Surefire Z2 LED - Surefire G2Z

I am considering a Surefire Z2 LED or a Surefire G2Z and have the following questions:

1. Are they equivalent in terms of their shock resistance?
2. Any chance that these models will soon be upgraded from the current LED lamps to something brighter? I know that Surefire tends to be conservative in adopting the newest lamps but would prefer not to lay down the cash if a brighter one is just about to reach market.

EWB, welcome to CPF. The G2Z is more shock resistant. The nitrolon is much better at taking a fall than the aluminum. It bounces better and it won't show scars and dings. If an incandescent is on, the filament is more brittle than when it is off. If you put an LED in the nitrolon or aluminum Z2 then it does not matter. You can drop an LED all day and it won't break. Get the Z2 LED, 2 battery or 6 volt incandescents are now badly outclassed in brightness and runtime by LEDs. The aluminum handles the heat made by an LED much better. Don't get nitrolon. It was great for incandescents but it does not handle LED heat well. LEDS are the future.

SureFire may anounce the availability of the 200 lumen P61L LED lamp assembly for the 6p, Z2, G2Z at the February 2009 Shot Show. Then again, they may not. Who knows? The are about 9 months late on it now.The runtime will hopefully be 1 hour at 200 lumens and then about 2 hours of a lower level of light from there. You could get a very good malkoff drop in now, for those lights.

Have fun and watch your wallet. Oh yeah, when in doubt, "buy both". Remember, the learning is half the fun.

ugrey said:

Don't get nitrolon. It was great for incandescents but it does not handle LED heat well. LEDS are the future.

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Hyperbole.

I have a 140ish lumen M60L that will run 4+ hours in a nitrolon G2 without ill effect. And according to Malkoff, the 220ish lumen M60's can be run for 15 minutes straight in a nitrolon host without damage to the module or host. Point is, do you research first and choose your host and module wisely according to your needs.

ewb said:

I am considering a Surefire Z2 LED or a Surefire G2Z and have the following questions:

1. Are they equivalent in terms of their shock resistance?
2. Any chance that these models will soon be upgraded from the current LED lamps to something brighter? I know that Surefire tends to be conservative in adopting the newest lamps but would prefer not to lay down the cash if a brighter one is just about to reach market.

Click to expand...

Upgradeability should not be a concern. If a new one comes out, changing out the LED assembly for a different one is extremely simple.

If I had a choice I would go with the Z2L for better overall heatsinking ability and better looks too.

The G series nitrolon bodies are very tough and definitely have a place though.

I like them in very cold environments, it's better than holding onto a metal light.

I wouldn't use nitrolon polymer based lights in cold harsh environments. The reason being it can crack.
My vote goes to the Z2L.

SureAddicted said:

I wouldn't use nitrolon polymer based lights in cold harsh environments. The reason being it can crack.
My vote goes to the Z2L.

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Yea.. Australia... Hehehe, try an upper Midwest/Canadian winter sometime, you'll LOVE those nitrolon lights.

I'm fairly certain nitrolon is crack resistant to a pretty low temperature.

ampdude said:

Yea.. Australia... Hehehe, try an upper Midwest/Canadian winter sometime, you'll LOVE those nitrolon lights.

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I'd love to, lol. I just wish it snowed here in the city.

I've never heard of Nitrolon cracking or having any problems at low temperatures. If you have examples I'd like to see them please.

I would personally select a Nitrolon version (G2ZL) over a metal version (Z2L) because the Nitrolon is more comfortable to hold and offers better retention in the cold, and in the wet.

Al

I purchased the Surefire Z2 a few years ago. Recently I changed the filament bulb to Lumens Factory D26 LED. The new setup blows my Surefire L5 away. Unlike the new setup, the L5 is like a flood light. The new setup has a tighter spot, but still retained enough spill.

double post

Size15's said:

I've never heard of Nitrolon cracking or having any problems at low temperatures. If you have examples I'd like to see them please.

I would personally select a Nitrolon version (G2ZL) over a metal version (Z2L) because the Nitrolon is more comfortable to hold and offers better retention in the cold, and in the wet.

Al

Click to expand...

The world wide web is at your fingertips.
http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2005/03/framing-issue.html
http://www.rpi.edu/research/magazine/winter0708/nanorepair-1.html

SureAddicted said:

The world wide web is at your fingertips.
http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2005/03/framing-issue.html
http://www.rpi.edu/research/magazine/winter0708/nanorepair-1.html

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Whilst I acknowledge that there are conditions under which polymer components can crack; I fail to see any evidence that this has actually happened to any SureFires [with their proprietary glass-filled polyamide nylon polymer they call Nitrolon]
In fact the subject has not be raised before AFAIK.

Size15's said:

In fact the subject has not be raised before AFAIK.

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Yes...forums (fora?) like this tend to bring just about every 1-in-1MM incident to the surface, so the fact that no one's ever reported that here indicates at the very least that it must be extraordinarily uncommon, or possibly less frequent than that. :tinfoil:

1. They both use the same LED module, the P60L(G2ZL and Z2L) so shock resistance should be prety much the same, pretty high shock resistance. The shock would have to be strong enough to break the solder joint, the light, or the LED for the light to fail.

2. P60 accepting lights are one of the easiest lights to upgrade. All P60 type modules should work in them, even if they are from a different company or time peroid. All you need to upgrade is a new P60 type module. Swap it with the old one and your done.

Check this thread for other P60 sized drop-ins.


:welcome:

JNewell said:

Yes...forums (fora?) like this tend to bring just about every 1-in-1MM incident to the surface, so the fact that no one's ever reported that here indicates at the very least that it must be extraordinarily uncommon, or possibly less frequent than that. :tinfoil:

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Not everyone who owns a SF is a forum member.

SureAddicted said:

Not everyone who owns a SF is a forum member.

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Of course not, but there are a lot of users who are, and you've been around long enough to know that some corollary of Murphy's Law applies. If someone could have broken it, we would be overwhelmingly likely to have heard about it. There is an important distinction between what's possible and what's likely in actual use.

I've said all I have to say, back to the thread at hand.

I used g2 nitrolon in -30°C did not crack

Back to the original question (I hope), this reminds me of the "plastic" versus aluminum triggerguard debate with Remington 870s. I prefer aluminum, but I don't think it's a clear call. Aluminum dents, plastic can in theory break but you really have to work at it. The field service for both is very good and other than prejudices (to which I plead guilty) I don't think there's a lot of reason to prefer one over the other. I have had one SureFire suffer a serious dent that did not disable the light in a fall (light and I fell together, both got pretty banged up). I think it's really just a question of preference - note that SF did replace the Nitrolon bezel in the G2L lights with an aluminum bezel for heat dissipation but that's a different question.

JNewell said:

note that SF did replace the Nitrolon bezel in the G2L lights with an aluminum bezel for heat dissipation but that's a different question.

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But that aluminum bezel on the G2L is lighter than the one on a 6P/D (an mfyer demonstrated that to me just days ago), I wonder if cheaper material has been used...