New Surefire 2-Stage Tailcap Question

I was playing with the EB2 and EB1 at a shop about a week ago and something I noticed with BOTH has me a bit disturbed:

Momentary didn't work! If I held the tailcap all the way down for high, let go, and then pressed again all the way down to try to get back to high, it would ONLY produce a low beam. It happened with both of the lights, too. That eliminates the ability to use the light for signaling in an emergency as well as for using it "tactically" to clear a house at night (something I would think SF would have taken into account considering who they market to).

My question is: For those of you who have one of these newer lights, has this been the case for your light(s)? I'm wondering if it's an isolated thing on a few lights or if the UI is just not as well thought out as I would have hoped.

I thought that I had handled an LX2 Lumamax a year or so ago and that it could be used as a momentary no problem, but I might be wrong on that as it's been a while.

This has been discussed a lot in some other threads.

A true tactical (non-click switch) light should not work like you described but based on the experiences of other members here it appears that at the original EB1 did so. Also when the EB2 was first released I think some of the EB2T (tactical) were released with the EB2C (clicky) heads which resulted in that type operation. You can see some specific discussion of the EB2 in this thread. As part of that thread I posted my findings based upon the lights I had in my possession - an EB1C, EB2C and EB2T. (post #88 in the thread linked above).

Several members have been upset with the performance of the EB1T but aside from the first week or two the EB2T was out I haven't heard anything negative about it.

I added an EB1C in silver 5/13 to my collection, mainly to test the silver finish as my original E1b Backup was showing it's age and EDC in wear spots. Sadly, in less than 9 months, my EB1C looks a bit worse - but you have to look closely to see bright silver wear on the silver finish. Anyway, where the original Backup would go 'low' for several seconds after releasing it from high, the new one must be pushed or clicked within a second to go low. Waiting longer, and it reverts to high on the second push or click. I don't see the problem in signaling on high, as the second or so between flashes would seem insignificant. My second gripe after the finish would be it's inability to stand on it's tail cap.

Stainz

Don't use a two-level light for "tactical" situations?

dss_777 said:

Don't use a two-level light for "tactical" situations?

Click to expand...

The SF two stage tailcap is actually pretty good for tactical work - except for this issue with the EB1 and EB2

Normally the SF two stage tailcap is a stupid simple "press gently for low, press hard for high" UI - in tactical situations you just mash the button down and low dissapears, you can go straight through it, no worries - I feel it's the best multi stage UI if there's a chance it will be used tactically.

With the new EB1 and EB2 - they have a clicky version (UI like the E2D defender and E1B backup) and the "tactical" version with the two stage tailcap.
the issue stems from sharing the same head, rapid switching changes modes, and it doesn't sense the two stage tailcap, so it acts like a clicky, and changes modes when rapidly flashed.

The lights look great, but I won't buy one till this is rectified

With regard to the EB2, my sample size was only one of each but they did not use the same head. The EB2C had a two stage head (like the E2DL, E1B, etc) while the EB2T had a single output head with the lower level apparently derived by a resistor in the tailcap, just like the LX2. I could not get the EB2T to mess up or miss a level no matter how hard I tried.

When the lights were first introduced there were some reports on here of the EB2T behaving erratically (only the ones with the black finish). This issue seemed to be resolved fairly quickly and I haven't heard anything about it since. I have no way of knowing for sure but I think they just had the wrong head on them.

Echo63 said:

The SF two stage tailcap is actually pretty good for tactical work - except for this issue with the EB1 and EB2

Normally the SF two stage tailcap is a stupid simple "press gently for low, press hard for high" UI - in tactical situations you just mash the button down and low dissapears, you can go straight through it, no worries - I feel it's the best multi stage UI if there's a chance it will be used tactically.

With the new EB1 and EB2 - they have a clicky version (UI like the E2D defender and E1B backup) and the "tactical" version with the two stage tailcap.
the issue stems from sharing the same head, rapid switching changes modes, and it doesn't sense the two stage tailcap, so it acts like a clicky, and changes modes when rapidly flashed.

The lights look great, but I won't buy one till this is rectified

Click to expand...

Well said. Sounds like Surefire has screwed up "simple".

dss_777 said:

Well said. Sounds like Surefire has screwed up "simple".

Click to expand...

According to 880Arm ^^^^ it was a few early lights that had the issue - the 2 stage switch lights are working properly now