SUREFIRE L4 ..100 lumen or 65 lumen ?

i saw on your homepage, that the surefire L4 now have 100 lumen.
mine 1 year old SF L4 have 65 lumen.

is it a new model or is the SF-homepage incorrect ?

thans for helping me.

According to some posts I've read, Surefire updated their measuring equipment and found that the L4 does put out 100 lumens instead of the previously stated 65.

Surefire used to "under rate" their lumens. Someone will explain further...

the answer from surefire:

"Sir,

The model L4 has always had a 100 lumen out put from the start. If you have any further questions please call us at 800-828-8809. SureFire strives to provide World class customer service to all of our customers.
SureFire technical support
1-800-828-8809
1-714-545-9444
1-714-545-9537(FAX)"


think it´s a little bit crazy

Yeah, they make great lights, but if you have a question about them, they don't provide much of an answer.

Hmm, just looked at my 2004 and 2005 SF catalogs--the L4 is listed at 65 lumens...unless I'm hallucinating. (I don't have the 2006 catalog.)

In all fairness to SF though, ever since I "discovered" SF a number of years ago, I've read that they tend to understate the output of their lights. Many/most other manufacturers tend to overstate and exagerate the output of their lights, so the understatement was perceived as more "honest." So...the output may very well have been 100 lumens, but they listed it at a very conservative 65. Just some wild speculation/opinion...

Perhaps the only way you'll really know, is to find someone who can accurately test the output of your light.

When SureFire had to write their catalogs for the SHOT Show the new products being show-cased there were still in the pre-production stage. Perhaps only in the proto-type stage. Typically this time of year is when SureFire are most busy. Especially Engineering. When asked for a lumen output rating for the catalog they likely used what samples they had and rushed them through testing. They were aware the testing was not going to be as accurate as production sample testing, and they were aware that the intergrating sphere was calibrated for incandescent bulbs. They knew this would produce lower output readings as a result. The combination of too-few test samples, the wrong test set-up and not enough time meant SureFire decided to state the ratings of the likes of the L4, L5, L6 & L7 were in the same ballpark as the P60 which SureFire rate at 65 lumens (but actually likely peaks at over 100 lumens) so the rating given was 65 lumens.

When SureFire found the time to test the outputs of a large number of production units using the correct calibration sufficient evidence of a higher output was obtained. As a result the ratings of several products were increased.

No change has been made to the product. Better testing has given SureFire the confidence to increase the ratings.

Al

I wonder if they will udpate the lumen rating on the A2 as well. The new edited manual claims it is indeed higher than the other rated 60 lumen incan bulbs.

mark

marxs said:

I wonder if they will udpate the lumen rating on the A2 as well. The new edited manual claims it is indeed higher than the other rated 60 lumen incan bulbs.

mark

Click to expand...

I am not aware of this. but then changes happen all the time at SureFire.

According to the measurements of the KL4 made by Peter "Arc" his sample put out 80
lumens.
In reality I guess it goes from 80-100 depending on bin. Nowdays I would say it's closer to 100 than 80 due to better luxeons. Atleast I think so.

well, i just looked at my 2006 surefire catalog

l4, l5, l6, and l7 are now all rated at 100 lumens max output. not sure on the accuracy of that.

dont get me wrong, its good that surfire understates their power. but lets face it, when your buying a flashlight you dont want under/over stated lumen ratings. I would think a company like surefire wouldnt **** around with that kinda stuff

From the chart and data at flashlightreviews.com it looks like it starts off at about 80 lumens and then drops to about 68 lumens after a few minutes then holds that ouput until regulation drops at about 1hr 20min. So the 65 lumens is actually pretty accurate.