Surefire L2 LED and LX2

[tm3]

which of these has the more floody beam or are they about the same?



i like the description of how the tailswitch works -- press slightly for low beam, press further for high beam. does it in fact work well, or are the two so close together that you keep hitting high when you really want low?



are there other LED lights with good flood and similar operation that i should consider? i might prefer a tailswitch with one click for low, again for high over the momentary on, or maybe even selecting low or high by twisting the head of the light -- hard to say without actually trying them out.



thanks

 

[RWT1405]

The LX2 is TIR, which has NO spill/flood. If you want a "floddy" beam the LX2 is NOT for you.

My .02 FWIW YMMV

 

[Size15's]

tm3,
There has been much written about SureFire's two-stage push button pressure switch. Certainly from my experience it's easy not to 'mash down' on the switch to push past the low output to the high output.
Importantly, you can 'lockout' the high output mode by simply unscrewing the TailCap just beyond the point at which the high output mode no longer activates no matter how hard you press the switch. This can be useful when you really don't want an accidental discharge of high output, or when you want to conserve battery juice and only use low output.

The L2 and LX2 beams are very different.
The LX2 has a large intensity main beam with a significantly lower intensity spill. This is the case for all SureFires that use the same TIR (LX2, E2DL, E1B, E2L, M600C, X300 etc)
The L2 has a large LED in a small diameter, shallow reflector. The beam this combination generates is more of a wall or flood of light - it has very little throw.

The LX2 is TIR, which has NO spill/flood. If you want a "floddy" beam the LX2 is NOT for you.
My .02 FWIW YMMV

That's like saying the L2 has no beam - it's all spill/flood.

The reality in my experience is that SureFire's TIR optic provides enough/sufficient spill/flood for the majority of my use situations whereas the L2 doesn't produces anywhere close of the intensity necessary to be effective in the majority of my use situations.
This means I can make do with the LX2 at close-range although it's not ideal for reading etc, but I can't make do with L2 for situations where I really need a defined beam to really illuminate at a reasonable distance. Of course the LX2 is shorter, brighter, longer runtime, has a bezel-down pocketclip etc. For me the LX2 is by far the more useful flashlight.

Al

 

[angelofwar]

I have both, and have long said the l2 is one of my favourite Surefires...and one of the last one's I'd ever part with because it is that useful. I find the floody beam of the L2 more useful for walking, etc., and it's the perfect walk through the woods/camping light. The LX2 is more "tactical", with the TIR lens, and can throw a more concentrated beam down range, as size-15 said. I do more caving/walking through the woods, where the extra periphial vision of the L2 comes in handy...i.e. you can see what's at your feet better. I have both, but if I could only have 1 in any given situation, it would be the L2.