Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters On flashlights and batteries...

...or, to Surefire, or not to Surefire.

I am in the market for a tactical light for defensive use along with a pistol. Of course, I have taken a hard look at the Surefires, but the whole issue of their proprietary batteries sits less and less well with me.

Alternatives I 've also checked into are the lights from TacStar (Lyman family of co.'s), and the NiteIze upgrades for MagLites and MiniMags.

Any advice on a direction to take would be appreciated.

Gracias,
RSY

Batteries for Surfire lights are not proprietary. It's a standard 123A Lithium battery you can buy at any Wal-Mart. Surefire sells them for quite a bit less though.

There are other good lights besides Surefire but I haven't found one better. Whatever brand you choose it should be Lithium powered. Not only will it be brighter than any alkaline light but will be ready to go when needed even if stored for long periods of time.

Well, appears I was (pleasantly) misinformed on that point. Thanks for the clarification, Dan.

scott

I own several surefire lights but as soon as I can afford too I'm going to buy a Blackhawk Gladius. They make a 80 Lumen LED model that has a strobe mode that you have to see to understand. It is very disorienting and is highly desireable in a light you plan to use as a self defense light.
I just bought a dozen Surefire 123 batteries for $20.95 at my local store. If you shop around they aren't nearly as expensive, but it is nice to know you can get them at Wallmart if you need too.................DJ

you might also consider some of the inova lights

Sounds good, but on second thought, how do you prevent yourself from being disoriented at the same time?

Granted, it wouldn't be as bad as being on the receiving end of the light, but strobe lights throw most people off, in general; especially when it comes to trying to effectively deploy a weapon in a defensive situation.

BTW, this place has 'em for only $120:

http://www.botac.com/gladius.html

Not bad, at all.

I've tried the NiteIze and similar upgrades for the Mini and regular MagLites and I like them better than the originals. That being said, I use them for hunting/fishing so for things like following a blood trail or tying a knot they're great but I certainly wouldn't want to rely on one for personal defense although I'm sure they're better than nothing at all.....

When the battery runs out of power on a sure fire it happens fast. Don't expect several minutes of dimming light, carry an extra battery on you or an extra light.

Inova focused LED is great but as a tactical light has a fault. what happens is this. due to the tight focus of the light many targets in buildings are not seen until the light is directly on them. this causes a startle effect in the shooter and i have seen alot of friendlys shot by mistake while training.
the less focused LED of the surefire L2 gives a graduating beam that allows you to pick up targets on the fringe of the cone.
I have used trained w/ and sold everything from the Mags to the Surefire as a direct dealer and the L2 gives you the most bang for the buck.
i currently use a frankenstien surefire. its a BLK body from a 6P w/ a combat weight protected click tail switch and a K5 LED head. constant burn is in the area of 2 hours @ 120 lumens average intermitant burn is much longer as the LED doesnt heat up and drain my 123cr's.
the pelican is a good light but not good for hard use.
the inova T3 and T5 are very robust and (w/ faults noted) are one of my favorite lights for non shooting uses.
the streamlights are not 1/2 as durable as the inovas but have a great warranty (not as good as surefire though).
the pentagons and blackhawks are too much money for what you get. your better served w/ a 6p.
stick to less gadgets multi focus and power ranges or LED and incandesents.
all around i would suggest the L2 for 95% of what a civilian needs.
as far as batteries go stay away from rechagables that require the light to be on a charger. surefires blue stick is a better recharge option because you can pull the battery out for charging and insert a new stick. better yet the conversion units allow you to go back and forth from rechargeable to standard 123CR's so you can run your light on 3volt batterys while the stick is on the charger. surefires spares carrier are greatitem even if you dont use the surefire lights. i have seen one demonstrated as a defensive weapon in which the hard triple threaded 6 battery unit was swung by the lanyard.

I have a preference for the �Thunder Ranch� illumination system from Surefire. It consists of a TL-2 main light and a little LED keychain light (handier than a pocket on a shirt). From a tactical standpoint, the keychain is pretty much worthless, but it�s very handy to have a flashlight that small.

The TL-2 is an excellent light in every way�Every bit as good, if not better than the Surefire offerings. I also buy CR123�s by the dozen from Surefire�they�re good and cheap, with a 10 year shelf life�How can you go wrong?

You can also get a lot of the Surefires as rechargables. That's what I've done with all mine, either bought them as a rechargable unit, or converted them. These are hand helds and not dedicated weapons mounted lights.

Get a rechargable Strion.....Bright and rechargable....Love mine....About 85 dollars with an AC or DC charger included. I have a charger in my car and one in the house. You get about one hour out of a charge, continuous...

The place I linked to above prices the Blackhawks down in the Surefire range (assuming one qualifies to buy from them). That being the case, would you consider that a good deal???

rsy

the surefire is the best value. i dont care what happens to the light. how badly it gets damaged or abused. SF will repair or replace it for free.
they are a s tough as a light comes. i dropped one going over a fence after a suspect one night and didnt get back to look for it till the next day. it had been left in the snow for almost 15 hours. i replaced the batteries and it worked like a new light. in fact i bought that light in 1994 at a police supply store in ATL and carried it until i left LE in '04 when i sold it to another officer. as far as i know he still carries it in its original V70 carrier.
can you spend more money? sure
can you buy a light w/ more "features"? sure you can
but if you buy a surefire you will never be dissapointed.

I have noticed Cabela's has lights that can be fastened to the bill of your cap. Also a regular head lamp that has webbed straps to fit your head, or these light and useful or just some heavy junk? Has anyone tried them out?

thanks for the additional insight on the inovas

DO NOT ORDER from Botach. Period. Everyone I know that has tried to order from them got screwed around and didn't receive their product or, if they did, it was months later, with no communication in between. It is pretty common knowledge in law enforcement circles to stay away from them.

I have 2 of the Blackhawk lights and several Surefires. They are all good, but I think the strobe effect is over rated. It does call my dog back when we run at night, though - the strobe brings him right back.

+1 on Botach sucking. I was a purchasing officer for my agency and watched them drop the ball on several large orders for holsters, body armor and flashlights. They lure you in with great prices but alot of the time they do not even have the item and are counting on a drop ship from the manufacture. If you are looking at a straight up guy who will sell you what you need, not what makes him the most money go to lagger-pro.com. Wayne is a great guy and actually forwards the business line to his cell phone when he is closed just in case someone needs something right away.

On the Blackhawk Gladious...yes the strobe is very disorienting but as someone else notes it can be very distracting to the user also. White light bounces all over the place and causes enough problems. The Gladious is a good light with well thought out features but dont spend the money on it just to get the strobe. Also dont get sold on a high lumen output. I would rather use a lower 90 lumen LED light than 225 lumen on a standard bulb. The LED is a much harsher light and cause far more problems on the receiving end.