Ilikeshinythings
Enlightened
In typical Inova fashion, the T1 epitomizes sexiness in a flashlight. It is solid black, and no longer has a silver bezel, which was replaced by a solid black bezel to match the body..presumeably to minimize reflection in stealth situations.
The machining is A+ quality. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go ahead and say that the finish on my T1 is nicer than the finish on any other light I have previously owned or held. The light is not hard to hold either in a "tactical" grip, and the push button "momentary" is easy to use/strobe. Push harder and the light "clicks" on. The click is pretty hefty and provides great feedback. For reference, the streamlight "click" can sometimes be slightly too soft, leaving me in the dark, but the switch behind the rubber body is not an ideal setup, so by comparison, the T1 has a far superior activation. You can tell it is on by the loud "click" you get. It's just about 1.5 inches shorter than my scorpion, making it close to 4.5" in length. It is slightly wider than the SL body, So it fits finely in the pocket. I do not find it obtrusive in the pockets.
The T1 looks bigger in person than in the pictures. It is definitely not a keychain light, though it will be right at home in a pocket, or on a belt. I would guess that it is close to the size of a P3D from Fenix, but probably not nearly as bright.
Beam quality is exceptional from the "Diamond Cut reflector". There are absolutely no artifacts and a very smooth transition from a fairly large spot to an exceptionally large flood. The flood does a fine job lighting up the periphery. As I stated earlier, the beam is incredibely Warm in color. The untrained eye might just mistake it for an incandescent when displayed on a white wall. I'm going to take it out into the wilderness later and see how the color rendition is.
For those who do not know, incandescent lights are usually preferred in situations where there is a lot of fog or rain, as the warmer color tends not to reflect off of the elements as harshly.
ROUGH RUN TIME:
I'm using my SL Scorpion again as a reference. It hurts my eyes, but I hold both about an inch from a solid white piece of paper, and so long as the Inova is still harder to look at, I'm assuming it hasn't begun to decrease.
Note: ~25 minutes already used on the same batteries prior to test
5:15 - ON!
5:33 - warm to the touch but not hot.
6:15 - Warm to the touch, but far from hot. I can hold it against my lips (sensitive skin), and its still only luke warm. Beam hasn't changed at all.
7:10 - Warmer than it was, probably by about 5 deg. F. Not even close to too hot to hold though. If anything, it would make a good hand warmer on a cool night. Beam is still 100% from the naked eye.
7:46 - No visible decrease in beam quality, tint, or brightness. Temperature seems to have leveled off. It is definitely warm, but still doesn't burn my lips. I have a feeling this is about as hot as it will get. Keep in mind, this has been sitting vertically, not being held in my hand, so it is dissipating heat to the air, not my hand, so it is not as heatsinked as it would normally be. Pretty impressive so far!
8:20 - Still brighter than the SL Scorpion at 1 inch. I can't tell if it's decreased at all. It still looks as bright as it was. It is still not hot...just kinda warm. It's safe at this point to say that the light will never get too warm to be uncomfortable, let alone hold.
8:40 - The heat has slightly decreased, and the output looks to have dropped by about 5-10%, but is still very bright. It's been 3:25 , and I estimate I had used ~25 minutes prior. SO a wild guess would say that it will be well over 4 hours to 70%...maybe even 5 hours to 50%. I'll leave it on until it is no longer useable just to get an idea. It's still brighter at 1 inch than the SL scorpion.
9:11 - Final update, the light has dimmed ~30%. It is now almost cool to the touch, so it is definitely beginning to run low on juice. It seems to follow the run-time plot on the back of the box almost perfectly. Solid output for about 4 hours, and slowly decreasing from there.
Keep an eye out for a video, I'll post one later.
PS: The reason I chose the SL Scorpion as its main competition is that it is the closest light I have to the T1 in most aspects (both are 2 x CR123), and in fact, it is the only other light I currently own
A truly sad day to be a flashaholic. Oh wait, I have an Inova X03 with TIROS but it was recently freeze-popped and is currently awaiting a shiny new emitter!
Some pictures: Sorry about the nails..I just got home from surfing
Streamlight Scorpion 1 Watt LED
2008 Inova T1
The Competition
Up Close
"Diamond Cut Reflector" and K2 "warmy"
Next to another trusty object
In the grip of Thor
SL Scorpion ~ 21 ft to fence
Inova T1 ~ 21 ft
As you can see, the T1 (right) is putting out more overall lumens than the SL Scorpion (left) by a good margin:
Let me know if there are any specific pictures you would like me to take.
-Dan
The machining is A+ quality. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go ahead and say that the finish on my T1 is nicer than the finish on any other light I have previously owned or held. The light is not hard to hold either in a "tactical" grip, and the push button "momentary" is easy to use/strobe. Push harder and the light "clicks" on. The click is pretty hefty and provides great feedback. For reference, the streamlight "click" can sometimes be slightly too soft, leaving me in the dark, but the switch behind the rubber body is not an ideal setup, so by comparison, the T1 has a far superior activation. You can tell it is on by the loud "click" you get. It's just about 1.5 inches shorter than my scorpion, making it close to 4.5" in length. It is slightly wider than the SL body, So it fits finely in the pocket. I do not find it obtrusive in the pockets.
The T1 looks bigger in person than in the pictures. It is definitely not a keychain light, though it will be right at home in a pocket, or on a belt. I would guess that it is close to the size of a P3D from Fenix, but probably not nearly as bright.
Beam quality is exceptional from the "Diamond Cut reflector". There are absolutely no artifacts and a very smooth transition from a fairly large spot to an exceptionally large flood. The flood does a fine job lighting up the periphery. As I stated earlier, the beam is incredibely Warm in color. The untrained eye might just mistake it for an incandescent when displayed on a white wall. I'm going to take it out into the wilderness later and see how the color rendition is.
For those who do not know, incandescent lights are usually preferred in situations where there is a lot of fog or rain, as the warmer color tends not to reflect off of the elements as harshly.
ROUGH RUN TIME:
I'm using my SL Scorpion again as a reference. It hurts my eyes, but I hold both about an inch from a solid white piece of paper, and so long as the Inova is still harder to look at, I'm assuming it hasn't begun to decrease.
Note: ~25 minutes already used on the same batteries prior to test
5:15 - ON!
5:33 - warm to the touch but not hot.
6:15 - Warm to the touch, but far from hot. I can hold it against my lips (sensitive skin), and its still only luke warm. Beam hasn't changed at all.
7:10 - Warmer than it was, probably by about 5 deg. F. Not even close to too hot to hold though. If anything, it would make a good hand warmer on a cool night. Beam is still 100% from the naked eye.
7:46 - No visible decrease in beam quality, tint, or brightness. Temperature seems to have leveled off. It is definitely warm, but still doesn't burn my lips. I have a feeling this is about as hot as it will get. Keep in mind, this has been sitting vertically, not being held in my hand, so it is dissipating heat to the air, not my hand, so it is not as heatsinked as it would normally be. Pretty impressive so far!
8:20 - Still brighter than the SL Scorpion at 1 inch. I can't tell if it's decreased at all. It still looks as bright as it was. It is still not hot...just kinda warm. It's safe at this point to say that the light will never get too warm to be uncomfortable, let alone hold.
8:40 - The heat has slightly decreased, and the output looks to have dropped by about 5-10%, but is still very bright. It's been 3:25 , and I estimate I had used ~25 minutes prior. SO a wild guess would say that it will be well over 4 hours to 70%...maybe even 5 hours to 50%. I'll leave it on until it is no longer useable just to get an idea. It's still brighter at 1 inch than the SL scorpion.
9:11 - Final update, the light has dimmed ~30%. It is now almost cool to the touch, so it is definitely beginning to run low on juice. It seems to follow the run-time plot on the back of the box almost perfectly. Solid output for about 4 hours, and slowly decreasing from there.
Keep an eye out for a video, I'll post one later.
PS: The reason I chose the SL Scorpion as its main competition is that it is the closest light I have to the T1 in most aspects (both are 2 x CR123), and in fact, it is the only other light I currently own
A truly sad day to be a flashaholic. Oh wait, I have an Inova X03 with TIROS but it was recently freeze-popped and is currently awaiting a shiny new emitter!Some pictures: Sorry about the nails..I just got home from surfing
Streamlight Scorpion 1 Watt LED
2008 Inova T1
The Competition
Up Close
"Diamond Cut Reflector" and K2 "warmy"
Next to another trusty object
In the grip of Thor
SL Scorpion ~ 21 ft to fence
Inova T1 ~ 21 ft
As you can see, the T1 (right) is putting out more overall lumens than the SL Scorpion (left) by a good margin:
Let me know if there are any specific pictures you would like me to take.
-Dan
Last edited:
