Upgrade surefire G2 or buy led G2 or L1? help!

Recently I've been having to go into the local dark nasty downtown area at night. It's a bad area drugs, bums and pucks. (It's like a Charles Bronson death wish movie type area (at least to me) I have a CHL so I pack hints I must carry a very good flashlight. I have my surefire G2 that I bought in summer 05 and I love it. I can't destroy it. I find the 65 lumen lamp to be fine most of the time put I do swap in the 120l lamp for downtown. The one thing that I'm worried about is breaking the bulb during a struggle or something so I want to go LED. Also would like to be able to use rechargeable batteries. So my questions are.
1. Do I upgrade my G2 lamp to LED or buy a new light? Do not want to upgrade the lamp if reliability is at risk at all. Would like to get another surefire. (good stuff plus they are made in the USA!)
2. Will a 80L LED G2 or 65L L2 lumamax be at least as bright and have as good a throw as a p65 lamp?
3. What are the best P60 LED replacement lamps?
4. What inexpensive LED china-lights in the 60+ lumen range are the best? Say 30 bucks or under. I need a couple for my mossy 500's
Man who thought flashlights could get so complex? Thanks in advance for advice guys and girls!


R

I'd say a P6D with it's strike bezel, and a bug out gear Cree Q5 LED dropin, at over 100 lumens should do the trick.

I have a new G2 as well. Actually decided to go incan because I dont have many anymore... But that doesn't help.

Did some research about the P60L (aka G2L) vs the P60 (aka G2). The P60L is supposed to be somewhat brighter and heat-regulated; that means you won't have to worry about it burning out due to lack of heat sinking in the nitrolon body. This of course means lesser output the longer you keep it running. Alternatively you could go with a new G2L with the aluminum head or even better a 6PL. Thats the route I'm going...eventually, the 6PL for the better heat sinking, this way if I ever want to drop a high-output LED pill in I won't need to worry...


FWIW I would stay away from the dealextreme and similar cree drop-ins. Numerous reports indicate low buld quality including some useage of HOT GLUE. For a defensive light stay with stock surefire parts or comparable.

There is no "best" third-party LED assembly as "best" is directly related to your intended lighting purposes. 65535 favors the BOG Q5, I favor the Dereelight digital modules, others the Malkoff M60 and Wolf-Eyes assemblies.

You say you switch to the P61 HOLA when downtown.
So a Surefire dropin at 80 lumens won't do the job.
With this in mind I'd go for a Bug-Out-Gear a few to choose from.

Dereelight module (bottom of page)won't work on 2 CR123A its MAX 4.2v Input. You'd need a 17670 rechargeable which can work if you have the budget for the whole setup. This is a good option if your buying the batteries yourself. But if your Dept. hands out cells its the Bug-out-gear.

You could do a SF 6PD with a Malkoff M60 Q5 and run it with AW R123's, as long as R123's fit a 6PD?

It sounds like you're talking about a situation where you're life could be on the line, so you want the best you can afford.

Since you already have a G2 with the Nitro head, my suggestion would be a Malkoff M60 (low output) drop in. Don't let the "low output" fool you... it's 140+ lumens and about 4 hrs. runtime with no heat issues. Cost is more... About $60 dollars but it is significantly brighter than the SureFire and very high quality. Otherwise, consider a similar P60 led drop in from Wolf-Eyes or BugOurGear. :wave:

A lot of things would work. It seems that since the OP's going for a HOLA, anything 100 lumens or more is a necessity.

So - a bunch of options are:

KL5 head - 100 lumens with primaries
BOG Super Premium Drop In - great throw, good spill
Malkoff M60 - great throw and excellent spill
DereeLight and Wolf Eyes - also works well. I personally haven't tested them, but they do work.

All that I've mentioned will work with standard rechargeables too like the 16340 or R123a's.

roymail said:

It sounds like you're talking about a situation where you're life could be on the line, so you want the best you can afford.

Since you already have a G2 with the Nitro head, my suggestion would be a Malkoff M60 (low output) drop in. Don't let the "low output" fool you... it's 140+ lumens and about 4 hrs. runtime with no heat issues. Cost is more... About $60 dollars but it is significantly brighter than the SureFire and very high quality. Otherwise, consider a similar P60 led drop in from Wolf-Eyes or BugOurGear. :wave:

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I don't mean to hijack, sorry. But does the malkoff offer the same thermal regulation/protection that the SF unit does?

yes it does i recall reading about it somewhere. Gene's warranty is as good as surefire

Buck91 said:

I don't mean to hijack, sorry. But does the malkoff offer the same thermal regulation/protection that the SF unit does?

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+1 to what Beastmaster said. If you're thinking "defensive" or "tactical" lighting to compliement your sidearm, you'll want more than the SF LED module puts out. Malkoff M60, Wolf-Eyes Q5, Dereelight Q5, and BugoutGear Q5 all are great choices for this application. I carry a Surefire Z2 with a Dereelight module for this purpose, and the few times I've had to "light up" a suspicious person, they've always stopped and shielded their eyes or ran off.

I would Say a surefire L1 since it is metal bodied and a nice size for an EDC. also it has 2 output levels. The G2LED is a good all around light and uses 2 batteries and has a single output. Judging by the reviews I hve heard about on this forum about the P60LED (the led lamp assembly used on the G2 LED) the beam appears a little towards the "angry blue" side and isn't the nicest thing. This is the other major reason why the L1 Cree is the better choice.

I second this option. SF 6PD is an excellent self defense tool with the strike bezel should you ever need it. Add the Malkoff and you have tonnes of throw and HUGE spill. The strike bezel will help protect the lense from ever getting hit/broken as well.

So the SF 6PD & Malkoff high output is my vote!

WadeF said:

You could do a SF 6PD with a Malkoff M60 Q5 and run it with AW R123's, as long as R123's fit a 6PD?

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+1 on the Malkoff, if you can get it. BOG for second choice.

If you like the color of incans, get a G3, feed it 2 x 17500 li-ions and a Lumens factory EO-9. 380 bulb lumens (268 out the front) an 30 min runtime. Best of all, "Guilt free lumens."

The nitrolon body is very shock resistant, so I wouldn't worry about blowing a bulb. I've dropped my G2Z/P60 and the only thing that happened was the nice hot spot developed a ring. :shakehead

Co-worker dropped his and the same thing happened.