Anyone have a newer Surefire L2?

I've been considering the L2 as an alternative to the U2. I'm concerned however about the runtime. At flashlight reviews, it shows it running only about 30 minutes on high before dropping out! Thats terrible. Is that really the case? I'm assuming that it was a continous runtime test and that it would be a little better when used on and off. Can you share your experiences with the L2?

I transferred a set of "dead" batteries from my 6P to my L2 (when 123a's no longer light up an incan they usually have 25% power left) I remember being able to use high mode for around 15 minutes before losing the high power mode.

I think if you get a L2 you'll find yourself using the low-beam more and the high-beam only when absolutely needed.

From what I remember, many folks thought that the L2 that Quickbeam received was somehow defective and that most people found that the L2 on high would run for 50 minutes or so. That said, the general consensus was that the light is more designed to be used on low with high being used sparingly when you need more light.

But hey, let's do some searching :naughty: These are just a few threads that I came up with:

kj's runtime plots (the second L2 plot is better to view as the time scale is better)
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/44138

another thread
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/104513

timelapse beamshots of L2 vs. L4 vs. HDS
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=124902

It is my belief the L2 runtime suffers greatly from heat build-up. I say that because anytime I've just turned on my L2 and let it sit, I only get 30-40 minutes on high. However, I've had the same L2 on night hikes last over an hour (constant-on) with no discernable dimming to my eyes. The only difference that I can tell is that the L2 wasn't getting overly hot on the hikes, but when I let it sit for long periods on high in my indoor tests, it got way too hot to touch.

As long as you're handling the light, your skin helps to dissipate heat and keep the light much cooler. In those cases, if my experience is accurate, you will experience greatly increased runtimes over what test results have shown.

If you're planning on using rechcargeables, and you're feeling brave, you might consider boring the L2 to fit 17670's. I didn't know if it was possible, so I donated my L2 to science. The results were positive. Pretty simple procedure if you have some time to spare. Here's the link
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=132443