I recently purchased this flashlight for an annual camping trip. I previously had tactical LED flashlight from another company that I bought for $150 about 5 years ago, which was a very good flashlight. Unfortunately, I lost that one and was looking for a replacement.
I considered purchasing a similar flashlight that I had before. However, considering how easy I lost it, I did not want to spend too much money this time around. Through some quick research, I came across the Surefire brand. My primary goal was to find the brightest LED (clean light source) light I can find that would have an acceptable max performance time. I settled on the fact that 80 lumen seemed to be the appropriate balance based on the available specs. My previous light was a machine tooled aluminum case and I really liked the solid feel of that light. After reviewing the Surefire choices, the aluminum casings were more than I wanted to spend. So, against my earlier desires, I chose the G2 LED for light specs, size (to fit in pocket), and price, despite having a "plastic" case.
First off, I was way more than pleasantly surprised by the functioning of this light. In the woods in near total darkness, this light provides a solid beam that is hard to describe, but is certainly not disappointing. The view distance is much farther than you could think by looking at this light in the daytime. You can see clearly something at least 100 yards away with this light and probably farther than that since I am guessing. As noted above, I put "plastic" in quotes. When you feel this light, you do not worry about the durability, you actually begin to appreciate it. This light feels solid and of top quality. You don't worry about dropping and cracking this light. It feels that solid. Frankly, the lighter weight of the flashlight makes this probably a better choice for those who like to keep a flashlight in the pocket. My previous light was pretty heavy and could pull down sweatpants for instance. This light sat just right.
There are some things that I think could be improved a little. The light has a lockout switch that you engage by turning the cap something like a half turn. You do feel it engage in that mode. What I did not like is that even in this mode, the light would flash on and it seemed that you had to be spot on to make sure it would not come on when you did not want it too. In fact, when I arrived at my trip, I realized that the flashlight was on and eventually I had very little life in that set of batteries and was forced to use my spare batteries sooner than I would like to have. I do think that Surefire should look into improving this lockout mechanism further. I also think that they should provide a carry case too. I know that the lens is made of high quality plastic, but I think people feel better knowing that it is protected in a sheath when storing in a bag with other items. I also agree with the other reviewer that a click on, click off button in the back would be more useful. I found the feel of the push button to be off a bit and I would routinely use the twist feature even for short use. Not a big deal, but something that could be better.
I rate this flashlight in pure light performance a 5 star for sure considering the price. $60+ dollars seems a lot for a light, but this is not a Wal-Mart special. This is worth a few more dollars and I feel that I got my money's worth. I rate the light a 4 star due primarily to the lock out mechanism. I feel it let me down a little since I lost a full set of batteries quickly. When I locked it out before my trip began, I triple checked whether or not it was engaged by fiddling with it, hitting the cap switch etc and it still was on when I brought it out at nightfall. Fortunately I brought spares, but if did not, I would have been using the less powerful "usable" light for the trip. I would describe the "usable" light similar to a mini mag-lite, but probably a bit more bright.
If you are looking for great performance at an acceptable price, I would consider this light if I was shopping again. In fact, if I ever need another flashlight, I will make Surefire my first go to brand.
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
