surefire 2012

**TehLlama** · 01-22-12, 19:27

I'm excited that the new LEDs are making that sort of output - but I'd rather have a 3V Vampire head, or a proper 200 lumen M300 scout before an X300 that competes with the old Devastator lights.

**Cesiumsponge** · 01-26-12, 23:38

500 lumens would be fantastic with a 12 o'clock mount on a carbine (in certain situations). Surefire is never on the cutting edge of LED stuff (took them years to even switch to LEDs) but they're conservative and put out a solid product that can't go wrong. Some of the smaller companies that use the "latest and greatest" put out pretty frightening LED products...we're talking 2000 lumen lights (and a 200 lumen "low mode" for 18 hours) half the size of a Surefire M6! I wish 18650 li-ions would gain popularity but I fear they'll always be in the realm of flashlight hobbyists/snobs.

They obviously aren't going to discontinue the X300 because not everyone wants a 500 lumen weaponlight to clear the indoors. I hope the X300 Ultra is reasonable in price jump.

Rechargeable CR123s (RCR123's) run at about 800-900ma. Straight lithium CR123's run at 1500ma so you aren't going to get better performance out of rechargables than lithiums. I'm going to guess they use a "boost" upon initial activation, then it drop back down a bit. There is no practical, noticeable difference between 500 lumens and 460 lumens. Perceived brightness to the human eye is logarithmic. HDS Systems makes some incredibly tough lights (tougher than Surefire arguably) and they incorporate a "burst" mode where the first 10 seconds of activation gives you maximum power, then drops a power level afterwards (ie 170 drops to 140 lumens). In this way, if you're using the light for a tactical burst or short intervals, you get max power, but for extended lighting duties, it saves you battery life by dropping down a brightness level (about double) and you don't really lose illumination.