Princeton tec Surge any good?

Hello. I am new here. Everyone here seems to know a lot about flashlights so I thought I'd post.

I wanted to buy some good quality general purpose flashlights. We use flashlights quite often around the home and often outside. And it does rain a lot here so the light has to be able to get very wet. I'm tired of lousy $3 flashlights from K-mart that give me no light output at all.

I was looking at the chart that someone posted here showing total light output and throw of each flashlight. I was struck by the apparent good power of this inexpensive flashlight ($20 at buy.com) the Princeton Tec Surge.

I was wondering if anyone had any comments or experience with this flashlight and can recommend it for general use in a wet area? I like the fact that it uses 8 AA batteries. I buy AA batteries by the truckload anyway for all the other gadgets that we have. And being water-proof is nice because many times our flashlights get used while we are hiking at night in the rain.

I'd say my biggest consideration is light output and water resistance but I have to admit that the price of this flashlight is much better than other flashlights with similar output.

Any thoughts on this light?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Dave

Hi, GrnXnham! Welcome to CPF! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

As far as waterproofness and throw, at that value, PT surge is a really good chioce. I owned Rage and Attitude from PT, and based on my own experience and others, it does seem their product is durable and very functional.

For product reviews, I do recommend two other sites:
Quickbeam's site
Craig's Led museum

GrnXnham, The SURGE is one of the best choices you can make for your purpose. It was built to be a dive light so it can handle the rain no problem. It also has amazing light output....it is the brightest flashlight that I own (my multi-million candlepower spotlights don't count)

Buy one right now ! You'll love it =)

By the way, thanks for your post....that is the best price i've seen on a PT Surge offline and online $20 and free shipping excellent find, I'm going to have to pick up another for myself.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=200912869&loc=17250&sp=1

Total $19.96 <- awesome....pick "budget shipping" to get free shipping otherwise it is $7. shipping is 7-9 days...but hey it's free !

the Surge is an excellent light.
one lives by our back door.

just to confuse ya, i also heartily recommend the boring little tec-40. it is tremendously bright, smallish, inexpensive at less than $15, 4xAA bats, PR bulb, and waterproof. i think it still comes with a nice wrist lanyard.

another: the Ozark Trails 6V lantern from Wal-Mart.
cost is $3.50 with a battery. it seems to be pretty water tight so far, and for the price you just cant go wrong.

Bob

I have heared lots of good things about the Surge.

The Surge is a good choice for your stated purposes.

The older version of the Surge was prone to failure of the bulb socket - the solder would melt. Princeton Tec will honor the warranty, but it can be an inconvenience to have to ship the light and wait for a replacement. This issue has been fixed with the newer version.

Some users have noted the switch getting loose with long-term use. Others have complained about difficult battery changes. One CPF user even mentioned an explosion, presumably due to hydrogen build-up in the battery compartment!

I don't think those should dissuade you, though.

Overall, the reviews of the Surge here on CPF have been very positive.

The Surge is a nice small bright light for occasional use. I have one in my glovebox and it's great for lighting house numbers and so forth. It's not a very heavy duty light. It's a pain in the neck to change the batteries, so you don't want to use it enough to have to change them often. There were some probs with some old versions due to poor choice of solder materials making the bulbs fall out.

I think I'd take the PT40 over the Surge these days, though it's not quite as bright. It uses four AA's and conventional PR bulbs, instead of 8AA and bi-pin bulbs.

for most folks, the first time you light off the Surge outdoors, it is a near religious exeriance.....comments like, "Holy S***T" are not uncommon! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif

GrnXnham,
Get it. Simple. Easy to use. You won't sweat about buying it a new set of batts, not to mention that they're easily available anywhere. Use it in a middle of a typhoon. I think it's waterproof to 200 meters (check the packaging). Generates a beam that's bright as heck.
Dad absolutely loves it. At $20, you can't lose!
-Omega

it's a good all around light. but i'll tell you right now, it's way too bright for a primary hiking light.

Wow! That was several quick responses! What a great forum!

Okay, I'm convinced. I think I'll get a couple of Surges.

Thank you very much for the help, everyone!

Oops! Double post. Sorry

Better buy one and try. Your mileage might vary. I have 2 surges. Both duds. Treated both as part of learnng costs. Reasons same as others mentioned. One the other hand, any 3 cells SF lights will give you the same religious experience.

tankahn what do you mean both duds? princetontec has wonderful customer support i'm sure they'd be happy to help you with your surge problems

I think the surge is a light that most if not all CPFers have. It is part of that group of "benchmark" flashlights and many of us use it to compare it to another light in both output and size.

GrnXnham, welcome to CPF, and why dontcha stay awhile!

Glad you decided to get the Surge, it's terrific. I don't carry it, as it's way too heavy for that, but great for in the car, or by the door, and real waterproof, too!

welcome again
daloosh

I've bought about eight Surge's and gave them out to family. My wife keeps one on her side of the bed. I have a Tigerlight on my side.