E1L, Ra or Novatac?

[MBKrPeter50]

Re: E1B, E1L, Ra or Novatac?

Ok after reading some of these first posts, I think I need to narrow down my options a little more.

What about between these lights:

Ra Twisty 85TR or 100W
Surefire E1L
Novatac 85EDC or 120EDC

I am still open to other suggestions, but these would probably be my three main choices.

Please keep the suggestions coming and thanks to everyone who has posted so far.

thanks
Patrick

 

[vb14]

Re: E1B, E1L, Ra or Novatac?

The only real thing I see that draws me to the E1B is the clip. I like the E1L better spec wise, if only I could get it with the E1B clip.

You might be able to get one from MP.

 

[MBKrPeter50]

Re: E1B, E1L, Ra or Novatac?

You might be able to get one from MP.

I have heard those things go pretty quick on there, but thanks for the heads up.

 

[manoloco]

Re: E1B, E1L, Ra or Novatac?

Keep in mind if you're going to use this as your EDC you're gonna want an all round balanced light, good runtime, flexible brightness options, balanced beam that has some throw and spill.

Build quality of all 4 lights are top notch so we can take that out of the equation. However if appearance is a concern to you the Ra Clicky has been known to have slight specks of annodizing missing and hasn't been addressed in production.

The Surefires especially the E1B exhibit little to no spill it's pretty much a spot beam. The E1L is similar to this respect except the spot is bigger, but again small amounts of light in the traditional sense of spill.
They also don't run on rechargables. They might run but are not designed for it and could behave strangely as well will void your warrenty.

The Ra series of lights are designed to run on rechargeables and will do so very well and efficiently. The Twisty has 3 levels of light easily selected from a twist. Some of them even have a low red which is useful. If you go with the Twisty I highly recommend the 85Tr as it the most different of all the single RCR123 lights on the market in everyway. It's build like a tank. There's enough talk of the build quality already so lets go to the beam. The beam of the Twisty is like no other light I've seen before. The spot is extremely tight and throwy yet has an ample amount of spill so you can walk around outside and not trip on a log. Downside is they cost more than the Clicky.

There's enough info about the clicky in the number of threads about it. There is a kind of a fiasco going on with it. With the number of options, some bugs popping up, delays in shipping. The bugs are semi fixed, some lights are displaying the absence of one bug for another. There has not been official word that all bugs have been worked out. IMHO it's not a polished product yet. That said it's a more polished product than the Novatac.

If it were me I'd rank it in this order Twisty>E1B>E1L with no consideration for the Clicky at the moment.

If the E1B is anything like the L1, even though its a spot with a little spill, that spill is not as little as one may think, its very useful.

Granted, the spill on a Novatac is far wider and the light is overall a lot more floody.

MBKrPeter50: you must first know exactly what you want from your light, if you are not completely sure, maybe the versatility of the Nova or the Ra lights is more suited to you, i think they are superior lights to the E1L or the E1B in almost every aspect. but someone mentioned the L1, for EDC besides the size, the ergonomics and simplicity of the L1 is very hard to beat, and the switch is a great design.

 

[pobox1475]

I am still open to other suggestions

NiteCore NEX; https://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=93&products_id=506

 

[MBKrPeter50]

NiteCore NEX; https://www.4sevens.com/product_info.php?cPath=93&products_id=506

I have looked at the Nitecore lights and other than the D10, there is something about them just turns me off and honestly I just can't tell you what it is.

 

[tebore]

Re: E1B, E1L, Ra or Novatac?

If the E1B is anything like the L1, even though its a spot with a little spill, that spill is not as little as one may think, its very useful.

Granted, the spill on a Novatac is far wider and the light is overall a lot more floody.

MBKrPeter50: you must first know exactly what you want from your light, if you are not completely sure, maybe the versatility of the Nova or the Ra lights is more suited to you, i think they are superior lights to the E1L or the E1B in almost every aspect. but someone mentioned the L1, for EDC besides the size, the ergonomics and simplicity of the L1 is very hard to beat, and the switch is a great design.

The E1B uses a more heavily spot weighted optic and has even less spill than the E1L.

 

[Size15's]

Re: E1B, E1L, Ra or Novatac?

The E1B uses a more heavily spot weighted optic and has even less spill than the E1L.

Are you absolutely certain the E1B uses a different TIR topic to the E1L (for example) ?

Is it not a case of each TIR optic and each LED in each bezel having sweet-spot with a tolerance where the beam can vary as a result of the assembly and the individual components?
The TIR optics are retained by the front component of the bezel which is screwed down onto the rest of the bezel which features the mounted LED. The TIR and LED combination have a zone in which the beam is 'focused' but at the extremes of that zone the beams are obviously different (comparatively tighter or broader).

Based on what I've seen it appears to simply to be a natural variation from flashlight to flashlight regardless of whether it is an X300, L1, E1L, E2L, E2DL, E1B or M600C (KX2C)

Al

 

[tebore]

Re: E1B, E1L, Ra or Novatac?

Are you absolutely certain the E1B uses a different TIR topic to the E1L (for example) ?

Is it not a case of each TIR optic and each LED in each bezel having sweet-spot with a tolerance where the beam can vary as a result of the assembly and the individual components?
The TIR optics are retained by the front component of the bezel which is screwed down onto the rest of the bezel which features the mounted LED. The TIR and LED combination have a zone in which the beam is 'focused' but at the extremes of that zone the beams are obviously different (comparatively tighter or broader).

Based on what I've seen it appears to simply to be a natural variation from flashlight to flashlight regardless of whether it is an X300, L1, E1L, E2L, E2DL, E1B or M600C (KX2C)

Al

Right I forgot about that. It's possible that what I saw is due to the variations in assembly and bezel length. I'm not absolutely certain that's for sure.

 

[youreacrab]

I have looked at the Nitecore lights and other than the D10, there is something about them just turns me off and honestly I just can't tell you what it is.

its probably the tacticool!

Ok after reading some of these first posts, I think I need to narrow down my options a little more.

What about between these lights:

Ra Twisty 85TR or 100W
Surefire E1L
Novatac 85EDC or 120EDC

at this point just decide what beamshape you want: narrow (E1L or T85r) or wide (Novatac or T100w) and then choose clicky or twisty.

 

[MBKrPeter50]

its probably the tacticool!



at this point just decide what beamshape you want: narrow (E1L or T85r) or wide (Novatac or T100w) and then choose clicky or twisty.

I am just not sure whether the twisty interface would be a drawback in my EDC, but I do like the reliability aspect, though.

 

[chaoss]

I am just not sure whether the twisty interface would be a drawback in my EDC, but I do like the reliability aspect, though.

Trust me, the Twisty in either configuration is shweeeet for EDC :).

 

[MBKrPeter50]

Trust me, the Twisty in either configuration is shweeeet for EDC :).

I guess the question is will I be able to get used to twisty switch instead of a clicky?

 

[parnass]

No experience with the Novatac. I had an HDS Basic B42XRGT back in the day. High quality build, excellent beam characteristics, but the user interface was not right for me.

Sold the HDS and bought a Surefire 2-level E1L Cree. Love the long battery life, good throw, and the UI suits my needs much better. Easy to operate in a hurry.

 

[MBKrPeter50]

No experience with the Novatac. I had an HDS Basic B42XRGT back in the day. High quality build, excellent beam characteristics, but the user interface was not right for me.

Sold the HDS and bought a Surefire 2-level E1L Cree. Love the long battery life, good throw, and the UI suits my needs much better. Easy to operate in a hurry.

How does it carry? Currently I am carrying a L1D in the hip sheath and it is OK for now, but I was wondering how a light with a pocket clip would carry?

 

[parnass]

How does it carry? Currently I am carrying a L1D in the hip sheath and it is OK for now, but I was wondering how a light with a pocket clip would carry?

The E1L is shaped oddly enough so that it is more difficult to carry than lights like the L1T which have a uniform, cylindrical shape.

I don't trust the E1L's clip for use as a pocket clip. I either carry the E1L in a belt case or shirt or jacket pocket. The head is too large to be comfortable in my pants pocket. YMMV.

 

[MBKrPeter50]

The E1L is shaped oddly enough so that it is more difficult to carry than lights like the L1T which have a uniform, cylindrical shape.

I don't trust the E1L's clip for use as a pocket clip. I either carry the E1L in a belt case or shirt or jacket pocket. The head is too large to be comfortable in my pants pocket. YMMV.

That is what is really holding me back from any of the surefire lights. I have gotten used to being able to slip my L1D in my pocket, but it sounds like I would have a difficult time doing that with a Surefire.

Thanks for the advice.

I guess that narrows my choices down once again. Now I am between the:

Novatac 85EDC or 120EDC
Ra Twisty

I like the pocket clip on the Novatacs and the clicky interface, but reliabilty is important and from what I understand you don't get much more reliable than a twisty.

Please keep the suggestions coming.

thanks
Patrick

P.S. If I do go with a Twisty what model should I get. I am not really to sure about the red light, but I am open to suggestions.

 

[sappyg]

i would pick the twisty... mostly because i want one. :nana: i've been carrying an NT and i am very pleased with it. which means i need a new light. :whistle:
you can get use to a twisty once you carry it for a while. for edc i would go with the wider beam profile of the 100w.
i use a clip on my edc lights to make them more useful in some situations. i would never carry and or rely on a clip as the sole retention devise. they are a temporary solution for a short term problem only.

 

[MBKrPeter50]

i would pick the twisty... mostly because i want one. :nana: i've been carrying an NT and i am very pleased with it. which means i need a new light. :whistle:
you can get use to a twisty once you carry it for a while. for edc i would go with the wider beam profile of the 100w.
i use a clip on my edc lights to make them more useful in some situations. i would never carry and or rely on a clip as the sole retention devise. they are a temporary solution for a short term problem only.

Thanks for the advice and I hope a Twisty makes its way to you soon.

 

[jimmy1970]

I've got a Novatac and had a Twisty and after having to return my Twisty for warranty repairs, I would go the Novatac.

Everybody has their preferred method of light activation but the novelty of the twisty action wore off pretty quickly for me. The stiff action etc required a two handed action - they say this improves with time but in the 3 months I owned the Twisty, it only improved slightly.

The Novatac on the other hand IMHO is vastly superior - programmable, simple clicky action with heaps of options - virtually the same beam type, same emitter as the Ra Twisty but with a standard belt clip included. They say the Twisty is unbreakable - maybe it is a stronger light physically than the Novatac due to the stronger threads etc but apart from that benefit, the Novatac is the better option - the Clicky however is a totally different story - that appears to be an excellent choice - if only they could make it the same size as the Novatac - that would be perfect!!:thumbsup:

James...