L4 Deadspot?

I recently had to replace my original SF L4. I had an associate that really wanted it bad. So, willing to share the "Light", I sold it to him.

I just got a replacement, and it has a slight center dead-spot. Not bad, just a noticeable slight center shadow. My original L4 beam was flawless! A perfect flood of light. Unfortunately, my new one doesn't have this quality of flood. Has anybody else had this issue?

Sounds like the famous "donut?" My new L4 also has a very slight one. Really only notice it if shined on a nearby light colored wall. Not visible in normal use, so it is not really important to me.


Alan

Alan,

Roger that.
I was just so impressed with the first L4 beam...

Thanks!

Don

The donut is actually fairly typical of 5 Watt LED's. That's why they typically aren't very good throwers in general. You lucked out when you got your first one because there wasn't a donut.

Luck of the draw, I guess.

Hmmm, "Roger that".......Ex military or amateur radio operator? Just curious...


Alan
KB3DUO

Cop...

Yep, known issue and its fairly common among lights with the Lux5 emitters...

Luck of the draw, I guess.

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On a $160 flashlight with a non-focusable beam? Unacceptable. For the price that SF is getting for these, they should be able to ensure a proper beam and tint on each light. Nothing less should be acceptable.

Surefire does not consider a light with a donut to be an improper beam as it tends not to affect performance in real life. Again, the same for tint. Surefire, as a military company, caters less to the flashaholic audience as to the military, which seems to care more about getting light than the form it comes in.

Surefire does not consider a light with a donut to be an improper beam as it tends not to affect performance in real life. Again, the same for tint. Surefire, as a military company, caters less to the flashaholic audience as to the military, which seems to care more about getting light than the form it comes in.

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So what is the value of a $160 light that has an improper beam? I bet this particular doesn't have any military contracts. I don't buy the whole, "Well Surefire caters to the military and LE who don't really care about beam quality" argument. Surefire is not staying in business solely on military and LE sales. The whole point of Surefire's have always been reliability, brightness and beam quality. If all the military cared about was getting light they would mostly issue Maglites, which is what they do. They issue some of the cheaper Surefires for some special tasks. I love Surefire lights but honestly I would bring this back if it had a dark spot in the middle of the beam. For $160 I expect more. Of course the L4 has never really been my cup of tea. Less throw, only slightly(and I mean slightly) more output and run time than a SF 6P that costs 1/3 the price.

AFAIK Surefire will fix it if you are dissatisfied...

That's why they can get $160 a torch

carrot said:

AFAIK Surefire will fix it if you are dissatisfied...

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Some of SF's donut problems are due to Lumiled's inconsistency in die placement.

Some of SF's donut problems are due to Lumiled's inconsistency in die placement.

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It does not matter what the problem stems from. Surefire shouldn't let these problems get to the end user after charging $160 for a light. I'm a quality engineer by trade and there is no way my company would ever let these kinds of things slide. Even if the problem is external, the problem needs to be dealt with either by warranty or by initial receiving inspection of the outsourced parts. Ther eis no way a company can say, "Too bad it wasn't our fault, it was so and so's outsourced parts". I'm pretty darn sure Surefire will take care of their customers and fix the problem for customers but saying that this type of beam quality is acceptable for a $160 light to me is heartbreaking. The reason why you pay the big bucks for a Surefire is for absolute perfection. If I bought a $160 light with a donut hole I wouldn't hesitate for 5 min. to bring it right back where it came from.

I may email SF, and let them know of my disappointment.
Couldn't hurt...

Thanks for all of your inputs!

from what ive heard emailing them is nothing compared to giving them a call. if the donut hole is a real issue for you i'd give them a call instead.

mark

CPF is all about information, and in my three years or so on CPF I have seen maybe 50 threads about L2, KL4, KL5, KL6 donut holes. Maybe it has been 150 threads. A CPF member who has been on this forum longer than one week would never buy a Surefire led light if they expected it to not have a donut hole, cause we are smarter than that, and so we would not complain about this condition, would we? Now, a very new CPF member who has already bought their first Surefire led with a "deadspot", or "donut hole" will learn from us regular CPF folks that this problem with Surefire led lights is very common, and is to be expected, and we know that owning a Surefire led light is a good thing, and we are not really upset with this condition, though we might like it otherwise.

Personally it would be nice to never hear about Surefire donuts, and maybe I should contact Surefire and ask them to please correct this little problem. because I am tired of hearing about it.

Bill

Well, be prepared to wait when you send in the light unit for replacement from surefire, I have been waiting almost 2 months for a kl4.

strat1080 said:

It does not matter what the problem stems from. Surefire shouldn't let these problems get to the end user after charging $160 for a light.

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I'm a "dyed in the wool" SF fan, AND I agree with this statement. Does that make me conflicted?