I did a google search and find it offered for sale by multiple places but when I go to Surefires site and search for it the light doesnt show up at all.
I simply upgraded my C2 Centurion. I ordered a Cree XML 520 lumen lamp and an 18650 Li-Ion rechargeable battery kit from LumaForce. Cost me $64 and a 6 pack of Corona to have a friend with a lathe open up the i.d. of the C2 body to accept the 18650. I now have a 520 lumen rechargeable flashlight that will fit in my pocket. I really appreciate the extra spill from this lamp when searching dark areas. It will light up an entire room!
I don’t know if it’s ideal though as to output, and some of the dual mode switches on the newer Surefires are cumbersome.
If your eyes are adjusted for dark, 200 lumens is almost painful.
I see this having a use for a day shift light. Something if you were outside in sunlight, and went into a dark house or building, the light would be a good balance.
As for weapon lights, for use mounted on a blaster I like the tight focus of the X300s and the Scout.
500 lumens is NOT too much light inside given a decent beam pattern and proper usage.
Looks like SF put an XM-L LED in a decently big reflector and hopefully the levels are controlled by loosening/tightening the bezel.
SF is finally starting to compete, now let’s see if they can get into the rechargeable game as well.
Doh! Just checked and a couple websites say that the levels are controlled by clicking on/off… Geez, even the chinky tac lights moved away from that years ago!
They have them in at my work at wholesale sports. I thought someone turned on a spot light the first time I saw someone turn it on. They are pretty amazing lights.
My master bedroom is huge, and my plain old Cree LED will blow me back. Granted it’s a fairly focused beam… but even the splash… 500 would have to spread light wide enough to back light me to tame it down… I’d guess.
I’m all about more horsepower… but for an indoor light, I’ve seen the downside.
Looks like another cool light from SF. But from what I’ve seen, it has a clicky tail cap and click low first then click to go to high. Not the ideal switching order for a tactical light or for my uses for the most part. We’ll see how it does. 500 lumens would be great though
To clarify my point, I am talking about usage in room clearing/searching work in normal to even small sized urban homes. You would typically not have dark adapted eyes as is the case in most urban areas. Beam shape would be one with decent spill and not all spot, which describes most 500+ lumen XM-L LED’s. Proper usage would mean not shining the flashlight straight ahead of you on walls/mirrors, but generally low at the floorboards not only illuminating typical hiding places but allowing the spill to light up the rest of the room. Your light would be angled down anyways if you are in low ready, and if a suspect presents themselves then 500 lumens straight ahead is a good thing. If you are 3rd man thru the door you can also hit the ceiling and light up the whole room for your team. Although I always run an X300 anyways and only have my light out if I am 3rd man or holstered, but the same ideas apply even with 200 lumens. Of course, in my experience there is generally no such thing as a shiny clear wall in the ghetto and if you go into a bathroom with your light pointing straight ahead you get what you are asking for
I admit 500 lumens is too much for looking on the ground for a lost item, but that’s why I like lights with multiple levels (correctly implemented!) or even the good old fashioned cop trick of putting your hand over the light.
This. The 520 lumen XML I put in my C2 has a sort of 2 stage beam pattern. The center of the beam is super bright and focused like my E2D LED Defender or Scout lights, but there’s a very wide pattern of light outside the spot that works like a dedicated flood lamp. In a darkened yard or alley, the lamp will light up everything well enough to locate, while still having a bright enough “hot spot” to blind a subject 50 yards away. When entering a dwelling, pointing it at the floor or ceiling provides enough spill to light up a whole room without overloading your retinas. The spill is so wide that it projects a shadow at the edges of the beam from the 6 notches in the bezel ring.
If I need to use it where less light is needed, I just curl my pinkie over the lens and only allow the amount of light I need to filter through. That’s rare though, because I also carry a Fenix LD-10 for those occasions.
You can always throttle down the amount of light you have available, but it’s impossible to project more light than you have, particularly when that little bit extra might mean the difference between just spotting a threat and debilitating one!
I had an LX2 and its light switch was pure genius. Push a little for 15L, push harder for 200L. Push for constant on. No double tap, twist or stuff like that. Be even better if it were stepless.
Might throw one in the car for emergencies. More light on the side of the road can be good.
What happened to your LX2? I’ve been thinking of getting one specifically for the switch but I keep hoping they’ll start making a 1-battery version again. I used one of the old dual output aviators for awhile but the switch finally broke such that it wouldn’t activate the second stage. I’m hoping the LX-2 improved things a bit.
I must not be doing it right… Setting off a G2LED after my eyes are used to the dark on a white wall feels like I’m staring at the sun, to me. I have zero desire for more output in either a handheld or HD weaponlight.
Looks like SF put an XM-L LED in a decently big reflector and hopefully the levels are controlled by loosening/tightening the bezel.
SF is finally starting to compete, now let’s see if they can get into the rechargeable game as well.
Finally starting to compete? What?!
SF has dominated the tactical light market for decades… Streamlight owns LE by volume, but that’s about it.
They might not have as many gadgets, features, strobes, and bezels and clips as some other brands… but they make some of the most functional and reliable lights sold.
Doh! Just checked and a couple websites say that the levels are controlled by clicking on/off… Geez, even the chinky tac lights moved away from that years ago!
See my subsequent post above clarifying my position. However, given your assertion, anything more than a mini maglight with dying batteries would be unacceptable if your eyes are dark adapted?
Home Defense in the dark when waking up is a whole other issue than police or tactical work. I have a dual level tailcap on my HD carbine where a soft push gives me less light, a super floody X200B on my bedside gun, and a super floody Malkoff MC-E dropin in my original SF Z2 on my nightstand.
I have owned pretty much every single Surefire light made over the past 20+ years with exception of their newest LED line where they fell behind the curve of features/runtime/output/rechargabiliity that other makers are offering. IMHO their only cutting edge stuff are their patented dual level tailcap lights like the A2L and A2Z which I own but are underpowered as compared to the competition. Years ago they promised a multi-level, push thru tailcap, adjustable flood light that would have been and likely still be THE TACTICAL LED light to have, but they never released it. Instead they have gone in the opposite direction with tactically useless click to change levels in many of their lights. I only hope they have some good stuff in the works and they can start defining the tactical illumination path again.
So I don’t mean competition in the sense of market share, but product value and features.
While lots of the competition is almost silly in their features and marketing, there are several gems from makers that “get it” and listen to their target audience.
That said, most of my duty lights are SF just due to overall quality. There is nothing that competes with an X300/DG combo and the dual level A2L is great for sneaking around.
My Lx2 is “missing”. Between my six year old son and some contractors we had to do some HVAC work I’m not sure who ‘misplaced’ it. I tore my house apart. I cried.
I’d like 1, 15, 100, 250 lumen pressure switch. 1 cell for EDC and 2 cell for around the house/gun light.
I wonder if SF will ever go AA battery? So much more common and LEDs don’t need the 123 power, do they?
