Survivor LED Question

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum so be gentle please. I've been lurking for a while and have gotten some great info from the posts. It's nice to know I'm not alone in my quest for the perfect flashlight. Wife thinks I'm loosing it.

I'm a professional firefighter and am thinking of the Streamlight Survivor LED to replace my incan Kohler Responder. Alot of the guys on the dept. carry the incan version of the Survivor but I've seen alot of them go dead very quickly or be so weak from rundown batteries they were useless. So I'm thinking the LED version with 4 AA's will be the better choice. Question ( finally) is there any way to modify a Survivor with a Cree Led? The increase in output would be awesome along with the great throw that Survivor is famous for. Thanks for any info.

The cree doesn't work quite as well with the reflector, but the mod with an SSC-P4 LED and a copper spacer works very well (with a little sanding of the reflector).

I did it here (sorry, still no pictures):
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=153311

are you sure you need the CREE mod on the Survivor LED? It puts out a throw of 85 on high and has an overall lumen rating (manufacturer) of 65.

The reflector is designed for firefighter conditions, to penetrate smoke and fog, and it has a runtime of 3 hrs on high which should be well more than enough for your needs.

No question, it would be nice if Streamlight came out with a CREE (or SSC) version of it, but it may already be good enough for your needs.

Don't you have some kind of training facility? Maybe you could borrow one and test it?

If you do, I'd be very interested in your experience with the light.

Yeah I could test it in our smoke house but problem is that no one has one to borrow. The incan Survivors are really bright when fully charged (over 100 lumens I believe) so I was thinking I could match that output with a Cree installed and have a bright, long-running light that is reliable. I saw quite a few incan Survivors at a large townhouse fire a few weeks ago that were failing after 10 to 15 minutes of use. So the battery issue is something I'd rather not deal with. May just have to bite the bullet and pick one up.

Hey Relichuntr, Welcome to CPF! Its alwasy good to see another FF. I have used both the incan and the LED survivor. I love them both but I will say that the incan one cuts through smoke much better than the LED for whatever the reason. I dont know how one would act in smoke with a SSC-P4 or a Cree, but the current LED one as astoundly bright already. Sorry im not much help as far as the cree mod but for my $$, I am sticking with the incan for its raw power. It is the one on my turnout gear right now...
Be safe and good luck!
Dave

Welcome to CPF Relichuntr. I think everyone will go easy. I had a Koehler Brightstar 4C 60,000CP on my turnout coat for the longest time and have nothing but good things to say about it. I now use the Survivor LED and think its a great light. Alot of people who had the Survivor Incand purchased the Survivor LED light only because the charger and battery are interchangeable. I like the fact that you can purchase the Survivor LED light with a charger or you can run it with a 4AA pack for easy change outs. I would suggest the LED and its about $50 complete. As far as a Cree mod I'm not sure about that but someone else would be able to shed some light on that idea.

Hey thanks for the input and the welcome guys. I appreciate it. I'm gonna check around tomorrow and see if any places around here have the led version and do some comparisons when I go back to work on Saturday. May have to hide it from the wife though, she doesn't understand the need for so many lights as well as I do. Or chain saws for that matter.:laughing: