Kl3 surefire history question

[davidwestonh]

I was looking at a picture of kl3 head and it's tir lense.
19.5 lumens and throw.
who would have purchased this?
was it popular?
what would people see the need for this head?
Any stories ?

 

[Flashlight Dave]

I am not familiar with this head but just to mention as for the 19.5 lumens and throw, one of the most popular Surefire lights is the L1 which in the older versions topped out at 22 lumens.

 

[cland72]

I think at the time, it was probably really advanced/useful.

Fast forward to today, and yeah, it's pretty pitiful. But, a lot of people like to mod older heads to bring them current.

 

[WDR65]

I owned a couple of these. They did throw well at the time they came out..........for an led. They were bit brighter than the first KL1 head that I bought. I remember being amazed that I had an led that would light up a large object at fifty yards. Then I was even more amazed when the Streamlight 4AA luxeon came out, it had both throw and spill unlike the KL1 and KL3's that I had.

The one thing that the KL3 did bring to the table was long runtime which was the big initial advantage. The first Surefire LED heads that broke a hundred lumens were the KL4, KL5, and KL6. Those only ran for an hour just like their incandescent counterparts so having a head like the KL3 with its decent throw (for the time) and its long run time was a big improvement.

Most people on the forums today don't realize how much has truly changed in the last ten years in the field of flashlight output and runtime. I'm not one of the old timers on here but I am one of the long time lurkers who gets to laugh now when someone complains because their single cell 123 powered light isn't five hundred lumens for 3 hours.

Going back to the KL3, if Size15's still posts he could tell you a lot more than I about the heads. I do know that there were at least three different versions with two distinctly different designs, one with larger head with a lot of cooling fins and the other a more streamlined head similar to the KL5 heads. Within that version there were two different TIR optics used.

 

[Mike 208]

The KL3 (and KL1) also came with different color LEDs: White, Red, Green and Blue. I have one (last generation white) on my "Frankenstein" light on my nightstand (6P body with an A19 extender and a first generation lock-out tail cap). It actually works very well for general lighting. The first generation KL3 (with the cooling fins, which I also have) is more of a flood light, where the later models were more of a spot light.

 

[davidwestonh]

The KL3 (and KL1) also came with different color LEDs: White, Red, Green and Blue. I have one (last generation white) on my "Frankenstein" light on my nightstand (6P body with an A19 extender and a first generation lock-out tail cap). It actually works very well for general lighting. The first generation KL3 (with the cooling fins, which I also have) is more of a flood light, where the later models were more of a spot light.

Great to hear its still being used.
How would it compare to my e2dl low?
it sounds like it would still be an excellent dog walking light.
do you know when surefire first came out with a less than 5 lumen output light?
one of these days I will get a e1l, 5 lumens is a high for me.
thanks

 

[davidwestonh]

I owned a couple of these. They did throw well at the time they came out..........for an led. They were bit brighter than the first KL1 head that I bought. I remember being amazed that I had an led that would light up a large object at fifty yards. Then I was even more amazed when the Streamlight 4AA luxeon came out, it had both throw and spill unlike the KL1 and KL3's that I had.

The one thing that the KL3 did bring to the table was long runtime which was the big initial advantage. The first Surefire LED heads that broke a hundred lumens were the KL4, KL5, and KL6. Those only ran for an hour just like their incandescent counterparts so having a head like the KL3 with its decent throw (for the time) and its long run time was a big improvement.

Most people on the forums today don't realize how much has truly changed in the last ten years in the field of flashlight output and runtime. I'm not one of the old timers on here but I am one of the long time lurkers who gets to laugh now when someone complains because their single cell 123 powered light isn't five hundred lumens for 3 hours.

Going back to the KL3, if Size15's still posts he could tell you a lot more than I about the heads. I do know that there were at least three different versions with two distinctly different designs, one with larger head with a lot of cooling fins and the other a more streamlined head similar to the KL5 heads. Within that version there were two different TIR optics used.

So were these edc or work lights? Did you also have a keychain light like arc?
would people be using it walk the dog or a workplace tool?
I remember my first penlight as a teen and only used it to find the keyhole to the house door.
i was pathologically cheap. Next was a mag light was when I had a house and keep it for power outages.
i walked in the dark and accepted it. If I had to buy the kl3 sheen it came out I would have broken out in cold sweets.