Surefire Titan Plus Thoughts

I've heard a lot of good things about the Surefire Titan Plus in the EDC community. It is a great light based on output alone. However, I would never want to personally carry it. It's made of solid brass which gives it way too much heft for an EDC light. I'll take less lumens for a much lighter light. Heck, I'd take practically any other light considering this one is about $90. I wouldn't want to pay that much for it personally. Apparently Surefire's stuff is indestructible and very high quality though. If you want a AAA light that can put out 300 lumens, this is the one for you. I'm not aware of many other AAA lights that have outputs anywhere near that. That's the one aspect about it that makes it stand out. Otherwise, it's kind of a lackluster light to me.

Design wise, it looks like any other flashlight. All the machining is nice and helps you get some extra grip on the slick body. It's made of nickel-plated brass which gives it a lot of heft unfortunately. It's great in terms of quality. Surefire's stuff will last you forever. I've heard their warranty is fantastic if your light does somehow break on you. I've seen other reviews mention how much their abuse their light has taken, so I guess you are paying for something high quality that will actually last. I do want to mention how squeaky this specific one is. I don't know if it needs to be worked in or what. The threads don't feel and sound the nicest to me for such an expensive light.

Onto the most impressive part, the output. Like I mentioned, this is a AAA light that can put out 300 lumens. That's not something you see very often. Most of the AAA lights I own don't even top 100 lumens. If just want to buy one flashlight that you can rely on, this one has great performance for the form factor. 300 lumens is the perfect high mode for general EDC stuff. It's got the three modes: high (300 lumens for 1 hour), medium (75 lumens for 2 hours), and low (15 lumens for 7 hours). I love that there aren't any strobe/SOS modes since I never use them for EDC tasks anyways. I haven't had any issues with the runtimes. I use my lights for a couple seconds at a time, so my lights usually tend to last a while anyways. To get the best output with this light, you do have to use NiMH rechargeable batteries like Eneloops. You can still throw in a regular AAA, though you won't get anywhere near the 300 lumen max. I do wish the low mode was a bit lower. 15 lumens is a little too bright for me personally considering the majority of other lights have 1 to 5 lumen lows or even firefly/moonlight modes. It's not the end of the world of course. I also wish this light had mode memory. That's a feature I've really come to appreciate on my EDC lights. The beam is a flood, which I do prefer. The tint is a nice color, more of a warmer yellowish-white. I haven't noticed any issues with it getting too hot during heavy usage either. Besides the slightly too bright low mode and the lack of mode memory, the overall performance is great. Based on the numbers alone, it's extremely impressive.

This is a simple twisty light. Just like any typical twisty UI, you have to repeatedly twist it on and off to access all the modes. With no mode memory, you will have to twist it on/off three times to get to high. That's annoying to deal with on any twisty. You do have to be kinda careful about how quickly your trying to change the modes too. To get to the high, I have to wait about a second before each mode change or it will just repeat medium a couple times until I slow down. I can't say that I've had to delay my mode switching on other twisty lights. It's a bit of an annoyance but not as much of a deal breaker as the weight. It is relatively easy to use one-handed, yet nothing beats the convenience of tapping a single button on a clicky. Clicky lights will always be what I prefer for EDC. Overall, this hasn't been my favorite light to use.

Sure the Titan Plus is the same compact size of any AAA light, but it's way too heavy for me to carry. The solid brass makes it such a hefty light. Surefire says it'd be great for the keys, yet I couldn't see that at all. I'd much rather have the Nitecore Tube or Olight i3E on my keys. It does have a clip and a keychain attachment on the end depending which route you wanna go. The clip is removable if you decide you like it for keychain carry better. The clip does carry well. You can't tailstand the light thanks to the keychain attachment, so be warned if that's something you like in your lights.

For around $90, I don't particularly see the value. If you love the AAA form factor but hate how dim most production ones are, then you probably would have to go this route for a very bright option. However, I'd rather opt for some type of AA/CR123 light if I still want something pocketable for EDC. You can find Olights much cheaper than this that generally get you at least 500 lumens. Plus a lot of those are rechargeable which is nice to see. I've got this on loan from loan from someone that watches my videos. After carrying it, I personally would never dish out the money for this light since it's not anywhere close to perfect.

All in all, I somewhat enjoyed trying it out. It's not a light that I would want in my collection. The FourSevens Preons and Olight i3E are much better AAA lights. I expected a lot more considering how positively it's reviewed on some sites. The lack of mode memory and the fact that it's a twisty are big deal breakers for me. If you do prefer twistys over clickys, than maybe this is the light for you. Honestly, I'd rather buy a combination of cheaper lights so I have more options. For now, it beats out most AAA lights in terms of output, but with flashlight tech always improving so rapidly, that could change in the next couple years. I don't recommend it, especially not for the price. Thanks for looking!