The Surefire Light Ecosystem is Agony 

Oh sweet, I've been looking for ways to turn my $400 flashlight into a $750 flashlight. Brassfacts you were just in time with this one!

Reject flashlight, embrace oil lantern

Bork and Hop's cycles have aligned. Uploads within 15 minutes of each other.

You and hop are the only Guntubers I can fuck with anymore. Making relevant content. Not hawking dumb bullshit. Dry humor. Both sound dead inside. Perfection

“sit back on the toilet” while im on the toilet on company time is awesome

The nova knows where she is at all times. She knows this because she knows where she isn’t. By subtracting where she is from where she isn’t, or where she isn’t from where she is, she can obtain the difference, or deviation.

Eventually they will make a handguard that has everything built in that will have brighter light than you've ever seen, smaller than imaginable battery and strong enough to withstand any recoil. Until then it's cable hell.

Lights shouldn't be $300-400

Do yourself a favor. Buy the Streamlight 88126 model for $140. Screw these companies charging $300+ for a weapon light. Just plain stupid.

TLDR: Parts may be "compatible", but Surefire isn't supporting or condoning the use of aftermarket accessories. I received a defective Surefire UE tail cap with my Modlite PLHv2 package. The light kept actuating under recoil and remained stuck in the on position. When I removed the tail cap it had an audible rattle and the terminal seemed loose. I contacted Modlite and they said I needed to return it to Surefire. Surefire said their tail caps are not compatible with non-Surefire products, but would look at it. A few weeks later, they returned to me with a note saying it's fine (it isn't). In the meantime, I had bought another Surefire tail cap. It doesn't rattle and it works fine. So in summary, I'm out $60 because I bought a defective Surefire product from Modlite. Heads up if you intend to mix and match.

My wife is offended that you think no women watch your videos. She is sitting next to me playing a game on her phone and started giggling when you said “floppy boy, bouncing up and down when running around the range”.

The correct answer is HLX-Pro if you're cheap, Rein 3.0 if you're bougie, and Weltool head with SF body and GASCAP if you're a true connoisseur.

Arisaka is the gold standard for the legacy Surefire pattern lights nowadays. They use Malkoff heads which are workhorses with good runtime/output balance, and they are relatively low-current, meaning they don't need special switches or batteries for full performance.

Cool thing, 3 nice Surefires with pressure pads fell off a truck near my barracks at Ft. [REDACTED] a while back, so now i've got one for my AR, one for my AUG, and a spare. Thank god I don't have to deal with this lmao.

I use Surefire z68 tailcaps that I modify to be momentary only. Pretty easy mod to do. There was a video on the tactical response channel that I learned from. You can also see the mechanism the click style switches use by taking apart a typical clicky pen. There are four protrusions on part that sticks out the end of the cap (the piece you actually depress). Cut those off and your tailcap will no longer click into the on position. If anyone is interested, I can toss together a quick video showing the process within the next few days

I keep a supply of airsoft mounts on hand to figure out what works, then when I have a suitable setup, I can pull the trigger on some real mounts.

The black magic is probably just a solid state relay (i.e. a transistor) of some type. The tape switch provides a small voltage or current to the transistor, which then switches the load internally. This is how it should have been from the start.

I have an entire bin of surefire light pieces and bits and bobs and I am so tired. I haven't even put a light on my new build yet out of frustration and not wanting to touch the bin.

The light market is exhausting to keep track of, I've just settled on Arisaka + Malkoff hyper throw heads for everything. Reject pressure pads, return to momentary tail cap.

I think a Death Star Lego set is simpler than the Surefire Scout ecosystem. Allow me to assist. An X300U has the exact same head as an m640. An X400VH is an m640v with an IR pointer. 5.5oz total. XT00 endcap for a single function switch. YHM 6" rail extension to work around suppressors. I saved you 8+ oz and $1600+. You're welcome.

I wish I saw this video earlier today when the SF Scout Turbo was on sale for 255 at Bereli's. I was trying to do my own research for endcaps before I would buy it, only to have the sale quickly end and the light go OOS.

Thanks for validating my Turbo purchase

Malkof head, Arisaka body and 1913 mount, surefire tailcap with pushbutton and pressure pad. I will need to switch to something like a modbutton in the future since the scope i want is going to hit the fairly long surefire pad, but for now it fits since my guns have red dots or a prism.

The best part, is when Nova goes all the way over to the docking station lol

Ive started caking on a thicc layer of blue loctite with my pro series mounts after I ended up loosening one just by taking the bezel off my 640 DFT to charge the battery. Definitely helps secure the mount, but you have to use proper orangutan strength if you ever need to take it off.

This helped explain the surefire stuff to me. Thanks!

Got myself a CD Legacy body. DS00 and a Hot Button on one end, Rein 3.0 on the other, Arisaka mount in the middle. Couldn’t be happier ;)

clicky cap is OP. a constant on actually comes in handy if you own land

Wooo! BrassFacts Friday. Dude could you do a video talking about how much light you realistically need for the task at hand? I have my own opinions but I think the WML industry is out of control with price and performance. At what point do we just say okay we simply don’t need that much performance from a rifle/pistol mounted light? This is a similar concept for “needing” a 1MOA fighting rifle.

Flash facts Friday let’s gooooo

So much great info in this video.

gas cap guinea pig here. got two of em, one for a 640DF and one for a 640df Turbo, both with modbutton switches. Im like a month into running them and love the so far. lack of power drop is clutch. and you still get clicky cap performance in addition to a switch. If your new to the surefire ecosystem, 10/10 i would recomend going this route.

Great video! All the switch options can be overwhelming

I love how this came out right as I got my first Surefire light 😂

Weapon light prices are way out of control. I use an $80 sure fire g2x in a cheap offset mount with loctite on all my rifles. No pressure pads. Keep it simple, the average nerd doesn’t really need all the high dollar shit.

This is the reason I went for the Cloud Defensive Rein. Sure the built-in tape switch is not perfect, but it works and doesn’t explode. The whole light ecosystem is a nightmare and make a cheaper lower performance light more expensive than a Rein.

Love to see you review the scalarworks leap mount with the kick offset dots. I Think its a superior solution to the whole ring mount situation.

Finally, a video about something OTHER than LPVOs ;-)

I picked up a t.rex arms light bar for my streamlight that’s meant to be pushed out beyond the end of the handguard but I had to swap back to a tape switch. Great video

Am I the only one that thinks $50 for a tiny Arisaka mount is INSANE?!

So what I just heard is Surefire Turbo light with your choice of tailcap is essentially Best in Slot for lights currently. Neat. Just the info I needed, now that I'm just kitting out my rifles now.

Surefire: Pay the same price, get 60% of the performance of boutique lights.

Just got the HLX on your recommendation!

Thanks for adding yet another rabbit whole in my life 😊

I absolutely have the tism

The surefire pro swivel (picatinny) mount is great on AKs and other guns that don't have Mlok options

Great content, assfacts!

I gotta get that meteor concepts mount but the website doesn’t exist nor does he have a link on his channel any help?

I dont know guys, surefire has let me down countless times, sent in more lights for repair than i can count, and still haven't received them after months waiting. I really really want to love surefire but between light cables, rifle lights, handhelds, all failing me, All except my Defender 1k lumen, they've been fragile. Also, i bought all the lights from reputable dealers, none are fake. I'm not even hard on my lights either. Normal EDC conditions. So far Elzetta Bravo and Alpha lights have been much more reliable for me, personally, they also pot all the light heads which seems to have helped significantly.

This is why I have never bought a surefire, except for their endcaps.

Hey AssFacts, I have a question that's kind of region specific. What range would you consider magnification on a rifle/carbine to be mandatory? Over here in the great swamp of Florida, "engagement" ranges are realistically 200yds at most. A more realistic engagement range would be 50-75yds. I can group 4" reliably with an M&P Sport and an Eotech at 100yds (standing while supported), but I honestly don't know if I'd be able to land consistent hits in a scenario where the paper is clapping back. Thanks!

All I've been using lately is valhalla tactical lights and arisaka mounts absolutely crushes everything in its price range

if you need a mount to push your surefire light forward a lot,look into the trex arms light bar , i own one and it eliminates almost all suppressor shadow

Thanks for sharing the frustrations of weapons light. Good to see I'm not the only guy with a big box of light parts. BTW, since you are joining the dark side of the force with AK's, we should know if that was approved by HOP? Or is it just our secret?

Kinda random tidbit but if you want a lightweight patrol rifle or etc having a qd flashlight mount like LaRue or ADM can be nifty. Gonna be doing a long distance movement during the day you can lessen the front end weight a bit. Prob more reasons why that could be handy.

Thanks!

i like the bcm 1" mlok flashlight mount. I mount directly to the 11 o'clock portion of rail and forget about any other failure points. rail, mount, flashlight.

3:24 [turns to camera] "Oh hey, didn't see you there..."

Wow, good video, seriously. That was a lot.

I thought the holster search was expensive until I stumbled into flashlights and scout mounts.

I understand quality and the availability of gidgets and gadgets. But i will 100% stick with my streamlights. Call me poor or whatever but 5-600 for a flashlight is ridiculous. There is absolutely no way you could convince me the quality is that much better.

With the pro body mount, I gorilla strength tighten it down along with locktite so it doesn't move at all regardless of how hard I run or bump it, ymmv

Brassfacts what's your most expensive firearm including light/laser/ and optics? and why is it the tp9?

*Looks at drawer full of different kinds of surefire mlok and picatinny mounts* "I love and and hate you at the same time." I whisper under my breath.

Weltool w65 body, HRT mk3 head, arisaka mount, surefire tail clicky. Sub 200 dual fuel setup that kicks ass. Bam

@19:24, where'd you get this 3d rendering?

I have a love/hate relation ship with the TAPS. I love that I can have a setup that does VIS spectrum and IR with dedicated buttons but the dual activation button sucks ass and I have to really press on it hard to get it to not flicker.

9:09 where can you get this light adapter?

Overbore Systems does another Scout series swivel mount. I really like that one

I always go SR07 with the plug/button end cap.

I just need a fucking light. Geez

The only surefire stuff I get anymore is the G2x tactical and mount it with an odin mlock mount. Just use the tailcap switch. Simple is good.

You going to pick up a galil ace gen 2? That was my plan for a lefty that was ak curious but appreciates build quality. Then I tried one and it was wildly overgassed and fell to the bottom of the collection list

I've been wanting an XVL2 but I've got a ton of the older bodies as posted here. Always something .

Are the Fenix lights compatible with the system?

At 9:05 you're talking about some meteor mount, but I cant find any information on this thing at all. It looks perfect for my P90, where does one find them for sale?

I just found the overbore brand and they actually have a scout mount swivel system

I wish I had a goodie box of weapon accessories… 🥺

I’ve got the ODA Deployment Pack for the SureFire Z68, it converts the tailcap to true momentary.

So quick question. I’m currently building a sub gun and rail space is very limited I just started getting into NV, don’t have my own but a buddy lets me use his backup set. Can you run a standard tape switch with the km1-e head? Is that head even worth it?

I never thought about it until now when you were talking about the problems with surefire tailcap plugs. Has anyone ever just glued one in the socket? Made the plug permanent?

Good dock, nova

just a thought but on the gas cap it looks like you may be able to put a ziptie through the 2 openings on the retainer

I have the hot button and love mine minus the fact that I shortly got issues with it. I think it might be the sf issue so might try that tighter hole

If you have a surefire clucky tailcap but want momentary only, you can just unscrew it a 1/4 turn and then it won't stay on.

I built an m600 bit by bit…. But the used body that I bought was a dual fuel and the head I bought was cr123 only 🤦🏻‍♂️ $50 from arisaka and I was back up and running

Do you know those shotguns with rib mount over the barrel. I am looking for some offset rib mount for flashlight so need to canted side ways in order to push the button with my thumb but apparently its really hard to find because everyone buy Benelli m4 with longer shell tube and you they just stick something between the barrel and the tube while most shotguns are with shorter tube for 4-5 shots.

My Cloud Reign, my ProTac 1.0, and my ProTac 2.0, do not fit Surefire tailcaps. The ProTac 1.0 can be used with an adapter.

The pro mount is the most disappointment I have had with a weapon light. Close second was the plugable pressure pad on the streamlight hl-x. I had a Chinese scout pro clone on a 22, and the mount was really nice. Cleared iron sights, had the perfect amount of room to swivel in close and not catch on anything. So I got a couple surefire pros for my defense guns. The swivel mount on the pro brought the light in closer than Chinese one did, so I couldn't get it to mount how I wanted and how the Chinese one would to any of my guns. So now I have streamlights and an olight on my rifles and surefires in a box.

If surefire fixed the tape switch performance drop issue on the new turbo, would there be any performance drop using that zbolt dual function end cap and the using tape switches?

Streamlight Rail mount. Comes with everything. Reliable. Tough. 1/4 the cost.

Arisaka momentary has an issue with flickering when sending the bolt home. surefire z68 doesn't have that issue

only 3 channels I watch the sponsor ads all the way through.

How does the Surefire outperform the Rein? Especially now that Rein's can use surefire switches and caps if you buy the legacy body or buy that $40 adapter. I have a SureFire Turbo, but I'm checking out the Rein's as well because they seem like they are better in every way except durability (we don't really have enough evidence yet to say how durable and reliable the lights themselves are over time. But the testing on their durability has been pretty impressive so far

Step 1: Buy a Surefire DFT rifle light Step 2: Mount it and click button soft for momentary on, and hard for continuous on Step 3: Experience happiness

0:55 GYAAAATTT

ugh, as a newbie who just got her first SF light for her mp5k pdw project and had to learn about all this. its all pain....

I'd love to see you do a video about whether civilian hobby drones could be useful tools in SHTF scenarios.

Just here to shill the surefire pro mounts. While I HAVE broken one, I've also broken mounts from Arisaka and multiple from HSP (impact weapons components)

I think that Stanley box is worth more than my car