SureFire M3 LED Bezel. We can talk about it now!

[Size15's]

There have been some photos by Shelby Chan on www.PK-Engineering.com of the proto-type M3 LED Bezel as seen at SHOT2001.

Both Brock and I also have photos of this LED Bezel.

Brock is the best person to ask, although I'll help where I can...

There are some photos posted on the SureFire Forum in this thread:
Click here for the thread over at the SureFire Forum

You're gonna love this LED option from SureFire! It's amazing!

Shelby's photos are far better quality then mine...

The Beam is amazingly pure. The quality is outstanding.

Al

 

[Brock]

This looks like it is going to be a great light. It is brighter than any LED light I have seen including the tektite 1900. Here is a note I just posted on Surefires Forum.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>If my memory serves me it ran just about 5 hours on 3 123's. I also ran it on 2 123's for about 6 hours. It is a bit dimmer on 2, but still brighter than any other LED light I have.
I don't know if this is the light that will go in to production. If it does I am guessing it will be pricey, I couldn't even make a guess though. It seems to have some sort of voltage regulator built in to the head. I did run it on my M6, and it should run at least 10 hours on that one, probably more like 12.

The light isn't blotchy at all, it might be the marbleizing on my countertop you are seeing. It is an extremely smooth beam.

I didn't lock the color on the camera (Kodak 4800) when I took that shot so the camera tried it's best to make since of the bright daylight colored LED and the E2. The LED is more or less the typical Nichia white color, but any LED light makes an incandescent light look yellow.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Brock

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Brock & Al,
Is the black material around the LEDs reflective? If not why would SF not use a reflector? Would it be just to complex to design a reflector that focused 19 different light sources?

The LED bezel looks awesome. Any speculated time frame?? I have been saving up for an M6 or 10X but the LED bezel may just outrank them on the wish list!!!

WE NEED MORE DETAILS!!! PLEASE!!!

 

[nonbox]

Any chance Surefire will come out with a led bezel that will attach to the smaller Surefire 6P sized flashlight bodies?

The M3 with the led bezel is too big.

 

[nonbox]

The M3 with the LED will be good to for the home and car but too big to carry in your jacket pocket. I hope they come out with a LED bezel for the E2/6P/D2/M2 but I have not heard that surefire will do this.

 

[Size15's]

I should point out that an LED Bezel for the 1" diameter SureFire Flashlights would be too big for the E Series body.
Therefore, it is my personal view that there should be three LED Bezels; Millennium, standard 1" and E Series.

I would hope that an E Series LED Bezel is produced. I certainly believe it would be very popular.

Al

 

[Size15's]

How can I put this?

The "M3" LED Bezel will not to the only LED Product that SureFire will produce for their battery/body combinations.

I'm certain that SureFire will be working on other LED Bezels.

As to why SureFire have not used a reflector... From what I've seen, there isn't a need (in my opinion) for a tighter beam LED arrangement since SureFire have plenty of options already. The M3 LED Bezel produced significant amounts of light. Quality light that I could really use.

Al

 

[Brock]

Aakwormy, I personally don't think reflectors add that much to a LED light. And as you mentioned if you put reflectors on each LED there would only be about 6 or 8 in there. Really a LED has it's own reflector built in to it. As to why the ring around the LED's isn't white, or reflective, my guess would be that it is a prototype and they haven't gotten that far yet. Even if it stay dark colored, it is still the brightest LED light I have seen to date.

Brock

 

[Free]

Brock, Look at the Ledcorp "best aluminum" light. It has a great reflector and the longest throw I have ever seen in a single LED!! I think it would make a significant difference if done right.

I agree that Surefire should come out with two sizes. One for the larger lights and a small E size would be very handy.

 

[Size15's]

The most detailed photos of the LEDs are those displayed in Shelby's 10th Gallery over on
www.PK-Engineering.com

I'll take the trouble to link some thumbnails to the huge photos...

Honestly, the efforts I got to make things easier for you 'orrible lot!

click

click

click

click

Remember that this is a Proto-type!

Al

 

[nonbox]

Most people own E1/E2/6P/G2/M2/D2 flashlights than M3s so it would make more sense to make a LED for the E2 and 1" diameter surefires. Surefire would sell a lot more LED bezels for the E1/E2/6P/G2/M2/D2 flashlights than M3 LED bezels.

 

[Alan]

LED from LEDCorp was modified and it's good for a single LED.

Nonetheless, a reflector is still helpful for multiple non-modified LEDs (not individual reflector for each LED Brock mentioned).

Although LED has built-in reflector, it does have little light spill off from side of the clear resin. Since there're 19 LEDs, saving little light from each LED is not a bad idea. According to Brock's review, all LED lights with reflector are brighter than thier counterpart with same LED count and current draw without reflector.

My experience is on par of Brock's review. IMO, this is most objective reviews for flashlight on the net. I'm a bit surprise that Brock said otherwise in this thread.

A flat with side rim alumium/white reflector does help a lot. In fact, a white reflector might even correct variant quality (color) of LEDs.

Besides, according to the picture, most part of M3's LED are submerged in the resin, I wonder if more light were wasted unneccessarily.

Alan