Swimming with the Kroma!

Well... Another scorcher for us here in northern New York. I got home from a sweaty, muggy day at work and decided to go for the first swim of the year. Being the twilight hours, I had to grab a light...

I dropped my PD from waist height on to a concrete floor today. It landed bezel down, breaking the saphire on impact. I discovered later that the impact also cracked on of three tritium vials in the SS bezel...

The only other light in my collection that I could trust enough to bring swimming with me was the Kroma. The red was more visible than the blue under water, which was a bit of a surprise to me (the blue is brighter in air). The water really showed the beam profile of the Kroma white high. I wish I had a nice camera to show everyone...

After a good hour long swim: No water where it shouldn't be!

Thanks for the report! I had a Maglite take on water when I was a kid and have been too shy to take a valued light into the water with me since. (Although my U2 has seen a soaking on the various water rides in Disneyland and California Adventure, lol.)

I am assuming that the U2 would perform identical to the Kroma underwater. All SF lights are supposed to be water proof up to one atmosphere of pressure (about 32 ft).

Aepoc said:

All SF lights are supposed to be water proof up to one atmosphere of pressure (about 32 ft).

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It is more accurate that many SureFires are designed, manufactured and assemblied to be capable of being individually tested and rated waterproof to 33 metres (100ft).
SureFire rates most of its products as water-resistant based on this [being capable of keeping the water out], and being designed to recover from being flooded after careful (slow) drying out as a result of interior aluminium alloy being chemcoated and components such as electronics being coated or sealed against water damage.

[note]The rechargeable SureFires are not waterproof and should not be used underwater. They feature hydrogen catalyst pellet plugged vent holes due to the nature of the rechargeable batteries. In the even that the batteries outgass hydrogen it is absorbed by the pellet. In the event that the pressure builds up inside the flashlight it will vent rather than becoming seriously dangerous. [end of note]

Anyway, in the event that all non-user serviceable seals being watertight the burden falls to the user to maintain the serviceable seals in good operational condition (feel from dirt, correctly lubricated, undamaged o-rings etc).
Additionally, threaded components should not be rotated underwater unless there are two o-rings and even then this should be kept to the absolute minimum.

Unless your individual SureFire has come directly from SureFire having tested and 'certified' it (model number being give an "-N" such as '6PN'), the only way to know whether it is waterproof is to take it underwater for yourself.

In my experience it is normal for SureFire to be waterproof however as I've tried to explain it's not straight-forward because SureFire do not make divelights.

Al

Glad to hear the Kroma held up for ya man :thumbsup: Looks like we may have a new beamshot location in the near future :naughty:

What was the temp of your pool?

Size15's:
Thank you for the clarification... I thought I read somewhere that they were waterproof up to 1atm. Now I need to find out how to get my hands on an "N" surefire!

Strauss:
Come on over man. Its 77 right now.

Aepoc said:

Now I need to find out how to get my hands on an "N" surefire!

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There are very few 'off the shelf' N-Certified SureFires. The 6PN is one of them. Whether you can find a SureFire Dealer with one in stock, or whether SureFire have any in stock is something you'll have to find out.
Mostly it is the WeaponLight models that are tested and certified waterproof because the demand comes from those in the Military, Government and Law Enforcement with specific requirements.

Over the years I have seen SureFire Dealer get hold of 'excess stock' of a number of N-Certified models 'left over from an order placed by a unit or agency etc'

If you care for my opinion (well I'm gonna give it regardless :devil: ) I doubt that it is worth getting an N-Certified SureFire unless you are subject to exacting operational requirements.
Once you remove the bezel or TailCap the certification is void because you have exposed the threads and seal(s) and SureFire can not foresee the conditions under which that occurs or the quality/suitability of the cleaning & relubing you perform. Dust, dirt, sand, grit etc etc could very well contaminate the seal and render it incapable of performing as it did during testing.

Al

Size15's said:

Once you remove the bezel or TailCap the certification is void because you have exposed the threads and seal(s) and SureFire can not foresee the conditions under which that occurs or the quality/suitability of the cleaning & relubing you perform. Dust, dirt, sand, grit etc etc could very well contaminate the seal and render it incapable of performing as it did during testing.

Al

Click to expand...

so, um, what about battery changes?

@270winchester - i have the same questions also....

Once you remove the TailCap (or bezel) for any reason the N-Certification is invalid. If certification is required then the product shall be returned to SureFire for re-testing [if they are offering this service to you at the time, which I personally doubt because they are likely busy certifying products for their Military/Government/Law Enforcement customers).

Of course if you are confident in your abilities to ensure the threads and o-ring seal(s) are clear, undamaged and correctly lubricated then I don't see why it shouldn't still be waterproof.
As I mentioned previously the testing has more of a test of the seals you can not service (such as the bezel window for example).
The ones you can service are under your control should you decide to expose them.

Al

Water is blue so it shouldn't be a surprise that red was more visible.
The most contrasting color against blue is orange that is why lifevests and other devices are colored orange to contrast with the water. Without orange red is quite close.

Luigi