why Surefire ?????????

I dont get it, why waste so much money on a flashlight, lets say about $360.00 for the M6, I could be wrong on the price to, but if the batteries only last about a half hour, why, the brightness doesnt make it worth the money for me, yes it may be built tuffer than a mag light but, all I really care about is the length of time the batteries will last, say I was cave exploring and my surefire died in the middle of it, Sh*t, but if I had a regular maglight I would probably still have light, so please anybody, help me out here, why??????

Right light for the right job, I like to explore unmapped caves as well but I would never consider A SureFire M6 or A Maglight suitable for this type of work. The Only SureFires I would take would be and E2 or E1 but only as special purpose lighting rather that primary lighting and I might not even take a single SureFire at all for that job. What you want in a cave is reliabiliy, usable quantities of light and battery campatibiliy is nice and you definately want a backup. I have a Petzel that uses and odd shaped 4.5 volt batter, I undid the strap on one side and threaded in a Tikka (3 AAA very small 3 led light. So on my head I have an Led and incandecent lighting system, If I were caving today, I would propaply carry a backup Arc-AAA to go along with the Tikka. The M6 you were talking about is primarily a tactical or compat light. Not intended to be used as pure utitarian light.

M6 is meant to make people see spots. It also is not intended to be used for long periods of time, you don't want to give up your position for long in a gunfight.

It is true you could get a much cheaper light that is as bright (or close) to the M6. But the light will probably be 10 times bigger and 10 times heavier.

I would agree I would not use the M6 for the task you mention. But I can think of many tasks I would choose the M6 for.

This reminds me of the car situation. Why would someone want a small car that can't hold more then 2 people and go really fast, when they could have a nice station wagon that hold bunches of people and a big gas tank to travel really far. You are comparing apples to oranges. It sounds to me like you don't ever see yourself in a situation where the M6 would be useful, just as I wouldn't find a fast small car useful and you might. Does that make since?

If you don't need a flashlight, you don't have to buy it!

Obviously, many of us want things we don't need...

I've used the 12PM in caves to really light up some geological features so we could photograph, drawer and describe them. I had a headlight for general use.

SureFire, I went through 4 sets of batteries but then we got some really useful data, and saw detail that without the 12PM, would have remained in the dark...

If you can't justify carrying a tiny illumination tool that puts out perhaps the brightest non-rechargeable flashlight beam ever created, then don't get one.

For the majority of SureFire users - people who specifically use the likes of the M6 / M5xxB for their jobs, the running cost and runtime of SureFires is less of an issue compared to the advantages such tools can give people highly trained in low-light/no-light operations.

Al

Hi SATAN...

The M6 is simply one of the best flashlights ever made. It can instantly turn the darkest midnight into a brilliant high noon.

But, of course, if you think you don`t "need" one of the best flashlights ever made, well then... don`t buy one.

On a personal note, at one time of my life I also felt I didn`t "need" an M6, but I bought one anyway because of the rave reviews it always seemed to receive on the CPF.

Well...after getting it and seeing first hand its magical beauty and brute power, I immediately knew that my life would have forever been incomplete had I not bought that M6.

And it`s a slippery slope. I have since purchased five more M6`s....for my wife, my SUV and my sons. You can never have too many M6`s, after all!

But really...you shouldn`t buy an M6. After all, you don`t actually "need" one one of the best flashlights ever made.

Best wishes to you, and welcome to the agonizing but ever-exciting world of flashaholism!

with all that fire in Hell, why would Satan need a surefire, unless the fires are going out????

Thanks for all the replies guys, I hope I didnt offend anyone, I am going to have to do more research on lights, also has anyone had any experience with the lightwave series, especially the lightwave 4000, I hear it has great battery life?

SATAN,

Welcome aboard.

Surefires are made with specific tasks in mind where run-time is not as big of an issue.

For the Lightwave, check out the LED forum

Aloha

If you don't care about the size, and runtime on cheap batteries is of great importance, it would be tough to beat the LW4000. Probably be great for caving except for the size issue.

I have a LW300,and I find myself using it more and more because of the beautiful wash of white light it provides for up-close work. I wouldn't take anything else under the sink for repairs now. Same with working behind the dashboard in the car. They really are fine lights, though they're getting a bit long in the tooth these days (there are much brighter/more efficient LEDs out now).

The M6 may be the best made, but after looking at the pics of it vs. the McCulloch X990, it looked like the M6 might as well have been off. http://www.candlepowerforums.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=001612

I think that one of the design paramaters for all of the SureFire lights are "perfect light, as bright and as small as possible".

For the Swat team, A combat Soldier, or other tactical missions, where you are already carying a bunch of "stuff", those expensive batteries are just like rounds of bullets. Many lives might depend on the SureFire, just like a high powered rifle.

the rest of us just like them because they are cool!