Surefire G2 Incandescent Flashlight Review
The Surefire G2 Incandescent Flashlight is a venerable and timeless design. A P60 host, this nitrolon flashlight is a great light to have!
Today I put before you a Surefire G2, with the original incandescent bulb. BULB. First time I’ve said that on this site!
Official Specs and Features
Here’s a link to the Surefire G2 Incandescent Flashlight product page.
Versions
I have no idea how many versions of this light there are. I think there are a number of nitrolon color options, including at least yellow, OD green, and tan. And of course, black as seen here.
Price
I bought this one well-used, and for a great price. I have no good suggestions where to buy one now, but it’s still possible to find them!
Upon further research, I might have bought a fake. It’s hard to know, but I’ll cover a couple of key reasons I think this. That said, the bulb p60 dropin is a replacement, and could actually be a genuine Surefire product.
Short Review
This is a fun excursion from my normal lighting tools, and one I’ll probably keep. I have LED dropins for it, but the warmth of incandescent is not to be discounted. The build and body of the light is great. I could probably wish for more than one mode, though, and as usual, twisty isn’t my favorite.
Long Review
The Big Table
| Surefire G2 | |
|---|---|
| Emitter: | Bulb! |
| Price in USD at publication time: | – |
| Cell: | 16650 |
| Runtime | – |
| No (dropin specific) | |
| Switch Type: | Mechanical |
| On-Board Charging? | No |
| Claimed Lumens (lm) | – |
| Measured Lumens (at 30s) | 25^ |
| Claimed Throw (m) | – |
| Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) | 66lux @ 5.115m = 1727cd |
| Throw (Calculated) (m) | 83.1^ |
| All my Surefire reviews! | |
^ Measurement disclaimer: Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.
What’s Included
Bought this one used, and only the light was included. Normally the Surefire package would include at the least, a host and dropin, and two Surefire cr123 cells, too.
Build Quality and Disassembly
I’m hesitant to say too much about the build quality of this light, given the possibility that it’s not a genuine Surefire product. Having said that, it’s still nicely built. There are really only two things that make me think it might be fake, anyway.
The first is the dropin, which as I said, is a replacement anyway. I can’t find the “TD-1” listed as any Surefire product. But since it’s a replacement, I’ll let that slide. It does work…
The real fly in the ointment for me on this light is the lens. See below, there’s a bit of wavy meltedness to the lens. As far as I can tell, there should be a tempered Pyrex lens there. This incandescent wouldn’t melt that pyrex, but it could melt the plastic. So I think the lens is plastic, and I don’t think that’d ever come on a genuine Surefire product.
The switch is a solid metal piece where the clicky would be.
It’s very easy to disassemble.
The replacement bulb is an actual bulb and has a very warm output.
Nothing about the actual nitrolon body makes me think this is a fake product. Really, it’s well built. The threads are smooth and are compatible with other P60 host items I have and use.
The nitrolon body is lined with a metal sleeve, which allows electrical contact from the tail to the head.
The dropins don’t really sit into the light until the head is screwed on. That’s normal.
Size and Comps
I measure 32.21mm bezel diameter. 26.11mm tailcap diameter. And tip to tail length of 125.02mm (when off).
I actually love this light because it’s very flashlighty. Fits in the hand very nicely.
Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+. Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple. A very nice 18650 light.
And here’s the light beside my custom-engraved TorchLAB BOSS 35, an 18350 light. I reviewed the aluminum version of that light in both 35 and 70 formats.
Retention and Carry
Nothing is included for these lights for carry. I did find that the Solarforce stainless collar clip fits the G2 perfectly.
Power and Runtime
This light is designed to run on a 6V, 2xCR123 setup. Since those are primary cells, and this light is basically ancient at this point, I opted to runtime test with a 16650 4.2V Li-ion cell. Yes, output will be lower, but it is what it is. I’m accepting donations of CR123 cells for testing this type of light.
Output is very low. But more interesting than that, is something that we can infer from this run. Based on this runtime, it’s possible to understand just how much more efficient LED emitters are. A shutoff after 2 hours of only 25 lumens or so means that so much of the energy from the cell went to waste heat! A led makes heat, but just about any current generation [flashlight], LED could make 25 lumens for ages.
Pulse Width Modulation
As you’d expect, there is no PWM.
Here you can see a “baseline” – a chart with almost no light hitting the sensor.
Then there’s the Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight, which has some of the worst PWM I’ve seen. It’s so bad that I used a post about it to explain PWM! Here are multiple timescales (10ms, 5ms, 2ms, 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.2ms) to make comparing this “worst” PWM light to the test light easier. That post also explains why I didn’t test the WF-602C at the usual 50us scale.
User Interface and Operation
The G2 is technically a twisty. Twist for on, loosen for off. But if you set the level of twist just right, the button on the end can serves as a momentary.
There’s only one mode, so there’s nothing more at all to the UI.
Modes and Currents
| Mode | Mode Claimed Output (lm) | Claimed Runtime | Measured Lumens | Tailcap Amps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6V | – | – | – | 0.90 |
| 4.2V | – | – | 25 | 0.78 |
LED and Beam
Not a LED this time!
The reflector is an orange peel, but it’s quite textured.
These beamshots always have the following settings: f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure. These photos are taken at floor level, and the beam hits the ceiling around 9 feet away.
In-person, though it doesn’t show on camera, there’s a lot more going on in the beam. For example, it’s possible to see the bezel indention, meant for the removal tool. That’s no problem, but it’s there.
Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)
It’s much easier to see what I meant above, in the beam profile below.
I compare everything to the Killzone 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!
Conclusion
What I like
- The body material is great in hand.
- The size and shape are also very good.
- Appears to once have been available in the superior orange colorway.
What I don’t like
- Potential for fakes make buying this an utter crapshoot
- Not available new anymore
- Just one mode
- Lack of LVP
If someone knows more about fakes of these, I’d love to hear it. If this one turns out to be genuine, sorry for saying fake so much in a review of a light you can’t really even by any more!
Ultimately on this review, if this light was indeed fake, I suppose the joke is on me! Which makes me the April’s Fool!
Notes
- This light was provided by me for review. I was not paid to write this review.
- This content originally appeared at zeroair.org. Please visit there for the best experience!
- Use my amazon.com referral link if you’re willing to help support making more reviews like this one!
- Please support me on Patreon! I deeply appreciate your support!
Pingback: Malkoff M61L P60 Dropin Review – ZeroAir Reviews
Pingback: Malkoff M61 P60 DropIn Review – ZeroAir Reviews
It‘s not fake. G2s mostly came with plastic lenses which could become wobbly with high output incans. Upgrade it with a UCL lens and stainless bezel ring!