Surefire Titan T1A Pics & Info

[Splunk_Au]

Every other beamshot aside from the one against a Fenix T1 on low shows the T1A having blue tint, not "mostly white".

Nice flood, true. Very good for indoors but bad for outdoors.

SureFire advertises is as providing "tactical level" light, what kinda tactical tasks do you mean?

Superior UI? Comapred to what?
The GatLight and Spy had this implemented years before this.
You could hardly call using the same method years later "superior" to any length.

Consistent finish in natural lighting? LoL what's that about, sounds like a marketing line from an advert.
Black HA is the easiest to get a match with, much easier than HA Nat. Fenix even managed to match their Olive HA, so SureFire is not "one of the best" with regards to this. But you can't fault SureFire for this I suppose, cos their core users don't really care about such minor issues. They care more about the functionality and durabiity.

Free batteries and CPF discount are available for other lights as well, so no compelling reason there.

I guess it does have some good points, but more are bad. The price point help tip the scale to an overeall negative for me.

 

[MWClint]

Looks like a very cool white U bin.

swapping a U2SWOH or U2SVOH would be brighter and warmer.

4000K high cri p4 would appear to work very well with that op reflector.

 

[Phredd]

Every other beamshot aside from the one against a Fenix T1 on low shows the T1A having blue tint, not "mostly white".

It can be difficult to judge fine variations in tint based on a digital camera that may be adjusting the photo's white balance, so I'm basing that on the comments, including those comparing this Titan to the original Titan, which I have and know is mostly white.

LED tint is pretty good. Only slightly blue. I was prepared for worse but it is pretty mild.

Superior UI? Comapred to what?
The GatLight and Spy had this implemented years before this.
You could hardly call using the same method years later "superior" to any length.

Even if others have had continuously variable output, that doesn't mean it's not a superior UI when implemented again, even perhaps implemented better than before. It is certainly superior to twisting back and forth, clicking and holding, clicking and turning the bezel, etc.

Consistent finish in natural lighting? LoL what's that about, sounds like a marketing line from an advert.

Again, he said it looks worse in some photos at certain angles. I take that to mean it will be less noticeable in real life than it appears in the photos.

Free batteries and CPF discount are available for other lights as well, so no compelling reason there.

My point here is that it's not really $239. That other lights also cost less than MSRP doesn't change that.

Sheesh! Seems like I hit a nerve.

 

[gswitter]

Superior UI? Comapred to what?
The GatLight and Spy had this implemented years before this.
You could hardly call using the same method years later "superior" to any length.

To each his own, I guess. The Titan has the most intuitive and smoothest variable brightness implementation that I've tried to date. I don't know where they get the tactical designation. Further proof that the term "tactical" has become effectively meaningless.

The GatLight did preceed the Titan, though not by that much - the Titan's been out for a year (year and a half?). The Gatlight V3 also combines the radial dial with a forward clicky, which I like. But having owned both, the Titan has a much better ramping implementation. The ramping on my GatLight was not consistent in both directions, and tended to "settle" (for lack of a better term) when I stopped rotating the dial. It also had a tendency to flicker and was very sensitive to too much lubrication.

I'm not sure why you include the Spy. If anything it copied the U2's UI. (Nothing against the Spy - just stating.)

 

[cybersoga]

I really like the look of this light, but what will it look like after its been on a keychain, rubbing against keys, money in my pocket and dropped a few times? Every aluminium anodised light i've had wore pretty fast in my pocket even with HA, the only light that still looks new is my stainless steel Fenix LD01. How about a comparison with the LD01?

 

[Sean]

Thanks for the writeup.

Blue beam
Mismatched anodization
$239

I'll definitely pass on this one.

Honestly, while I can understand anyone not liking the bluish tint, I don't understand the comment about the mismatched anodizing. I would like it to match perfectly as well but having owned many HA lights (take a look in my sig line and look at some of the flashlights I have owned in the past). I've rarely found anodizing to match. No matter who makes it. So if this is your criteria, that ok. Unfortunately, you will own few lights.

I really like the look of this light, but what will it look like after its been on a keychain, rubbing against keys, money in my pocket and dropped a few times? Every aluminium anodised light i've had wore pretty fast in my pocket even with HA, the only light that still looks new is my stainless steel Fenix LD01. How about a comparison with the LD01?

Sorry, I don't own an LD01. As far as the anodizing wearing off, I'm sure that will happen. I wish this light was HAIII-Natural but oh well. I'm going to EDC this light on my keychain but I've only got one other key on there. My car key/remote combo. So it should hold up pretty well like that. I don't like carrying a lot of keys around.

Nice flood, true. Very good for indoors but bad for outdoors.

I'm not sure why. Friends of mine who walk in the dark to their tree stand to hunt use the old ArcAAA 3 lumen model and see fine. So an 80 lumen wall of light is bad outdoors? I've been pleasantly surprised with mine outdoors.

Fenix even managed to match their Olive HA, so SureFire is not "one of the best" with regards to this.

Oddly enough, my Fenix T1 and the P1D CE pictured on the first page with the T1A don't have matching Olive HA

P1D CE head is lighter and dull. Body is a litter darker and noticeably shiny:

To all: Thanks to all for your kind words. I really enjoyed reviewing this light. A mini "L4" in my pocket. How could I not like it. :twothumbs

 

[cave dave]

...
Nice flood, true. Very good for indoors but bad for outdoors.

SureFire advertises is as providing "tactical level" light, what kinda tactical tasks do you mean?...

Depends on your usage. If by "outdoors" you mean sitting on your deck and spotting deer, impressing friends and annoying neighbors, then yes the T1a's floody beam will be bad.

If on the other hand by "outdoors" you mean hiking a trail, finding a good spot to make camp, setting up a tent, rigging up a bear bag, and taking a pee at 4am then the Titan should be just about ideal. Too bad you can't leave it on low for easy location.

Tactical according to surefire is > than 60lm, and I agree with gswitter that the term is pretty much useless in today's market place, heck the TA doesn't even have a spiky bezel or epileptic strobe mode.

 

[TITAN1833]

I'm not impressed one bit it,s horrible :shakehead






























J/K :devil: I'm sure it's a great light but! I just can't afford one ATM :mecry: :mecry:

 

[:)>]

I have noticed that most of the newer Surefire's that I have owned and do own including U2A's, E1B's, E2DL's, 6PL'S, E1E's and E2E's all have a tint that is biased to the cooler end of the the spectrum. It looks to me that they have decided to focus on the cooler tinted LED's.

I plan to own one eventually after I hear more from the first owners regarding water resistance and performance. I did like the runtimes that were posted in this thread; good regulation and efficiency.

 

[dcycleman]

not for me, I'll take that P1D

 

[TITAN1833]

not for me, I'll take that P1D

You do know Cpfer's take Both right!!! unless it's out of your price range that said I have just snagged a LF3XT

 

[dcycleman]

lol, yeah you are correct, if given unlimited funds I probably would take both. but really, tell me that P1D in olive doesnt look sweet, man I like that for some reason. Too bad, I dont think you can get those anymore. (in olive)

 

[TITAN1833]

lol, yeah you are correct, if given unlimited funds I probably would take both. but really, tell me that P1D in olive doesnt look sweet, man I like that for some reason. Too bad, I dont think you can get those anymore. (in olive)

Like I said take a look at the LF3XT for a alternative

 

[dcycleman]

will do

 

[gottawearshades]

Sean,

Thanks for the review of a much-anticipated light.

Smaller than I thought. Nice flood. Nifty box.

Tempting, but with the wintry economic climate and all, I personally can't see dropping that much cash on it right now.

 

[DimmerD]

I finally got mine yesterday and am really liking it. I was disappointed at first because it wasn't as bright as my EX10, but that quickly diminished after using it a bit. I have noticed a discrepancy between the Surefire website and the instruction manual concerning runtimes. Website claims 4 hours on high, 60 hours on low, instruction manual says max output 1 hour, 1 lumen 60 hours. It appears Sean's review shows it can produce max output for 1 hour, then the brightness starts to diminish. No lanyard here, straight into the pocket for me. I didn't really notice a blueish tint unless you whitewall hunt with it on a lower setting. Also it seems to get pretty warm on high after a few short minutes. And the anodizing looks great in person, it only looks off in pictures.

 

[EV_007]

I was playing with my Arc AAA the other day and imagine the T1A to be similar to the floody qualities but with infinite levels. Based on the photos, I may be correct.

The Arc on its own did not look too blue, but white wall hunting or compared to warmer tints side by side it does. Maybe I may have to get a hold of this just for the smooth beam and UI.

Can someone put up a video demonstrating the smooth levels in action?

 

[Sean]

Can someone put up a video demonstrating the smooth levels in action?

How about this one (start at the 1:40 mark): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poZbsdOUtx8

 

[sbebenelli]

I got mine today. I think I'll like this light a lot.

The auto shutoff is a complete non issue. For me personally I will never use the light at the low output that is part of the shutoff. It is very very low.

Mine has the purple tint like the others seem to have. This is always a disappointment with a new light but in real world use is a non issue. My first HDS EDC was very purple and I carried it for a couple years and always forgot about the tint until I would compare it to a new light I had gotten.

I can see this light being my most used and hard to compete against because I can set it to any level I want.

 

[sbebenelli]

I've been playing with the auto shutoff to find where the magic spot is and it's at least half as bright as my RA Clicky on it's lowest factory setting.

I can't see how the shutoff feature would affect anyone. It's so low I can't fathom any use for it.

This of coarse is my personal opinion. :wave: