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SUREFIRE 10X DOMINATOR

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SureFire 10X Dominator, retail $500.00 (www.surefire.com...)
Manufactured by SureFire (www.surefire.com)
Last updated 04-23-11

SureFire is well-known for making the toughest and brightest personal and tactical lights in the world, and the 10X Dominator will not disappoint you.

The 10X has two bulbs and stippled (textured) reflectors to make its light, feeds from an internal rechargeable battery (so you'll never need to buy disposable batteries for it), has a pushbutton on the tail for momentary function, and constant-on is achieved by turning the bezel (head). The lamps and reflectors are protected by a Pyrex glass window (or "lens" if you are more comfortable with that term, even though it does not focus or defocus the light in any manner).

The 10X is rated to produce 60 lumens on low and 500 lumens on high; however I am not equipped to measure light in lumens - you need an expensive instrument called an integrating sphere to do that, and I do not own or have access to one of these devices.

SIZE

Charge the 10X first, and then you'll be ready to roll.

For momentary light any time, press firmly on the tailcap button and hold it that way for as long as you need light. Release the tailcap button to turn your 10X back off. Press the tailcap even more firmly to access high mode; release it to turn the 10X back off.

For continuous mode, turn the bezel (head) clockwise (as if tightening it). The 10X will come on at low intensity and stay on without any further intervention from you. Turn the bezel more clockwise to turn the 10X on high mode. To turn the 10X off, turn the bezel counterclockwise (as if loosening it).

A lockout function appears to be available by turning the head 1 1/2 turns counterclockwise (as if unscrewing it). This prevents unwanted activation from the tailcap button when the 10X is stored or carried in a box of camping gear or whatever.

To charge the battery in your 10X Dominator, unscrew the bezel (head) of the 10X two turns to expose what is called the "Charging Channel" on the flashlight. Place the flashlight in the charging cradle as you see in the photograph below. Be sure the silvery colored ball is facing the top of the flashlight when you insert it into the cradle.

Turn the 10X clockwise (as if tightening it) 90°. Plug the connector on the cord for the charging cradle into the cord from the large transformer included with the package, and plug the transformer into any standard US 110 to 130 volts AC 60Hz household receptacle. The red LED on the charging cradle should now come on.

After approximately two hours, the red LED should turn off and a green LED on the charging cradle should now come on. This indicates main charging is completed and a trickle charge has begun. Because this product uses a NiCd battery, it is advised that you remove it from the charger when you see the green light.

To remove the 10X from the charger, turn it 90° counterclockwise (as if loosening it), and pull it straight up out of the cradle.

The 10X Dominator comes with an automobile cigerette lighter plug for charging, however I do not own or have access to an automobile, so I cannot test this accessory.

I cannot measure its operational current due to the way the 10X was constructed.

According to SureFire, the 10X produces 3 hours of light on low, and 18 minutes of light on high. These values assume a fully charged battery. SureFire tends to not exaggerate its runtime values, so these values should be at very minumum reasonably accurate.

Because the 10X Dominator uses incandescent lamps, sooner or later you'll need to change them. I'll tell you how to do that shortly (within the next day or so anyway).

(Update 07-20-05): Changing the bulbs requires a 5/32" allen wrench, which, unfortunately, I do not have.

So I cannot yet try to change the bulbs in this unit.

Best I can do here is paraphrase right from the instructional materials furnished with the 10X Dominator.

Remove the head from the body by unscrewing it counterclockwise until it comes off the body. Set the body aside.

Accessing the lamp assembly requires removing the reflector unit. In the center of the spring, you'll find an allen screw. Unscrew and remove it with a 7/32" allen wrench.

Carefully seperate the reflector from the head and remove the inoperative bulb. Install a new bulb, being careful not to touch the glass with your bare fingers - use a paper towel, cleanax, or toilet paper to hold the new bulb while you're installing it.
The 10X uses a MN31 lamp for the 60 lumen (low), and a MN32 lamp for the 500 lumen (high) modes.

Replace the reflector in the head, screw the allen screw back in place, and screw the head back on the 10X's body.

Picture of the business-end of the 10X, showing the the textured reflectors and the lightly scalloped (a wide scallop on each side) bezel.

The 10X is extremely well-made and engineered. The same SureFire quality you've come to expect from their personal and tactical lights is built into this product. The exterior finish of the metal component is a type 3 hard anodize ("HA-III" as us flashaholics know it); the non-metal components are made from Nitrolon and aramid-composite polymer plastics, which are non-conductive and corrosion-resistant.

The flashlight appears to be VERY sturdy. Ordinary flashlight accidents should not be enough to do it in. I administered the smack test on it (ten whacks against the corner of a concrete stair; five whacks against the side of the tailcap and five whacks against the side of the bezel), and found the expected damage. There is some very minor scuffing and gouging on the side of the barrel where it was struck - this is not at all surprising since the area I hit is made out of plastic. No optical or electrical malfunctions were detected.

One of the things I noticed quickly is that the 10X has a lightly "scalloped" bezel, so if the light is set face-down while it's burning, some light still escapes and you can easily tell it's still turned on, even if you set it down on a completely flat surface like a tabletop or countertop. No more ruined and wasted batteries from your setting the light down and not realising it's still on.
(Yes, I really did that - to a SureFire KL2 if I remember right!)

The 10X is water-resistant, but it is not submersible. When I removed the bezel and performed that dreadful suction test, a rather signifigant leak was detected. It also performs the same with "The Blow Test". Some leakage was detected.
If I had to venture a guess, I'd guess this leakage occurs around the tailcap switch.
But there is no hole or other opening in the barrel OR in the bezel (it passed "The Suction Test" completely), as had been brought to my attention the SureFire 8AX and 8NX flashlights do, to help vent gases from the NiCd batteries they also use.

If your 10X goes in a shallow mud puddle or if it falls in the toilet, I think you'll be fine if you fish it out of the water quickly. But falls into deeper water may cause it to very slowly flood.

I tried to scratch through the lens with the blade of a Swiss army knife, and with some difficulty, I was able to. This determined the lens is made from acrylic or other tough transparent plastic, not glass. (see 02-20-07 update below)
Would I really try to scratch the lens of a brand spanken new flashlight I paid perfectly good money for?
You bet your sweet patootie (sugar-coated toilet muscle) I would, if it's in the name of science.

There is no knurling (texturising) along the barrel or the bezel or the tailpiece; some issues of retention (the ability to hold the flashlight when your hands are cold, oily or wet) may occur. The body is composed of Nitrolon with a matte finish, so it isn't NEARLY as slippery as it could be. I would therefore not consider this to be a serious deficiency of the 10X Dominator.

If desired, the charging cradle can be mounted to a wall, vehicle, or boat console (using screws that you furnish); and a locking feature keeps the 10X Dominator secure when venturing off road or into high seas.

Beam photograph (low) at ~12".
Measures 1,066cd.

Beam photograph (high) at ~12".
Measures 629,000cd.
Beam does not appear yellow as it appears in this photograph.

Beam photograph (low)at ~15'.

Beam photograph (high) at ~15'.

Both measurements were taken with a Meterman LM631 light meter.
That red star thing in the two lower photographs is from an American DJ Laser Widow.

The reflector is textured, giving a very smooth beam to the 10X.

Beam photograph (high mode) on a wall at ~10'.

Those rectangular graphic things near the top are marquees from:
Midway ''Omega Race''
Sega ''Star Trek''
Williams ''Joust''
Venture Line ''Looping''
Universal ''Mr. Do!'s Castle''
Jaleco ''Exerion''
Gremlin/Sega ''Astro Blaster''
Atari ''Tempest''
Gottlieb ''Q*bert''

upright coin-op arcade video games from the 1980s.

Spectrum of this flashlight, high mode.

Same as above (high mode); newer spectrometer software & settings used.

Spectrum of this flashlight, low mode.

Same as above (low mode); newer spectrometer software & settings used.

Spectrographic analysis of the red "Charge cycle in progress" LED.

Spectrographic analysis of the yellow-green "Charge cycle complete" LED.

USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.

Spectrum of this flashlight, high mode. Different spectrometer used to "dig" farther into the NIR.

Spectrographic analysis

Spectrum of this flashlight, low mode. Different spectrometer used to "dig" farther into the NIR.

ProMetric analysis

Beam cross-sectional analysis (high mode).

ProMetric analysis

Beam cross-sectional analysis (low mode).
Images made using the ProMetric System by Radiant Imaging.

TEST NOTES:
Sample was purchased on Ebay on 07-14-05, and was received on the afternoon of 07-18-05.

UPDATE: 12-26-05
I let the visiting nurses use the 10X Dominator a few nights ago so they could observe my housemate's legs. They wanted a non-LED source so the flesh would appear as it would under incandescent household light they are used to examining patients with.

UPDATE: 01-27-07
I just repeated "The Knife Test" on the lens (window) after reading elsewhere that it was made of Pyrex glass. Again, with some difficulty, I was able to gouge it with the blade of a knife. This confirms my original finding that the lens is made of plastic, not glass.
Would I really try to scratch the lens of a flashlight I paid perfectly good money (and a lot of it!) for?
You bet your sugar-coated toilet muscle (sweet patootie) I would, if it's in the name of science.

UPDATE: 02-20-07
I repeated "The Knife Test" yet again after reading in the latest SureFire catalogue that the 10X comes with a pyrex glass window, and this time, I really think it does!!!

UPDATE: 08-25-07
I repeated "The Knife Test" yet again under magnification, and only with some difficulty was I able to cause minor scratching of the end-window with the point of the blade of a folding knife. This tells me that the window is *NOT* made of acrylic or other plastic; I would have been able to cause damage much more easily if it were made out of plastic.

UPDATE: 06-22-10
The charger has now gone tits-up.

I measured +0.00 volts when the "wall wart" was plugged into a known-live circuit and the meter test probes were placed on the contacts of its plug.
However, my 10X Dominator may not be a total loss...the power supply for the ProMetric 8 Beam Cross-Sectional Analyser has the same voltage AND current rating; and because it has screw terminals, I do not have to snip any wires on a $10,000.00 instrument to access that power.

I have contacted SureFire about obtaining a warranty replacement for the "wall-wart" portion of the charger.

However, until either of these are successfully accomplished (the ProMetric's PSU tapped into or the warranty replacement "wall wart" received), the dreadful " Failed or was destroyed during/after testing

" icon will be appended to its listings on this website.

UPDATE: 06-23-10
The dreadful " Failed or was destroyed during/after testing

" icon has been removed, because I was able to successfully tap into my ProMetric's power supply to get the 10X Dominator's battery charged.

UPDATE: 06-26-10
The charger has mysteriously begun to function again.

UPDATE: 04-20-11
The high-intensity lamp has mysteriously become inoperative; it functioned properly until I put the 10X Dominator in the charging cradle. When the charge cycle was complete, I removed the light from the cradle, attempted to activate the high-power lamp, and was "rewarded" with darkness.
Since I do not own or have access to a 7/32" Allen wrench, I cannot remove the lamp in order to test it for continuity.

UPDATE: 04-23-11
The bub really is blown out.
I was able to borrow a 7/32" Allen wrench, disassemble the head for relamping, and put the high-power bulb on my DMM (set for continuity test) -- it failed this test, indicating that it is indeed burnt out.

PROS:
Very durable construction and fantastic engineering, like other SureFire flashlights
Insanely bright.
Two intensity levels to choose from
Excellent beam quality.
Enough spill light to be truly useful.
Never have to buy disposable batteries for it

CONS:
If battery dies while you're away from the charger, you might be SOL. This is the primary reason I rated it 4 1/2 stars and not 5 stars.

MANUFACTURER: SureFire
PRODUCT TYPE: Large rechargeable handheld flashlight
LAMP TYPE: Incandescent (xenon/halogen) bulbs
No. OF LAMPS: 2 (one for low, one for high)
BEAM TYPE: Medium spot with dimmer corona
SWITCH TYPE: Tailcap momentary; twist bezel continuous
BEZEL: Metal; pyrex glass window protects lamps and reflectors
BATTERY: Rechargeable battery stick; NiCd, TBA volts, capacity unknown
CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
WATER- AND PEE-RESISTANT: Yes
SUBMERSIBLE: NO WAY HOZAY!!!
ACCESSORIES: Battery pack, charging cradle, wall transformer, automobile charger
WARRANTY: Lifetime, except batteries & blubs

PRODUCT RATING:

SureFire 10X Dominator * www.surefire.com...

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