Surefire L7

[dizzy]

I have never seen a post about the rechargable 5w LED L7 light. It looks like a nice package but would like to know if it is a reliable and user friendly light.


It is rated at 75 lumens for 1 hour. Why are the lumen ratings different for all the 5W led lights depending on the model number of light?


Any advice about this light would be welcome, good or bad.

[glockboy]

the L7 is reliable and user friendly light, but I like the SF L5 with Li-on recharge better because it smaller and lighter. My L7 now is on my shelf.

[FluffyGrunt]

Got an L7 for christmas and have had 0 issues with it. Very simple switching, twist the bezel for constant on and press tail button for momentary. There is no tailcap on this light, the tail button just pushes the battery forward so it makes contact with the bezel.
I think part of the reason it's not mentioned much on cpf (I've seen maybe 6 posts about it in the past 2 or so years) is it's too large for most people here to pocket carry. 8 inches long and just under 1.5 inches wide at the bezel end. I carried it fine for about 2 months in my front jeans pocket until I noticed that the extra aggressive knurling was chewing up my pocket. The knurling is much rougher then on my other Surefires (6P, Z3, E2E).
The beam is great, good combination of strong spill light and decent throw. The P60 lamp assembly will outhrow the L7 by a bit but loses out on overal output.
Another reason it's not talked about much is the NICD batteries, most people seem to want LI-IONs nowadays. But there's really nothing wrong with NICDs. I get around an hour or so of regulated light, then a short period where it's hard to tell if it's still in regulation or not, then it usually flickers and drops down to an even lower level for how long I don't know as I usually switch out batteries about now, even though it's still spitting out 20 or so lumens.

[nc987]

The P60 lamp assembly will outhrow the L7 by a bit but loses out on overal output.

Interesting, are you sure about that?

My L6 is rated at less lumens and uses a very similar bezel to the L7 and my L6 will out throw my 6 volt SureFires anyday.

[FluffyGrunt]

Interesting, are you sure about that?

My L6 is rated at less lumens and uses a very similar bezel to the L7 and my L6 will out throw my 6 volt SureFires anyday.

Well to my eyes the 6P lets me see a bit farther. Not much but a bit. When I was shining both lights at the edge of a wooded area 100 or so feet away and the 6P with P60 lit up the trees a little better.

[dizzy]

Thanks for the input on the L7. Sounds like a simple, trouble-free light that probably would be good for general use .Not sure I like the NICAD battery though since they should be discharged fully before recharging or they develope a memory and lose their ability to take a full charge. Thanks again ,and I think I will get something else.

[OverLord1]

Thanks for the input on the L7. Sounds like a simple, trouble-free light that probably would be good for general use .Not sure I like the NICAD battery though since they should be discharged fully before recharging or they develope a memory and lose their ability to take a full charge. Thanks again ,and I think I will get something else.

I recently bought a 9AN Commander which also uses the ni-cad packs. According to Surefire, the charger is a "smart" charger that discharges the battery fully before charging it. I was told that you DO NOT have to wait until the pack is fully discharged before recharging it. I too was worried about the "memory" affects associated with ni-cads. In fact I posted a thread in the incan. section asking about this very thing. I was informed by a member much more knowledgable about these things than I that the "memory" issue is really a non-existant one. Just wanted to share what I learned.

Ed