Do not get a surefire. Unless you just enjoy wasting money. There's nothing wrong with them necessarily, it's just that you can get a much better light for a small fraction of the cost of a surefire.
Fenix lights are high quality, well designed, and an excellent value. I love mine. Here's a start, but there are several combos that would work:
https://www.fenix-store.com/product_info.php?cPath=468&products_id=2909
Other than Fenix, Streamlight's are also good and won't break the bank.
I don't know about "wasting money" buying a Surefire - but I have a few.
I've had one of their polymer-body G2s for about 18 years now. It's outlasted two Streamlights, several Maglites, been run over by a truck several times, dropped down vent shafts, and Gawd only knows what else (because I haven't kept track.)
In eighteen years, I've put exactly
two bulbs in it. I'd convert it to LED, but it's my "working light" - the polymer case is easier on my teeth when I have to free my hands up than the MIL hard anno on my 6P (which I've had even longer, it's been through more, and the second bulb I put in it was an LED conversion - the put the old incandescent bult - which still worked just fine, thank you very much! - in the spares box for my G2.)
Don't get me wrong - Streamlight does do a good lamp (I have a couple,) but Surefire wins with me hands down. Yes, it costs more - but you're not "wasting money," you
do get what you're paying for. I have yet to figure out how to kill a Surefire.
However, if you're going with a "home defense" light, I will suggest that you get something that runs on CR123A lithium batteries - not conventional alkalines, and not rechargables (unless you're going to keep the rechargable battery in a charger when you're not using it.)
I had a box of a dozen cells (yes, Surefire - they cost less than anything I can find locally, and have higher power density anyhow) that I bought when I got SureFire lights - just as an experiment. I wrote the date on it, then put it on the shelf for ten years.
Once a year, I pulled out a pair of batteries and tested them -
after they'd been sitting for ten years doin' nothin'.
The
last set of batteries (sixteen years later) had about a 1.5% drop in power over the
first set of batteries (after
ten years' idle time!) and the first set (ten-year) was about 0.5% off from a fresh set (est. 1 month old.)
And, I can get a dozen of them for what three or four Duracell or Energizer CR123A cells would cost locally. I didn't do a longevity test with the conventional brands (didn't have that much money floating around,) but I did buy a pair and do a comparison - the fresh SureFires were better than the Energizers by about 18% total output (as I recall,) and the 16-year-old batteries beat the fresh commercials by 15% or so.
Check eBay for deals on SureFire batteries - that's how I score them (usually by the half-gross. I've got a number of projects that I've adapted CR123A battery packs for. Light, high energy density, high longevity - why shouldn't I?)
I have another G2 that lives in the nightstand next to my 1991A1, and I pick it up about once every six months to see if I need to change the batteries in it. I do that about once every five years, just out of habit (put fresh batteries in the "defense light," and roll those down into the 6P that I normally carry with me.)
I have a 3D Mag in my truck - I change the batteries in that every six months, whether they need it or not (they usually do.) A Mag is handy in its own right, but it's a matter of using the right tool for the job.
Lights I have around here?
- Surefire G2 (yellow, LED conversion, hers.)
- Surefire G2 (black, incandescent, mine, work light)
- Surefire 6P (MIL black hard anno, LED conversion, mine)
- Surefire Z3 (MIL black hard anno, LED conversion, mine)
- Surefire Helmetlight (makes a handy little LED work light)
- Streamlight Sidewinder (2AA, white/red/green/blue. Useful signal lamp)
- Streamlight Sidewinder Compact (CR123A, white/red/blue/IR. I don't use the IR, but it's smaller than the sidewinder - and more useful in its way. I use it as a taillamp on my bicycle)
- Streamlight Stylus (black anno, white LED, AAAA batteries. Came with the mine probe kit I was issued.)
- Streamlight TwinTask (Xenon/LED, 2xCR123A. Handy little light, lives in my "mobile office bag.")
- Mag 3D (truck light)
- Mag 2C (car light, hers)
I haven't had a chance to play around with the Fenix lights yet (although reports from the field on them are good,) and I don't like to even think about the knockoffs out there (Angelfire, Solarfire, Solarforce, Spiderfire,
et al,) and that list isn't even all of the lights I've had (I had to give back my M6, for instance. I'd like another one, a handheld light that bright can come in very handy!)
Surefire gives excellent value for the money, if you're going to need it. If you're not, then there's nothing wrong with Streamlight (which I've used) or Fenix (from what I've gathered.) But, it does pay to be picky about critical gear...
