Surefire Flashlight

[gonepecan]

I picked up a red Surefire 6PX Pro for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Before boxing it up, I tried it out.

My goodness this thing has a beam. It was only dusk, but it was hitting my neighbors house with ease, which is at least 300 feet away. The finish and construction are excellent. Awesome little light, especially for $60.

I'm thinking of getting an E1B for myself soon.

 

[Mjolnir]

Gr8 flashlight. Massey's was selling them for $115 believe it or not. I just gifted one of mine and holster to my sister.

 

[aroundlsu]

I have been carrying the E1B for about four years. Love it. Worth the money.

 

[gonepecan]

Everything I've read about the E1B has been positive. I think that's what I'll go with for myself.

I really like the color on this one. I know it's a 9/11 edition, but the color is nice.

 

[topgunz1]

My main dislike of a lot of surefires is the dang tailcap, can be hard to turn it on steady with one hand, and holding it down gets tiring. "clicky" switches are much more convenient. They are all very well made and bright though!

 

[Young_Gun]

$60 for the 6px from where? I can find it for less than $100.

 

[gonepecan]

This one does both. You can either hold it down, or you can click it. The tailcap doesn't turn, except counterclockwise. The 6PX Tactical is the one that you have to turn with both hands.

 

[gonepecan]

http://www.thefirestore.com/store/p...red_aluminum_body_dual_output_led_flashlight/

Only 1000 of these made. The black ones go for $115. This one is on sale for $60.

 

[killdee]

You just cost me $60. But thanks a lot for the tip. I've been wanting a surefire, and this one at almost half price was just too good to pass up. Another great deal passed on by the BS crew.

 

[f350drvr]

I picked up a red Surefire 6PX Pro for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Before boxing it up, I tried it out.

My goodness this thing has a beam. It was only dusk, but it was hitting my neighbors house with ease, which is at least 300 feet away. The finish and construction are excellent. Awesome little light, especially for $60.

I'm thinking of getting an E1B for myself soon.

Do yourself a favor and go see Mr. Steve at Chalmette Jewelry. He has really good prices on Surefire and Luminox watches among other things.

 

[gonepecan]

You just cost me $60. But thanks a lot for the tip. I've been wanting a surefire, and this one at almost half price was just too good to pass up. Another great deal passed on by the BS crew.

Glad I could help! It's a sweet little light. Sadly, I just had to wrap it up. I forgot it's not mine, lol.

Do yourself a favor and go see Mr. Steve at Chalmette Jewelry. He has really good prices on Surefire and Luminox watches among other things.

I've heard a lot about that place, but I've never gone in. I'll have to do that soon. Thanks!

 

[JR1572]

I lost my E1B. I have been carrying my LED defender, and I hate it. I will be ordering another E1B very soon.

JR1572

 

[gonepecan]

I like this light for home use. It would be good for her purse too.

But I wouldn't want it to carry. No belt clip, and even at 5.2", it could be kind of long for a pocket. The E1B is only 4" and only takes 1 CR123, so I figure it will be a breeze to carry.

 

[jmcrawf1]

I carry an e1b on duty as a back up to my rechargeable stinger and i carry it off duty.

I never leave home without it.

 

[JWG223]

My main dislike of a lot of surefires is the dang tailcap, can be hard to turn it on steady with one hand, and holding it down gets tiring. "clicky" switches are much more convenient. They are all very well made and bright though!

Then put a clicky on it. All of my modded 6P's have clicky's, and my personal one is equipped with McGizmo internals to handle the current.

Be careful. Flashlights are like guns. The 6P is an awesome host. You will find yourself with a myriad of aftermarket and custom modules after you get tired of playing around with the relatively dim Surefire one.

 

[killdee]

You guys do realize the light pictured is a two cell light? I.e., considerably larger than an E1B?

Yes, I still have the E1B on my wish list. But at this price, I just couldn't pass up the P6.

 

[JWG223]

Yes, I still have the E1B on my wish list. But at this price, I just couldn't pass up the P6.

$60 is a killer deal. It's about what I pay for the gutted Surefire 6P hosts I buy with OEM clicky-caps and a standard or G2L bezel.

 

[gonepecan]

I think you'll like it. For being on the low-end of Surefire's lights, it's rock solid. I really like the clicky on it. I don't care for twist-on and offs.

 

[KaCajun Boy]

I have the LED A2L Aviator and I love it I bought it second hand from a guy on sportsman and it was never used he recieved it as a present and he already had one just like it so I bought it from him for $75 and it's awesome!!

 

[JWG223]

Relatively dim?

How much light do you think you need?

.

Well, let me tell you a story (feel free to FFWD if you bore easily).

I was in "need" of a weapon-light. I wanted something bright. I bought a Surefire 962 2-cell incandescent light off AR-15.com. I then bought the 225 lumen bulb for it. It was a monster in weight, battery-drain (20 minutes on CR123A's).

It was rediculously heavy. I got rid of it.

I wanted more run-time, so I got a Surefire 6P LED and mounted it. It had 80 OTF lumens. It looked like a dying egg-plant in color. I hated it. It was weak. But it was light-weight and did run a bit.

So then I bought a module for it. It used a Cree Q5 LED and was putting out a bit over 200 lumens! I liked it! SF962 output in 6P size with a good 1+ hour run-time.

Only problem was the tint. It was a bit "cold" for my liking.

Then I discovered the Malkoff M60. It's still one of my favorites. 235+ OTF lumens with an optic, huge hot-spot, tint about 6K, and awesome spill. Great run-time, too.

Then I discovered that there were "warm" LED's. This was when they were first coming out. Not very powerful/efficient. I bought the M60W. IT was about 175 lumens, but a nice warm tint. It looked incandescent. I now had an incandescent looking beam from a 6P at 175OTF lumens with over an hour run-time. What's not to like?

Well, LED's are like computers. They continue to evolve so fast that it's hard to keep up--and Surefire just can't. They are too big.

Even Gene Malkoff was only doing small, limited runs of the newer stuff (and continues to do so).

It was then that I discovered Dave Lemert. He now builds all my LED modules. I currently keep 2 on-hand for my Surefire 6P. One of them throws about 100 yards, is a nice color tint (4K, think HID headlight on a corvette, BMW, etc.. It's almost identical.) It puts out over 320 OTF lumens and runs at full-power for about 45 minutes.

The other is the same tint, same throw-, but about 300% larger hot-spot. 550+ OTF lumens. It runs for 20 minutes all-out (but does get hot! Run it 2-4 minutes at a time only). About the same as my bulky, 1/2 as bright SF962 from a few years back.\


So now I use 6P's as hand-helds instead of weapon-lights, having discovered the "Scout" series from Surefire. The TIR optic makes up for the low output and out-dated LED's they use, and the tint at 5500-6K is good for seeing contrast, but not colors so much. Shooting, I am worried more about seeing things than telling what color shirt/fur the target has, so that works for me.

My handhelds are 6P's with Nailbender LED modules in a nice, warm, 4K tint with 320-550+ OTF lumens. I could never go back to Surefire's OEM stuff for a hand-held in the 6P platform. I love the warm, sunny tint, and the massive output.