When will SF use new Nichias in the A2?

Anyone know anything? It's the thing that prevents me from getting an A2. The mod to replace the leds is not something I'm interested in doing; I'd like to buy the finished product.

Phaserburn said:

Anyone know anything? It's the thing that prevents me from getting an A2. The mod to replace the leds is not something I'm interested in doing; I'd like to buy the finished product.

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Do you mean for the main light? Or the LED's?
I think it's fine the way it is, as a matter of fact, most here say that the LED's are a little too bright.

The leds, not the central incan. The stock Nichia leds that are available now are literally twice as bright as the ones that come in the A2.

It's a certainty that SureFire will use them, it's only a matter of when they will be available, I would think.

Phaserburn said:

The leds, not the central incan. The stock Nichia leds that are available now are literally twice as bright as the ones that come in the A2.

It's a certainty that SureFire will use them, it's only a matter of when they will be available, I would think.

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Since when has SureFire been anything like quick to change (ie: improve....) a light *once it's been in long term production*? They are making huge profits off the A2 as it is; why should they spend R&D money improving it?

I'd like to see them put a 3W Luxeon in the A2, but that's a pipe dream too, I think......

It won't make any more profit for SureFire, so they have no motive, from a business standpoint, to make any changes. Sad but true....

If SF wanted to make more profit from the A2, all they would have to do is make the LED rings available for separate purchase..... This would cost them virtually nothing, since they already manufacture them, BUT NOOOO (Think Steve Martin in SNL )

Just my opinion, of course. Wish I was wrong!

I would think the A2 would be too bright then. I thought the purpose of the light was to be able to do things closeup and then have the incan for when you need a bright light. I would say making the white LEDs twice as bright as they are now would interfere with close tasks like reading maps, especially in a vehcle sitting near the operator.

Scott

For its intended purpose, the led's put out just about the right amount of light. I can use it first thing in the morning to walk across a dark room, and it doesn't hurt my eyes. Also It gives plenty of light to walk by outdoors, if its good and dark.

Optional levels of output from surefire sure would be nice though.

I doubt Surefire will change the A2 "Aviator". It's made specifically for pilots, and their needs.

The incandescent lamp allows them to check for leaks, as the fluids are color coded, and the broad spectrum output with regulation is best for that purpose.

The low output LED's are best, if the cockpit and instruments go black. Don't want to get too bright, as they still need to be able to see outside the aircraft, in order to fly safely.

oldgrandpajack

Personally the only reson to change the LED's in the A2 would be to improve the color. The whole idea about those led's is to have a very low output to be able to see in low ligth conditions without distroying night vision. Mine puts out a purple color which I hate. I wish they were a bit whiter not brihter. I would be much happier. I also have to say that that according to my measurements my A2 dosen't put as much light out as some of the other A2 Meter Man 310 measurements I have seen. I was waiting to change the globe to re test.

Yaesumofo

yaesumofo said:

Personally the only reson to change the LED's in the A2 would be to improve the color. The whole idea about those led's is to have a very low output to be able to see in low ligth conditions without distroying night vision. Mine puts out a purple color which I hate. I wish they were a bit whiter not brihter. I would be much happier. I also have to say that that according to my measurements my A2 dosen't put as much light out as some of the other A2 Meter Man 310 measurements I have seen. I was waiting to change the globe to re test.

Yaesumofo

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This is exactly why I replaced the LED's in my A2 with new 5mm 35K's white LED's from KevinL. Are you can see by my new tread here which has side-by-side beamshots of the 35K's vs. the Nichias (Xnova, 8-LED, 1AA in HA-III - LED swap DIY ), the 35K's are much whiter, more even, and nicer overall (at least to me). While doing the LED swap on my A2 I also used slightly larger resistors as well so now I can safely use the MP rechargable cells without risking over-driving the LED's

Will

Phaserburn said:

The leds, not the central incan. The stock Nichia leds that are available now are literally twice as bright as the ones that come in the A2.

It's a certainty that SureFire will use them, it's only a matter of when they will be available, I would think.

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The LED"s aren't made to be bright. The A2 was designed for pilots in mind. The LED's are supposed to be bright enough to read a map in the cockpit at night without sacrificing your night vision. They stuck an incandescent bulb in there becuase the incans throw much better than the LED's. For a pilot in the fog or anything with ambient lighting nearby while they are outside the aircraft, it's good. The Incans perform better in that case.

So, from all these posts, I'm hearing that SF wants the leds to intentionally be the ones they are using now. I'm not buying it. I know what the A2 was designed for, but I think SF used the best/brightest leds they could that were available when they did an A2 manufacturing run. Am I to believe that 15kmcd leds are "just right" and just happened to be the brightest available? Or did SF pick the best they could?

What makes you guys think that the new leds wouldn't be as good or even better than the current A2 ones? Where are you seeing that the new leds are too bright and would be ineffective in a cockpit? The new leds are bright, but they aren't blind you bright. We're talking about a difference between the current 10 lumens or so vs. around 15 or so with the new leds. I'm hearing the same song here, and it sounds a little like Surefire defense! It's being made to sound like SF did a study and determined 10 lumens is the magic number for cockpit/upclose use but 15 is too much... not!

I too did the A2 leds swap , and personally did quite enjoy the result of that.

Honestly, though I like to see SF putting in new leds, I did somehow have a feeling that we might not see that day to come. Swapping in newer leds do not usually mean it will 'blind' the person in the cockpit...there are all sorts of leds now avialable, and so as long they could choose the whiter shade(for the whites), brighter yet wider angled leds, I would think it will for sure be an improvement over the old model. However, since A2 did come out a while ago, it might not be in SF's optimal interest to do the 'swap' now.

On the other hand, I'd really love to see an A2 with the small or even smaller dimension, but using a 3W or 5W as the 'main' light(but keep the direct driven leds the same though, so they are two 'seperate' system)...that will make my day. SF, are you listening? :wave:

I swapped the LEDs on my new Black A2 and loved the output boost and smooth beam color enough to change them on my normal A2, too. I love those new LEDs!

Phaserburn said:

What makes you guys think that the new leds wouldn't be as good or even better than the current A2 ones? Where are you seeing that the new leds are too bright and would be ineffective in a cockpit? . . . I'm hearing the same song here, and it sounds a little like Surefire defense! . . .

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There is such a thing as too much light in a confined space. SureFire's site says 3 lumens with the LEDs, which seems about what I am getting from my red and yellow-green A2s.

SureFire states the L2 has 15 lumens on low beam. I have one, and it is too much light for me ina confined space, or if I am reading/writing up close. Where am I seeing this? In the car when my wife is driving. 15 lumens would light up the whole darned car! 3 lumens is just right, and 3 lumens of a soft color like yellow-green or red is even better.

I don't want an A2 with a 15 lumen LED beam. If I had one, I would trade it off. I want about 3 lumens.

Scott

I just want the leds to be white not purple. Does the mod change the tint of the led's you take out? I can't stand the purple. It the new white can a bit of resistance be added to lower the level so as to not destroy night vision but are still WHITE?
Yaesumofo

bezoar said:

There is such a thing as too much light in a confined space. Surefires site says 3 lumens with the LEDs, which seems about what I am getting from my red and yellow-green A2s.

Surefire states the L2 has 15 lumens on low beam. I have one, and it is too much light for me Ina confined space, or if I am reading/writing up close. Where am I seeing this? In the car when my wife is driving. 15 lumens would light up the whole darned car! 3 lumens is just right, and 3 lumens of a soft color like yellow-green or red is even better.

I don't want an A2 with a 15 lumen LED beam. If I had one, I would trade it off. I want about 3 lumens.

Scott

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Dito ... more light would be a disadvantage IMHO.
A better tint or more runtime (of less importance since the runtime here is already great) however would be cool, but that would mean that those new LEDs would have to be consistent in this regard, and judging from what I have and read, this is not (yet) the case.
So ... why do a change with uncertain benefits now and invest $$ ? Not necessary IMHO.
bernie

Are everybody's led's in their A2 that blue/purple color?
I also noticed that my A2 was not acheiving the same meterman numbers as some others. It is still nice and bright. I guess I will re measure when I change out the globe.
Yaesumofo

Kiessling said:

Dito ... more light would be a disadvantage IMHO.
A better tint or more runtime (of less importance since the runtime here is already great) however would be cool, but that would mean that those new LEDs would have to be consistent in this regard, and judging from what I have and read, this is not (yet) the case.
So ... why do a change with uncertain benefits now and invest $$ ? Not necessary IMHO.
bernie

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yaesumofo said:

I just want the leds to be white not purple. Does the mod change the tint of the led's you take out? I can't stand the purple. It the new white can a bit of resistance be added to lower the level so as to not destroy night vision but are still WHITE?
Yaesumofo

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Yes, that is exactly what I got. A much nicer whiter tint, and slightly lower intensity with primaries (while decent drive on rechargables).

Kiessling said:

Dito ... more light would be a disadvantage IMHO.
A better tint or more runtime (of less importance since the runtime here is already great) however would be cool, but that would mean that those new LEDs would have to be consistent in this regard, and judging from what I have and read, this is not (yet) the case.
So ... why do a change with uncertain benefits now and invest $$ ? Not necessary IMHO.
bernie
Kiessling

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At least with the 35K's and the increased resistance I got exactly what you would like to have - better tint and longer runtimes. Although this photo is from the 8-LED Chinese lights that I recently upgraded, it is representative of what you get when swaping LED's. Although I don't have photos of my A2 with the stock, bluish-ting LED's, they look like the ones here shown on the far right. My A2 now has the nicer, whiter 35K's from KevinL as shown here on the far left:
(5mm LED beamshots - 1 foot from wall, using Chinese 8-LED light. 35K left, Nichia middle, OEM on right)


Will

Mine is the classic bluish/yellowish mix of the spot and white corona you find with 5mm LEDs, nothing extraordinary.
bernie

Replacing the Central Incand with an LED ??

Has anyone done a replacement of the central incandescent bulb on an A2 with a LED? The incandescent bulb is the major reason I'm not buying one.