Manufacturer:- www.surefire.com
UK Distributor :- www.edgar-brothers.co.uk
Surefire 6P
Recommended Retail Price :- £47.95
Size:- 132.55mm (5.219 Inches) long and 34.79mm (1.369 Inchs) Diameter at widest point.
Weight (With Batteries):- 150g (5 1/4 oz)
Battery Type / Qty :- 2off CR123A (Surefire, Duracell, Panasonic or similar)
Battery Life :- 60 Minutes
Bulb Type :- P60
Rated Output:- (Manufacturers Figures) 65 Lumens with P60 bulb
Body Material :- High grade aluminium alloy with type II anodising in black

Surefire KL3 LED Module
Recommended Retail Price :- Unknown yet as retail sales have not started
Size:- 51.65mm (2.032 Inches) long and 37.45mm (1.474 Inchs) Diameter at widest point.
LED Type :- Lumileds Luxeon III (I Think!)
Estimated LED Lifespan:- Over 1000 Hours (That's an awful lot of expensive batteries)
Colour:- White
Reflector Type :- none
Optic Type :- Custom designed
Lens Material :- Pyrex
Electronics:- Digital regulation to ensure constant light output for the length of the battery life
Body Material :- High grade aluminium alloy with type II anodising

Many thanks again to Edgar Brothers for giving me the chance to review a couple of products from one of the world greatest flashlight manufacturers.

This review will consist of the widely used and much loved Surefire 6P flashlight and the brand new 2nd generation of the KL3 LED replacement head for this torch. The head can also be used with a few other torches in the Surefire range. Such as the 9P,C2,C3,D2,D3,Z2,Z3.

This is something of a nice surprise to me to be able to review a product that is not even available on general sale yet (KL3 Gen2). But it also gives me a chance to one of the first people to compare a product with a few others that I have in my possession!

I will start with the 6P and move onto the KL3 Gen2 in the second part of the review.

As supplied the Surefire 6P is a compact 2cell 6Volt flashlight with as standard a P60 bulb assembly. This gives around 65 Lumens of light output. I have a few incandescent bulb based torches and this is one of the better ones. The beam produced is nice and smooth with little in the way of rings in the beam. It cannot be focussed into a tighter spot. But that will not be an issue as the beam is useful at any distance.

The output is surprising for such a small torch! On par with a typical 4 D cell light.

The light is machined from solid aluminium alloy bar stock. I think all of Surefire’s lights (except the Nitrolon ones) are made this way. Not the most economical way but it does give you the strongest possible light. It is finished in black type II hard anodising. This gives a shiny black reasonably hard wearing finish. Not quite as good a type III but then these lights are reasonable money to buy!

The light is laser engraved and the writing stands out really well against the black finish. The serial number is engraved on the body and if these started at 0 then you get an idea just how many of these lights have been produced! Lots!

The head of the light retains bulb assembly. The head is smooth in design and has a hexagonal anti roll feature that also helps you grip head for removal. As you can see in the photos, the head contains the Pyrex glass lens. This is retained with internal bezel ring which screws into the head of the light from the front. A gasket on the lens, seals the light from water ingress. A second gasket on the light body seals the whole head assembly when it is screwed in place. The head seems to screw along way onto the light. The body of the light is reasonably deep so that it can contain the bulb assembly.

The P60 bulb is a self contained bulb and reflector all in one neat design. There are two springs in the base if the bulb. The larger one connects with the body of the light and the smaller one touches the positive battery contact. With this P60 bulb installed the runtime should be around 60 Minutes on a new set of batteries.

You can replace the P60 assembly with the higher output P61 version. This would shorten the runtime to 20 minutes but give you 120 Lumens of light! I may get one to try but am mainly interested in LED based torches at the moment.

The tailcap of the light is again made from machined aluminium. It contains a rubber activation button that is used for momentary operation of the light. The light is supplied in lock out mode. This means you must first screw in the tailcap until the light illuminates. If you want momentary activation just reverse the direction till the light goes out and then use the pushbutton. Simple and very easy to remember.

Removing the tailcap completely allows the two Lithium CR123 cells to be installed / replaced. These are Surefire branded as supplied but any other make of CR123 should work reasonably well. I also have some rechargeable RCR123 cells but their higher voltage would blow the 6V bulb. But I do intend to use these with the KL3 head see below for more.

All in all a very reasonably priced (for the quality) compact flashlight, that would suit most people for use around the home, car and garden. Ideal for personal carry and probably used by thousand of law enforcement personnel worldwide. But I think things get a whole lot better when the KL3 module is installed.

The Surefire KL3 Generation 2 LED bezel

My KL3 came supplied in a sealed Surefire plastic bag along with what looks to be the old instruction sheet from the original KL3. I am not sure if the quoted light output and runtime figures on this document are correct for the new bezel. I suspect they are not. But as I don’t have an integrating sphere I am not going to be able to quote any definitive figures for you. I will do a light meter test which will give you a comparison in relation to my other lights. But this is a spot light output only.

I must start with saying that I have not seen in person the original design of KL3 bezel that this one replaces. But I do know that it produced a very wide beam of light that did not throw particularly well. This is great for some applications but not so good for what most people want a flashlight for. Seeing things a bit of a distance away in the dark.

The new KL3 seems to address this problem in a very effective way. The head has been redesigned from the groovy affair of the original KL3. The design is very smooth in appearance and similar to the KL5 and KL6 Luxeon V bezels that they sell for their other torch ranges.

The finish is again in black hard anodised aluminium.

The ring around the front of the light has small indentations to allow you to see if the light is on when placed face down on a flat surface. A good idea.

This LED replacement head will turn your 6P into a regulated Luxeon LED light with excellent runtime and surprising light output. I do not have the details on exactly which LED is used in this light but can make a good assumption that it will be a Luxeon III from Lumileds.

The electronics contained in the head will ensure that the light output remains as constant as possible for the majority of the life of the batteries. They are also designed to work with voltages between 6 and 9 Volts. So you can use it with a 3 cell Surefire light or as I am going to do use two protected 3.7V Lithium Ion RCR123 cells. This gives me a rechargeable LED torch at a very reasonable cost that can also use CR123 cells if I get stuck!

The most striking feature of this head is in the custom designed optic it contains. This is designed to focus all of the LED’s light output into a smoothly collimated beam that will throw a good distance. It looks like a large magnifying glass lens, but has probably been computer designed to give optimum throw from the Luxeon LED.

Two small support structures are visible in the optic. But these do not seem to affect the beam. The beam produced is very narrow and has little side spill. The very edges of the hotspot are slightly purple in colour. Possibly as a result of the lens splitting the light. Overall the hotspot is very even and white in colour. I think the overall general improvement in quality and performance from Lumileds is showing in recent products such as this.

In use this is one impressive little light.

Just waiting for it to get dark again before I add the Beamshots!

Have fun

Another great Surefire product. Adding to my slowly growing collection of shiny stuff!

A surprisingly good light and LED combination.

Manufacturer:- www.surefire.com

UK Distributor :- www.edgar-brothers.co.uk

UK Sales :- www.heinnie.com

More info this and other lights here

www.candlepowerforums.com

www.britishblades.com