The Surefire 9Z

I bought this light many years ago as my "night shooting" light for USPSA/IPSC match stuff. Certainly long before I had ever heard about a place/forum like this, the powerful LED revolution, or anything remotely resembling a "flashaholic." When I first bought the light I was confident I'd never seen anything so bright before in my life.

Just the other day I came across Tung's thread over on the MarketPlace regarding drop-ins and I picked up one of his very affordable R2 units. Brought some fresh life into the old girl, and I would guess several orders of magnitude more efficiency.

Anybody else out there have one of these fine old 9Z's? Don't read about them much here, and I thought some of you would enjoy a couple pics. This old girl has been around the block, but it's still one solid piece of gear.

It's a great light and a great platform for SureFire lego. It does nicely with regular or high output incans, a turbohead or an LED conversion head. There are probably many more I've just omitted, such as rechargeable options.

Its a very nice light/ host.

I like the clasic look without all the anti roll bezzle nonsence, and knurling.

Looks smooth and cool. :thumbsup:

Well that's cool!

Kind of like a 3 cell Z2.
What LED do you have in it? NVM, just reread msg #1

Does it accept P90/91?
If those are recent pics, you baby it too much

Too bad SF doesn't still make a Z3/9Z light instead of the C3. I mean don't get me wrong the C3/C2 are good lights but to me the Z2 fells better and I belive a Z3 would too.

I prefer the G2Z polymer body myself. But I need a C2 to add to the collection.

I picked up a few of the R2 LED drop in's from Tung as well. They are very,very nice. I've upgraded all of my old 6P's & 9P's with them & I'm very pleased with the increased output & runtime :thumbsup:

Retinator said:

Kind of like a 3 cell Z2.

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As mentioned - SureFire used to offer a Z3 (so a "3 cell Z2" is a pretty funny term to those who know there used to be a Z3)

Retinator said:

Does it accept P90/91?

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Indeed - the 9Z like the 9P and Z3 and C3 and D3 etc use the P90 or P91 lamp assemblies.

I'm jealous of your 9Z!:thumbsup: If I had a Surefire 12Z with the P91 my search for the prefect incandescent for my needs would be over.

Wow. I really wish I had bought one of those back in the 90s. I had a 6Z that I loaned to a buddy during an IDPA night shoot and I've never seen it since. I finally replaced it with a Z2 and rediscovered how much I like that grip. Just today I put my C2 up for trade hoping to get another Z2.

There was a Z3 on Ebay a couple weeks ago. I still regret not going after one, but it went higher than I thought it would.

I had a 12Z that I recently sold. That had the same combat grip, but the larger head just made it too awkward to carry, so it stayed on the shelf. I think the 3 cell combat grip is the perfect form factor.

Very nice light, Ducaticorse! I really like the older non-hex bezels. I have a mint 9P with round body and "Laser Products" tailcap...but I either lost or sold the original round head a while back. It really gives the light a vintage look! Of course, the down side is that it'll roll right off a table! Doh!

I love all these drop-in's! They really breathe new life into your old or classic lights. Virtually infinite upgrade potential!

Some pics of my vintage 9P...it's not as cool as your 9Z...but close...

And yes, I have an R2 290 lumen drop-in in there...from ttran97.

Old skool but still upgradeable making it desirable. With newer LA available nowadays the value of such lights are kept intact.

CRESCENDOPOWER said:

I'm jealous of your 9Z!:thumbsup: If I had a Surefire 12Z with the P91 my search for the prefect incandescent for my needs would be over.

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I must be missing something (?) - the 12ZM and 12PM take four SF123A batteries to power the N62 lamp in the T-62 TurboHead.
The P91 requires the Z44 or similar bezel and is powered by three SF123A batteries.

Size15's said:

I must be missing something (?) - the 12ZM and 12PM take four SF123A batteries to power the N62 lamp in the T-62 TurboHead.
The P91 requires the Z44 or similar bezel and is powered by three SF123A batteries.

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I was thinking one could use the Z44 with the P91 on a 12P with 2 17670 AW rechargeable batteries. I don't own a 12P so I am not certain that a Z44 bezel will fit.

Thanks, that's what I hoped was being referred to.
The Z44 et al will fit the 12ZM/12PM body no worries.

I also got my 9Z way before I had found CPF.

I love it, great design and build quality.

Mine is now running now off 2 x Wolf Eyes Li Ions which cut running costs which were a bit prohibitive.

It's my favourite incan.

I've had a 9Z for 8-10 years. It's currently my backup duty light.

I really like the form factor of the Z combat light series. I almost got rid of my 6Z which is my first real flashlight and introduction to Surefire. The LED drop-ins breathes new life into these great "old school" lights.

Thanks for the pics of your really nice 9Z, Ducaticorse. Like many members, I too have appreciation for the design form. It really works. The Optimus, although apparently a little larger, uses a similar form. I got pretty excited when I saw photos of it posted here.

I have a Z3 usually running a Malkoff. I'd like to extend it to overdrive a P91 and see how that feels in grip after rearranging the rings.

Wow! Pics of my old 9Z received a lot more attention than I ever expected. Glad that some of you found it interesting, it's a great light.