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The issues with 18650 batteries is from using the cheap ass fakes.

As has been pointed out, if you stick to known Brands from REPUTABLE suppliers you can trust, you won't have any issues.

I don't remember if it's from this thread or a different one, but a member stated "Don't trust any rechargeable brand that their name ends in fire"

There are quite a few crap cells that their name ends in "fire" that sell batteries that are unsafe and make outrageous claims as to capacity.

I only use AW brand IMR cells from Oveready. I was purchasing Panasonic cells, but they are slightly larger in diameter than AW cells and were too tight a fit in my Zebralight SC600.

If you want to have an explosion, in your hand....cut corners on your batteries. Funny thing, the members of candlepowerforums.com have been using 18650's for years with ZERO issues but then again they know better than to purchase CRAP!

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No one in CID at my department uses a handheld light that is not at least 1000 lumens for a daily carry light. Olight, Thrunite, Fenix, etc. I have a 600 lumen E2B on a active shooter/felony warrant belt kit in the trunk, but carry a Fenix daily right now. Virtually all of them use 18650. Every single member of CID has a lithium ion charger with batteries in their office. Patrol is also shifting away from big Streamlights to smaller lights that use 18650. The only reason the weapon lights are not 18650 is because Surefire is behind the curve and trying to sell its own brand 123 cells. Now that Streamlight has an 18650 weaponlight for under $150 I can tell you 90% of the new weapon lights on long guns at my department are going to be Streamlight until Surefire catches up. Handgun lights, its Surefire and Streamlight 50/50 and all 123 cells, but for rifle lights it is all over the place due to the price of the Surefire rifle lights. Id love a Scout format 18650 that did 900-1000 lumens and Id pay twice the cost of a Streamlight to get it. The 600 lumens Scout is fine indoors but outside it just dies past 100 yards. Never heard of some one complain a light was too bright in law enforcement except when writing a ticket.

If you are using the light correctly, you should not even be looking at the light directly most of the time, when searching. Do a quick strobe while panning the light up, down, left, right etc. get a flash image of the area and move in the dark, then pop it again, etc. The reflected light will illuminate the room effectively. Introduce light to a room before you enter it to blind anyone inside. By keeping the light intermittent anyone in another room cannot tell when you are near or how far you are. By introducing light to a room before entering you rob anyone inside of their night vision. After that you can pop a blip of light as you get in position and clear on your terms. The more light for this the better. If you meet someone with their own light you better have significantly more lumens than they do because the person with the least lumens is going to be blinded while the other person can still see.

Low light is only needed for administrative tasks that require continuous light, very close range observations, etc. which is a small portion of what is needed and a weapon light is NOT what you want to use for those tasks. These ideas of 60-75 lumens is all you need and under 300 is what you want is beyond ridiculous. You guys must have old weapon lights on the EE or something.

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You DO realize that ALL LED's are manufactured in China including the units Surefire uses?

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I just ordered the 800 lumen TLR1 HL for <$100. I can't wait to compare it to my 600lumen x300ub.

So far it seems like Streamlight (with the TLR-1 Hl and ProTac Railmounts) might be a legitimate quality alternative to SF at "human prices".

I love SF but they're being given a real run for the money.

Now Streamlight just needs a 1k lumen dual output series for IR.

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If police/swat, military and firefighters can trust streamlight products, I'm sure they will be just fine

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If police/swat, military and firefighters can trust streamlight products, I'm sure they will be just fine

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I am also annoyed that Surefire sticks you with their BS push for momentary/turn for constant on switch.

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I am also annoyed that Surefire sticks you with their BS push for momentary/turn for constant on switch.

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Ha. That's the best switch ever put on a light.

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Agreed.

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This is sadly so, in most cases. That said, I just can't get on board with the cheapie alternatives like streamlight. Lack of quality is too tangible,  from poor architecture design, to cheap anodizing etc.

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They can't even begin to compare to a light like the Fenix TK75 which outputs 4,000 lumens at a price of UNDER $200.00

Oh, wait a minute, they DO have the Hellfighter 5 at 4,500 lumens that retails for $4,300.00

I drank the Surefire KoolAid for YEARS, I have several thousand dollars in Surefire lights. That was before I wandered into Candlepowerforums.com

Fenix TK75 2015

Turbo - 4000 Lumens - 1 hr. 40 min.
High - 1600 Lumens - 3 hr. 40 min.
Mid - 600 Lumens - 11 hr. 20 min.
Low - 35 Lumens - 270 hr.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q125/PursuitSS/Bolt%20Carriers/3483558A-AE22-4345-BEFB-93F4B257F620.jpg

One place I will give it to Surefire is dedicated weapons lights, I'm running a Surefire M600 on my duty rifle with an aftermarket LED head. If the M600 body was thick enough I'd bore it to 18mm and use a 18650 battery. But it's too damn thin.  I've yet to find a tape switch comparable to Surefire.

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Anyone else annoyed with Surefire making lights brighter and brighter and with shorter and shorter battery life?

I don't need 600 lumens on a handgun light (x300).  That much light will blind me and ruin my night vision.  I would rather have 100 lumens and 6-8 hours of battery life.

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i really want a decent battery life.

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Only lights I use are Klarus. Xt11 or xt2c.  These things are bulletproof, well made and reasonable in price.

XT2c

XT11

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That's B.S.

There are ZERO manufacturers of LED's in the U.S.

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This is sadly so, in most cases. That said, I just can't get on board with the cheapie alternatives like streamlight. Lack of quality is too tangible,  from poor architecture design, to cheap anodizing etc.

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I’m mostly annoyed that they don’t sell reasonable priced replacement heads. I’ve got a bunch of old scouts, some with the first gen leds which iirc were only 100 lumens.

Looking at their website and they have a 500 lumen replacement head for a whopping $10 less than a complete 600 lumen scout.

I get why they do that, but it’s still shitty.

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Anyone else annoyed with Surefire .

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Run time not an issue with a rechargeable lithium ion battery IMO. Use lower mode on a hand held for more run time.