Help me understand Malkoff...

LumenKing1

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Aug 27, 2016
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They offer a two cell weapon light for a Surefire rifle/shotgun. What I don't understand is why I would buy it and downgrade my lumen output significantly? I think they quoted 325 lumens, when my Surefire Scout light is putting out 600 lumens, and SF quotes as we all know are usually underrated by SF. Can someone please tell me what I am missing. I want a quality light, money is not an object. (well I am not going to spend 10k on a light but 3-4 k is a price I can justify, if the light is really nice) Thanks guys, I know I am missing something with this weapon light. It is cheap at 100.00 but why downgrade?
 

Up All Night

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A Malkoff model number would probably help start any explanations. My guess is you may be looking at an upgrade for Scout/E series incands.
 
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The Malkoff will have better tint and be much better built. A Malkoff M61 weighs half as much as a complete Surefire light! Well, maybe that's exaggerating but not by much. All the Malkoff stuff is fully potted for incredible toughness and reliability. Most of the Malkoff lights in that range also have very good orange peel reflectors.
 

Grizzman

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I don't think you're missing anything at all. If you're referring to the Surefire M600 Ultra or M600IB, then the Malkoff E2/Scout head isn't intended as an upgrade. The E2/Scout can be considered a considerable upgrade for an older 200 lumen TIR-enabled KX2C or similar weapon light if more spill is needed. The E2T could also be considered an upgrade in the throw/spill departments over the same older Surefire.....or numerous other older weapon lights.

I bought a Surefire KE2-A head when they were first released...before Malkoff created the E2T. I don't own an E2T, but do have Malkoff's first generation M61T and current M61HOT heads, which work with MD2 bodies. These Malkoffs compete well against the 500 lumen KE2-A, and would also be comparable (yet with differing beam profiles) to an M600 Ultra.

Ahhhh, you're talking about the old single cell VME/M31 head. Nope, it's not going to be an upgrade for a DSF-870 or DSF-500, and isn't intended to be.
 
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BriteLite2

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wait a minute


3-4K on a light? seriously? you must be a government funded employee!!!! LOL! Life is good isn't it?

all kidding aside the Malkoff isn't always in the brighter than everyone else game. what they are is one of the top three most reliable hard duty flashlights you can buy at a reasonable price with the best customer service you can find in the industry

You will never make a bad choice when buying a Malkoff product . there are quite a few badly designed surefires over the years and they seem to be going down a different path these days since Mr. Kim left and to me they have become very boring and many of their lights now look like Streamlight copies.


it all depends on where you see value in pricing. if you value brightness over all else then it may seem like a bad deal with Malkoff. if you value a titanium light with 24K gold inlay for $3000 then that would be money well spent for you. I myself cant see the return in spending 3-4K on a light but that's me
 

bigfoot

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Dip your toes in the water and order up a Malkoff MD2. :thumbsup: I did this a couple of weeks ago (MD2 + M61NL neutral tint, lower output) and the light has already bumped out all the others for EDC duty.
 

Gene43

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MDSFFE-2 Forend is the model. I appreciate the input.

The MDSFFE-2 was designed as an upgrade for the original incandescent Surefire Forends. It will fit any of the old incandescent forends that Surefire has ever produced.

Thanks,
Gene Malkoff
 

nfetterly

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The MDSFFE-2 was designed as an upgrade for the original incandescent Surefire Forends. It will fit any of the old incandescent forends that Surefire has ever produced.

Thanks,
Gene Malkoff

And Gene has wonderful communication. I had an OLD malkoff drop-in, emailed a description to Gene asking what it was and got a prompt response. I've purchased repeatedly from Gene, keeping some items and selling others, but each transaction was smooth, even items several times he didn't have listed (albeit some of this was several years ago).
 

bykfixer

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Malkoff was the go to brand for upgrading incan SureFires and Maglites building rock solid performers that could mimic your favorite tints be it a golden glow of old batteries, a nice cream color of fresh batteries or that new fangled bright white. Along came the next generation with a super nice combo of spot perfectly blended to spill.

When the Malkoff lights themselves became available they have stood the test of time using simple genious to achieve uber reliability as well as upgradability.

That part still remains. It seems as though the recipe for the Malkoff success is to stick with tried and true products while providing the service you only get from a company when the owner is still involved on a daily basis.

SureFire started out that way. Then they got big. Not saying that to knock SureFire. Just saying they have to do things like big companies do anymore and part of that involves trying new ways to improve sales, to stay on top of the big heap and generally keep their reputation intact with their target market.

It has evolved into an apples vs oranges thing anymore.
 

dc38

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It has been said many times before...but malkoff is the go to if you want a very well balanced drop in with great runtimes and durability. Malkoffs are the most (positively) over-engineered quality budgetable drop ins I have ever seen.
 

tech25

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One other thing about Malkoff is the stated runtime is just that- example 300 lumens for 1.5 hours. With other companies, it's 600 lumens down to X Lumens for the 1.5 hours...

At at initial turn on, malkoff might be underwhelming compared to other lights but you know for how long and at what lumens you are getting. I have brighter lights then my malkoffs, but for work/critical use, I tend to use my malkoff lights.
 

Kestrel

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One really good thing about Malkoff designs is that you know that nearly all of them can use CR123's as well as LiIon rechargeables - there are many lights these days that are essentially incompatible with CR123 primary cells.

Many of us here have some valued lights that we seldom use, but still have a role in our overall lighting needs.
CR123 primaries are a very good choice for these lights, providing a reliable & inexpensive way to have these lights available for use.

Although I'm certainly no expert on drivers, when I look at the driver specs for Gene's lights I can see that he maintains this design philosophy and I'm glad for that.
 
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liteboy

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I'm beginning to see a similarity between Malkoff(don't plan to own) and HDSsystems (owned several) in their philosophy and products. I like to see a company push the envelope just a little bit while sticking to what they do well.
 

bykfixer

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I'm beginning to see a similarity between Malkoff(don't plan to own) and HDSsystems (owned several) in their philosophy and products. I like to see a company push the envelope just a little bit while sticking to what they do well.

New Malkoffs coming soon... check the junkie thread for updates...



When SureFire was sure enough SureFire.

But now they seem to be competing with Streamlight , which isn't all bad. It's just a different direction SureFire is going while ironically Streamlight is still producing some old incan favorites meant to compete with some of SureFire's lineup back when PK was there.
 

etc

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Malkoff is potted which increases reliability.
Malkoff is heatsinked which is also increases reliability greatly. Does not drop the lumens sharply like Surefire.

Like the Fury that's ad'ed as 1000 lumens has no heat sink and drops significantly to 700 lumens after 2 minutes because it cannot that much heat without damage. A Hound Dog Malkoff does not drop significantly, if at all and can deliver essentially the ad'ed volume for hours.

If my lite was the difference between life/death situation, like in a cave or something, and I absolutely could not afford failure, I would take a single mode Malkoff. Some 6P variant although 9P would work just as well.
 
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