Surefire G2 for Home Defense

I need a flashlight with enough lumens to temporarily blind an intruder so I have time to pop off some headshots. Is the 60 lumens of the G2 enough? Would it make a big difference to upgrade to the P61 and 120 lumens...or do I need even more then that?

At night you're just as likely to blind yourself.

You do not really need 120 lumens, but the additional lumens will create a wider hotspot with which to aim at an intruder's face.

you must train to fire your shots to the center of mass. headshots are risky and dangerous.

seek some handgun training, and bring your G2 to practice with!


hope this helps!

highorder said:

you must train to fire your shots to the center of mass. headshots are risky and dangerous.

seek some handgun training, and bring your G2 to practice with!


hope this helps!

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Yup. FWIW in low light/night fire I've found that for me anything over 100 lumens get too bright, especially indoors.

Sorry to be blunt but get some firearms training first before talking about head shots. Make sure you're competent and proficient with your choice of weapon. A good firearms defense class should have answered this type of question.

For home defense get a shotgun!

You might want to look into a c2 or c3. They have a special grip for holding a light with a handgun. Although i can not say if it works or not.

What you are saying makes no sense. Blinding someone before you shoot him tells me 2 things, 1. you are wasting precious seconds 2. your decision making ability is stuck on deadly slow. If you've already identified him as a deadly force threat, forget about the flashlight, take care of business with the right tool. Flashlights are not defense weapons, unless they are used as impact weapons. After being in several deadly force encounters (CPD), I can tell you that using it to blind or disorient someone isn't always effective and would only be an option to me before a physical confrontation. It buys you a couple of seconds to focus your attack or make a retreat. Thats it. Thinking of it as otherwise WILL get you hurt. Don't bring a knife or flashlight to a gun fight, or a knife fight, or a bat fight. Bring a GUN. Good advice above as well. Use the search function, this has been touched on many times before. Not trying to be harsh, just want to emphasize the ramifications of bad decisions-its your life we're talking about! As far as bulbs, go with the p61.

As mentioned above, head shots are risky business. There is no use for a flashlight if you are not capable of handling firearms first. Crawl, walk, then run. I don't know what experience you have but I even find it difficult to get head shots in a low light environment while on the move and NOT under stress. The main point is, hit center mass. That is the biggest part of the body and you never know if someone is behind the perp.

Practice makes you almost perfect. I don't know of anyone who can fit the same bullet into the previous bullet hole making two or three shots look like one bullet hole while moving and shooting through a dark training house. Think about the bigger picture; a handgun and a flashlight are only extensions and tools for the operator. In my opinion the flashlight is used to identifiy a threat or non threat. The gun is there to follow through and put down a threat.

If you think you will blind an intruder/threat with a flashlight then give you time to pop off a head shot, you are probably new to shooting (making assumptions but it sure sounds like you just bought a gun and haven't even attended low light training courses.)

fnmag said:

For home defense get a shotgun!

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I think I would let the guy rummage around my house while I preped a colt or some other fine handgun before ligthing of a shotgun in my house.

If you're just interested in the properties of the two lamps, I'll try to avoid all the keyboard warrior advice about getting a gun and going for headshots or using the cover of darkness to sneak up behind them slowly and....


I've found that the P61's larger, brighter hotspot makes a good difference in identifying your target and what they have in their hands. The P60 is still a good lamp and has a decent hotspot for close range, but the P61 is prefered by me. It really is better.

Surefire claims the runtime at 20 minutes, that's a low estimate for continueous runtime. If you use the light in few minute bursts like most people would you will get more like a half hour of good light with good batteries like Surefire's.

'Pop off some headshots...' LOL only in America! I'm just jealous that you're allowed to defend yourself effectively in your own home. Here in the U.K. one is expected to just bend over and take it!

I do agree that brighter might not be better for that task. Just the other night I shone my Streamlight TL2 114 lumen onto my bare feet ( as one does...) Was literally dazzled by the reflected light for 5 secs or so. I am Scottish and have skin so white it might be placed on a colour chart as 'fish belly'.

one of the reasons I appreciate being American. if you cross the threshold of my home with bad intentions, you will regret it.

jocko, I think it's allowed to own a gun for defencive purposes at home, as long as you qualify for it.

No Vizlor, owning a gun for self-defense is an absolute no-no under any circustances here. You are permitted to own guns for sporting pursuits, however, using, say, a shotgun against an intruder will most likely land you in jail, as has happened to several people already. If the Goblin is carrying a shooter, you just might, and I stress might, get away with it. Handguns were comepletey banned here in 1996. Prior to that that, I did a fair bit of shooting and had a 1911, Browning Hi-Power, Glock, S&W .357, Ruger .22 and various others. Happy days, gone for good, replaced guns with knives and now torches or flashlights as the yanks call them.

highorder said:

you must train to fire your shots to the center of mass. headshots are risky and dangerous.

seek some handgun training, and bring your G2 to practice with!


hope this helps!

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I totally agree! Excellent advice . . .

dave43 said:

I need a flashlight with enough lumens to temporarily blind an intruder so I have time to pop off some headshots.

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You will be lucky to locate the intruder, let alone shining a light on his face.
You get it all wrong. It should be the other way around. High intensity flashlights are good for surprise attack (home invasion) or get shone on your face while sitting duck in your car by traffic cop.

If you want to blidn people I suggest a helios from polarion-store.com only problem is inside your gonan end up blind. Chances are within 10 yards a face shot with it will cause serious retnal damage.

65535 said:

I think I would let the guy rummage around my house while I preped a colt or some other fine handgun before ligthing of a shotgun in my house.

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Oh really! And what is the armed intruder going to do while you're preping your fine handgun? Oh, and how far is that 230 grain slug going to travel before it decides to stop! A shotgun with birdshot is a devastating weapon that makes it hard to miss, even for the newbies, and the shot will probably not make it out of the house. Maybe you could share some of your personal stories of stopping armed intruders. I always like to learn new things.

OK, my turn. I own a shotgun. I own several AR15's and several pistols of various calibers. I've taken some *serious* classes on the use of these weapons and I have a little firsthand experience on all of these weapon types and their applications. (No I don't claim to be a commando type, keyboard or otherwise) So now I'm going to ask:

Has anyone actually looked at the size of the pattern a shotgun produces at typical indoor ranges (say 7-10 yards)? This myth about "just point it in the general direction of the BG and pull the trigger and everything will be fine" has to be the most widely perpetrated non-sense on the internet.