The Surefire G2 Nitrolon
I was in the market for a new light for my wife for camping and our at home emergency kit. I’ve been a fan of Surefire products for a few years now and they were my first choice. The G2 Nitrolon fell into the price point that I was looking to spend. My personal light is a SureFire G2X Pro LED
Fit & Finish- The G2 is built with typical Surefire quality. The Nitrolon is tough and light, and I’m comfortable with it standing up to hard use as I’ve carried one for a while now.
Light- Here is where I was a bit disappointed with the G2. I’ve grown use to the light from my G2X. The G2 throws a very nice beam but I find the “old school” Xenon bulb lacking when compared to the newer LED models. When I had them side by side in the woods the regular G2 came off as feeling dated. Compared to regular lights the G2’s 65 Lumens is still head and shoulders over them, but can’t stack up against the new quality lights.
Battery Life- This was the nail in the coffin for me. The G2 only has an hour run time with the Xenon bulb. The G2X in it’s low power mode has run time of 45 HOURS and even on the super crazy bright 200 Lumen mode has an hour and a half run time. This alone is enough of a reason for me to spend the few extra bucks and step up to an LED version.
If this was 5 years ago I’d give the G2 a 5 out of 5 Stars as it is a great light but it has been surpassed by better options, so now I can only give it a 2 out of 5 Stars. The only brightside (no pun intended) is that there are a slew of upgrades for this light that I intend to explore and more blog fodder is always appreciated.
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Very interested in upgrade options. I got a G2 for my wife some years ago and she likes to use a flashlight on as much as she can. Can it be changed to LED?
It can be changed to an LED. I’m leaning towards the Surefire upgrade as it has a new metal head and I’ve read that the Nitrolon can have problems with heat. This will give you 2-3 times more battery life and 120 Lumens.
Mike,
In the stock P60L configuration, Surefire generated way too much heat and that lamp assembly was a disaster because it didn’t provide the benefits that an LED should. That’s why they went to the metal head however there is a wonderful work around and lets one keep those all Nitrolon lights.
It’s the Malkoff M60LL, specifically designed to work in the all plastic lights without issue. Unlike the scalloped P60L made out of aluminum, the M60 is solid brass and heatsinks nicely.
IIRC, the specs are 100 lumens of constant output for 10 hours and then another 5 hours of tapered output before the batteries go. All on 2 CR123 batteries.
That makes the Nitrolon light a true emergency or general purpose flashlight.
Thanks for the info! Those specs are what I’m looking for.