Why are there no led drop ins for Surefire e series lights?

LEDBE
I guess due to heat-sinking issues. If you take the lamp assembly out of the E1E, you see that the back of the reflector is hard-anodized, which is not the best conductor of heat. Ideally, you would want something like the E-MT to be pushed up against bare aluminium so that that the whole head acts as the heatsink.
 
Surefire's way around that is to replace the entire head with a well sinked one (KL1 and KX1). Other heads have been made to fit too, like Aleph and soon Nitecore.
 
The main issue, IMHO, is that the opening for the bulb is SOO small. There really are not any high power LED's that will physically FIT in the hole. 3mm and 5mm ones will fit, but lack the illumination to make them worthwhile. The E-MT gets around this issue by using the tiny rebel, and manually cutting it down to the smallest possible size. If you have not seen one is person, look at some macro shots of the E-MT. There is a lot of work that goes into those suckers.
 
I would like an E-series LED head that was upgradeable.
Click to expand...
They're pretty much a throw-away item. I buy them on The Marketplace for $25 to $30, new or near new. There's no way for SF or any modder to upgrade an emitter & driver for that little money.

When SF brings out their next gen head, you'll be able to buy them for not much money. Sell your old head & the net cost to upgrade is very little.
 
precisionworks said:
They're pretty much a throw-away item. I buy them on The Marketplace for $25 to $30, new or near new. There's no way for SF or any modder to upgrade an emitter & driver for that little money.

When SF brings out their next gen head, you'll be able to buy them for not much money. Sell your old head & the net cost to upgrade is very little.
Click to expand...

My interest is putting a red or uv emitter in one.
 
I'm surprise that there is only one person making E-MT style drop ins. I don't think there is a patent on E-MT style drop ins. I sold off all my e series incandescents but if there was an affordable drop in, I would have upgraded. SF heads don't always match the color of the body. Sometimes black is not available and I'm not in to the TIR spotlight beam.
 
Actually there're two cpf members behind the E-MT assembly line...

Yes there's no patent, besides this isn't something ground breaking and if I wish to copy I would move to somewhere strategic and hire cheap labor to make them, then that would solve the patent issues and speed up manufacturing.

During the development, I discovered that a Japanese cpf member 'belyo' has already implemented such drop-in with a Rebel 50. He also has several other types of LEDs.

I don't know if you've seen the actual beam of an E-MT, the stock reflector itself isn't designed for such purpose so the beam isn't exactly impressive for people who are expecting some 'throw'. If there's a LED that matches the beam angle of the stock incan, then Surefire will not like it very much... :shrug:

dmz said:
I'm surprise that there is only one person making E-MT style drop ins. I don't think there is a patent on E-MT style drop ins. I sold off all my e series incandescents but if there was an affordable drop in, I would have upgraded. SF heads don't always match the color of the body. Sometimes black is not available and I'm not in to the TIR spotlight beam.
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It's better to sell off the incandescent e series and buy the new e series led models. Price of incandescent e series + EM-T is going to be close to a new e series led.
 
dmz said:
It's better to sell off the incandescent e series and buy the new e series led models. Price of incandescent e series + EM-T is going to be close to a new e series led.
Click to expand...

have you used one in person? somehow I have a feeling you never used an EM-T.

The big draw of it is that I can use it with a regular sized E-head. Sometimes it's nice to retain the shape of an E1e without a huge head that throws off the balance of the whole light.

IMHO the EM-Ts are WELL worth the money.
 
precisionworks said:
When SF brings out their next gen head, you'll be able to buy them for not much money. Sell your old head & the net cost to upgrade is very little.
Click to expand...
Actually, i see a problem with that, who is going to want to buy an old head? UI and form factor remaining constant...

I actually prefer the smaller sizes of the E series Surefire lights compared to the EXL series, i dont own any of the E series exactly because of that..

koala said:
If there's a LED that matches the beam angle of the stock incan, then Surefire will not like it very much... :shrug:
Click to expand...

maybe they sue the manufacturor...oh but wait....:laughing:

Crenshaw
 
if you insist on using price and output to be the only criteria for a light, then you are better off buying a E2DL.

There are merits to the EM-Ts that make it a viable option to stock SFs. It;s intense spill is great for general usage, and its ability to use stock head lets one have a tiny E1e sized light that puts 100+ lumens of light. If you compare the E1e bezel with any of the LEd heads you will see what I mean.

You can get a new E1e for as low as in the 60's from ebay.

100_0205.jpg

100_0204.jpg

dmz said:
surefire e2d executive defender + EM-T = $110 + $65 = $175

http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/co_disp/displ/prrfnbr/1132/sesent/00

surefire e2dl = $136

http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main...r=6&prrfnbr=24531&sesent=0,0&search_id=857473


Does the EM-T put out as much light as a e2dl (120 lumens)? Beam shots here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=196892
Click to expand...
 
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milkyspit (and I'm sure many others) does a mod where he can put an LED inside a stock E-series head. It takes a little more work since it's so cramped in there, but it's certainly possible. That makes for a tiny EDC! And it'll probably put out 200+ lumen and runs on an RCR123 too!
 
270winchester, thanks for the pics. EM-Ts do have their advantages: shorter flashlight head and more beam spill but I would go with the new e2dl because you have SF's warranty. If the EM-T goes bad you are SOL.

Here's a link to a thread that shows the length difference between a e2d and a e2dl. The length difference is not that much.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=196892
 
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