Surefire E2L square spot?

Hey I just picked up a E2L for an emergency/backup light today and noticed that the center spot in the beam is square. Is this something I should contact Surefire about, or is it normal? on another not there is a slight purpleish tint to it as well, but I am not too concerned about the tint as it is barely noticeable and much better than having puke green

Otherwise it seems like a great light for edc and is definately going to be used as an emergency backup when I go mountainbiking at night. Which I must say is extremely fun with proper equipment:naughty:

Its the optic Surefire uses to make the beam so tight for throw. It projects the square nature of a Luxeon LED. I gave my E1L away because of this beam pattern.

A beamshaper fixes this problem though; between upclose work and more throw.

Tint - Luxeon Lottery.... but if the Fenix can fix their lottery to such a small tolerance, just curious to why Surefire has such wide differences.

It's normal & I find the sq. more useful than round.

Welcome to the CPF!

It's sqare... I know.. but it still is.. Same on my KL1 head.. Which G R E A T on a one cell body...



Gordon aka:skillet

almost no spill, personally don't like the square beam.
sold all my new surefire lights with that beam pattern.

much prefer older style surefire heads modded with so17 reflector. much more useable beam with better spill and throw. surefire really went backwards on this one. that's just my personal take. some may luv this new pattern.

SureFire haven't gone backwards. The move from X200A optic to KL1/L1 optic is step forward. What we are seeing is SureFire advance optics. The DARPA project SureFire, SAIC & LumiLeds have been involved in are likely to start showing results in 2006. Rounding the beam from a square die is part of what SureFire have been working on; along with creating a good light distribution using optics that are either shorter, or less diameter compared to reflectors (or both).

Al

Re: darpa?Surefire E2L square spot?

what is the darpa proj surefire?


hmmmm

I love the square spot on my E1L:rock:

Size15's said:

SureFire haven't gone backwards. The move from X200A optic to KL1/L1 optic is step forward. What we are seeing is SureFire advance optics. The DARPA project SureFire, SAIC & LumiLeds have been involved in are likely to start showing results in 2006. Rounding the beam from a square die is part of what SureFire have been working on; along with creating a good light distribution using optics that are either shorter, or less diameter compared to reflectors (or both).

Al

Click to expand...

it's not the square pattern, I don't care for. that I could take it or leave it. NX-05 makes a square beam depending upon forcus.

it's the beam distribution of delivering almost no spill, greatly reducing usitbility for most of my normal usage.

std so17 beam has aprox. same throw and much better spill. in general a much nicer beam pattern. but if square pattern is what's required, then new optic is better

again...please note comments are my personal preferance only.

I understand your point - I share it too. My point is that the KL1 optic is a step towards better optics.

The DARPA project generated various flashlights. Some of which we have seen. Others we have not.

Here are three:

Shelby Chan Photography

I guess that the goal is to develop better optics, not just for the LEDs of today, but also for those that are to come.

Here's another photo by Shelby:

cy, the McR20 is pretty much a "drop-in" for the late KL1s. I prefer the flat window from the Exe incan heads.

*WARNING* SureFire head disassembly is typically very difficult and will void your warranty! (Disclaimer wasn't for you, cy.)

Larry

I'm enthusiastic about SF's optics too. Like Al, I think this is a huge innovation and will keep SF ahead of the competition. LuxV would be a lot more useful with lazer tight beams; diffusers are easy to apply if one needs flood. This would also cut back on that ghostly appearance of LED light in the outdoors too. I'm saving for the new KL6, maybe KL4 too.

Different strokes. At work with the ambient light levels and need to spot small areas at 50 - 150' the E1L is perfect for this purpose and is a small ride on my belt.

Around the house or night walks in the woods a head light or wider spilling light is called to duty. The E1L or E2L also comes along if I don't take a different thrower but usually isn't used much.

I was square (Man) in the 50's & rather like to be sq. in the beam now.

I find that beam shape makes very little difference to me on how I will like the light. In actual use square-E1L, round-L5, super tight-New KL3, diffuse-Old L1, even ringy-Inova X0(3) seems to do the job if I am looking for something and not staring at the ceiling with it. Which by the way I seem to do a lot of (beam patterns that is). Any light seems to get better or easier to use the more I use it and get used to it. Took a while to get used to the color or shade of LED's. I still like the incans (6P and M4) but using LED's more and more.

I used to go back and forth between EDC'ing the A2 and L2, but that E1L is so small and seemingly bright, I can not put it down for long. Still use the A2 or L2 when needing longer runtimes (low), but when just needing a quick and go light, I have no problem with the square shape of the E1L/New KL1. In my general use, at the ranges I use it at, it spreads out nicely outdoors and indoors I often just bounce it off the ceiling to light up the room.

In the mid to late 80's when I played army for Uncle Sam, we were issued the old Angle Head flashlights. We also had to carry a spare set of D cells and make sure we had a good spare bulb in the tail cap. I was just thinking this week what it would have been like to have had the E1L back then. A tiny housing, no spare bulbs, and dinky little lightweight 123a batteries.

AlienRFX,
I also liked to hike back then and for my emergency backup I carried a small, one lithium cell Tekna. It is twenty years old now, and still works - with the original Battery! Admittedly, I have rarely used it. Mainly to check if it was still working. But like you I would carry the E1L now, and probably an ArcAAA to use to light a battery change on the E1L or to use as a tent light.

You'll only notice the KL1's square beamshot when "Wall-Hunting" inside. It is neither a defect nor a practical/tactical limitation.

This is one great little light... assuming you purchased it knowing it was a Thrower, not a Flooder. Pretty beamshots ain't its deal. Outside Real-World spotting is. While many bigger LED lights beat it on Spill, few cover all its bases in such an efficient, durable package. You can use it for interior room-lighting via the "ceiling-bounce" method. Outside, the KL1's highly-focused beam is usually potent enough to cut through moderate competing ambient light from street and porch-lights, etc., almost like the (bigger/heavier) Inova XO3/T3.

It has great runtime, size-to-output efficiency, and practical-use beam quality. It also will run on "depleted" batteries that most 2 X 123 lights have worn out, so it's a fine "drainer." I find it pretty pocketable -- I use a modified .38 snubby revolver ballistic nylon pocket holster to keep it firmly upright in my left-front Dockers pocket... and I never leave home without it (the KL1... and my pants!).

Thanks for all the replies. I was able to use the E2L at work today and found the beam to be quite usefull. But it's intended purpose is for a backup when night riding or keep in the car, as I have a Inova T4 for general use at work, never need to change batteries:rock:

The E2L in contrast is quite appropriately named as well. It's small, lightweight and damn near bulletproof, perfect for outdoors used, And I also found the long clip very usefull for attaching to the bill of my hat for a makeshift headlamp:rock:

Up close the KL1 sucks, but I only need light upclose/indoors for a shortwhile anyways, henceforth my TW4 configuration.
My E1l became a E2l after I swapped heads and voila, nice far illumination at night