Not too little, not too much . . . always the right amount of light
When I was young(er), a tactical flashlight was any flashlight you had on duty. These tended to be rather weighty affairs, with multiple D-cell batteries housed in a cheap plastic or aluminum tube, and activated via a side-mounted switch. They generally put out about 10 lumens of rather diffuse illumination, with a corona that looked as if it may have been given off by a Christmas tree light. Then we upgraded, so to speak, to Maglights. These were quite stout, some were smaller, and all gave off more light than their predecessors. You could even adjust the beam via a rotating bezel. Sometimes we would try, with limited success, to attach these to our rifles with hose clamps in creative attempts to have a functional weapon light.
Finally, in the late 20th Century a company called SureFire (formerly Laser Products) came out with a reasonably sized, highly robust, truly tactical light that put out a “blinding” 60 lumens of light via a quality beam, using a tail mounted button that was appropriate for the task. Since that happy day, SureFire lights have only gotten more robust, more powerful, and more versatile. Now, they can add another superlative: more intelligent. This is because the SureFire P2X Fury with IntelliBeam (IB) technology does what no other flashlight can do: sense how much light you need and automatically make the appropriate adjustment. For those of us who have only known “dumb” lights, typically with only one to three settings to choose from, this sounds either too complicated or too good to be true. Fortunately, its not on either count.
The P2X Fury IntelliBeam is part of SureFire’s new generation of tactical lights. Its bigger brother, the 3PX Fury Intellibeam, is 7.2 inches long and weighs 7.8 ounces. The P2X Fury IB is 1.4 inches shorter (5.8 inches) and over an ounce lighter. Each look and feel like most other hand-held SureFire flashlights, the main difference being they are a bit heavier than their less intelligent cousins. Both models have 1.37 inch bezels and are housed in 1-inch diameter aerospace-grade aluminum tubes that are built to take a beating, being impact and weather resistant. If you need to identify targets over a football field away or rent yourself out as a lighthouse, the P3X Fury IB will send out from 15 to a truly blinding 1,000 lumens. The P2X Fury IB puts out a more modest but very capable 15 to 600 lumens. A powerful, even corona occurs through a combination of super bright LED and parabolic mirrors, powered by common 123A lithium batteries. Runtime on full power is 2.5 and 1.5 hours respectively, while at low power they will stay on for two days or better at 53 and 46 hours Respectively. The tail cap can lock on or off, and the tail switch can be used for momentary or constant on. Neither the P2X or P3X come with a lanyard, combat bezel or belt clip, though combat bezels are available as add-ons.
