Malkoff Devices offers drop in lamp modules to upgrade your legacy Surefire flashlights increasing brightness and runtime.
Recently I attended Hardwired Tactical Shooting’s “Low Light Pistol” class. I brought along my long time carry Surefire C2 to illuminate the way for me so to speak. I had long ago upgraded from the original 65 lumen incandescent bulb to an 80 lumen SF P60L-WH LED. Sixty-five lumens was, to quote the ad, “retina searing”, back in the day. Several other students brought along some of the newest high output offerings available. I had light envy and feelings of inadequacy almost immediately. It was clear, more light was better.
To the Internet! It quickly became apparent that buying new flashlights and tossing my all old lights into the junk drawer was going to be really expensive. What to do? Enter Gene and Cathy Malkoff and their company Malkoff Devices. They built a business on high quality LED drop-ins for several flashlight brands. Malkoff has built a solid reputation among flashlight junkies for building durable products with honest lumen and runtime estimates.
I decided to try a few of Malkoff’s offerings to upgrade my lights instead of buying just one new 1000 lumen light saber. I upgraded my C2 and ancient 6P with M61’s, C3 with a M91A and an early 6v Scout light received Malkoff’s replacement Scout head. The replacement Scout head allows the use of standard P60 drop-ins. In this case it came ready assembled with Malkoff’s M61.
A quick look at Malkoff’s numbers:
The M61 pushes 325 lumens for a full 90 minutes.
The M91A pushes 750 lumens for more than 60 minutes.
After their respective full output runtimes both drop-ins begin a long taper as voltage drops. Once the batteries are depleted the light begins to flash signaling the end is near.
Gene has instructional videos on his website showing how to install his drop-ins. It really is an idiot simple process that took me minutes to complete. Just unscrew the head or bezel from your flashlight and either replace your current drop-in with the Malkoff drop-in or replace the head altogether.
Legacy incandescent on left vs Malkoff Devices LED head upgrade on right.
I am very pleased with the results. The M61 offers a good balance between spill and throw. A few runs through the house with a red gun provided pleasing results. The M91A, to quote Gene, “produces a very floody beam” that I found quite useful. Bouncing the light off of a standard height ceiling illuminates nearly the entire room.
Gene and Cathy offer drop-ins for Surefire, Elzetta, Maglite and Streamlight flashlights. They even produce their own line of flashlights that range from small personal lights to lights that would be at home on a LEO duty belt. Malkoff Devices are USA Made and worth a look.
SOURCE: http://www.malkoffdevices.com/
A good evaluation. I have some older Surefires that could use some attention. Of course I remember when I bought my first Surefire, a 9R back in 93, it was the brightest thing out there.
I long ago upgraded some older Surefire’s as you did here, with the same great results. My brother and nephews performed the same upgrade on their older Surefire G2’s and use them as dive lights.
I have upgraded several of my older Surefire lights with Malkoff LEDs. They work great!
I too can attest to the value & quality of these drop-ins from Malkoff. I have upgraded an old 6P, 6z, 9P, and two G2 units. I did this after purchasing a surefire E2D LED, which had me wanting LED technology in all the rest of the flashlights that I’ve owned for the last 20 years. I highly reccomend Malkoff and am more than pleased with my upgrades.