy, A2. Stock, factory regulation, surefire quality & lifetime warranty, and edc sized.

2nd for me would be something weird I saw from one of the custom guys- it's a body that can take 4aa's & the incan 6p's lamp assembly, and has a crown type partial tailcap shroud.

 

[A264]

ditto to above post 2245, like it so much i have been concerned about availability and having enough for the rest of my life so far i have 12, 4 still new in package

 

[socom1970]

2nd for me would be something weird I saw from one of the custom guys- it's a body that can take 4aa's & the incan 6p's lamp assembly, and has a crown type partial tailcap shroud.

Doesn't have to be custom. I've got that setup with a Leef 3x18650 C-C HA body along with two delrin spacers from Oveready.com to keep the four AA's from rattling. Works like a charm with four AA Eneloops and all those P60 LA's we all have lying around after swapping them out for Malkoffs.

 

[leon2245]

^should have mentioned, this one I saw I'm talking about had all the Aa's side by side- all those eneloops & less than six inches long was why I'm wishing for it.

if I find it again I'll post it, can't find pics right now.

 

[kelmo]

Surefire 12Z(P)M with the N62 lamp.

Dam, now I got the urge to dig mine out of storage!

Let us not forget the M6 w/MN15 and the M3 w/MN11 LA!

 

[M@elstrom]

another vote for the A2 Aviator as well

And another here... with the FM Strion & Koala LED ring upgrades the light is by far my favourite, the only negative is the battery options.

 

[kelmo]

...I've seen some threads where folks claim they can't tell the difference between a P61 and a P60, But I sure as heck can...

Only the white wall hunters say that! To experience the difference in output you need to get out of the house!

Dam this thread has gotten me reloading my incans. It is foggy in Sactown and the weather is perfect for an incan.

As for making your own M2, you can get LU60 kits on the market place for about $50 bucks and they come with both P60 and P61 LAs.

Time to put a C2 with a P61 in my jacket pocket DRoc!

 

[kelmo]

I've been thinking about this off and on. Don't laugh, but I have to put up the original Surefire G2. Here was a flashlight that cost only $35, with a really neat non-metallic surface that took pretty much any kind of beating, with a really bright, almost perfectly even bulb/beam pattern. As the ads used to say, it would out power a 2D Maglite. This was one of the first lights to put a premium quality well performing light into the hands of everyday people. It is still being sold today, and when adjusted for inflation, probably cheaper now than it was then. It and its cousin the 6P were also the first practical P60/D26 hosts that got many of us started on LEDs as well.

I am partial to the yellow ones! And when SF started making them with LOTCs it completed the light.

 

[magellan]

Love the brass telescope analogy, I always wanted one of those and an old style four poster globe in our living room.

Another example might be a classic mechanical pocket watch before the days of modern electronic watches.

Over the last couple of years, I've been semi-seriously collecting incans since it seems pretty obvious they will eventually disappear from the marketplace. So far I have 49 different incan lights (63 including duplicates) from 32 different brands/manufacturers. That's not counting Maglites, of which I have a bunch too, including some rare ones.

Is is anyone else here collecting old incans? I'm sure there must be.

I have a bunch of LED lights and in many ways they are superior to my two remaining incans, but in a way I see my Surefire lego incan as almost the last and best of an old breed - like the most highly refined carbuerated engine just prior to fuel injection, or a brass telescope made in the tradition of old world craftsmanship. To me, the lithium ion batteries, the multi-level soft start, the fabulous incan color rendition, and the form factor (2x18650 with KT4 and Lumensfactory bulb) just make it special in a way my more utilitiarian lights don't match.

What, in your opinion, is the finest incan torch out there? What is the aged wine and cheese of incan torches? Why?

 

[novice]

Is is anyone else here collecting old incans? I'm sure there must be.

I don't collect incans per se, but I have saved a 4xD-cell camping lantern ("bores a 500-foot hole in the night!") from my childhood, and got another cheap vintage 3xD-cell flashlight ("Trailblazer") from a thrift store for its sheer funky industrial aesthetics. Slightly off-topic, but they both had such feeble light output from their screw-thread bulbs, that I got some dim screw-thread leds to replace the incan bulbs. In an extended power outage, these things would last weeks on multiple alkaline D-Cells.

It probably goes against the intended spirit of the "Combatlight", but I do wish that Surefire had made a G2Z in yellow, and other bright colors. I think I'm more fond of the G2Z line than I am of the Z2 itself.

 

[Brigadier]

For me, it is my PhD-M6/HO-M3T followed closely by my bored M3 using IMR18500's to drive the MN11.

 

[DRoc]

Heard and understood, Kelmo. My EDC often is a C2M2 (for those who may not be aware, a C2 with M2 head)...I know it doesn't have the M2 lettering, but it's my go to, bich light. Sits in my pants when in uniform or civvies with my keys, gets beat up, my Spyderco Endura is clipped to my right cargo pocket at the top...the Z44 is wrapped in saran (kept close at home for led purposes) keeping it dust free because I'm fussy about those little details. I really like the p61. I find you get 20 solid minutes of white incan light...I like the p60 too, but it has less output, and not as white. There is an officer on my current course (mixed NCM's and Officers) that laughs at me because I carry a knife and a flashlight...I'm not sure he understands. I'm a tech in the Air Force now, and was a tech in the Army years ago,but he's younger than me, so I see why.
I guess there are those of us who embrace new tech and those of us that cling to the old...I'm kind of in between. I have LED's, but most often incans are in my pocket. All my lights get used. I've grown to understand that scrapes and marks on my flashlights, while they annoy me, are recordings of my professional life.

Only the white wall hunters say that! To experience the difference in output you need to get out of the house!

Dam this thread has gotten me reloading my incans. It is foggy in Sactown and the weather is perfect for an incan.

As for making your own M2, you can get LU60 kits on the market place for about $50 bucks and they come with both P60 and P61 LAs.

Time to put a C2 with a P61 in my jacket pocket DRoc!

 

[flashfan]

The SureFire M6 gets my vote.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Dam, now I got the urge to dig mine out of storage!

Let us not forget the M6 w/MN15 and the M3 w/MN11 LA!

M6 with a 2X18650 pack, and the venerable MN15 is awesome.

Bill

 

[JasonC8301]

Surefire E2e and M6 were my EDC lights about 13 years ago...