UPDATE: Surefire has affirmed that all current Surefire lights should be waterproof to about 33 feet/10 meters. Some reviews were posted before Surefire made the affirmation that their lights were watertight to 1 atmosphere depth. Any new Surefire lights you purchase now should be considered waterproof to 33 feet/10 meters.

Short Description:

The 6P is produced by Surefire. The light is machined aluminum and comes in 2 finishes: satin grey anodize (reviewed) and a black anodize finish.

The 6P runs on a pair of 123a Lithium batteries (included) with an advertised runtime of 60 minutes with the standard (P60) lamp module. You can also get the P61 High Output lamp module which produces twice the light but only gives 20 minutes run time on the same batteries.

The bulb is a high pressure xenon assembly which produces a very intense white light. The reflector is "stochastic" or "orange peel textured" which provides a very smooth beam with no dark rings or holes. The entire assembly is pre-focused to produce a smooth spot.

The bezel can be removed to insert the batteries and change the lamp assembly. The tailcap switch contains 3 modes of operation. Twist down tight for constant-on use. Loosen 1 turn until the notches line up for momentary use with the tailcap push-button. Loosen one more turn for "lock out" where the pushbutton no longer functions. This last setting is used for transport to prevent the pushbutton from accidentally being pressed and draining the batteries.

The bezel has a hexagonal design to serve as an anti-roll device.

The light has O-rings on the head and bezel and inside the tailcap switch assembly and is only considered "water resistant".

Fit and finish are excellent.

Reviewer's Impressions:

The Surefire 6P is more-or-less the standard "board of fare" that you would expect from Surefire in a small, bright duty-light for Law Enforcement and Rescue Personnel.

The light is smaller than a 2-D light (actually it's about the size of many 2-AA lights) and yet is capable of putting out as much or more light than a 4-D cell Maglight. It comes standard with the 60 lumen lamp module with a runtime of 60 minutes, but that can be replaced with a 120 lumen HOLA (high output lamp assembly) module with a runtime of 20 minutes on a set of batteries. The 120 lumen HOLA is an excellent option - great for giving people in a dark or near-dark setting a serious wake-up call (and a whole lot of spots in their eyes when they blink!)

This light, unlike many other "personal light" Surfires doesn't come with a pocket clip. You may need to get a belt sheath to carry it in.

As with all other Surefire lights, the reflector and lamp are supposed to be pre-focused to give a perfect spot of light at any distance. However, you'll note that the "perfect spot" is slightly (ok, badly) askew in the beam picture, above. The light was aligned perpendicular to the target for the picture, not at an angle! Note however, this may have simply been a bad lamp assembly. I have seen the same lamp assembly model with perfectly round beams.

The 123a camera lithium batteries can be quite expensive. They can cost up to about $5 each at Wal-Mart! Luckily, Surefire has recently reduced the price of their batteries to $15 for a box of 12. The Surefire batteries are supposed to be specially formulated for the high drain lights. This is a very good price and makes owning a Surefire rather affordable. Two of these batteries will give you 60 minutes of runtime. Order them from Surefire.com.

Runtime completed with Duracell batteries. More information on runtime plots is available HERE.

A great general use duty light - lightweight, small, easy to carry, an ample amount of light with an adequate runtime for most tasks, but a bit expensive.

+ + + Pluses: Very small for the amount of light produced, nice fit and finish, easy to carry

- - - Minuses: High initial cost, not waterproof, cannot stand on end