SureFire G2 LED Nitrolon question?

Hi,

I am interested in the SureFire G2 Nitrolon LED torch. I think the 80 Lumens is enough for me and the 12 hour run time is even better. It's just what I need for crawling through voids at work and taking for walks. I wanted the SureFire 6PDL but its been discontinued. Can anyone give me advice on upgrades for this product and also wether or not this is a good choice? Its a shame its not got a metal body in my opinion as I just like that style but its got everything I really want.

Cheers

Henry

I think the G2L is actually a really solid light, I have several stashed away. They are easy to use, very tough, reliable, and easy to upgrade. If you ever want, you can get custom lamp assemblies made by guys here to drop in the head for different beam patterns, tints, outputs, etc.

Thank you very much for the reply. That is really good to know and really helpful for me. It is the first surefire I will have bought after so much searching. I wandered do they feel a bit light with the material they are made of?

Cheers

Yup they are much lighter than the aluminium versions.
However, one thing bad is that they are not possible to bore to fit larger cells.
So u will always have to use 16/17mm cells.

I would recommend Solarforce host, which have pretty similar in concept to the 6P & G2.
Theirs are bored to fit larger cells & they are definitely much cheaper.

- JonK

Another source would be the Lumens Factory Seraph 6. Sized to take 18650 as well as 16/17mm and CR/RCR123. You have a choice if incan or LED sources. The LEDs are also available with Hi CRI. Or you can use any of the Malkoff dropins or anyelse's P60 dropin. I really like mine, and at under $50 USD the price is right too.

I too bought a G2L a while ago because I was impressed by the long runtime at 80lm. Unfortunately that twelve hours is how long it produces "usable" light (according to SF >1lm), not max output.

I'm an avid Surefire endorser, but the P60L LED drop in they produced for a while is just garbage as far as efficiency and brightness. If you want something inexpensive but reliable enough, check out Solarforce hosts (approx $20) and contact Nailbender here on the forum about having a custom P60 LED drop in made to your liking.

DellSuperman said:

Yup they are much lighter than the aluminium versions.
However, one thing bad is that they are not possible to bore to fit larger cells.
So u will always have to use 16/17mm cells.

I would recommend Solarforce host, which have pretty similar in concept to the 6P & G2.
Theirs are bored to fit larger cells & they are definitely much cheaper.

- JonK

Click to expand...

Absolutely true!

However, I happen to really like the G2 nitrolon body. It is metal lined and VERY sturdy, probably more damage resistant than the aluminum bodies in some ways. It is also quite a bit more comfortable to actually use than the all aluminum 6P variants. Try using the 6P in the cold, or holding it in your teeth while changing a tire or something, and you'll see what I mean. Unfortunately, few come with clicky switches, instead using that momentary-on type that I personally dislike.

OTOH, I think Surefire has lost the plot on not boring their bodies for the 18xxx rechargeables from the factory. You're stuck with either expensive primary cells or limited capacity (or proprietary) rechargeables. Almost without exception, Surefire lights do not output as much light or have the longer runtimes of their high-quality competitors. 18mm ID bodies would go a long way to make Surefire an even stronger contender in the pro AND consumer marketplace, IMO.

There's ALMOST no Surefire lights that isn't produced in a better fashion by one of their competitors. The exceptions might be the Fury handhelds, the X300 handgun weapon-mounted light and some specialty IR-capable weapons-lights. But again, you're limited to primary cells mostly. Maybe that's not an issue when .gov is buying batteries for those who hunt others for a living.

You can get 16650 and 17670 rechargeable Li Ion cells for them. The G2 Nitrolon lights are a nice durable light. You could always upgrade the drop in with a Malkoff L, LL, or LLL version for long runtimes. DO NOT use the full powered version of the drop in.

Henry23 said:

Hi,

I am interested in the SureFire G2 Nitrolon LED torch. I think the 80 Lumens is enough for me and the 12 hour run time is even better. It's just what I need for crawling through voids at work and taking for walks. I wanted the SureFire 6PDL but its been discontinued. Can anyone give me advice on upgrades for this product and also wether or not this is a good choice? Its a shame its not got a metal body in my opinion as I just like that style but its got everything I really want.

Click to expand...

Henry, what exactly are "voids"?

I personally really like the G2 series. The body is tough, doesn't get too cold or too warm in winter nor summer, and is reasonably priced.

As for an LED dropin - Nailbender and others on the forum do good work. I'm partial to the Malkoff drop-ins, but I also know they're not cheap to get in Europe.

Although if you get a Malkoff, look at the M61LL - 100 lumens output for 10 hours steady, then a long, slow declining output after that.

In the G2 series, I prefer the yellow version. Much more visible if you drop it in undergrowth/low light if it's not turned on. I wish Surefire had made a GITD version. As mentioned previously, just don't use a high-power led drop-in, since the plastic light doesn't dissipate the heat as well.

I'm comfortable using full-power Malkoff dropins with the G2L versions since they come with aluminum bezels.

Thanks for all this useful advice. The response has been ace. It has given me a lot to think about. I think however I have a very long way to go in understanding the full details of these torches and all the extras you can have. For a start I don't know what a drop in is haha. I think once I understand this I will be able to start making speedy use of the advice you have all given.

Many Thanks

Henry

A "drop in" is a replacement lamp assembly, used to replace/upgrade to the factory lamp assembly. The G2 and 6P style of lights are very easy to upgrade that way, giving you even better performance than the stock light. In real terms, that usually means brighter and/or longer run-time from your batteries. To be honest, Surefire isn't the best in runtime, so the dropins become a way to do better.

A critical question you'll need to answer is what type of batteries are available to you, and at what cost.

The only real down-side to the G2/6P lights for most people is that the CR123 batteries they use are expensive and occasionally hard to find. AA batteries are everywhere, and often cheaper. These days, you can get similar performance in these mid-range lights from either battery type.

The G2L is a 'P60 host' which means that it takes 'P60 drop-ins', these are modules which pop out (spring on the back) when the head is unscrewed and were designed for easy and quick replacement of blown bulbs. The format is actually really bad for high-power LED lights, as there is no longer a need to replace bulbs/modules that often (LEDs don't break easily), and the design means very poor heat dissipation, needing quite a bit of DIY heatsinking (basically wrapping the drop-in in tin foil for a tight fit and to transfer heat to the body.

This wouldn't actually help much in a G2L anyway as it's body is made of Nitrolon rather than metal, however you only want a low power drop-in so heat shouldn't actually be much of a problem. However the stock P60L that comes with the G2L (Surefire's own original version of an LED P60 drop-in) is generally regarded as rubbish. They have been known to overheat even at their low output levels and they use what is now a very old and outdated/inefficient SSC P4 emitter. The P60L does 80 lumens for about 6 hours before dropping, whilst many modern emitter lights can easily double that runtime at the same output, and probably triple it.

If you really want a G2L, you can get one and buy a replacement module with a modern emitter. Just make sure you replace with an equally low output one, or you will have heat issues and could easily damage the drop-in. But there are many options at around the same or lower price levels which most would consider better in a range of ways.

I think it needs to be explained too that there are several different versions of the G2 out there and they are not all the same,inside under the bezel.

The standard bulb models that started it all are the main type that would be drop-in upgradable as they would be changed from incandescent bulbs into the LED realm. The difference will be huge in output and runtime and much lower heat generated too. The drop-in gives a lot of flexibility but at the expense maybe of a learning curve trying to decide what on earth to do!

Then you can buy the Surefire G2 with an LED drop-in already in it. Pretty much everyone does not like this early attempt from surefire to convert this older light for LED use.

Then the most modern G2 LED use a whole different head assembly from Surefire in metal already and with a decent modern LED that is usable right out of the box.
If I were in the OP shoes this is the one I would choose as it is ready to go out of the box so he can see if Surefire is right for him?

The G2 are light weight because they are made from lighter weight materials,not difficult to understand.
They are made this way as a feature too,light can be a good feature in a light,Ha!

Also in the cold the light does not freeze your hand off and does not slip out of your hand as easily when hot and sweaty either.

I love the G2 in the right configuration but until you understand which one to hunt for it can seem confusing.

AVService said:

I think it needs to be explained too that there are several different versions of the G2 out there and they are not all the same,inside under the bezel.

Then the most modern G2 LED use a whole different head assembly from Surefire in metal already and with a decent modern LED that is usable right out of the box.
If I were in the OP shoes this is the one I would choose as it is ready to go out of the box so he can see if Surefire is right for him?

Click to expand...

Good point, the G2x may be the best one to go for. Although it doesn't offer the same output/runtime as the OP originally said attracted him to the G2L, so there may be other options worth considering.

TMedina said:

The body is tough, doesn't get too cold or too warm in winter nor summer, and is reasonably priced.

As for an LED dropin - Nailbender and others on the forum do good work. I'm partial to the Malkoff drop-ins, but I also know they're not cheap to get in Europe.

Although if you get a Malkoff, look at the M61LL - 100 lumens output for 10 hours steady, then a long, slow declining output after that.

Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

dss_777 said:

I'm comfortable using full-power Malkoff dropins with the G2L versions since they come with aluminum bezels.

Click to expand...

It takes more than just an aluminum bezel head to dissipate the heat associated with a full powered Malkoff drop in. The full powered Malkoff M61's need the body to help draw the heat away from the bezel as well. My G2 also has the nitrolon bezel, so it does not have the newer Z44 bezel. It has been a well understood fact that one should only use the Malkoff L, LL, LLL or LLLL versions in any Nitrolon host.

Good points AVService!

I found one recently that is marked G2L on the packaging and it is a Nitrolon body with the KX4 head from the factory.
It says 120lumens on the package and is a pretty sweet light especially for the deal I found!

So evidently they made more versions of these than is obvious it seems.

My other one is an oldie with a M61NLL in it and it is a favorite for sure.

I recently built a ultra low powered N219 dropin for my G2 host.
The dropin runs at 350mA w/ a aluminum bezel & after 10mins of running continuously, the bezel does get a little warm as well.
So i wont wanna imagine running anything higher than that.

Solarforce does have a plastic host P1 (which i donno what they call that material). The texture & feel of it isn't just the same as the G series from Surefire.

- JonK