Surefire L7

[Lightingguy321]

I purchased an L7 about 2 months ago and feel that it is time for a review(beamshots will come at a later time). The light itself is extremely well built and durable and this has been put to the test through being accidentally dropped on concrete which has not been able to kill it. The white tint of my luxeon V is nice and balanced and puts out a nice beam. The new charger that came out for the B-90s seems to be doing an excellent job at keeping the batteries fresh and healthy without giving them memory effect. I have to say that the throw on the L7 is amazing even though the reflector isn't very wide. I assume that the semi tight beam is attributed to the deep dish reflector that the L7 uses. Over all it is a great light to get if you use a light a lot and like a rechargeable light. Some improvements could be making a L7 with a cree LED and a lithium ion battery stick instead of the standard NiCad.

 

[monkeyboy]

I'm also an L7 owner. It was one of the first high power LED lights that I bought. I've upgraded it to a Cree Q4 with GD 500 and Silverfox' 3700mAh Nimh pack. I get 7 hours runtime at 500mA. With 1000mA, you would get maybe 3 hours with more output. the throw is much tighter with the Cree. Maybe a little too tight.

 

[Lightingguy321]

sorry to bring this post back from the dead, but monkey boy, how did you do the mod? (I might be throwing an SSC LED in the L7), more specifically, how do you open up the KL7?

 

[monkeyboy]

hello lighting guy

You can open the head using a pair of strap wrenches ( no heating necessary but requires a little effort). Ones like these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0001P0EUA/

You need to change the driver board since the stock boost driver will not do for a cree or SSC. The GD driver from the sandwich shoppe is a good choice. i used the gd500 which is ok but you can drive at higher currents if you want.

the cree needs to be raised until it touches the reflector to focus properly(anodizing should prevent short) the ssc may or may not need to be raised but it won't need to be raised by much. Make sure driver board and LED are well heatsinked with thermal exopy and use material such as silver, copper or aluminium to raise the LED.

 

[woodrow]

I always thought the L6 and L7 looked like great lights.