Fenix L1 Lighthound Special vs. L1P

I bought a couple of the Fenix L1 Special from lighthound.com. I received them today, and was eager to see how it compared...was it indeed the same LED as normally used in the L1P?

Cosmetically, of course, they look nearly the same, sans the anodizing.



The L1 Special is in silver; the L1P in anodized black



Same tailcap, switch and boot.



Qualitatively, the beams look to be about the same brightness to me. The L1 Special is on the left, and the L1P is on the right.

My initial thoughts are that, indeed, the LED seems to be the same used in the L1P. The finish is no doubt less durable than the anodized, but this one (the silver L1) will lurk in the darkness of the bottom of my wife's purse!

That's it in a nutshell. They appear to be the same except for the finish.

Looks good to me. I like the silver since even if it is less durable, damage is less noticable due to the similar color of the underlying metal.

Is that silver finish just anodized bare aluminum or is it a silver coating of some sort?

Jayman:

I can't tell you...it's already wrapped and under the tree!

Awww, partypooper. Guess I'll have to wait for mine to arrive from Lighthound. Merry Christmas anyways. :nana:

What about the antireflective coating on the lens? That should look different too.

The L1P adds a very slight blue tint to the front glass.

Jayman- its silver annodized in Type II. Its easier to scratch than an L1P, but it won't be as obvious when you do.

warpdrive- you are correct, there is no tint to the glass.

I just mentioned in another thread that my two new L1's from Lighthound's special build are visibly brighter in the hotspot and whiter than my L1Pv2.5 from the first group buy. Radio expressed similar results. Anyone else have a comparison?

Not looking at the caption, but in the beamshots above I could tell the L1P on the right was the brighter of the two.

I have one of these L1s along with one v2.0 and one v2.5 L1Ps. I'd say the brightness for all of them is comparable- I can't really tell which one is actually putting out more light without scientific instruments. In theory, if the L1 is indeed an R bin, the brightness order should go: L1P v2.5 (due to AR coating), L1 v2.5 with R bin, L1P v2.0. However, the tint on each of these is sufficiently different that it makes brightess perceptions relative. My L1P v2.0 has a yellowish/greenish tint, the L1P v2.5 has a slightly purple/pink tint, and the L1 has a touch of blue/turquiose. Note that none of these tints are so pronounced as to seem anything other than WHITE if viewed privately.

That said, the slightly "cyan" tint of the L1 makes it seem slightly brighter than the others by a very small margin.

Luxeon lottery will come into affect for all lights too. My L1P from the first group buy is brighter than another.