L3 Illumination L10 (XP-G2 R5 or Nichia 219, 1xAA) Review: RUNTIMES, BEAMS, VIDEO+

[Tapis]

Great! Thanks radellaf, I didn't know there is a clicky version of the L10. This light has a perfect 4 modes levels for me. However, it's not available in the places I usually shop, Illumin and Going Gear, and Sbflashlights doesn't have the Thrunite T10 or Olight SR15 lights I want to purchase as well to combine shipment. Any idea where I could get these lights? eBay has no L10C. Thanks in advance.

 

[TMedina]

I bought a Fenix E05 for my 7-years-old daughter, but she complains that the head is just too stiff and does not rotate easily. She sometimes asks me to turn the light on and off. Will this light be nicer to her little fingers?

If you apply a dab of silicone lube to the threads of the E05, it'll be as smooth as butter and probably a lot easier for your daughter to use.

 

[markr6]

I bought a Fenix E05 for my 7-years-old daughter, but she complains that the head is just too stiff and does not rotate easily. She sometimes asks me to turn the light on and off. Will this light be nicer to her little fingers?

I also find the E05 scratchy, tight and hard to operate with one hand. I miss high mode a lot. Horrible tint anyway so it sits on my shelf. I really like the L10, especially after cleaning and a little Superlube. The Olight i3s, which I no longer have, was the easiest of all. I couldn't imagine a AAA light being any better in terms of operation with one hand.

 

[neutralwhite]

Heard from illumination supply that they won't be stocking the L10C because of reliability issues.
its a good little light, but shame about hearing this.

 

[markr6]

Heard from illumination supply that they won't be stocking the L10C because of reliability issues.
its a good little light, but shame about hearing this.

That's interesting. I ended up selling mine recently. Quality seemed great, slim, good clip, but I just didn't like cycling thru with the clicky. I never thought I would prefer the twist head on the L10, but I do.

 

[5S8Zh5]

Another selfbuilt review that lead to a purchase. .. .. I got the natural. I like the twist UI, and the .09 moonlight is useful to me, walking through a couple almost pitch black rooms in the morning. Nice flood beam too. If it had the Preon A0 mule non-reflector, it'd be even better.

 

[5S8Zh5]

Just want to give a heads up for those who intend on purchasing this whether its for personal use or for gifting from SBFlashlights.
I recently purchased two L10s, one 4 mode nichia and one 3 mode xpg2. The nichia was awesome and was nicely centred. However, the xpg2 is faulty, when you unscrew to drop in a AA battery, it unscrews to show a emitter instead.

Thankfully for my case I had great service from SBFlashlights and they were willing to do a one for one exchange!
So please remember to request for your light to be thoroughly checked when you are purchasing your new light, in order to prevent having the unnecessary hassle of having to ship it back to get it replaced!

An L10 mule! Too bad about the return as I'd love to see some beamshots. ....

 

[mcorp]

Well that'll be impossible since unscrewing the head to access the battery compartment lead to this.

Perhaps a special L10 mule run in 219 can be made? [emoji317]

 

[Burgess]

Selfbuilt, would you have an estimate of runtime of the Nichia 219 medium 30 lumen level with and eneloop 2000?
Short of running a test, is there a formula for something like this.
Thanks.

Performed my own runtime test today,
using Energizer L91 Ultimate Lithium AA cell
(mfg. 7/2014) (expires 12/2034)


Nichia 219 on Medium mode (30 Lumens)
lasted 14.5 Hours in perfect regulation.

By 15 Hours, had dropped by 4.7 f/stops
(measured on my Sekonic DC308 meter)
This means output is now at 0.04%,
or 1/25th of original output of 30 Lumens.

By 18 Hours, had dropped 6 additional
f/stops. Thus, 1/64th of the 15 Hr. reading.

By my humble calculations, that means
an output of about 0.018 Lumens.


That's approx. 1/3 of Firefly mode !

Pretty Damn DIM by this point,
but not *TOTALLY* useless.


Must say --
I certainly DO like this light.

Wish all those lovely Colors were still available !

 

[spc]

If they made this out of ti...

 

[Kindle]

If they made this out of ti...

...I'd be happy if they didn't break when you sneeze in the general direction.

 

[Ell399]

...I'd be happy if they didn't break when you sneeze in the general direction.

Same happened to me. Such a pain. Other than that, what a quality piece of kit!

 

[Mr. Shawn]

...I'd be happy if they didn't break when you sneeze in the general direction.

Might be luck of the draw, but I've been carrying my orange 4-mode L10 Nichia 219 as my primary ENC (EveryNight Carry) after dark and while sleeping since Dec 2012 , and it's still going strong. Granted, it hasn't seen much adversity at night, but I dropped it twice last night onto laminate floor from 4 feet up, and the twisty torch still works as expected.

Thinking about getting the same model in natural finish while they are still available.

 

[iamlucky13]

Might be luck of the draw, but I've been carrying my orange 4-mode L10 Nichia 219 as my primary ENC (EveryNight Carry) after dark and while sleeping since Dec 2012 , and it's still going strong. Granted, it hasn't seen much adversity at night, but I dropped it twice last night onto laminate floor from 4 feet up, and the twisty torch still works as expected.

Thinking about getting the same model in natural finish while they are still available.

I'm glad to know some samples seem to survive drops.

My L11C died falling onto laminate flooring from a 30" tall desk.

From opening it up, I think the solder joints between the inductor and the PCB (which the battery hammers against if it lands bezel down) are cracked, but it's really hard to tell, even after photographing it with a macro lens.

There's no room to try to resolder it with an iron, but if I ever have access to a hot air station, I'd like to see if I can fix it.

It's been sitting in a drawer, broken, for well over a year. I haven't seen any light since then that seems like it would make a better EDC for my purposes.

I hesitate to buy a new one since I might kill it just as easily, but in the meantime I make do with a variety of other lights depending on the situation.

SB Flashlights could probably convince me to replace it if they'd offer closeout pricing on anything other than their 10 random light grab bags.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

Might be luck of the draw, but I've been carrying my orange 4-mode L10 Nichia 219 as my primary ENC (EveryNight Carry) after dark and while sleeping since Dec 2012 , and it's still going strong. Granted, it hasn't seen much adversity at night, but I dropped it twice last night onto laminate floor from 4 feet up, and the twisty torch still works as expected.

Thinking about getting the same model in natural finish while they are still available.

I too have a 4-5 year old orange 4 mode that runs well when I fire it up! It fell out of my pocket once, but it doesn't run on protected 14500s.

Chris

 

[Mr. Shawn]

I'm glad to know some samples seem to survive drops.

My L11C died falling onto laminate flooring from a 30" tall desk.

From opening it up, I think the solder joints between the inductor and the PCB (which the battery hammers against if it lands bezel down) are cracked, but it's really hard to tell, even after photographing it with a macro lens.

There's no room to try to resolder it with an iron, but if I ever have access to a hot air station, I'd like to see if I can fix it.

It's been sitting in a drawer, broken, for well over a year. I haven't seen any light since then that seems like it would make a better EDC for my purposes.

I hesitate to buy a new one since I might kill it just as easily, but in the meantime I make do with a variety of other lights depending on the situation.

SB Flashlights could probably convince me to replace it if they'd offer closeout pricing on anything other than their 10 random light grab bags.

I do recall seeing multiple failure reports with the clicky models, but not as many reports with the twisty models. Maybe you'd have better luck with the existing stock for sale?

I would love to see closeout pricing on the other L3 Illumination items. I do check their website regularly.

I too have a 4-5 year old orange 4 mode that runs well when I fire it up! It fell out of my pocket once, but it doesn't run on protected 14500s.

Chris

Great to hear, Chris! I'm content with using Eneloops/Duraloops in my L10.