What's up with the U2?

I've read a number of posts where owners have had a number of problems with the SF U2, but they still love this light. I'm considering getting one myself.

Is their a post that lists all of the quality issues with the U2?

The tailcap used to fail in quite some models ... but reports about this are getting less and less now.

Then you have the usual problems of a LuxV light: tint variation and a possible donut hole in the beam. This will not change I think.

Another point is that people seem to like the 18650 cell ... and later versions of the U2 have plastic sleeves and now narrower bodies that prevent the 18650 from entering the light.

There have been reports about dust in the light and on the reflector. I do not know how frequent this is / was.

That is all I can come up with right now.
As you can see, some "problems" are part of the design or the nature of the beast (Luxeon Lottery) whereas the tailcap and dirt things are real issues. Or have been.

There have been other reports on a problem here and there, but non that had consistency to elevate them into a real issue IMHO.
One of my lights for example had an emitter melt and then die ... and was replaced by SF.

I love my U2s. This is my preferred light since it got out some time ago. Did I say I love mine?

bernie

This may sound funny, but seriously speaking, the U2 has served to sharpen my modding skills. If a piece of equipment doesn't perform to standards, I tend not to send it back to the factory. I like to fix it myself or mod it. That goes for the U2. Tailcap broken? First one took Surefire 4 months to replace. In that time, I learned (through posts here) how to fix it myself. Greenish LED? I replaced it myself. I like the U2.

Gern:

Don't overlook the A2. A great all around light.

Law

At the price they are selling it, you would think they should be able to hand pick the LEDs for good tint.

Kiessling said:

That is all I can come up with right now...

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Don't forgot the general weirdness with the selector ring. Some are stiff. Some are scratchy. Some are missing levels in between the lowest and the highest; that is to say they won't make six different levels of brightness. Some of them will dip to the lowest level in between settings, and some will even strobe.

Others have complained about anodizing mismatch between the various pieces of the light, but I hardly think that counts as a "defect".

I'm not trying to knock the U2. I like mine a lot. I'm just trying to provide Gern Blanston with a more complete list of "known issues".

Probably cos there are lotsa people who have conditioned themselves to think that anything by Surefire is top class quality, they might think that the high price means high quality, i dunno.

If there were any problems they would still be ok cos their tolerance of "faulty" Surefire products. Yes they will quote Surefire's lifetime warranty, even that has problems now with the time it takes for Surefire to process the faulty products.

Not to mention u can get 3 to 5 similar lights of other brands in place of Surefires. Which would probably be set for your own "lifetime warranty", no need to worry about warranty/waiting with multiple backups in hand already.

From the general pattern here, u can see this trend from when a user posts a problem regarding a Surefire, lotsa users are fast to post good comments regardless.
However when China/HonKong made lights show problems, all sorts or negative feedback will ensue. Very much differents from the Surefire hypnosis.

Had mine for a month and use it a lot and it works flawlessly.

- Mike

Gern Blanston said:

I've read a number of posts where owners have had a number of problems with the SF U2, but they still love this light. I'm considering getting one myself.

Is their a post that lists all of the quality issues with the U2?

Click to expand...

I own a U2 myself and it's one of the best flashlights you can buy (second only to my favourite Photon Freedom) ... super bright and can be dimmed to conserve battery power.

The reason why you hear 'a lot' of negative post regarding U2, is because Surefure makes subperb products which hardly fail.. so when eventually/inevitiably something little fails.. people who worship cheap $1 lights jump on the bandwagon bashing.

From my experience, I'd say Surefire has a extremely low failure rate compared to other top brands..and many criticism is un-deserved. No product is perfect, and inevitably sometimes it will fail, although rarely in Surefire's case.

That's why the military uses it.. because they want reliability.

Gern Blanston,

My U2 is my primary "utility light". I like it a lot. I have yet to find anything better. I have an insignificant donut hole that you really don't notice in normal use. I bought a spare Z59 tailcap "just in case". Although I have a Kroma and a Kroma-MilSpec coming as an experiement, I don't think they will be "better", just "different" and more "versatile".

Hope this helps,
Flashdark sends, satisfied.

Well, I bought a U2, and I love it. It's throw is significantly better than the L2. It selects each level of brightness without a problem. My only concern is the tailcap: after I've used "constant-on" and return it to it's normal position, it tends to light up with the slightest touch. It takes a little while for this to rectify itself.

Is this the tailcap problem that I've been hearing about?

U2's probably my favorite Surefire. I use mine constantly; it's bright, runs forever on a pair of cells (on the lower settings) and packs easily. And of course adaptable brightness goes a long way toward its usefulness, like when reading maps in a dark car, etc.

I think dust in the reflector head is an overstated problem. A few specks of dust aren't going to affect anything. If you've ever tried to assemble a Maglite head with an aftermarket aluminum reflector and a UCL, you'll find that it's IMPOSSIBLE to get it cleaner than the worst Surefire head. My best homebrew light (ROP) would rate a "strong awful" in terms of head cleanliness compared to any Surefire I've ever seen.

Gern Blanston,

If you still have the tailcap "armed" (rotated inward where everything either activates or does not), it is supposed to "activate" when the tailcap is depressed, but yours sounds like it is overly-sensitive. Try rotating the tailcap counterclockwise a little, where everything will still activate but the "momentary" position should be less sensitive. I have several flashlights where this is the case. I then take a "Sharpie" silver-metallic marker and make "witness" marks for alignment on the body and tailcap so that I can align for "arm" and rotate 360' counterclockwise for "disarm". This solves my problems. The only other way to solve this that I know of is to buy another Z59 tailcap for replacement (which I have done anyway just to have a spare). The Z59 is NOT HA-BK like the U2 tailcap, just ordinary black like the 6P or Z2 tailcap etc., but, except for a slight appearance difference, it works just fine, and is so close that I don't even think about it.

Hope this helps,
Flashdark sends.

Thanks, Scott.cr and Flashdark! Rotating it seems to work. I had to be pretty precise: a hair clockwise keeps it at constant on, and a hair counter clockwise it won't turn on at all.

This is still a great light, though. I use it when walking my dog at night mainly to light up the trees overhanging the sidewalks so that I don't walk through those huge webs that the tree spiders (for lack of the correct name) make over the path: I hate getting a face full of spider web, and this light shows them perfectly.

I used my 9P to turn away a stray chow who was approaching me and my dog in an unfriendly manner one evening, and I have no doubt that the U2 could serve in this capacity as well.

A great all around light...

Gern Blanston said:

Thanks, Scott.cr and Flashdark! Rotating it seems to work. I had to be pretty precise: a hair clockwise keeps it at constant on, and a hair counter clockwise it won't turn on at all.

This is still a great light, though. I use it when walking my dog at night mainly to light up the trees overhanging the sidewalks so that I don't walk through those huge webs that the tree spiders (for lack of the correct name) make over the path: I hate getting a face full of spider web, and this light shows them perfectly.

I used my 9P to turn away a stray chow who was approaching me and my dog in an unfriendly manner one evening, and I have no doubt that the U2 could serve in this capacity as well.

A great all around light...

Click to expand...

If your tailcap isn't working perfectly they will replace it free of cost. You do not have to send the old one in, they ask for your address and send it to you.
SF CS is included in the cost of the light so you don't have to feel guilty

PS! I love mine and it is my do-all medium sized flashlight running on free high capacity 18650s. It is worth the money unless you get a lemon.

PPS! I might not have bought it if it couldn't use Li-ions, since I get these free and cr123s are $3-10 each here in Norway....

The U2 is currently my second most used light; in fact I just bought a backup in case the primary torch has a failure (thanks slaps!). I love it. It could only be better if it accepted 18650s from the factory.

Wouldn't it be more "fair" to mention the frequently ridiculous wait times for Surefire replacement parts? Sometimes Surefire is quick, but several CPFers have reported waiting weeks or months for a non-defective replacement part.

Tiger is right, but keep in mind that Surefire seems to "batch manufacture" with high priority going to fill military orders.

Law

The batch manufacturing must be to keep costs down (if only the savings were passed on to customers...). About the military customers: They probably need their lights a heck of a lot more than we do. Then again, I'm sure the civilian customers aren't too jazzed about being nudged aside. Surefire might be a little overworked if they only have the resources to serve a small fraction of their customers.

also keep in mind that we push our lights too the limits and expect nothing but the best from surefire.when are lights go wrong we go up in arms,and send it back to surefire.But who uses surefires more than anyone LEO's and military for the most part,and many of them are unaware of what goes into these lights.so when something goes they simply go to their supply guy and get a replacement like it's nothing. I'm just trying to say that our expectations are alot higher than who these lights are mainly designed for.So maybe surefire should just go by our standards?or have they already passed them.I think it's a mixture of both.But all I know is that these lights hold up quite well and that I would never choose anyother brand over surefire . . . .


they do need to hurry and send my stuff though it's been 3 weeks