SureFire E1e w/ F05 Red & F06 Blue Filters Just Arrived

I finally succumbed to temptation this week and purchased a SureFire E1e from OpticsHQ. The big brown truck dropped off the package at my office about two hours ago. I also got a set of beam filters for it, the F05 Red and F06 Blue. I plan to use the filters during my upcoming camping trip.

I first had the opportunity to handle an E1e after reading about them at a local outdoor store last month. I came away impressed. Two recent threads started by CPF members Ty_Bower "Tempted to buy an E1E" and GadgetTravel "In praise of 15 perfect lumens" pushed me over the edge.

I must admit that I did have some reservations about paying so much for "only 15 lumens". GreenLED's "CPF specials" thread pointed me to great deal at OpticsHQ - thanks greenLED! The discount I received was the icing on the cake for me.

Now that I have my E1e am I pleased with my purchase? In a word, yes! True, SureFire's LED bezel assembly in the E1l does put out more lumens for a longer period of time than the E1e's incandescent MN01 lamp assembly. After trying both the E1e and E1l I seriously considered getting the LED one. However, I really do prefer the overall look of incandescent bulbs over LED's. So, the E1e (in HA-III-BK) it was.

As GadgetTravel says in the opening post of his thread, the E1e is a SureFire and has a "perfect beam". Mine is round, even, very white and appears to be at least twice as bright as the AA Minimag that I keep in my desk drawer. SureFire's MN01 lamp really does make my Minimag's krypton bulb look like a sick yellow joke.

In addition to quality of the E1e's beam, this flashlight just feels good in my hand. The momentary action of SureFire's z57 clickie tailcap is the best I've yet tried. It works just as well as my SF 6P's z41 tactical tailcap. I love the look of SureFire's HA-III-BK finish. Black is my color of choice. I just wish that SureFire still offered the A2 in HA-III-BK (but my wallet is grateful that they don't!).

As a recent convert to SureFire flashlights I've come to realize that less can be more. Although I love the brilliant white beam that my SF P61 and DigiLight DRB-9VHP lamps produce, there are many times that less light is required to do the job. Reading a map, looking for something in the tent, hiking after dark (all tasks where I plan the give my F05 red filter a try), etc. These are all tasks that I previously used my Minimag for.

Now that I've got an E1e, I suspect that my Minimag will be taking a well earned retirement.

Way to go CoffeeAchiever and nice summary regarding your SureFire E1e and said filters. :thumbsup:

Enjoy!

I just snaged a blue flip filter for mine and am liking it. This will run on a El1 and be my car light, along with my tactical G2 of course.

Fringe said:

I just snaged a blue flip filter for mine and am liking it. This will run on a El1 and be my car light, along with my tactical G2 of course.

Click to expand...

Interesting. I might have to try some colored filters. I use have an E2E and an Inova X5T in my car. The Surefire for bright and the Inova for seeing inside the car as well as runtime. If I ever stop getting new lights long enough to get another A2, but with white LEDs this time, I will probably put the A2-YG in the car. Ive used it in the car and it works out well. But colored filters, hmm, must try. Thanks CoffeeAchiever for suggusting that. And glad you like your E1E. Mine is in my jacket pocket, my HDS U60XRGT has moved from pocket to a small bag I carry sometimes. I suspect that will change, the HDS is just too good as a pocket light, but Im enjoying the E1E too much now. Im possibly insane

The filters for the SureFire E series that I prefer are the non-flip up ones, and I have both types in Blue and Red. I find that the "hinge" on the flip-ups get in the way, so to speak, when nestled in my pocket as opposed to the "cap" on ones. Of course, Your Methods May Vary accordingly.

These also work fine on the McLux.PD and Mini Maglites, acting as bezel protectors too! :huh:

Enjoy!

Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone. I had a chance to use my E1e outdoors last night. Fifteen perfect lumens work great around my suburban homestead.

Equipped with a F05 red filter, the E1e's MN01 3V lamp puts out more than enough light to comfortably read a map or navigate around a pitch-black garage. The pocket clip holds the E1e securely to the brim of a baseball cap making a very convenient headlamp. I haven't tried the F06 blue filter yet. I may give it a try tonight.

By the way CHC, the F05 filter does fit a AA Minimag. Thanks for the tip!

So, I'm still happy with my latest SF flashlight acquisition after twenty-four hours. If only I could get the A2's siren song out of my head... !

Cool, it really is a great little light. Glad you like it!

It's a pretty good companion to have with you at all times. I have never used any of the color filters yet, buy it looks like you just peeked my intrest, I will have to try them.

Chuck

Last night I ran my new SF E1e with both the F05 red and F06 blue filters. Since I can't compare the light output using the two filters side by side I had to rely on my short term memory to make any comparisons.

Subjectively, the blue filter's beam appears a little brighter than the red filter's beam. I don't know if this is because the blue filter actually allows more light to pass through it than the red filter does or because the human eye is more sensitive to blue light than to red light. In any case, the blue beam seems brighter than the red beam.

I was curious to see if the blue light beam from an E1e/F06 combination would produce any of the interesting illumination effects that I've read about. Since I don't have a pair of CSI-style filter goggles in orange or any other color to pair with my E1e, my expectations were low. There are no blood trails that I know of in my suburban Phoenix neighborhood to track and I found none in my backyard. Scorpions are a very real issue here in the desert Southwest but I detected none with my new blue light. I do have a UV flashlight on the way from LightHound that I bought specifically to hunt for Scorpions around my yard, but I digress.

Failing to uncover any "biological artifacts" with my F06 filter outdoors, I took my new E1e indoors to see if it would illuminate a known cat yack spot on the bedroom carpet. Those of you with cats know full well that the occasional hairball does accompany cat ownership. Anyway, the E1e/F06 combo's blue beam does not reveal the existence of gastric artifacts in nylon carpet yarn. We'll see what the new UV flashlight reveals.

So, was the F06 blue filter worth the $7.00 that I paid for it? So far the answer for me is no. Perhaps other CFP members can suggest some uses for blue light that I've overlooked. The F05 red filter does have a place in my flashlight arsenal though. I've used a red replacement lens on my Minimag many times in the past. Red light does indeed help preserve one's night adapted vision.

My next E1e experiment will be installing the MN02 and MN03 6V lamp assemblies that I bought and running them on 3.7V protected RCR123a and unprotected LIR123a Li-ion rechargeable batteries that I bought from LightHound. I've heard mixed reports on the effectiveness of SF 6V lamp assemblies powered by single 3.7V batteries. I'm going to see first hand if it can be done and if the results are useful.

I'm still very pleased with my new SF E1e after owning it for two days. It's very easy to carry in typical pants pockets. When clipped to the watch pocket of my jeans next to my mobile phone, the E1e in SF HA-III-BK almost disappears. I'm very glad that I got my E1e in black and I'll probably carry it more often as a result. SureFire makes one heck of a good flashlight!

An E1E is safe but blue light is generally midly bad for the eyes, some people experience some disconfort if exposed for a long time to blue light.
Red on the other extreme is the most confortable light for human vision in terms of the very low impact the light has on the light receivers inside the eye. Red is used for astronomy to keep night vision amon other things.
I've never understood very well why would you want to use a blue light other than the "cool" factor. If you discover some application let me know.
And congratulations for your E1E now you will be tempted to get the KL1 head, the KL4 head and a E2 body to be able to have many different configurations for your surefire.

Luigi

A blue filter on a white LED flashlight enhances the fluorescent effect of the light. Not really that much you can do with a blue filter that comes to mind, except track blood, I suppose.

Thanks carrot. All I can say then is I hope that I have no use for my F06 blue filter!

I wish someone made slip on filters for the A2. The flip up Bushwacker filters are a little bulky in the pocket.

Is it possible to combine two filter variants, for example the diffusor (F04) and a red filter (F05?) ? I imagine that maybe the lenses could be put together in one holder.