Orlando - Shot Show Events and Experiences

[Carpe Diem]

Thanks, PSM!

:thumbsup:

 

[Cypher]

Wow, finally. I've been refreshing for four days. Thanks PSM.

First off, I am jealous of those of you who accepted prize lights direct from the hands of THE PK. How cool is that.

And second, check out the E1X/E2X beams! Mama Pajama!

 

[Frenchyled]

Thank you PSM....You are good for us (Not god )

 

[:)>]

To all,

Time to get a little jealous. I will start with the Surefire Show and then I will move on to other observations that I feel have not been covered; I just want to add to the posts not repeat them.

Surefire was unbelievably generous at their party last night. Everyone in attendance left with 1 or 2 lights like the M6, M4, M3T, M3, A2, G2, G3 etc. I would guess that the retail value of the lights given away was around $7,000.00 and that doesn't include the hats, shirts, calendars, food etc. I WANT TO SAY A BIG THANK YOU TO SUREFIRE FOR THEIR HOSPITALITY. IT WAS UNEXPECTED AND MORE THAN THEY NEEDED TO DO!

Surefire:

Surefire Party: PK unveiled his new line up and much of the news has been broken about the updates and the lights that got Cree'd:

1. Surefire E1L and E2L: Both were Cree'd and have recognized significant runtime increases with modest output increases. E1L is 30 Lumens for 17 hours and the E2L is 45 lumens for 18 hours. Both use a newly designed optic that was made specifically for the Cree. This optic helps the Cree to produce a nicely round beam with a good spill beam. I can't completely compare or characterize the spill because we were looking at the beam in a semi well lit room but I believe that the Cree + the new optic is a significant improvement in the beam shape and overall quality (i.e. the beam has spill now) over the previous Luxeon based E1L and E2L lights. Surefire has made some nice advancements in optics as realized in the Kroma and these have carried over to the new lights. Keep Reading. PK accurately represented that the performance of these lights was not meant to WOW people with their brightness but rather to cater to outdoor lovers who value the utility of their light rather than its specifications or top end. These lights are not even close to being overdriven and will provide nauseatingly long runtime numbers (a good thing) if they perform as advertised. The price point remains the same as the old lights which is different than all of the other manufacturers policies to date who have capitalized on the demand for the new Cree based lights. What does that mean to me? It means I am spending some more money on Surefire lights because these are right up my alley with their insane runtimes, very respectable output and reasonable price. My only wish was that they were 2 stage with a 2 to 3 lumen low; Tailcap mods shoud take care of that. I believe that every LED based light should at a minimum have 2 levels. My forecast is that excitement in CPF over these lights will be minimal at first but that over time, these lights will be finding their way into your collections because of the great value and the rock solid performance that these lights bring.
2. Surefire L1: This light was updated like the E1L and E2L but Surefire chose to take more advantage of the Cree's output. The output on the new L1 is 65 lumens on high and 10 lumens on low. The runtime on high and low is supposed to unchanged but I cannot confirm the actual performance that is expected as the catalog data is a bit confusing to me. It has the output at 65 and 10 and the runtime at 1.5 and 16 hours. The 16 hours at 10 lumens doesn't seem to work when the E1L has 17 hours at 30 lumens:huh2:. So I believe that this will require further verification. If anyone wants to buy me one, I will be happy to test it for all of you and provide feedback
3. Surefire L5: This light also was updated with the Cree and is now showing 120 lumens out the front with the same optic (to my eyes) as the E1L and the E2L. The head is smaller in diameter than the previous L5. You can make up your own mind on this, but I kind of wish that it would have come with a reflectored Cree instead of the optic but again, this is based on my personal biases and it is not a result of actual field use where I could better evaluate the differences. I don't want to bias anyone against the light with my lukewarm review based on 5 minutes of evaluation in a lit room.
4. Surefire L6: I DID NOT SEE ANY OF THESE AT THE SHOW AND NOBODY SPOKE OF THEM... I wonder what this means if it means anything. I hope this is still an option in the future so that I can accessorize my new M3 courtesy of Surefire
5. Surefire U2 and Kroma: No updates yet but there was a Kroma prototype with a Cree in it and PK indicated that they should be able to or have been able to punch 200 lumens out of the Cree. This was when he was showing off the U2/Cree head on the yellow G2 body. I really want a Cree'd Kroma and I wouldn't mind more runtime with similar output on a new U2.
6. Surefire Misc notes: The Seoul P4 seemed to take Surefire by surprise and now, they have not made a decision on what to do with the Seoul. The Seoul was in the Titan but not in any other lights that I saw. In conversations that I had with Surefire staff, it sounded as if they were leaning toward using the Seoul in reflectored lights and the Cree in optics based lights. This seems to me to be the right course because, and now I am editorializing; the radiation pattern of the Cree seems to lend itself to reflectors better than the Seoul or Luxeon LED's. It looks to me like the reflectors for the Cree need to be deeper but the optics can be shallower whereas the reflectors for the Seoul or Luxeon LED's can be shallower but the optics need to be deeper.
7. Surefire Misc. notes: PK put to bed the notion that Surefire was hitched to any one manufacturer of LED's. PK indicated that Surefire's committment was to their consumer and to producing the BEST lights possible with the best of currently available technology.
8. Surefire Misc. notes: There is a mini beast that is being developed and should be available in the late part of 2007 that is no bigger than the 9AN and it is married to a Seoul P4 in a separate reflector (similar to the 10X Dominator). This light will have 6 levels of output from the Seoul and is estimated to provide around 1200 lumens from the HID lamp. Size 15's actually scored one of these for his participation in keeping the party moving so please PM him with questions. See the bottom of this post for additional information.

Novatac:

I am hesitant to post anything because of all of the currently expressed disatisfaction on the lack of information but I will do so anyway just because I believe their new offereings are exciting to me and will be a significant leap ahead. In fact, where Surefire seemed to have filled out and improved their mid-range offereings without making significant advances in the high-end offerings (U2, Kroma, Millenium Series).

I did not see anything that looked significantly different than the current form factor of the EDC's except for the bezel ring, the textured reflector and a different LED. I will not comment on the LED as the information on it was not offered up as I do not feel that it is my place to discuss what others have stated was Novatac's desire to not release specs on the lights yet. I do believe that it is safe to report that the new EDC offering will be an 85 and I feel pretty safe in saying that there should be a very useful runtime at this output level if the components offered for the final version match what I saw at the show.

The user interface does appear to be similar but improved (more an incremental evolution rather than a revolutionary advance), the tailcap button appears flatter and like an IDIOT, I forgot to ask about the stinking pocket clip. NOVATAC, IF YOU ARE LISTENING, PLEASE AT A MINIMUM MAKE A CLIP THAT IS AS NICE AS THE ONE THAT CRISTOPH PRODUCED. The previous pocket clip was just not very nice (but I was nice in my characterization of it as just "not very nice").

Let me give you the bottom line. The Novatac offering in the EDC line is a light that I am excited about and it is now the light that I am most excited about getting out of all of the lights that I saw yesterday.

Inova:

I was really happy to see that Inova appears to be dropping their TIR's in their X03 and their T3 lights. These lights appear to be sporting a Lux III with a nice reflector and should represent a great value. I was very pleased with what I saw in these lights. Their staff manning their booth was not very knowledgeable.

Pelican:

Pelican had an interesting design that had a rear firing LED that shined into a reflector without a hole in the center of it. This produced a very tight beam that appeared to throw pretty well. I can't say whether or not this is a significant improvement, and improvement at all or a gimmick but it was interesting to see.

Night Ops:

Sadly, I did not see an updated Gladius:candle: and that is all I have to say about that.

Streamlight:

More of the same from previous years. I was not impressed with anything but that is because there was nothing new.

NOTE ON THE MINI-BEAST REPORT ABOVE: I'M JUST PLAYIN' WITH YA. THERE IS NO NEW HID NEWS TO REPORT. But, wouldn't it be nice if they did something like that?

Oh yeah, the secret is out on me too... I don't have a Goatee. You can thank Green LED for the neat CPF handle though.

Your friend,

-Goatee

 

[matrixshaman]

Sounds like SF is going with optics on the Cree XR-E's. This is sort of what I've been saying - that the XR-E's do well with an optic (as did the one I put in a Longbow). Thanks for all the pics PSM but still waiting for Stingray to post his pics with the models Sounds like a great year ahead - I see some more SF's on the want list.

 

[9volt]

Any info on new Novatac tubes or the possibility of them being compatible with existing lights?

Thanks for all the write-ups so far!

 

[Esthan]

Thanks for some info on NovaTac :]

 

[Illum]

Woof.

carrot...whatever happened to "rawr"

PoliceScannerMan, :wow: :kewlpics: :thanks: :goodjob: :thumbsup:

 

[rcashel11]

Thanks for the extensive write-up, Goatee!

 

[aikiman44]

Great write up. So where do we get those Titans?

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Finally, the information drought appears to be over - thanks to Goatee and Police Scanner Man!!!

 

[GRoLED]

Thanks for the pics and the write up guys.

 

[Bryan]

Great write up. So where do we get those Titans?

yes!

 

[luigi]

Finally
Thanks for the reports guys!

Luigi

 

[The Voice of Reason]

This hasn't quenched our thirst here - to those others who were there, we'd still like to see more!!!

Too much info is never enough...

Any word on an ETA for the E1L, E2L and Titan? Any indication on when the new SF catalog will be out?

 

[Manzerick]

thank you goatee!!!!



Now where's my Mini-Beast??? lol

 

[:)>]

On the Novatac tubes, I did not discuss specifics but we had a chuckle about the prices that people were getting for the battery tubes... the chuckle was because the tubes should be a much more available option. Again, like a knucklehead, I did not ask what tubes would be available.

So, it appears that there should be a good supply of battery tubes that will help to lower the prices.

I do not think that all battery tubes will be backwards compatible based upon a comment made by one of the Novatac representatives. I don't know why this would be the case for anything except for the 18650 tubes.

-Goatee

 

[9volt]

I do not think that all battery tubes will be backwards compatible based upon a comment made by one of the Novatac representatives. I don't know why this would be the case

It would be very strange if some tubes were compatible and some weren't. Wouldn't that mean there are 2 different bodies for the tubes?

 

[McGizmo]

Like others said, thanks for the info guys! :thumbsup:

PSM, thank you for the effort and pic! I see PK is still number 1!

 

[frisco]

The new secret CPF Surefire is #1 sign !!!! Is there a secret hand shake?

frisco