Badboy + Q3 vs. e2e w/ kl1

[FalconFX]

I respectfully disagree...

Comparisons like these give you a general idea of what flashlight companies are doing to keep their products at the top. And when someone decides to make a purchase, price, LS, workmanship, ease of use, the entire shed's worth or whatever, they get a general idea of what to expect.

Surefire's LSs being generally blue/violet cetainly doesn't help them when Arc's LSs are as white as you'd like them to be. Streamlight's LS offerings, so far initially, are green in tint, and everybody blasted CMG for their puke green Reactors when they came out... I have no problems comparing and identifying differences between two similar products.

If Surefire decides that the enthusiast market (like CPF) isn't worth it to pay attention to, that's fine with me. They'll just lose sales to companies like Arc, who actually listens to that market segment, and their LS offerings reflect it.

So if someone asks me for my opinion on what I think of the BB/MM series and/or the KL1, I have no problems in taking out my Meterman or Fluke or Digicam and comparing them...

 

[Mateo]

i changed the batteries on the bb400 Q3L, this helped somewhat it is (to the naked eye) brighter but the KL1 is a little brighter, a little bluer.

 

[lemlux]

My BB400 Q3L is not as bright as either of my KL1's. The BB is a little whiter than my KL1's in general, but it suffers a very disconcerting phosphor irregularity which causes two very purple blobs to appear at the edge of the hotspot and at the outside of the spill area on a single radian.

I assume that SF has enough manufacturing sophistication and clout to return the less than acceptable luxeons. I think Dat2Zip has to live with what he gets from his contract manufacturers and future.

 

[paulr]

I bought two Arc LSL-P seconds in the past week... one is slightly blue/violet, the other somewhat more noticably. Both are pretty bright. Although they're seconds, I'd guess that whatever LED selection they do is done before they put the light together, and "second" means something went wrong during assembly or was discovered in final QA. Both of my LSL-P's have minor cosmetic blems on the outside, which is why they're seconds. I'm guessing then (maybe wrong) that the colors I see are within ok range for a non-second LSL-P.

These seconds have pretty low serial numbers so it may be that the newer LED's coming out of Arc are more consistent.

 

[Raindrop]

Sounds like I need to buy some of the newer KL1 and KL3 heads. I recently just got my KL3 from SureFire direct ( as part of the new $1.25 SF123 Battery deal. It doesn't have the scallop offsets in bezel ring nor do either of my KL1 heads that I am running on E1 HAs. Both my recently installed Badboy 400mA+Q3 and Badboy 500mA Mini Mags have significantly brighter and hotter lights. Even my First Run Arc LS #698 is brighter than the KL3/C2 ?? Maybe this is the excuse I need for buying an L1 as a future mod platform along with some new KL1s.

 

[Steve Andrews]

My KL1 is number A00386. I would say it is TWICE as bright as the BadBoy 400 Q3L that I received the other day from Dat2zip's Sandwich Shoppe. I tried some brand new Energizer Lithiums in it but there was no improvement in brightness.
Now, have I got a very bright KL1 or a dim 400??

 

[SDryer]

This is a Great Thread, and really helpfull and informative for "newbies" like myself. I'm hoping my M-MM Plus Q3 arrives today, however I did pick up a KL1 at a local show yesterday it's an A02119, and while I'm pretty happy with it's brightness, it is in my opinion a little to Violet looking, almost looks like a "blacklight" effect if you know what I'm talking about. I got it for 49.00 and no tax, so I guess it wasn't too bad of a deal. Hope you guys keep these kinds of threads going because they truly are helpfull.
Best Regards SonnyD

 

[paulr]

I wonder if SF has recently cranked up the current going into the KL1 to make it brighter.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Steve, if you have a cheap lightmeter, shine your KL1 and BB400 at it, one at a time; move light around till the highest f stop number shows up consistantly. Twice as bright would be f stop with higher number, ie, f16 reading would essentially show twice as bright as f11. This is crude but gives a ball park result. Bill

 

[FalconFX]

Steve Andrews,

There's almost no way a KL1 can be twice as bright as a BB400Q3... That would assume that either the KL1 is ~40 lumens (if the BBQ400 is ~20) or the BBQ400 is ~10 lumens (if the KL1 is ~20)...

I'm assuming something's wrong with either the LS on the BBQ or the converter board, because at the very least, both should be indestinguishable in terms of brightness (color tint's a different story). Sometimes, eyes can perceive bluer light as brighter light, so a light meter's your best bet.

 

[SDryer]

I just got my Madmax plu Q3 in the mail a while ago and just got it installed in a Brinkmann Legend. Comparing it with the KL1 head I purchased last night, the Madmax is much Whiter!, almost no color at all and has the appearence of being brighter. I'd say it was money very well spent, Thanks Wayne.
Regards SonnyD