SureFire Flashlights and Headlamps

What SureFire makes, and what this page covers

SureFire's site sorts its catalog into a few groups. The one hunters and campers care about is what the maker calls illumination: handheld flashlights, hands-free lights (headlamps) and a few specialist lights. The catalog also includes hearing protection, batteries, pens and other gear this site doesn't cover.

On this site, SureFire appears in two types: flashlights, which make up almost all of the grid, and headlamps, where the grid holds the Maximus HS3-A. The grid changes as listings come and go, so I'll write about the lights and what separates them, not about what's in stock this week.

SureFire's history page dates its handheld lights back to the Model 6C in 1988. The flashlights came first, and the headlamps came later. So that's the order here too.

SureFire flashlights: the handheld families

If you searched "SureFire flashlight," here's the map from the maker's own flashlight page. It lists handheld lights in a handful of families:

• Stiletto Pro: rechargeable pocket LED lights, with a "Pro II" version the maker gives a hybrid beam
• EDC Turbo: everyday-carry lights in two models, the EDC1 and EDC2
• EDCL: dual-output everyday-carry LED lights, also in two lengths
• G2X: dual-output LED lights, led by the G2X Pro
• FURY: dual-fuel lights, which the maker sells with an auto-adjusting IntelliBeam version
• E2D: the Defender, which SureFire lists at 1,000 lumens

The maker's model pages give each light's outputs and battery types. Read those before you compare two families by name alone.

SureFire flashlights in the grid

Most of those families are in the grid now. Here's how the listings sort them.

G2X: the polymer lights

The G2X is the biggest family in the grid: the G2X Pro, the G2X Tactical, the G2X LE and G2XLE listings and the G2ZX Combatlight. They share a polymer body, a tail switch and the same listed output, a few hundred lumens. The G2X LE listing names CR123A cells. With the output the same on paper, the differences are in details the maker's model pages spell out, so read those before you pick one.

E2D Defender and EDCL2-T: the brighter compacts

The E2D Defender Tactical and the E2D Defender Ultra list around a thousand lumens and a tail switch, and the Ultra lists an aluminum body and CR123A cells. The EDCL2-T is a step brighter again, per its listing, and also uses a tail switch. EDCL is the maker's everyday-carry family, per its flashlight page.

Fury DFT and P1RZ Peacekeeper DFT: 18650 lights

DFT is short for Dual Fuel Tactical, the name SureFire's site gives the FURY. Both of these list an 18650 cell and the highest output among the SureFire flashlights in the grid. The Fury DFT lists an aluminum body and micro-USB charging. (Renee asked why a flashlight needs two fuels when the truck only needs one. I told her the truck doesn't fit in a coat pocket.)

6PX Pro, Aviator and 2211 WristLight: the rest

The 6PX Pro is an aluminum light with a tail switch at a few hundred lumens, the plain everyday option. The Aviator is the one with a red light, per its listing, plus an aluminum body and a tail switch. The 2211 WristLight is a rechargeable polymer light, and its name tells you where it goes. Flashlights across brands are compared on the tactical flashlight page, the hunting flashlight page and the rechargeable flashlight page.

What SureFire means by a tactical flashlight

"SureFire tactical flashlight" is a common search, so here's what the maker's pages actually say. Tactical shows up in some product names, like the FURY Dual Fuel Tactical and the G2X Tactical, and in the E2D Defender's description. In the grid, the listings flag the G2X Tactical, G2X LE, E2D Defender Tactical, Fury DFT and P1RZ as tactical. SureFire's history page calls the Model 6C a big step for handheld tactical lighting. On the flashlight page itself, tactical isn't a separate category. Those lights sit in the same list as the pocket and everyday-carry lights.

For a hunter, the useful part is simpler: a handheld that runs one-handed and turns on to a known output. Walt says every flashlight he's ever owned was tactical, because it was in the truck when he needed it. (It was in the truck. He needed it in the cabin.)

The SureFire headlamp on this site: Maximus HS3-A

The Maximus is SureFire's rechargeable headlamp. Here's what the maker lists on its page:

• Output: 1 to 1,000 lumens on a knurled dial, adjustable "lumen by lumen"
• Beam: a wide, smooth beam the maker calls MaxVision, 4,100 candela peak
• Beam distance: 0 to 128 m
• Runtime: 1.5 hours at high, 550 hours at low, plus an SOS beacon
• Battery: one integrated rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a fuel gauge
• Chargers: wall (AC) and car (DC) chargers included
• Weight: 6.9 oz with batteries
• Housing: magnesium with a hard-anodized finish
• Water: IPX4, which the maker describes as resistant to splashing water from any direction

The light head tilts up and down 90 degrees, and the headband has what SureFire calls a Breath-O-Prene forehead pad. The grid shows the max output and power source from the Amazon listing; the rest comes from the maker.

What the dial changes in practice

Plenty of headlamps make you click through fixed steps, usually past the brightest one at the worst possible moment. The Maximus has a dial. Turn it down for reading a map in the blind, up for a long look across a field.

Here's what the numbers mean. The ANSI FL 1 standard that light makers use defines lumens as total light output, candela as the brightness at the center of the beam, and beam distance as how far the beam reaches before it drops to 0.25 lux. So 1,000 lumens tells you how much light comes out. The 4,100 candela and the 128 m tell you how far it throws.

My one opinion on this page: on any dial lamp, live at the low end of the dial. The reason is in the maker's own runtime numbers: 1.5 hours at 1,000 lumens, 550 hours at 1 lumen. That's a lot of nights between the two. Walking a trail you already know needs a sliver of the dial, not the whole thing.

What IPX4 covers

The maker rates the Maximus IPX4 and describes it as splash-resistant from any direction. Rain on a walk-in is splashing. Dropping it in the creek is not. The Minimus, SureFire's other headlamp, is rated IPX7 by the maker, a different water rating.

Where the Maximus sits next to the Minimus

SureFire lists two headlamps. This site's grid holds the Maximus. The Minimus, per the maker, runs 5 to 300 lumens across 13 preset steps on a dial, takes one 123A lithium cell, lists 1.5 hours at 300 lumens and about 75 at 5, and weighs 4.0 oz with its battery. Smaller output, a disposable cell and less weight. This site doesn't list the Minimus.

A SureFire flashlight or a headlamp for hunting

This is the question under the search, so here's my take as the camp's light guy. A handheld throws light where your hand points. A headlamp throws it where your face points, and leaves both hands free.

At deer camp, most of the jobs that happen in the dark want two hands:

• Climbing into a stand or blind: hands on the ladder or the zipper
• Field dressing: one hand on the knife, one on the deer
• Dragging out: both hands on the rope
• Setting up the camp kitchen: one hand on the stove, one on the coffee

A handheld earns its spot for the other jobs: checking the truck bed, looking under the cabin for whatever is living there this year, or throwing a beam across a field without turning your whole head. Plenty of hunters carry one of each. (I carry one of each, plus a spare of each, plus one for Walt.)

Using the Maximus dial at camp

On a dial lamp, a few settings cover most of a hunt. Set it low for the map or the tag in the blind, middle for dressing a deer, and high only for a long look at a tree line or a blood trail you've lost. The maker lists an SOS beacon too, which it says can run for days. That's the setting you hope you never touch.

One habit that helps: when you're done, leave the dial at the low end. Then the next time the lamp comes on, in a dark blind with a deer somewhere out front, you don't light up the woods at the top of the dial.

How to choose within the SureFire lineup

Battery first

The grid splits on cells. The G2X LE and E2D Defender Ultra list CR123A lithium cells, the Fury DFT and P1RZ use an 18650, and the Maximus and 2211 WristLight are rechargeable. CR123A cells keep for years in a drawer, which suits a truck light. A rechargeable light suits a camp with a warm cabin and an outlet.

Then output and switch

Nearly every SureFire flashlight in the grid lists a tail switch, so the switch type isn't what separates them. Output is. The G2X and 6PX Pro sit at a few hundred lumens, the E2D Defenders around a thousand, and the 18650 lights above that. More output means less runtime from the same cell, the same trade the Maximus dial shows.

Red light

Only the Aviator lists a red light among these flashlights, and the Maximus page doesn't list a red or colored mode. Red matters on a walk-in. The National Park Service explains that night vision builds over roughly 20 to 40 minutes, a few seconds of bright white light can undo it, and dim red light largely doesn't. If you need red, read that line in the grid first.

The headlamps page and the rechargeable headlamp page compare the Maximus with lamps from other brands.

SureFire batteries and charging

SureFire's FAQ gives plain battery rules for its lights:

• Never recharge disposable 123A lithium cells
• Don't mix rechargeable and disposable cells in one light
• Store batteries away from high heat; the maker says shelf life is several years that way
• Recharge rechargeable cells that have sat idle for two years

For the Maximus, there's nothing to swap: you charge the lamp from the wall or the truck. The U.S. Fire Administration's lithium-ion rules apply to it like any other: don't charge below 32°F or above 105°F, keep it out of a hot car, and stop using any battery that smells, swells, leaks or gets too hot. In November, that means charging it in the cabin, not on the dash overnight.

Care and warranty basics

SureFire's warranty page lists lifetime coverage on its products for defects in materials and workmanship, with repair or replacement. Rechargeable batteries and chargers are covered for two years from purchase. Normal wear isn't covered, and the maker names examples that matter on a headlamp: battery drain, worn headbands and headpads, and worn switches. Abuse, alterations and unauthorized repairs aren't covered either.

The FAQ adds two notes for SureFire's battery lights. Using a non-SureFire battery outside the brands it names can void the warranty, and removing a fixed head can too. Keep the receipt, and keep the screwdriver away from it.

SureFire facts

SureFire's history page says the company grew out of Laser Products, founded by engineer Dr. John Matthews, and took the name SureFire, LLC in 2001. The site states that all SureFire illumination products are designed, perfected and manufactured in the USA, with materials and components sourced worldwide.

Dial down, charge indoors, pack a spare light. The fire's my department; the light just has to get me to it.