Emergency preparedness from a Counterintelligence Agent

My go-to flashlight that I’ve carried in four combat zones: Surefire e1l review

Surefire E1L Flashlight review

The SureFire E1L flashlight is one of the most important pieces of prepper gear that I have and the only reason I don’t put it in my bugout bag is because it’s always in my pocket; which is why it’s so useful. It’s a big part of my EDC. I’ve carried it into four combat zones so far.

I know in my review of the sCharger-5 solar charger I said that the next review I was going to write was going to be on the USB battery that I use with it but I was getting dressed in the tent yesterday and needed a flashlight and realized when I grabbed the E1L that I’ve used this thing more times that pretty much any piece of gear I own (and I probably have 6 flashlights of various sizes and colors in my gear with me here).

Surefire E1L Outdoorsman Video Review

Here’s a video review I found of the E1L from bp7us1

 

I’ve had this flashlight for several years now and it’s been in my pocket in three African countries, Thailand, France, Japan, Iraq, and here in Afghanistan. I’ve dropped it about a hundred times, lost it twice (due to the idiotic design of the clip on the side that makes it hang heavy-side up so it unhooks itself every time you bump it), and it’s always been faithful to me.

The big key here is that this piece of prepper gear epitomizes one of my most important lessons on prepping gear: If you don’t have your gear ready and working when you need it, it doesn’t matter how good it is or how much you paid for it. I have a LOT of lighting systems for different uses and I probably have about a dozen tactical flashlights, but because the ElL is always in my pocket, it’s what I’m always using.

The only real problem I’ve had with it is that the clip fell off when I was in Baghdad but as I wrote above, that’s no big loss. I actually like it better without it.

The light takes a single Surefire 123A Lithium battery that lasts for a LONG time. I’m still torn between whether it’s smarter to stay with CR123 batteries or if I should switch out to using AA exclusively. AA batteries are a LOT more plentiful than the CR123A military batteries but can’t hold a candle (pun intended) to their power.

I’m leaning toward an ultimate goal of switching everything to CR123A rechargeable batteries for all my flashlights and whatever other prepper gear I can switch to. You should always eliminate sizes of anything consumable so you don’t have to carry as much.

 

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About graywolfsurvival.com

I am a former federal agent and military veteran who has deployed to combat theaters in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan and have almost three decades of military and military contracting experience.

My goal is to help families to understand how to intelligently protect their family and their way of life against real threats, without all the end-of-the-world doomsday crap.

Comments

  1. Not sure why everyone still goes all fanboy over surefire? Other lights like fenix and nitecore offer the same performance and reliability at a lower price point. I own a Nitecore P25that only cost around 100$ and it does everything that a more expensive surefire does, and is brighter and can be recharged with a USB cable!

  2. Not sure why everyone still goes all fanboy over surefire? Other lights like fenix and nitecore offer the same performance and reliability at a lower price point. I own a Nitecore P25that only cost around 100$ and it does everything that a more expensive surefire does, and is brighter and can be recharged with a USB cable!

    • graywolfsurvival says

      Might be because surefire is still a good product. I have 2 Fenix flashlights too but that doesn’t take away what my surefire can do. On your point, I’ve recently switched to a Fenix LD-10 as my primary pocket light because it’s run by a rechargeable AA battery that my solar panel can recharge.

  3. Like all of your info. Thanx a bunch.

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