Surefire G2 Beam Quality and Rings in the Halo

Hi all --

I'm a newbie to the world of 'real' flashlights and have been lurking for quite a while on this board -- I finally decided to join the fray.

I recently ordered a SF G2 and received it earlier this week. Overall, I am very impressed with the fit and finish and quality of manufacture.

I do have a question regarding the quality of the beam. If I hold the light parallel to the ground with the Surefire logos at 12 and 6 o'clock, I see three very noticeable rings in the halo that run between the 3 and 6 o'clock position. Is this normal? Or should I expect a certain amount of imperfection in the beam? After lurking on this board for several weeks and reading hundreds of posts, I guess I was under the impression (perhaps falsely) that the beam would be almost 'perfect'.

Thanks for your replies.

OzMan

Welcome to CPF!

I have a few questions for you so that we can work out what's going on. I can't understand what you're seeing.

You are shining the G2 straight onto a surface from how far away?

How does the beam look when on a target 5, or 10 metres away?

I re-read you post and got the impression you are shining the beam at a target in the distance and the surround beam is illuminating the ground in front of you. You are seeing rings in that surround beam on the ground whilst the central beam is being targeted at something else.
Is this correct?

Perhaps what you are seeing is the edge of the beam which has the outline of the retaining ring's notches [used to screw down the lens]. Perhaps you are also seeing the light output which has been corrupted by the edge of the reflector/lens retaining parts. If you are seeing what I think you are seeing then the A2 has this too.

SureFire beams should be flawless and pure. There should be no rings, voids or no shadows in the central beam or the surround beam. SureFire does not claim that their beams are perfectly round though (because few are)

If your P60 has flaws in the beam that you notice when you use it then I think perhaps you have a duff P60 Lamp Assembly.

Best regards,

Al

by halo do you mean the spill of light outside the hotspot? because if that's what you mean, then both P60s in my 6P and C2 have it....no idea what causes it but its not noticeable unless you shine it on a flat white surface. however if its the hotspot that has rings and dark spots, then you should get a replacement from surefire.

Thanks for the replies.

To help clarify...

I am pointing the beam straight at a flat surface (a large wall in my house). The rings are noticeable at all ranges and appear in the surround beam (i.e., the light well outside the hotspot -- right inside the very edge of the beam. If I hold the light 6 inches away from the wall, the rings are very sharp and distinct; if I move back to 1 meter the rings are still present and still quite distinct. If I continue to move back to say 3 meters, they are still noticeable, but not quite as sharp.

Also, I noticed that the bulb is not exactly centered in the hole in the reflector -- could this have anything to do with the rings?

Thanks again for the replies. I am planning to call SF, but don't want to bother them if this is something that is perfectly normal.

OzMan

I just talked to SF Customer Service and the guy I spoke with said it did not sound normal. He is putting a new P60 in the mail today (and he said to just hold on to the current one as a 'back up'). Now that is great CS...!!

that's great /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif when you get the replacement you can compare them both and see if the old one was in fact a defective unit or not.

The filament is what is focused, not the orientation of the envelope.

Al

Ozman, If the rings you are speaking of are little semi circles appearing in the edge of the beam at distinct intervals I suggest you look at the bezel end of the flashlight as these are shadows from the scallops on the retaining ring for the lens, they are meant to be engaged by a spanner wrench that they use at Surefire to assemble the bezel/lens and have nothing to do with the beam picture, they appear on all Surefires with a retaining ring assembled lens. It sounds like that is what you are experiencing but if that's not it I don't know what it could be.

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
tsg68 said:
Ozman, If the rings you are speaking of are little semi circles appearing in the edge of the beam at distinct intervals I suggest you look at the bezel end of the flashlight as these are shadows from the scallops on the retaining ring for the lens...

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, TSG.

I know exactly the marks to which you are refering, and as one would expect I can see those marks very clearly. Unfortunately, the rings I am seeing are about halfway between the marks to which you refer and the hotspot of the beam -- they are definitely not the shadows from these scallops.

After describing the rings to the CS rep at SF and telling him about the fact that the bulb is not centered in the hole of the reflector, he felt certain that I just got a bad lamp assembly -- hence, the shipment of a new one.

The guy I spoke with was especially friendly and apologetic. I am extremely impressed with SF's Customer Service so far!

OzMan

Yeah I really like the great service they have at Surefire. Good luck with the new lamp assembly.

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif