New LEUPOLD Lights !

[kosPap]

$180 is street price and not MSRP? If it's really street price, I'd hate to see what retail is.

225! in optics Planet and SWFA

 

[TaterBo]

With assumed due respect, this thread is primarily about a new flashlight and not in regards to how this flashlight will stack up against its competition. Obviously how it compares to other lights will be of major interest to many.

How these new LEUPOLD lights compare to Surefire is especially relevant given both manufacturers' price points and general design. A comparison gives CPF members a means to evaluate the goodness of a light and I think this is what most CPF members are interested in knowing.

With the diversity of the SF line and little known yet of the Leupold lights, can you be more specific, if you feel you must, in identifying which SF lights will be left in the dust and out of curiosity, how this will come about?

All Surefire 2x&3x123 aluminum lights having a single bulb or single LED are bested by these LEUPOLD lights. Here are just a few reasons why:
- LEUPOLD lights are really waterproof – not just water resistant
- LEUPOLD LED lights have select bin LEDs – no green tints here
- LEUPOLD lights use sapphire lenses – no easily scratched cookware Pyrex

 

[WadeF]

Wow, they look nice. Are these available yet? Can't wait to see some reviews.

 

[Evan III]

They look very interesting, There scopes are top notch so i assume the lights will be also. The GOLD ring is classic Leupold! As for the scope being compared, There are alot of good scopes out there but many will say Leupold is the best, and many will say the same about other brands. Surefire is about the biggest rip off going in flashlights (In my opinion) they are way overpriced and take advantage of people buying a name! But hey if you build it they will come! I'm sure leupold's lights are just as good as surefire if not better, but again overpriced because of the name.

 

[adamlau]

LEUPOLD lights are really waterproof – not just water resistant

The M series is at least waterproof up to a depth of approximately 10 meters. Full N certification can be had at an additional cost.

 

[Size15's]

Isn't it fun to get all worked up over specs and ratings?
It's also great to get excited about vaporware.
This is the wider context of flashoholic interest in flashlights. Gives us something to do I guess.

Relating this to the Leupold MX lights I take the view that these appear to have some potential for good performance and it will be interesting to follow reviews / opinions / experiences / feedback of them if and when they are released.

I get the impression that Leupold is quite serious about their new venture - these don't appear to be re-branded imports and based on this it is my opinion that they should be given serious performance evaluation. From my perspective it is far more interesting to gain feedback based on several hundred police and military users putting these to use over the course of 3-6 months compared to reading a 'review' written 5 minutes after getting the flashlight home. That may be suitable for some brands but I would hope that Leupold would prefer to aim higher.

Al

 

[McGizmo]

......


All Surefire 2x&3x123 aluminum lights having a single bulb or single LED are bested by these LEUPOLD lights. Here are just a few reasons why:
- LEUPOLD lights are really waterproof – not just water resistant
- LEUPOLD LED lights have select bin LEDs – no green tints here
- LEUPOLD lights use sapphire lenses – no easily scratched cookware Pyrex

Thank you for the response and support of your initial contention. I agree that once these lights are understood, one can move on to price point consideration and evaluate on that basis as well as the feature sets and perceived value within.

In regards to a light being "really waterproof", that is a slippery slope given the nature of a waterproof claim and how it has been eroded years back by the likes of Ralph Nadar and such.

I consider good seals and integrity of a light under pressure a significant plus and I believe Leupold knows what they are doing here and this is quite likely a big plus, in my book. However my criteria is that a light be salt "waterproof" and in viewing the PDF spec sheet I would like to confirm that what looks like raw aluminum on the front end of the battery tube is sealed from the elements before I would consider the light viable in salt water immersion. None the less, this is certainly a plus. I am curious about the raw aluminum and I would like to see how the ground path travels from tail to head. Hopefully (or preferably) it is not dependent on the threads themselves. :thinking: :shrug:

I am also an advocate for sapphire windows and have been for quite some time; I might even have been one of the pioneers to bring sapphire to this application. This too is a plus in my book even at the expense of light transmission efficiencies. Leupold is likely an expert at glass and lens coatings and they may have treated the sapphire in a manner which would enhance its light transmission capability. That is the kind of factoid that tickles my interest. There is no mention of AR coatings in the PDF but that doesn't mean this wasn't addressed. :shrug:

Now on the statement of Bin sorted LED's sounds like a marketing ploy to illicit comments and thoughts as you have expressed. Do we know what LED Leupold is using? The tint lottery is still alive and well as far as I know. SF brought us a number of lights in the past which had less than desirable tints but these lights used premium bin selection based on flux and not tint and many of these lights most likely used LED's of a different design than present generation lights. I won't claim that Leupold can't establish a uniformity in tint yet to be experienced across a population of lights but I would like to know more on how they bring this about before I accept a "True White TM" claim as more than just a marketing ploy.

Actually I have high hopes and expectations for the Leupold lights and I think there is good reason to have these expectations. The proof will ultimately be in the hand and not the PDF.

 

[Size15's]

I assumed that the lack of obvious surface treatment on the threads was down to the products shown being proto-types. I guess we won't know for sure until these products can be purchased and examined.
To early to judge them on this IMHO.

It is obvious to me that Leupold are approaching flashlights from a scope manufacturers perspective. They appear to have taken a shine to SureFire's selector dial UI - whether this will be a bright move we'll have to wait until these products see the light of day.

Is there any merit in discussing why it takes the likes of Leupold to step to 'advanced selector dials' when all the flashlight manufacturers seem to fear attempting to play the high technology game with SureFire.
Perhaps having the brand name and the power to price to invest means the likes of Leupold have the funds to take risks?

Al :thinking:

 

[THE PUNISHER]

They will make it,it iz a golden ring light with a lifetime warranty no matter how high itz priced someone will buy em,they look high end,but look at fenix itz coming on strong with a mid market price...........:candle:

 

[TaterBo]

Thank you for your reply McGizmo.

In regards to a light being "really waterproof", that is a slippery slope given the nature of a waterproof claim and how it has been eroded years back by the likes of Ralph Nadar and such.

Leupold is pretty clear in detailing what they mean by waterproof for these new Leupold lights – it's four atmospheres (a water depth of 132 feet or 40 meters).

Now on the statement of Bin sorted LED's sounds like a marketing ploy to illicit comments and thoughts as you have expressed. Do we know what LED Leupold is using? The tint lottery is still alive and well as far as I know. SF brought us a number of lights in the past which had less than desirable tints but these lights used premium bin selection based on flux and not tint and many of these lights most likely used LED's of a different design than present generation lights. I won't claim that Leupold can't establish a uniformity in tint yet to be experienced across a population of lights but I would like to know more on how they bring this about before I accept a "True White TM" claim as more than just a marketing ploy.

Leupold further defines "True White" with a specific temperature, 5500 degrees Kelvin. Given the right equipment, one could actually measure how close Leupold comes to achieving this color temperature, but this is not practical except perhaps by a very few CPF members. My contention is that CPF members will not be disappointed with the tint of any of these Leupold LED lights.

 

[greenstuffs]

These flashlights don't look cheap by any means, they are more expensive than surefire.
http://www.opticsplanet.net/leupold-flashlight-accessories.html

 

[McGizmo]

Thank you for your reply McGizmo.



Leupold is pretty clear in detailing what they mean by waterproof for these new Leupold lights – it's four atmospheres (a water depth of 132 feet or 40 meters).



Leupold further defines "True White" with a specific temperature, 5500 degrees Kelvin. Given the right equipment, one could actually measure how close Leupold comes to achieving this color temperature, but this is not practical except perhaps by a very few CPF members. My contention is that CPF members will not be disappointed with the tint of any of these Leupold LED lights.

Understood on how waterproof is qualified and that's cool. With the clickie switch, as they also detail, one would need to revert to twisty on and off well before the rated depth anyway. Still, good seal system on the face of it for sure.

Regarding 5500 K color temp, that only tells us something about tint if the the LED just so happens to fall on the Planck curve (black body); something none of the LED's do, as a rule. I could probably find a green LED that measures 5500K and yet there is no green anywhere in the black body spectrum. No matter. I suspect your contention may be based on more than just familiarity with the spec sheet and for that reason, I defer to your supposed familiarity.

If by chance you have some relationship with Leupold, shame on you for your "in the dirt shot". :nana: Welcome regardless!

 

[276]

the seem pretty cool, but i will wait to see review or two before i decide, i have to keep myself under control this year a least!

 

[TaterBo]

If by chance you have some relationship with Leupold, shame on you for your "in the dirt shot".

I do not now nor have I ever had any relationship with Leupold.

How about you and Surefire?

 

[fresnorich]

These are USA made, right?

I'm going to add Leupold to my list of American (USA) made flashlights.

 

[McGizmo]

I do not now nor have I ever had any relationship with Leupold.

How about you and Surefire?

Taterbo,
Fair enough but after my comments here, I will try to avoid unsupported speculation on these lights and allow them to "speak for themselves" once they get out and in our hands.

I have no formal relationship with SF but PK is a good personal friend and we enjoy dialog and similar interests and certainly among them are illumination devices and designs.

I have also had some contact, of a private nature, with some nice folks at Leupold.

I am biased in favor of both companies and hope that both have good success. Further, I hope this success is a result of sales of quality and "honest" tools which find market interest and acceptance based on their inherent merits and real value. To use the horse race analogy, I have money on both of these horses and hope to see them do well. Of more import to me is that it is a good horse race. Where the analogy falls short is in the sense of there only being one winner and a winner in a race that ends. In reality, there can be more than one winner and hopefully no end.

I was curious at the strength of your contention and guessed you had some inside information or insight. It seems you are a relative newcomer to CPF and your convictions are surprisingly quite strong. I assumed there must be some basis for this and I assumed falsely it would seem.

Without qualifications, what strength can be given to speculation? :welcome:

 

[CM]

Thank you for your reply McGizmo.



Leupold is pretty clear in detailing what they mean by waterproof for these new Leupold lights – it's four atmospheres (a water depth of 132 feet or 40 meters).



Leupold further defines "True White" with a specific temperature, 5500 degrees Kelvin. Given the right equipment, one could actually measure how close Leupold comes to achieving this color temperature, but this is not practical except perhaps by a very few CPF members. My contention is that CPF members will not be disappointed with the tint of any of these Leupold LED lights.

5500K tells only a very small part of the story. You can be 5500K and still have "tint". The real number to look at is on the Planckian curve "along the line". The Kelvin temperature method of characterizing tint has long been discarded in favor of the latter method which is used by Cree, Lumileds, and probably others.

EDIT: Looks like McGizmo beat me to the punchline.

 

[Mercaptan]

Leupold is pretty clear in detailing what they mean by waterproof for these new Leupold lights – it's four atmospheres (a water depth of 132 feet or 40 meters).

Four atmospheres of pressure is actually 30 meters... at least, absolute pressure. At the surface of the ocean, it's 1 atm.

/Technical input

 

[Bullzeyebill]

I met the CEO of Leupold at SHOT this February. He did not know a thing about the flashlight line. Sort of tells you something.

Bill

 

[eric1975]

i just went to leupold's web site and there new lights on there web page check it out, gota go im buying me a new leupold light