Dissapointment With My new M3

Well I was comparing my new M3 with my E2E-HA and I thought the M3 was suppose to be so much brighter... Well my E2E-HA is brighter...go figure. I decided to put the MN11 bulb in and the first time I turned it on, it had an orange color to it and was very dim. I pulled the bulb out and it was all frosted. Please somebody, tell me there is something wrong with this M3....

The bulb is supposed to be frosted. Try new batteries. It sounds like you are not getting enough juice. The M3 with the MN11 HOLA will light up the whole room.

Thanks for the reply. After I put the HOLA and saw it had an orange color I pulled the bulb out and the whole bulb was frosted, not just the tip. Both tips were frosted just at the tip but now the whole HOLA looks to be frosted like it is blown. I put some new batteries in and even with the LOLA, the M3 and my 6P look to be the same brightness but the beam of the M3 actually lights up the room more then the 6P. Is this what they mean when they say it has 125 lumens compared to the 6P which only has 65 lumens, that the light actually just covers more area? I hope I am explaining this correctly. I just thought the M3 would blow away my 2 6v lights. My surge has a whiter beam then the M3. Thanks for your help.

Your M3 is perfectly fine. That is the way it is supposed to be. There is NO brighter hotspot, just more "spill".

Sorry. Get the SF M6.

5.0Trunk

Hmm. I find all of this very strange. My M3 HOLA is substantially brighter and whiter than my E2+ (with the P61 HOLA). And, it blows away the plain E2e.

Could it be that your switch is mucked up? I recall a thread in which Ginseng talked about disassembling a switch, cleaning it with deoxy-something and lubing it. I'm not brave enough to tackle that on my own, but perhaps you are.

But first you may want to run a test, bypassing the switch. Remove the tailcap and then connect the negative battery terminal to the body with a conductor (like a bent paper clip). If that clears up the problem, then you know the switch probably needs cleaning.

Paul

I love my M3... take yours outside after you rule out problems listed in the previous posts and do the backyard test against your other lights. Then you'll see the difference. I haven't even put the HOLA in mine yet; it still lights up things better than every light I have except the 10X.

The bulbs are frosted at the tips from Surefire. You might notice an oval shape beam pattern. Mine has this and I think it's normal for the LOLA, for lighting up critters from head to foot I imagine.

Good luck, if you still don't like it see me first! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Rich

When I bought my 9P which had nearly double the lumen output of my 6P, I was so disappointed.

I realized like you that what is doubled, is the quantity of light, not the brightness.

Long, long, ago back in the when Surefire ran the SF forum I seem to remember Al saying something about only being able to disern a difference when outdoors, at a distance. Al was right. So I bought an M6, now that is a light!!!

GregR

Adding the turbo bezel might be what you're after. That'll make the hot spot brighter for you.

[ QUOTE ]
5.0Trunk said:
Thanks for the reply. After I put the HOLA and saw it had an orange color I pulled the bulb out and the whole bulb was frosted, not just the tip. Both tips were frosted just at the tip but now the whole HOLA looks to be frosted like it is blown.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is NOT normal. I had an MN20 do this in my M6 right out of the box. Dull and orangish. The gas has leaked out of the bulb. Call Surefire for a replacement. I'm surprised so no one else found this abnormal. If I can find the picture I had of my MN20 I'll post it so you can compare it to yours.

The MN10 sounds ok. It should only "appear" a little brighter with more total light emitted.

There were some defective bulbs that had gas leaks, they would loose most of their lightening power right at the beginning but would work some minutes before they fail. If that's the case with your LA, SureFire will be happy to help you out on this.

I used to make the mistake to compare lights (like SF Turboheads, but also standard flashlights) by shining them onto a white surface or inside - it is best to compare them outside as this clearly shows the advantages of more lumen.

The M6 produces the "whitest" beam I have seen so far (except for HID or some LS's which seem to create a more natural white light). The M6 is a true masterpiece of engineering, with the 6 SF123A cells the M6 produces brighter&whiter 250lm and 500lm for a constant and longer time compared to any other SF light.

when i first got my M3, i was a little dissapointed because when shining my C2 with a P60 and the M3 with the LOLA on a wall a metre in front of me, the difference wasn't really substantial. i then took it outdoors, and that's when you see the large difference in output. you need a range of at least 15 metres or so to see it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

The Orange color does not sound right. I recently had an A2 bulb go, the output suddenly dropped way down and the color went Orange. I agree you may want to get a replacement bulb.

You should see a significant difference between the E2e and the M3. No matter if the LOLA or HOLA is used. Not only the sidespill should be more, but also the hotspot is brighter and larger.
Pics were taken from 2,5M with fixed camera settings:





Holger

A agree with chamenos, take the M3 outside...then you will be impressed!! (disclaimer:if the lamps are working properly!!!) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks for all the replies. I do belive that the HOLA is bad ( a leak as you guys said). I will take a picture and post it sometime this weekend. I will call SF to see what they can do about it. Tonight I will go outside when its dark and do a comparsion with my lights which are the 6P, E2E-HA, PT Surge and the M3. Just from shining the lights inside last night, the surge so far is the whitest. I'll keep you updated. Thanks again.

FWIW,

My 9P performs visibly differently with the 105Lu P90 LOLA vs the 200Lu P91 HOLA. The hotspot is larger and brighter and it lights up a room more. However, it is not tighter. Just brighter.

Wilkey

Well I just got off the phone with SF and they are sending me another MN11 bulb. I will go out tonight and comaper all my lights. Thanks again.

Bill, should you have any problems obtaining new bulbs from Surefire let me know as I stand behind 100% all of my sales.

Thanks Howard for your support. I'll let you know if I have any problem with getting a new bulb but I don't think I will. SF pretty much delivers when they say they will.

Thanks again.

Bill

Here is a picture of the bad MN20; "smokey" on the one side and black "snake eyes" on the other.