Incan Surefire 6P worth keeping or modding or just parting out?

Hey all,

Ive got an old incandescent Surefire 6P that was my first "nice" light as a teen that hasn't been touched in years. Is it worth keeping to mod? Are there drop ins and clickies available? It's in great shape but I've got so many nice led lights now I wasn't sure if it's worth hanging onto or letting go to fund others. I tried multiple search options but it kept coming back too vague etc. Post or pm with any info, I would appreciate it!

thanks all, stay bright

Harry

Re: Incan Surefire 6P worth anything?

Hello, Spyder. There are very few high-end hosts for P60 drop-ins these days, and the 6P is arguably the best. If I were you I'd keep that 6P and replace the incan with one of the Malkoff M61's or a Customlites XP-G2 or Nichia 219B. I have probably 20 or so 6P's around the house, and all of my non-bored ones are wearing those very drop-ins that I mentioned.

Re: Incan Surefire 6P worth anything?

Also, I'm pretty sure you can get reprimanded for "phishing" for prices outside the WTS forum, so you might want to rephrase your post as a request for P60 drop-in recommendations.

Re: Incan Surefire 6P worth anything?

Voider of Warranties said:

Hello, Spyder. There are very few high-end hosts for P60 drop-ins these days, and the 6P is arguably the best. If I were you I'd keep that 6P and replace the incan with one of the Malkoff M61's or a Customlites XP-G2 or Nichia 219B. I have probably 20 or so 6P's around the house, and all of my non-bored ones are wearing those very drop-ins that I mentioned.

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noted and corrected! Thanks, I'll look into some of those options. I've got a nichia219 in my e1e and love it. Wasn't aware they had 6p options

Re: Incan Surefire 6P worth anything?

As for clickies, if you are handy the McClicky is nearly a must-have option for the z41 tailcap - which yours probably is. This is a highly-regarded switch that is used by Malkoff and I think Modlite. You can find them at Illumn.com under the brand EDCplus. I recommend the brass one (because that's what I'm used to) with the black boot if you want it to look like the original. There are probably videos on how to disassemble (destroy) the internals and boot of the z41 and install the McClicky. IDK if you'll be able to find any that are pre-assembled these days.

Re: Incan Surefire 6P worth anything?

Most certainly it is. A few here have already sugested LED drop-ins and switch options. Lumens Factory also makes Incan Drop ins that run on 3,7V, so you can run them on a 16650 Li-Ion. You can also bore the 6P to accept 18650s for better capacity.

Re: Incan Surefire 6P worth anything?

If you want cheap, KDliker, Customlites, and LumensFactory all have pretty cheap and powerful dropins.

If you want something more in line with the idea and principles of Surefire, Malkoff is 100% the way to go and is what I would always recommend. Becomes a great reliable "always there" light with primaries, or get a few 16650s and use it all around as you have been in the past!

You can also use any "C" compatible tailcap- so Malkoffs MD tailcaps will work on them just fine and give the ability to tailstand.

I'd definitely keep it and either throw a malkoff or lumens factory module in there. I've been very happy with both, though the malkoff is definitely nicer. I do like the neutral nichia LF uses...

SpyderHS08 said:

Hey all,

Ive got an old incandescent Surefire 6P that was my first "nice" light as a teen that hasn't been touched in years. Is it worth keeping to mod? Are there drop ins and clickies available? It's in great shape but I've got so many nice led lights now I wasn't sure if it's worth hanging onto or letting go to fund others. I tried multiple search options but it kept coming back too vague etc. Post or pm with any info, I would appreciate it!

thanks all, stay bright

Harry

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Plenty of options out there nowadays for keeping your 6P up to date as has already been made clear. It's too bad Solarforce isn't really in business anymore. At least I haven't seen any sign of them. They had some good and inexpensive lego parts that would fit both Surefire and their own copies of it. I bought a few tailcaps from them and they still work great.

Malkoff, Lumens Factory and Sporttac all make drop-ins for Surefire lights that could be considered modern. You could even build your own if you really want to. Mountain Electronics has both the reflectors and the drivers to do so as well as a few other places. I have an LED module for all four of mine with a couple to spare.

Installing a McClicky is not difficult or expensive and replacing the P60 with a Malkoff M61 warm low, low (WLL) turns it into a fuel sipper that puts out a similar enough beam to fool your friends. The neutral M61 low (NL) is pretty sweet and still provides pretty good fuel mileage.

A Malkoff tailcap works well but alters the stock appearance if stock look is preferred.

Last month I bought a 6P, LF 4000K dropin & clicky switch and some 16650s. Very happy with my first 6P!

That's a great catch, pancake! I didn't know one could still find a NIP classic surefire. :thumbsup:

I use 6P incans more than any other light. I also have a host of dropins to transform it to any variety of LED and even UV light for checking out scorpions in the desert, activating glow in the dark stuff, etc. That light is so versatile, I can't imagine it being worth it to get rid of it. You can even use a ton of different 3V lamps, incan or LED, with 16650s like I do and save a bunch of money on batteries.

I have a few 6 and 9Ps bored to 18mm. And I am looking forward to get some Lumens Factory incan modules and run them with 18650s!

Swedpat said:

I have a few 6 and 9Ps bored to 18mm. And I am looking forward to get some Lumens Factory incan modules and run them with 18650s!

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What is the wall thickness of the battery tube now that you bored them to 18mm? And did you actually only bore to 18? Or rather 18,5 or 18,65... Most 18650s are slightly thicker then 18mm.

Olumin said:

What is the wall thickness of the battery tube now that you bored them to 18mm? And did you actually only bore to 18? Or rather 18,5 or 18,65... Most 18650s are slightly thicker then 18mm.

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Unfortunately I have no instruments to exactly measure the wall thickness. But I ordered the bored models from Oveready.

Swedpat said:

Unfortunately I have no instruments to exactly measure the wall thickness. But I ordered the bored models from Oveready.

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Oveready bodies were bored to 18.65mm. I remember their stating that the similarity to "18650" was a coincidence. Also I just ran a (low cost) caliper thru mine, and it seems to agree with their claim. Don't be surprised if protected KeepPower cells are too wide. They mic out at 18.75 at the protection strip for me at least. (Also they don't fit in my tubes.) Efest and AW 18350 IMR's do fit, and so do the old (now defunct) AW protected 18650's if you have any. I'm awaiting a delivery of "NCR18650GA Panasonic-Sanyo 18650 3500mAh Li-ion High Drain Battery Flat tops" which seem to be an upgraded hybrid of IMR cells, and I've heard that they will fit these old tubes. We'll see.

Voider of Warranties said:

Oveready bodies were bored to 18.65mm. I remember their stating that the similarity to "18650" was a coincidence. Also I just ran a (low cost) caliper thru mine, and it seems to agree with their claim.

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What's the minimum thickness you can measure on the battery tube? I'm just wondering if it might become a bit fragile once bored, since I'm planning to bore mine to 18.65mm.

Olumin said:

What's the minimum thickness you can measure on the battery tube? I'm just wondering if it might become a bit fragile once bored, since I'm planning to bore mine to 18.65mm.

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1.75mm at the tailcap threads (including the thread peaks) and 3.35mm at the thickest part of the wall. Years ago there was an FAQ on OR's site about whether the boring weakened the tube. To paraphrase, they said: "Yes. It's turns a ridiculously overbuilt body into an overbuilt one." Keep in mind that they also successfully bored the Z2 - a light whose narrow section reads 19.5mm in diameter on the flat sides of mine. They demoed it's toughness by parking a muscle car on it and peeling out. The 6P will still be a beast.

Thanks man.