Has Surefire upgrade the LED's in the A2 yet?

Such an expensive flashlight, yet such pathetic LED's contained within. Has Surefire upgraded the LED's yet? I would like an A2, but I really don't feel like modding a $150 light as soon as I get it.

Remember the LEDS in the Aviator have a very specific purpose. They are not meant to be extremely bright, just the opposite really. I personally find the white LEDs on my A2s perfect for my needs that don't require the incan.

Chris

Sorry, maybe you don't understand the "Aviator" part of the name designation Surefire A2 Aviator -- it's specifically designed so that the LEDs are low enough not to disrupt night-adjusted vision too much. In fact, I think the LEDs may be too bright, as they disrupt my night vision late at night. The brightness is *just right* for most uses otherwise.

Asking a question like this implies that the A2 is implying that the goal of the A2 is to be BRIGHT on "low" mode. This is not the case. The LEDs may be "pathetic" and "dim" to you, but they are in fact the perfect brightness for my uses. I think most people would tend to agree. Why fix what ain't broke?

Don't know if InfidelCastro is commenting on the brightness of the LEDs or some other factor.

I do find the LEDs useful for close up tasks, but my white LEDs are very BLUE.

There are better choices now without affecting the level.

Mark

InfidelCastro said:

Such an expensive flashlight, yet such pathetic LED's contained within. Has Surefire upgraded the LED's yet? I would like an A2, but I really don't feel like modding a $150 light as soon as I get it.

Click to expand...

You are right the LED's are nothing to write home about but the beauty is in the switching, I hit the incan from the 16th floor to the darkened street below, then navigated my way to the bedroom or bath with the use of the LED's. If you are looking for a good LED throw, check out the E2L, that is my work light, squarish beam but it will light up projects. A2 is not the perfect light but after a couple of days it will become a part of your body.....

Nichia CS's are the only LED's out there that take any amount of overdriving (which out don't know if it's the case on the A2) without dying in a short time.

Hello Mark,

I am sorry to hear that your A2 is feeling bad (blue ).

Mine is just plain sick... (y/g )

Tom

IMHO I think the A2 is about as close to perfect as a "stock" light can get right now. The white leds are perfect in my opinion for 90% of my lighting needs with the comforting knowledge of the regulated incan beam being available should the need arise. As for the other colored leds offerred, they serve specific purposes therefore may be dimmer, red for example, to preserve night vision for pilots, etc. This was the original designed use for the light.

If I bought an A2 with white LED's, I would want them to be the bestest, newest LED's out there. In other words, the most efficient and brightest. I don't see this from the Aviator. I've seen some LED mods to the Aviator and the difference is quite apparent. Much as Inova has updated their lights, I think Surefire should upgrade the Aviator.

Someone tell me that the Aviator's LED's are uber efficient compared to Nichia's and I'll bugger off.

Not that I like Nichia's. Bright, but WAY WAAAY too blue. And they got that dollar store feel about them.


(side track)
Inova definately hasn't updated their keychain lights because my 3 year old red Photon II is more than twice as bright on the original battery as the current red Inova keychain light sold at Target.
(/side track)

Sometimes I think the LED's in my A2 are too bright. but most of the time they are perfect. I agree with others above that the point is to have a low mode for checking cockpit instruments or charts while still being able to check the exterior of a large plane.
In my use, the LEDs work great for inside and outside navigation, walking around a campsite, digging through the pack, hanging from the roof of the tent. All kinds of "as needed" light for a few seconds where I wouldn't bother to put on a headlamp (camping), or don't have a headlamp with me.
If I were to put on more efficient ones, I'd reduce their power to keep the same light, but improve runtime.

As an airline pilot and flashaholic myself, my opinion is that the LEDs on the A2 are indeed too dim for most general use. However, I'd say that they're already on the bright side if I ever, God forbid, had to use it during a total electrical failure inside the flightdeck flying a night visual approach.

InfidelCastro,

I can see where you are coming from, and personally, I'd like a brighter and 'less-bluish' option of leds without trading off too much of the incan runtime--that was the reason for modding my A2 with SMJ(and written a dummy reference guide for it).

My idea is if it were indeed a bit too bright, I could always put on a filter, and some member even go ahead with modding the resistor values which make their A2s rechargables friendly.

Anyway, some fellow modders also tried sanding their original leds on the ring to eliminate the artifacts and reduce the concentration of the 'blueness'. Might wanna consider that when you get your A2.

I'm kinda sold on NOT modding the LED's
what about the incades bulb? mine seems not as bright as it use to be or maybe just my newer lights are brighter?