A newbie's thoughts on his new G2

So some of you read my first posts in the incandescent forum and many of you replied and helped direct me. Thank you.

I'm a service worker for our local water utility. I'm going into dark places 65% of most days. I also need to be able to spot addresses from the street at night.

I ended up buying the SF G2. I have mixed thoughts about it. Allow me to share them and hopefully you can all help alleviate my worries.


First things first, things I love: I LOVE how bright this sucker is! And I've only got the P60 lens. I stood on my front porch last night and shined the light at my neighbors house and lit the whole thing up! Geeez!!! This little thing is a monster!!!
It's so durable! Waterproof which is a good thing in my line of work.
It looks really cool.

Now the down sides: It's a little bigger in diameter than the mini-mag I'm used to and when I carry it on my belt in the nylon pouch I also purchased it makes for a large bulge on my side all day long. Not crazy about that, but something I assume will just take some getting used to...... not a big deal.
Battery life, I can find a package of two lithium batteries for about $4 so I'm not to upset about this, but it is a down side.
Now my biggest complaint: spending $35 on a flashlight and only being able to get 60 minutes of use! This bugs me. I know this is a drawback of having such a high power light, but knowing that I'm only getting 60 minutes of use before I have to spend $17 on a new lamp is annoying.


Please give me your thoughts and opinions.
Thank you!

Terry Monk said:

Now my biggest complaint: spending $35 on a flashlight and only being able to get 60 minutes of use! This bugs me. I know this is a drawback of having such a high power light, but knowing that I'm only getting 60 minutes of use before I have to spend $17 on a new lamp is annoying.

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Terry,

Welcome to the world of pro-sumer flashlights! I also own a G2 - it was my first Surefire flashlight and I use it all the time as a "beater" light.

Just to clarify, the 60 minutes of use that you've probably read about refers to the battery life, not the bulb life. You should get an easy 20 hours or more out of the lamp assembly under normal circumstances.

In my case, I've had the G2 since the beginning of the year, and I'm still on my first set of batteries. They're probably get replaced in the next month or so.

Perhaps some other CPF members can chime in regarding their G2 experiences.

The P60 Lamp Assembly has a runtime of about 60 minutes from two-SF123A batteries. After about 60 minutes the light output will be dim and it is time to replace the batteries.

SureFire Lamp Assemblies are usually rated for at least 25 hours of use and this is considered by many to be a conservative rating.

Al

Ah ha! Now that is what I was hoping someone would do: tell me if I was way off base. I mis-read the manual and thought the $17 bulb would need replaced after an hour. If it's only the batteries that last the hour then I can live with that.

I feel much, much better. See? Now that's exactly the reason I posted my worries.

Thanks!!!!!!!

I have the 6P thats 10 years old, its now on its 2nd Lamp assembly P60 because the first one had popped when i dropped it onto concrete face first. The 2nd lamp assembly has been on it for the last 7 years? i use it about once a month.
They do last a fair while.
And the G2 is more shock isolated than the 6P so the bulbs are more shock isolated.

Hmm, not sure I follow. 60 minutes should be the runtime of a set of batteries. Not sure the life of the lamp but I have a couple G2's, one of which has been through a few sets of batts and the lamp is going strong. Also you can get batteries for a $1 each at Amondotech or BatteryStation with at the CPF page. I agree the runtime is not the greatest but these suckers are bright, especially the one I have with the P61 although I don't use it much. I also agree with the holster. I have been thinking of trying one of the leather ones as they appear to be not as bulky.

Sheesh, I'm slow. 3 other replies as I was typing mine

You guys are all awesome! Thanks so much for alleviating my worries. Now I'm really, really happy with the light. I may "play" with it some more now that I know the $4 batteries are the only thing I'll have to replace in an hour.

Thanks again!!!

I'm glad you're happy with your G2. It was my first real light and it's considered a great value by many.

You can get batteries for only $1 each from Amondotech.com -- these are the batteries I use in my G2 and it happily wolfs them down. According to more recent tests they don't do as well under the high current draw of more powerful lamps, but with the P60 I can hardly tell the difference.

A set of two-SF123A batteries powering the P60 Lamp gives a 1 hour runtime.

The P60 bulb is rated for about 25 hours use so you can expect to put 25 sets of batteries through it before the bulb starts to discolour and become more fragile. Once you seen brown deposits on the inside of the bulb it's time to get a new Lamp Assembly. The brown deposits are bits of vapourised filament which is obviously weaker as a result of having bits missing.

Does this explain things a bit better for you?

Al

carrot said:

You can get batteries for only $1 each from Amondotech.com --

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Ringer said:

Also you can get batteries for a $1 each at Amondotech or BatteryStation with at the CPF page.

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Wicked cool! Thanks for the heads up guys! That'll be great!

Size15's said:

A set of two-SF123A batteries powering the P60 Lamp gives a 1 hour runtime.

The P60 bulb is rated for about 25 hours use so you can expect to put 25 sets of batteries through it before the bulb starts to discolour and become more fragile. Once you seen brown deposits on the inside of the bulb it's time to get a new Lamp Assembly. The brown deposits are bits of vapourised filament which is obviously weaker as a result of having bits missing.

Does this explain things a bit better for you?

Al

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It sure does! Like I said, I'm just learning as I go. But I'm learning quickly, you are all great teachers



BTW - I assume you all have bought your batteries at the sites you recommended, do you have any idea what the shipping charge is for those $1 batteries? I clicked on the shipping info link and it just said they charge a "low flat shipping and handling charge". I wonder after all is said and done if it'd be cheaper to buy them for $2 a piece at my local dealer?

Thanks once again.

No, the shipping isn't that much, certainly not 100%. Order lots of batteries all at once to save on shipping. Lithium batteries have a 10 year shelf life...

Both orders I have placed with Amondotech (aprox 30-40 batts each time) were $6.95 shipping. You have to select the Additional shipping option. It's not in the regular shipping options there is a seperate link/button to select it.

Last I checked Amondotech charges only $6 flat rate.

Glad you're liking your G2! I kind of neglected mine the last few weeks, then yesterday i got my red filter and holster in the mail! Think i'm going to start edc'ing mine! Yup, $1 lithium batteries are good, but don't forget you can run rechargeables for it too. There are many threads over in incandescent on running 2 rechargeables 123s and using a 9V lamp. My G2 has the G&P G90 HP. Basically, about 40 minutes runtime and roughly the same output as the P90 lamp.

www.lighthound.com sells some rechargeable kits (the lamp, charger and 2 rechargeable 123's)

Warning though: Look up the dangers of using unprotected lithum rechargeables and judge whether you're ok with it. Also many threads about this on CPF.

Actually...i'm tempted to buy another G2 now =/

Here's another recommendation -- the perfect complement to the G2 -- the Inova X5. It's a 5-LED floody light that uses the same CR123 cells that your G2 does, and it can squeeze out many more hours of light from "used" cells from your G2. It'd be perfect to replace your Minimag, and then you can be economical with your battery usage.

Some battery safety tips:
- Don't mix cell brand names.
- Once you use two batteries as a pair, don't mix them up -- keep them together -- Amondotech's Titanium shrink-wrapped cells are perfect to prevent them from getting mixed up.
- Don't let them lay loose in your bag... or in your pocket -- if they short out, it could be dangerous.

Terry,

I am somewhat of a noob when it comes to flashlights, but there is something that I have learned and I believe that it is very important...

How much light do you really need? That is the question...

If you don't need an extreme amount of light, you could get something like the regulated SureFire E2L, it runs for over 2.5 hours, at around 100 %... You won't be buying batteries very often...

Also, LED's last a very long time.

http://flashlightreviews.com/reviews/surefire_kl1gen2.htm

Way to go on your SureFire G2 Terry Monk!

Enjoy!

Hang on, this may be just the start of a large collection!

You can double the runtime (and the price) of your light by dropping in one of these: http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/gp_p60lux3.htm You should keep a spare bulb around anyway...

Ringer said:

I have been thinking of trying one of the leather ones as they appear to be not as bulky.

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Good choice, I can recommend the surefire leather holsters, good safe fit for G2 and doesn't feel too bulky. Should last for years of use.

Good luck...