Surefire vs. Streamlight

[werewolf]

I own a Streamlight Scorpion,Stylus, and a Keymate and all have served me VERY well. Anyways, yesterday I picked up a LED MiniMaglite, and this is my first experience with LED flashlights and I am completely sold on LEDs. I bought the Maglite for a cheapie, and now I'd like to get a more high end LED light, and I've definately narrowed it down to either a Streamlight or a Surefire. I have NO experience whatsoever with Surefire, are they worth that much more $ than a Streamlight?, also does anyone know if they make a rechargable LED light, like the Streamlight Stinger? Thanks for all answers and recommendations. I know I've already got too many lights,lol, its kinda like guns, I can never have too many,lol.

[Gunner65]

I still have 14 SureFire lights and 7 Streamlights. SureFire was on my combat rifle and I had SureFire on my home weapons I got rid of.
BIG chance to make some great cash profits!!!

[Old Philosopher]

Originally Posted by werewolf

I own a Streamlight Scorpion,Stylus, and a Keymate and all have served me VERY well. Anyways, yesterday I picked up a LED MiniMaglite, and this is my first experience with LED flashlights and I am completely sold on LEDs. I bought the Maglite for a cheapie, and now I'd like to get a more high end LED light, and I've definately narrowed it down to either a Streamlight or a Surefire.

The Mag-Lite sold you on LED. Why not check into their full sized LED lights?
I just had a great experience with Mag-Lite. I had my 4-cell light wrecked by leaking, cheap batteries. I contacted the company. When they found out I was still using one of their lights I bought 40 years ago, they sent me all the parts free! I'm going to stick with a company like that.

[tacticalmedic87]

I own many a Surefire, worth every penny! I always carry 2 on me, Right now I have a L2 and a E2DL. Both I love, but the E2DL is my favorite, a good lite, two light levels, and works as a last option self defense tool. Many people, including my family, told me I was crazy to pay that much, when Hurricane Dolly hit and we all had to go into survival mode for a full week no one was complaining then. Long story short they proved them self in a crowd of people with other lights that just kept failing. If you can afford it, go with one, you won't regret it. I have trusted my life, my family's life, and many other peoples life on them and they have not let me down.

[Old Philosopher]

Originally Posted by werewolf

I have NO experience whatsoever with Surefire, are they worth that much more $ than a Streamlight?, also does anyone know if they make a rechargeable LED light, like the Streamlight Stinger? Thanks for all answers and recommendations. I know I've already got too many lights,lol, its kinda like guns, I can never have too many,lol.

Have you decided on your light yet? I see they make an LED Stinger.
I had a Stinger I carried every day for about 3 years. Didn't use it daily, but it was better than a mini. I'm sure glad the company paid for it! It finally got down to where it would only hold a charge about 40 minutes. Then the charging mechanism when out, and then the switch. I was not impressed.
I'm not a fan of rechargeable flashlights. They might give you 120 lumins, but that sucks a battery dry in a hurry. The other thing is that you go from having a light, to not having a light in about 120 seconds. They don't drop off like an alkaline battery, giving you some warning. I guess it depends upon what you need out of the flashlight. I do some caving, and use alkaline, or rechargeable alkaline. Doesn't do a person much good to be trapped in a building with only an hour of light.
Interestingly, after my tragedy with my Mag-Lite, I started researching batteries. I was shocked to find out the Ray-o-Vac D-cell alkalines outlasted the Duracell by 50%, and cost less!

[werewolf]

Thanks for the info and recommendations guys. I'm really glad to hear about your experience with the Streamlight Stinger as that was the one I was strongly considering, but now not so much. I think I'm going to go with the Streamlight Super Tac, nice smaller size, bright(I think about 120 lumens, IIRC), LED, and a run time of 3.5 hr.s, and I just picked up the other day a couple of packs of the lithium duracells in AA, I'm curious to see if they really do add that much extra life over the standard AAs. I'm sure the Surefires are great lights, but I don't think I"m willing to pay that much extra, when I've been perfectly happy with my Streamlights, might consider the LED G2 though as it's somewhat affordable compared to the rest of their line up, thanks again guys. Also wanted to say thanks for the info on the Rayovac batt.s, I'll definately have to give them a try. When I get whatever I get, I'll post and let you guys know

[Folkrck201]

go with streamlight

[Bohica]

I have the Surefire E2D Defender and the E2D LED Defender, and both have an indisputably superior beam to any Streamlight I've held.

[pftw-pftb]

I am very happy with my surefire's.

I have a rechargable surefire which is hard on batteries. Its not my favorite light but I can recharge it long after the other batteries are used up and it cost less to use for day to day use.

Nothing says get off the porch like the blinding light of a surefire and the pump of an 870.

[pierrat]

Stramlight..

[tuckerdog1]

I sure won't pretend to be any expert on flashlights. I've only recently become interested in them ( maybe the past year or so ). And while I believe some of these very high doller flashlights may be EXCELLENT tools, I also think that at some point you have to reach that point of diminishing return for the money spent. To me, if a light is reasonably tough, and works every time I hit the switch, that's all I need. And if it doesn't cost a fortune, that leaves me money to by back up lights, or lights designed for different purposes. I have 9 lights now, and probably don't have much more than $200 total invested. All work well at the job I bought them for.

INOVA X5
INOVA 24/7
PELICAN M6
FENIX P3D
COAST 7438
COAST 7345S
COAST 7598
COAST 7537R/2
MagLight 4 C cell with 3 watt LED

Tuckerdog1

[MIL-DOT]

I'm a bit of a flshlight junkie,myself. I have 3 Surefires, 3 Fenix lights, 2 Inovas, 2 pro-polymer Streamlights, a 2D LED mag-light, several Gerber infinities, several Brunton LED lanterns, plus assorted others.
I joined candlepowerforums a while ago, but I got the info I was after, and stocked my stable pretty well, and haven't logged on in some time.But check them out, it's a good forum, full of knowledgable "illumination tool" afficianados.
I would recommend one of the Surefires that use a single cr123.( I have two, but can't remember the model numbers) No issues with batteries of unequal power. Surefire's warranty in unbeatable, and they are very easy to sell if you want to upgrade.

[NotEnoughMoney]

I would go with the streamlight, a buddy of mine had 2 surefires and when I heard the price I laughed. I have the stinger led, the pt2l, the ultra-stinger, the tl2 weapon mount laser/light combo, and the cuffmate handcuff keys with dual leds. I also bought my dad a pt2l. If you dont mind buying cr123a batteries then the pt2l is the way to go, nice and compact and very bright. I heard that streamlights customer service is some of the best in the business. A side note, I have had just about every maglite they make along with several of their LED models. i must say I like the heft of maglite as well as the durability but on-duty the weight and length is a bit much. The streamlight stinger handsdown is the best flashlight, its rechargeable, has over 150 lumens, is just about indestructible and is about the right size for a powerful flashlight. The surefire is good but I will stay with streamlight.

[columbia10]

Surefires are pricey, but I'd use them without hesitation in a life or death situation. I have several Surefire weapons lights (AR, shotguns, etc) and never had a failure. Also have several Surefires that I carry daily, keep in mine + the wife's cars, etc. I recently branched out and picked up a few Streamlights, Olights, Inova, and Fenix lights. They're all descent lights, but the quality and reliability just doesn't match what Surefire offers. One of the Olights broke and both of the Streamlights had to be exchanged for replacements (strange glitch with the switch). Surefires cost more, but you get what you pay for.

[SgtBooker44]

Streamlight now has a model that can be recharged in 90 seconds from either AC or DC. In a pinch I'm sure solar could recharge the 12 volt. That's next on my list.

[overbore]

has the bright, blinding pulsating strobe effect???

Many thanks
Laus Deo
overbore

[andystamey]

As much as I love surefire lights (I own an E2D and G2, and have used many others) I am a much bigger fan of Fenix. They offer similar spec's at a much lower price. Their PD3- line is my personal favorite, and for around 60 bucks you can pick up a very well built light. http://www.fenixlight.com/product.asp?classid=1

[d3athp3nguin]

I own a Surefire G2 and I love it; I had purchased the incandescent version of it and then later "upgraded" it by inserting a drop-in LED bulb. The Surefires are good lights and they were great for their time, but their main lights have been out for a while without evolving much and there are competitors who offer equal or superior performance for much less $$.

I would check out Fenix. One of their newer flagship models, the LD20, packs in a lot of nice features for about $55 online. It even runs on standard AA batteries, which can save you money if you plan to use the light heavily.
http://www.fenixlight.com/viewnproduct.asp?id=66

An independent review of the LD20:

YouTube - Fenix LD20 Torch Flashlight...

[Your Funeral]

I have a Streamlight and a Fenix LD10 which are both nice. I carry a Surefire E1B with me everywhere I go though. Its easily my favorite. Compact, durable, dual output and very bright. Love it.

[SurvivalCacheScott]

http://survivalcache.com/survival-ge...-surefire-lx2/


Josh at SurvivalCache just did a great review on the SureFire LX2 and the reader comments are also great. They are definitely on the higher end of the price range for flashlights but they perform very well and I have had zero problems with SureFire when I've used them on a daily basis and in combat situations. I do like the idea of a rechargeable flashlight esp. something that can take a charge from 12V DC ICO use with only a generator or a solar charging station. I'll be looking into that more in the future.

-Scott

"The Future Belongs To Those Who Prepare"
www.survivalcache.com