SF L4 Arrived - my impressions

Actually all my stuff arrived on the same day - batteries and charger from AW and batteries, Mc2Es 2 stage kit, and the L4 from Steve at Tactical Supply. This is my very first "nice big light" (aside from my Arc AAA-P and Fenix L0P that is).

I went with the 17670 rechargables from AW. FYI for newbies (like me), one 17670 is the size of two 123a lithiums. The 17670s barely fit in the L4 - in fact they need to be nudged in with a touch of force whereas the 123a batteries slide in and out easily.

According to the SF website, the output on the L4 is 100 lumens but the package says 65 lumens. This irritated me - anyone know for sure which it is? The size on the L4 is fanastic - not too big, not too small and fits very nicely in hand with good balance. When I took the dog out at night, I grabbed the flashlight and oh the spill! Man, wall of light is an understatement. It also looks like I got lucky on the Luxeon lottery because this is a very white light - nice. The hotspot has a slight donut in the middle but not bad. The throw on this light is actually a little better than what I thought it might be - this is going to be a very, very good general purpose light. I am going to wait on the 2 stage modification for a bit and use the light as is. I really like the clicky too.

A couple questions - I need an instruction manual for the lanyard! I can't even figure out how it should attach... It also does not look like the DSD charger auto shuts off. But since these are protected cells, they can't be overcharged, correct? About how long do they need to be left on the charger?

Thanks all -
Dennis

I also received my L4 yesterday. I echo your impressions, although I was surprised to see as much of a hotspot as there was. Guess I was expecting more of a flood type beam like an X5. Not disappointed....Just surprised. As you said it has great spill and at disatnce it is a wall of light. It may well replace my X5 as my EDC.

I also found the lanyard interesting. I believe it attaches to the pocket clip (raised area), but I did not experiment with that as I rarely use a lanyard anyway.

Alan

Not sure what others do, but I put a small split ring through the hole in the pocket clip and attach the lanyard to the split ring.

If your lanyard has the metal wire ring, that goes between the cap and the body.

I have the same setup -- 17670 cells and a DSD charger. The charger changes color I think (been a while since I used mine). Check AW's threads on the charger in the Dealer's Corner for more info.

As a matter of habit, I only charge Li-Ion cells when I am there to respond to problems. The cells pack quite a punch and can malfunction due to a variety of causes. I set the charger on a tile surface away from flammable material in case of a problem. The chances are very slight, and I am a bit of a safety freak, but still there is no sense in neglecting to do something easy that increases your safety.

That light/battery combo is a great setup! I enjoyed mine thoroughly until my wife stole it (which I guess is a good thing).

Enjoy!

Scott

On li-ons: they die after a time period regardless of use. Last I heard was hundreds of charges or 3-4 years, whichever comes first. So if you're paranoid about overcharging and don't need a backup cell, it can be convenient to only buy ONE li-ion and just charge it when you sleep when it runs down. That way you don't have to remember to pull the backup battery out of the charger, nor do you have two cells that die of old age at the same time.

Mike02 said:

According to the SF website, the output on the L4 is 100 lumens but the package says 65 lumens. This irritated me - anyone know for sure which it is?

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The L4 is rated at 100 lumens.

I understand that the original ratings for many of the LED models were a bit of a rush job (my words) getting samples ready for the SHOT Show and that the wrong sensor was used but since it gave an artificially lower output it'd have to do.
SureFire finally had the time to extensively re-test their LED products and decided that that increasing the rating was justified. I understand that hundreds of production samples have been tested in order to be certain that the revised ratings are realistic.

Mike,

Congratulations! Having owned the L1, L2, L4, and L5 I have to say the the L4 is by far my favorite. Its output is essentially the same as the other 5w lights, but its size really sets it apart. The L5 (which I like a lot) has slightly better throw, but at the expense of a lot of bulk, and I for one find the L4 beam to be more useful. It's just an amazing little light, and the only improvement I could see would be if Surefire provided their own two stage tailcap. I'd love to see the same kind of clickie that it has now, but with two stages depending on how far the tailcap was screwed in. Anyway have fun with yours!


cfb

When I had my L4 I bought a clip from Lighthound and ran the lanyared through it and then clipped it onto the raised part through the loop. It worked out much better than using that split ring. My clip always wanted to bind up in it.

I used to through it around my neck and away I would go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike02 said:

... Mc2Es 2 stage kit ...

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Did you get this kit from a dealer? All I see at the Sandwich Shoppe is a McC2S kit which I believe is just the switch components and not the completed switch, and it's for the Classis SF series of lights (which the L4 is not).

My thought is the it will work with the "E" body (Z57?)

tsl said:

Did you get this kit from a dealer? All I see at the Sandwich Shoppe is a McC2S kit which I believe is just the switch components and not the completed switch, and it's for the Classis SF series of lights (which the L4 is not).

Click to expand...

Mike02 said:

According to the SF website, the output on the L4 is 100 lumens but the package says 65 lumens.

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The package of my L4 doesn't say any lumens, only says 180 minutes runtime, mine was purchased from surefire at May this year. This light is really bright! although L4 is a flood light, the lux number at 1m I read was 1100 lux, still has good throw:thumbsup:

Manzerick said:

My thought is the it will work with the "E" body (Z57?)

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Hmmm ... the CPF thread referenced by the Shoppe for the McC2S (https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/83844, see page 4) said that it was designed for a SF twistie tailcap, not a clickie. I'm just curious if the McE2S that Mike02 got was purchased from an online dealer or through B/S/T.

Glad everything made it OK. To echo what Size15's said, the light is actually rated at 100 lumens. The packaging and until recently the website had 65 lumens, unfortunately the packaging is still around. SF has traditionally been very conservative with their ratings, but I believe that competition has required them to do some extensive retesting and publish the actual values of the output. Its good for us as we see just how bright lights really are. Thanks for your business and please let me know if I can be of any assistance.
Oh, the lanyard, that is a tricky little thing. Let me know if you don't get it and I'll work on one again to figure out the trick.

Thanks

Chao, if your lux reading of 1100 is accurate, you have one high lumen output KL4. Mine were in the 500-600 lux range, and I thought that was bright. I really believe that SF is using better bin lux V's recently. My KL5 is simply awesome in output.

Bill

I'll second the notion that Surefire is using better Lux V emitters these days. Although I haven't yet purchased an L4, I've found through informal surveys of U2 owners that Lux readings seem to have gone up this year. Compared to older units that typically measured 1600~1800 lux at one meter, many '06 U2 lights seem to be around 2200~2400 lux.

By the way... what's the serial number on your new L4?

tsl said:

Did you get this kit from a dealer? All I see at the Sandwich Shoppe is a McC2S kit which I believe is just the switch components and not the completed switch, and it's for the Classis SF series of lights (which the L4 is not).

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I got it from Wayne at the Shoppe. I believe I will need to pick up a twisty tail cap to make the conversion.

Dennis

Ty_Bower said:

By the way... what's the serial number on your new L4?

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A234246 - 3 sided body. The head is A22910.

Mike02 said:

I got it from Wayne at the Shoppe. I believe I will need to pick up a twisty tail cap to make the conversion.

Dennis

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Thanks Dennis!

The L4 is my favorite compact LED period.

For portability, output, beam quality, and color, it is THE LIGHT.