Surefire bulb life

I was wondering about the actual bulb life of the Surefire lights. For example, I know that the battery life rating of a 6P with the standard bulb is 1 hr or so, but how many hours can be expected from the bulb assembly itself? (provided that it does not get knocked around or otherwise abused)

20 hours is the claimed bulb life from Surefire.

can no one say how long HIS bulb lasted ?

I've only gone through one bulb since i've had my Surefire E2 and the first bulb never made it to 20 hours of operation. It only went through 8 sets of batteries, which is about 8-9 hours of total use.

Before the bulb blew out, i noticed some coloration of the bulb towards the end of its life cycle. It looked kind of like a dying Mag AA bulb...but not as dark. My current bulb, which has gone through 5 sets of batteries, is starting to show the same characteristics. I will try to take pictures of the current bulb vs. a new bulb and show you what i mean. If the bulb continues to show these signs, i'm guessing that this bulb is about to poop out in about another 3-4 hours of use.

Some have said that running the batteries all the way down until there is no more light is a bad thing for the bulb because there is not enoegh energy to burn some of the gunk that builds up inside. That is what i've been doing with my batteries and maybe that can explain why i've been getting the performance i'm seeing.

ANyway, i always thought from the start that the claimed 20 hour bulb life was a little extreme. Streamlight advertises a more realistic time of 5-10 hours. There instruction pamphlet that comes with the Scorpion says that constant on/off operation will also shorten the bulb life.

Originally posted by LEDagent:
There instruction pamphlet that comes with the Scorpion says that constant on/off operation will also shorten the bulb life.

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does "constant on/off" mean to have the light on for longer period or does it mean using the light only intermittent for seconds ?

i think they meant something along the lines of "strobing on/off" ... it's been a while since i've owned the Scorpion, let alone looked at the instructions, so i may be wrong.

The 20 hour theory is interesting. What others have said about less than 10 hours amazes me. If a lamp like the the N21 for the M6 cost at retail around $25 and lasts only 8-10 hours, not only does it go through about $250 in batteries in the given period, but also eats a $25 lamp!!

Quite expensive to run, huh?

The power surge at lamp turn on is very wearing on a bulb that doesn't have "soft on" circuitry. As is underpowering a halogen bulb so that the halogen cycle can't clean up the deposits.

A realistic life expectation equation should combine both factors.

As I understand it, when the bulb is cold it has low resistence and allows too much power through which can pop the bulb. It quickly heats up (that's where the light comes from) which increases the resistence and it reaches a steady state. That's why bulbs usually pop right when you turn them on.

Question: does that surge when you first turn it on actually shorten the life or does it just provide a critical window when it is very likely to pop the bulb?

Which lights have "soft on" circuitry?

- Russ

Will SureFire replace a bulb that pops in less than, say, 10-12 hours? Is a bulb more likely to pop in very cold weather? Are the HOLA's (with the thicker filaments) less likely to pop on startup?

JackBlades...I'm glad you asked that question. I for got to mention that when my bulb finally pooped out, so did I. I was very angry to find out that my bulb died before its suggested life expectancy. So i ranted and ranted on this board and asked if my bulb was a dud.

I finally built up the courage to call Surefire customer support to ask for a new bulb. I'm not one ask for things for free, so it was pretty hard for me to ask for a replacement.

I told the CS agent how my bulb just blew out after only 8 sets of batteries. I asked her how i can order another one using money order and where i have to send payment. She, in turn, asked my for my name, address, and phone number. Without asking why, i gave her my info. After i had given my info she said. "Thank you, your new E2 bulb is on its way."

I was like, "WHOA! are you serious? I don't have to pay for it?" She said, "Sir, here at Surefire, out goal is to KEEP our customers, not turn them away. Sometimes our products do not live up to what they are claimed, and if we don't back them up, then neither would our customers."

Now THAT is customer serive! I'm not the only one who has experieced their customer service either. People have dead batteries, dead M6, 8Ax, 9Ax bulbs that have been replaced immediately, no questions asked. Just ask around, Surfire CS is great!

So to answer your question, Surefire will MORE THAT LIKELY repalce the bulb, free of charge (free of shipping charges too), if you tell them that it pooped out before its suggested life cycle.

the only SF LA that's blew on me was the defective P60 that came with my 6P, but SF customer service replaced that and i haven't yet burned out another bulb

I just sold my 8AX after a year and a half of constant on-the-job use. Too many times on the recharger to count. I've dropped it, smacked it, etc. Bulb is still going strong. 3 other guys at work who bought the old 8X still have their ORIGINAL bulbs!

I'm still using P60 and P61 Lamps in flashlights that have seen months of abusive use and perhaps thirty or forty battery changes.

I have an N2 lamp that has been through thirty plus battery sets.

My N62 lamp died after about 200 DL123As had been run threw it.

I have an MN03 lamp that has been used practically every day for over a year. Perhaps a battery change every week to two weeks.

I find that if a bulb lasts 10 hours, it will last another 10.

Bulbs do fail. It's great to read that SureFire are standing proud with their products. To be honest, I think SureFire is it's bulbs. The SureFire Beam is what makes them so special in the flashlight world. Supporting such an important brand characteristic with excellent customer service is a vital and clearly worth the effort.

Respectfully,

Al

So far I heard everything from 8 hours bulb life to many, many hours. Does Surefire specifically state anywhere what the lamp life should be or can be reasonably expected to be?

Al makes a great point too. In the fact that "Surefire is its bulbs" I am glad to hear that other's feel as I do. I am also glad to hear so many praises of Surefire's CS doing the right thing.

I own dozens of SF lamps and have only had one go bad and it did so in its first minute of operation.

LEDagent
Thanks for the info. I have already experienced the fine CS at SF. When I got my M3 it was had a dull yellow beam out of the box. My E2e was way brighter. I tried new batts, no diff. I opened it up and the MN10 was all cloudy, kinda blue & black splotches. I found a CS Email addy on this board and wrote them about it, with my home address at the bottom. Within HOURS I had a reply, and the next day I had a replacement MN10 in my mailbox, shipped priority!

Mike Mayfield thanked me for using their products and asked that I ship the defective lamp back to him for examination, which I happily did.

This is what I call great customer service!

JH225 writes: "Al makes a great point too."

There's a first time for everything!
It's taken 1700 posts...

Al

Filament bulb life is incredibly hard to predict as there are so many variables.
Look down any RS or Maplin catalogue and they will give you the average bulb life from 10 hours to severasl thousand hours! Usually with MES and PR bulbs the lower the voltage the shorter the bulb's expected life will be.
You can get some bulbs with incredibly long run times at the expense of brightness. Any non-halogen bulb will last 10's of times longer if used at 90% of rated current.
But if your torch is abused and thrown about a lot the bulb life will be dramatically shortened!
One reason why I love LED equipped and modded torches is thier ability to sustain knock after knock time and tome again and just carry on shining!