Compare Surefire and Pelican....

I have a Surefire 6P and G2Z and they work great. However I saw a Pelican M6 for 45 bucks and BrigadeQuartermasters and it looks pretty nice. Does anyone know how the beams compare to each other? I know the Pelican has 74 lumens vs. the SFs 65 - can you notice the difference between them? Also the Pelican comes with the nice holster that holds batteries too!!!

IMO, the biggest difference is quality. Pelican has good to very good quality. Surefire has top notch quality. For example, the threads on the Pelican M6/ M6LED are rough, and not as precise as Surefire. Furthermore, the finish is much better on most Surefires.


In terms of beam quality, they are very close. The Pelican M6 LED version IMO exceeds the beam quality of many Surefires. Not one of my Pelican M6 LEDs has ANY artifacts, all have a perfectly smooth beam. My incandescent Pelican M6 does have a few minor artifacts, but far less than my 9 volt lamp Surefires (C3, 9P). Surefire does do a little better job of matching throw to sidespill though (the Pelican M6 LED is geared a little more to throw), while Surefires tend to have nearly perfect balance between throw and spill, plus larger hotspots.

Based on my own lights, here is the BEAM QUALITY categories I would put the Pelican and Surefires. I'm rating by smoothness and artifacts, NOT by type of beam.

Top notch (best of the best):
Surefire L2
Pelican M6 LED

Excellent
Surefire 6P (with P60 lamp), E2E (with MN lamps), E1E (with MN01 lamp)

Very Good:

Pelican M6 (Incandescent)

Below Average (better than Gaglite, Elektrolumens, but worst than the majority of high-end lights):

C3, 9P (with P90 lamps)


To be fair, I could have had a bad batch of P90 lamps in my 9-volt Surefires, but it seems suspitious to me that all 5 lamps I've tried all produce well below average beams in my C3 and 9Ps.

I'm suprised at the performance of the Surefire C3. I was thinking of getting it, but from what you are saying, its not really that good. I am also looking to go to the "next level" as far as tactical/every day carry lights. I would like to go to something along the lines of a SF M3 combatlight or even an M4. Any suggestions along these lines would be appreciated.

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KDOG3 said:
I'm suprised at the performance of the Surefire C3. I was thinking of getting it, but from what you are saying, its not really that good. I am also looking to go to the "next level" as far as tactical/every day carry lights. I would like to go to something along the lines of a SF M3 combatlight or even an M4. Any suggestions along these lines would be appreciated.

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The C3 flashlight itself is awesome. Its the bulb/lamp assembly that sucks. If you put a KL5 (or whatever KL LED that fits it) assembly on it, you have an excellent LED light.

Some here say that I got a bad batch of lamps. If thats true, then most C3s will have normal Surefire beams. But, considering that I happen to get FIVE bad lamps and ZERO good lamps, that must be a rather large bad batch they made?

I think my C3 does pretty good. I like it.

The C3 itself is indeed a good flashlight, i too have a not-up-to-surefire-standards LA, the hotspot is fine but the spill is.. maglite-ish.

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StEaLtH_ said:
The C3 itself is indeed a good flashlight, i too have a not-up-to-surefire-standards LA, the hotspot is fine but the spill is.. maglite-ish.

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Yep. Sounds like my P90 bulbs. The hotspot is fine (although it is rectangular in shape), but nonetheless the hotspot overall is good.


However, the sidespill has lots of rings, and it is not uniformly bright. One quarter of the corona (a quadrant) is at least twice as bright as the rest of the corona. Its like looking at a quarter moon almost, except this beam has a LOT more rings than the moon does!!

The oval hotspot is fine, in fact, I like the oval. When you angle it right, you can throw a streak of light down a flat surface a long way. I kinda like that effect. I just wish the edges were up to P60/MN03 lamp standards - ie. they didn't have lines and they had a sharp outline where the hotspot ends. I recently picked up an E2e-SG and the MN03 is everything I hoped it would be, on par with the best SFs I've ever seen.

However, when I'm actually using the P90 to get the job done, I don't look so much at the edges of the sidespill, so it's actually quite ok. In terms of light output, I really like SF's 9-volt series.

The oval hotspot is fine, in fact, I like the oval. When you angle it right, you can throw a streak of light down a flat surface a long way. I kinda like that effect. I just wish the edges were up to P60/MN03 lamp standards - ie. they didn't have lines and they had a sharp outline where the hotspot ends. I recently picked up an E2e-SG and the MN03 is everything I hoped it would be, on par with the best SFs I've ever seen.

However, when I'm actually using the P90 to get the job done, I don't look so much at the edges of the sidespill, so it's actually quite ok. In terms of light output, I really like SF's 9-volt series.

My Peli seems brighter than a couple of the SF 2x123 lights I tried the other day (took my Peli to the store). The Peli seems to have a tighter spot also. Finish quality is higher for the SF. For example, the threads in my Peli are still rough, even after lubing and months of use. Still, for the price, the Peli is a great light.

The Pelican is a great light - I would recommend it.
But ... there are a few points the you should be aware of:

- out of the box, the M6 is not water-resistant. The o-ring on the front is not matched to the lens. (replacing it with a 30x2mm fixes this problem)
- as already told, the treads are very rough. theres also plenty of aluminum residue, which has to be cleaned out first.
- the switch is somehow unreliable. a few times the light just wouldnt turn on on momentary.
- the 'constant on' is totaly undefined, no way to tell when the light turns on and off. the action itself is very rough , the threads grind without any lube (they have to be conductive)

i was told the M6 lithium gets the clicky-switch from the led-version in early 2005, which is the better type anyway. tactical is useless imho.

i can not say anything about surefire lights - i dont own a single one, but i would expect at 2 times the price they dont have those problems (except for switch...)