New member with a few questions

Hi All:

I've liked good flashlights for several years but didn't realize the advancement in them until I came across this forum. To be honest, I thought you guys were blowing smoke saying these tiny lights were more powerful than my Mag's. I visited my favorite sporting goods establishment today and after comparing several lights and checking my wallet came away with a Surefire G2. I loved the Aviator for it's ability to use it with the LED's or a xenon bulb. The output of both (plus an E2) with the xenon was so close I went with what my wallet could afford at the time. When I got home and fired it up in the dark, I was astounded! Anyone want to buy a few 2D Mag's real cheap?

Anyway, thanks to you guys, I feel an addiction coming on that I can't afford, but as time and money become available I would like to aquire three more (yes, only three and then I'll quit) of these wonderful "tools". I'll be getting one for each of my wife's and two sons autos and one for home use. I've thought of what the requirements are and so I'll list them and let everyone throw in their opionions as to what would work really well. I don't use a flashlight enought for a rechargeable so please eliminate them from suggestions.

1. I would like the auto lights to have as much burn time as possible and still be bright enought to see really well. Mininum brightness should be about 30 lumens at 4-6 hours, long storage life and very shock resistance. This will most likely have to be a good LED unless there's something available I'm not aware of. Again, a multibulb such as the Avaitor would be nice but a little pricy.

2. The house light needs to be something similar to the Avaitor with a xenon bulb for brightness and LED's for longetivity. I would like to have more burn time for the high beam of the xenon if possible and have several hours of LED burn time after the battery voltage went too low to power the xenon. I don't have any experience with high output LED's that could put out 60 lumens but when I have had a choice I've always preferred the definition of incandescent 's over LED's. I live in the country and thing's that go bump in the night are usually obscured with bushes and tree limbs and I'm afraid LED's, even bright ones, won't define things really well for my old eyes.

I've read many of the posts here and after awhile I start getting confused about what I thought might work, especially when throwing in all the combinations of the nice custom jobs made by some of the members. I'm not adverse to going custom if my requirements can't be found commericially. I've found myself wondering if it's possible to have something that will produce a high incadescent (60+ lumens) with the option of low power incadescent in the same light?

Sorry for the long post but didn't want to spread everything all over the place . I think I'll go outside now and play with my new G2!

Thanks in advance....

Connor

GO ahead and read Quickbeam, Ledmuseum, and other review sites. they provide lots of good reading with objective data.

Greetings & Welcome to CPF Sir Connor!

Seems like you already know what you're looking for and have made a good choice for your first SureFire purchase. . .

In answer for your first choice for in automobile storage/usage, the E1L or E2L Outdoorsman would be an excellent choice since they produce the required lumens that you specified + the long run times and storage with the DL123 Ultra lithiums. . .er, uh, excuse me here—I mean the SF123s!

For in and around the home maybe you might want to try out the SureFire L2 or if money isn't a factor (someday that is!?) then the U2 since these have variable light-level outputs as I'm sure you've already known since perusing this site.

For looking in the darkened country side with trees, brush and thickets, well, possibly another SureFire like the 9P which is also sold here by fellow CPF member OLDGRANDPAJACK in the B/S/T-Lights section. You've also mentioned that you are not opposed to modified lights. Have you looked at the thread that's posted by UFOKILLERZ in the Custom and Mods B/S/T section on page 2 (well page 1 now)? Check out the FS: MagHID 8AA. That'll be perfect for where you're at for "when the sun goes down" you'll be illuminating half of the country side!

Enjoy your stay here and Good Evening to You!

Keep your 2D Mags... wait till you see the ridiculously crazy things we do with 2D Mags!

Some build them to be as bright as car headlamps, yup - no exaggeration.

Recommendations:

1. Inova T2 LED (for your cars):
A bargain at $40-45. 4 1/2 hr. runtime. Built like a tank. Good throw with acceptable flood. Bright enough for roadside repairs w/o blinding yourself w/glare.

Alternate: Streamlight 2L Twin Task (incan/LED combo), $30, versatile; Inova X5T LED ($35), good short-range flood, very long runtime.

2. Streamlight Scorpion (for around the house):
Another bargain at $35. A compact incan with great throw for distance. Adjustable beam. One hr. runtime, but OK for this purpose. I use mine for night walks -- it cuts through the light-clutter/shadows in suburbia.

Alternates: (1) Pelican M6 (incan), $40; tight throw; (2) Surefire 6P (incan), $56, but add their new KL3 (gen-2) LED head (approx $50?); Surefire L4 LED, $125, a great "inside" flood light, but mediocre throw for outside; Streamlight Luxeon 4AA LED, $35+/-, a real bargain, very balanced beam.

Keep those old Mags under your drivers' seats. They're good for bashing car-jackers -- after you've shot 'em with a .357 or .45.

connortn said:

2. The house light needs to be something similar to the Avaitor with a xenon bulb for brightness and LED's for longetivity. I would like to have more burn time for the high beam of the xenon if possible and have several hours of LED burn time after the battery voltage went too low to power the xenon. I don't have any experience with high output LED's that could put out 60 lumens but when I have had a choice I've always preferred the definition of incandescent 's over LED's. I live in the country and thing's that go bump in the night are usually obscured with bushes and tree limbs and I'm afraid LED's, even bright ones, won't define things really well for my old eyes.

Click to expand...

Doug at FlashlightReviews.com recommends the StreamLight TwinTask series highly...these lights all let you switch between xenon incandescent/LED modes and on the more expensive models, you get the option of multiple LED light levels as well. The only downside, to me, is that the LED tint is rather on the bluish end.

I have the SL TT 1L and I like it as a small, multipurpose light. If I were to redo this purchase, I probably would have gotten the 2L, but it all depends on your needs...from your description, the 2D TwinTask would fit the bill, and it is not too expensive, either.

connortn said:

I feel an addiction coming on that I can't afford, but as time and money become available I would like to aquire three more (yes, only three and then I'll quit) of these wonderful "tools".

Click to expand...

I was thinking like you too Connor, but i have found it hard to quit!.
I thought once i had acquired the lights i required, photon freedom x2 for keychain, Q3 for EDC, SL Lux 4AA for general purpose, Pelican Super Sabrelite for fishing, PT EOS headlamp for fishing too, and Maglite 3D for a baton these day...it was the end.... but sadly I realise it was only the beginning.

Haz

Thanks for the input guys. I'm looking at several of your suggestions but will contain this post to one possibility.

The SL twin task series looks promising. Do any of you guys have a G2 or equilivent and one of the SL 2L twin task to compare the output? I have fell in love with the G2's brightness and throw and would like to get as close as possible to that in incad. If it's noticably weaker, is it possible to get more out of it someway to equal the G2?

I also had a chance to try a co-workers SF L1 in a dark room at work today and would like to stay at it's output or more (on high) for the LCD output. It may have been a generation 1 as he's had it for about a year or so and it seemed a little weak to me.

My G2 does not have the lock out feature and I will probably pick up a 6P or another G2 with the lock out feature.

Still looking for more opions...

Connor

The SL Twintask was one of the first "nice" lights I got and I think there is a lot to recommend it. But it will not have the output of a G2. It isnt bad though and I am putting mine in my car in fact (thanks for the reminder ). You might consider getting a couple of those for the cars and for the house getting something like a SL Scorpion and an Inova X5. Both are reasonably priced and even together are way cheaper than an A2. One would give you a lot of run time and the other a lot of reach.

The TT 2-L has about 1/2 - 3/4 of the output of the Surefire.

It makes up for it with about 2x the battery life.

For home I would recommend the 3C TwinTask or the LEDBEAM 3C or the 3D Dorcy from Target.

A twin task 2L is great as a car light with long run time and lithium batteries for storage. There are a lot of other ones that would be good also.

wwglen

hahahahah,
welcome to the neighbourhood brother Connort!
Same with me!
I thought, when I purchased M6 with 500 lumens power IS enough to satisfy my 'light-needs'.
Like Haz said, "it was only the beginning....."

Haz said:

I was thinking like you too Connor, but i have found it hard to quit!.
..........and Maglite 3D for a baton these day...it was the end.... but sadly I realise it was only the beginning.
Haz

Click to expand...

Sounds like the TT 2L's are the way to go for the autos also. I remember seeing a post here somewhere that recommended a good place to get them on the internet. Anyone remember where that was?

Now, for the home, I don't need LED for that as I'll always have plenty of batteries in the frig. and I like the output of the G2 types. I can't really see needing and more power than one of these will produce, I'm not looking to outshine the Almighty :shakehead

I like several suggestions here and would like to hear a little more about the e2e. I assume it is very close to the G2 in output? I like the exe. model with the gloss black finish I see once in a while. Someone has a new one on ebay with about 3 days left on it. What do you guys think about it?

These four and no more....These four and no more...


Connor

The E2E was my first Surefire. I really like it. It is smaller than the G2. One of the things I really like about it is the modularity. Of course that wouldnt interest you if you arent getting any more flashlights But seriously the modularity is great. It came with the high output lamp, but I bought one of the lower output lamps that have a longer run time and keep that in a spares carrier if I needed the runtime. About a week and a half ago I bought a KL4 LED head that can go on the E2E. It is really bright. More output than the standard incandescent but not as much throw. But I like the flood. Yesterday I bought an E2L and can put the KL1 head from that on the E2 body. It has less output but great throw for a light that size and apparently really good runtime. I also put the KL4 head on the E1 body with a rechargeable battery and bingo, a really bright small light. Tremendous flexibility in small packages.

For car use I'd recommend lithium power, due to the temperature tolerance and reduced battery leakage. Depending on vehicle size you might want something compact. One possibility is the Streamlight Scorpion LED. It won't last 4-6 hr, but in most cases I think 2-3 hr is probably enough. Lithium batteries are so small and have such good shelf life, just include two extra batteries.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/streamlight_scorpionled.htm

Instead of LED+incandescent, another option is LED with variable output. Throttled back, LED lights have very long running time.

Your best (albeit very expensive at $270) option is probably the Surefire U2. It will run 40 hours on low (2 lumens) which is still pretty bright. Max is 80+ lumens, more than your G2:

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/surefire_u2.htm

Slightly less expensive is the Night-Ops Gladius, available at about $210 from some places. Variable output, good throw, plus a self-defense strobe feature:

http://www.night-ops.com/Night-Ops-Mission.htm

The Streamlight Tasklight 2L has two output levels, will run for 11 hr on low, good output and throw, about $71.

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/streamlight_tasklight_2l.htm

Re in rural location, depending on your yard size and surroundings, you might get a spotlight (in addition to flashlights). They are very inexpensive and more powerful than any reasonably-priced flashlight. Here's a Thor X 10-million Candlepower spotlight for $26. Similar lights are often available at retail stores:

http://www.cyclopssolutions.com/ind...ts.ViewProductDetail&categoryid=12&itemid=215

The A2 is REGULATED incan- it doesn't dim over time
hence, the price

connortn said:

The SL twin task series looks promising. Do any of you guys have a G2 or equilivent and one of the SL 2L twin task to compare the output? I have fell in love with the G2's brightness and throw and would like to get as close as possible to that in incad. If it's noticably weaker, is it possible to get more out of it someway to equal the G2?

Connor

Click to expand...

I am sorry, but I would have to say that the SL Twin Task isnt worth the money; it has bead beam quality, and the clicky brakes easily.You should get youself a new style KL3 for your G2, and maybe a beamshaper, it has alot of throw with great battery life.

-David

Another vote for keeping some of the 2D's. Mod them with one or more Luxeon LED's and you'll have excellent lights with good runtime.
The Twintask 2L or Nuwai AL 606 are worth every cent as well. I never heard of a switch failing and outside in real life use, you won't notice imperfections in the beam.

Chrisse

Hey Connor, welcome to CPF and why dontcha stay awhile!

I can't stop saying it, the E2e is my favorite Surefire, small, bright and flexible, part of a huge system of parts, both from Surefire and 3rd parties like McGizmo and Doug Speck, like LED heads or mods, and tailswitches and step up adapters and more. You like the G2? You'll love the executive series.

Sadly, I use the SL TT2L as a car light, because it's not so good for anything else but a backup or emergency light. That it does fine, and thus, exile into the trunk with two pairs of batteries. I also like to have a longlife multipurpose LED in the trunk as well, like the Inova 24/7 or one of the Eternalights.

best of luck sticking to only three more lights, and welcome again!
daloosh

Yep keep your 2D or 2C or whatever Mag and around here on CPF it can be "fixed" to serve up the correct amount of photon's. Or.... You can go for the Gusto now, become a full Flashaholic, and get a MaxaBeam (on Left).

"Fix" my 2D mags? Why? They make perfectly good clubs as they are, don't they? :laughing: But if you're referring to your pics above, I'd feel I was doing something illegal just owning one of them Don't know thou, I "do" own a lathe and like modifying things! I'll read up on some of the creations you guys are doing.

Anyone feel up to feeding me any info on the limited edition style e2e on ebay? Were they as good as the newer ones?

Later...

Connor