Bringing A Little Quality Light To A Couple Of Friends

I have a couple of old friends coming down to TN at the end of October. We are celebrating their birthdays and just basically hanging out for a week. At any rate I wanted to get both of them a decent high quality flashlight that wouldn't necessarily break my bank while at the same time giving me piece of mind that they have a quality piece of equipment.

I decided it had to be an itty bitty light as I wanted them to be able to carry it. I decided against any of the Chinese/Korean etc. lights simply because they really only have a short term reputation at this point. No dig against Fenix etc.

My first thought was the Inova T1. I love mine, inexpensive, American made lifetime warranty but then I thought that it was a bit too long.

My next thought was the HDS Basic 42 on closeout......but they were gone in a flash.....Thanks by the way you greedy bast....... Just kidding.

After much soul searching I basically said the hell with it and ordered two Surefire E1Ls. Both of these guys have seen my E1L a while back and were blown away by it. It is an American product with a great reputation, great service and support and puts out a pretty impressive amount of light all while being lose it in your pocket small. The HAIII, Water Resistence and just general robustness of any Surefire makes the little guys industrial works of art IMO. So I took the plunge and ordered two from Optics HQ for 80 bucks a piece.

So what do we think. Decent light for EDC for a couple of guys who don't know anything much past an incan MAG or Mini MAG? I will also provide them with several extra batteries.

Decent starter flashlight for my buds birthdays?

Chris

cslinger said:

I wanted to get both of them a decent high quality flashlight that wouldn't necessarily break my bank...
My next thought was the HDS Basic 42...

Click to expand...

Geez, can I be your friend too? Our definions of breaking the bank are a bit different!
That's a pretty awesome gift for those guys. I'm sure they'll be real happy with them, as long as they don't mind buying CR123s.
Too bad about forgein made lights, Q3's would have nice too, or Fenixes.

Fenix's series of lights as omega man suggested should do the trick.

I am not worried about the CR123 cells. I will likely provide each of them with 4-6 additional cells and I don't imagine these guys using these lights as more then day to day short bursts as needed etc. My guess is 4-6 cells will last them a good long time. Now I am sure the first cell will be sucked down by playing with the light but I predominiently wanted them to have emergency light tools on their person.

Besides these guys can afford the 10 bucks for a couple extra cells locally if needed and are both internet savvy should they want to buy online for better prices.

I have nothing against Fenix, Nuwai etc. I just wanted to have piece of mind that they would likely be getting a darn good emergency light source that could take some abuse along with making sure any issues they might have would be easy to deal with given the company's service record. One of them works for the Army Corps of Engineers and works around water quite a bit so I wanted a light I knew for a fact was for intents and purposes water proof to a reasonably level. I.E. if the light gets rained on or dropped in a couple feet of water. Besides there is a certain cool factor to owning a Surefire.

Chris

Again, that's really cool of you, Chris. Now they have something to pass on to their kids! Things like Surefires and EDC items are gonna be our generations heirlooms.
You might want to consider DSD charger+Cells combos for them, for the holidays, that'd encourage more use of them.
Me personally, I don't think most of my friends should have things that can explode when left unattended.

for starter lights to introduce them the power of luxeons and the advantage of lithiums over the bulky Ds, you could always go for the Dorcy super 1 watt lithium version and give them a couple extra mags for those tiny photon cannons:naughty:

in this case, mags = lithium primaries:huh:


definitely wont break the bank..even if you order a dozen or more...just dont hit 3 digit numbers and you should be fine

Dorcys are pretty good in quality for this model, regulator circuit, lifetime warranty and hey, if anyone ever decides to learn modding, the lights easily taken apart for modification

----------------------------------
EDIT: You dont want chinese made lights eh?

mmm, i think Surefire Es it a pretty big transition from consumer market lights to military spec lights dont you think?
sure they will be blown away with it...but now they will be disappointed with other lights around hem since their not entirely up on par [or anywhere near it] :lolsign::goodjob:

Fenix P1 is much smaller, lighter, and brigher. If you're concerned about them breaking, get two for each hof them - the cost should be pretty close to one Surefire? (Not sure)

Mo

even with rechargeable CR123s available, I do not think that a light using these batts is of any value to someone, who not already owns lights with them.

I feel "medium enlighted", but do not even consider CRs.
Bright lights, right, but costy, very short runtime, ...
imho very specialized

Hello cslinger

I'm not sure, if the E1L is more waterproof than a Fenix, because the SF site stated it only as weatherproof:

http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/co_disp/displ/prrfnbr/24263/sesent/00

If you will go with the SF, think about a charger and RCR's for them, because I think with such a nice tool the 4-6 batts don't last long.

Best regards

____
Tom

Great gifts. I usually give people Civictor V1s because of thier mix of quality and price, along with their use of a AA battery.

You are very generous. And have lucky friends!

Just tell them to go to Gander Mountain -- or other similar hunting & sporting good store -- and buy the CR123s for about $4/pack of 2. Much cheaper than Walgreens, Walmart, etc... and no need to order 12+ at a time from Surefire or Battery Station.

cslinger said:

So what do we think. Decent light for EDC for a couple of guys who don't know anything much past an incan MAG or Mini MAG? I will also provide them with several extra batteries.

Decent starter flashlight for my buds birthdays?

Chris

Click to expand...

Why, yes it is. More than decent I would say.

Last year I purchased a bunch of E series Surefires as gifts and after playing with all of them I wish I would of just bought a bunch of E1Ls. The only problem I have had with the group is an E1L switch that stopped giving constant on, though momentary still worked. It was a very easy fix, but generally bothered me.

They have a very good output and throw for the size and even though the batteries are strange to many people the E1L has a long enough run time that it's not a problem.

yellow said:

even with rechargeable CR123s available, I do not think that a light using these batts is of any value to someone, who not already owns lights with them.

I feel "medium enlighted", but do not even consider CRs.
Bright lights, right, but costy, very short runtime, ...
imho very specialized

Click to expand...

Agreed. And even though they can afford CR batteries, that doesn't necessarily mean they want to.

The E1L doesn`t sound to bad. As long as you don`t light up a P1 around them they should be happy with the Surefires.



Just Kidding

Ken

I think that is an awesome gift you are giving. Especially nice that you thought to give them several 123A cells as well. You are certainly a very good and generous friend.

I hope they appreciate just how nice a gift they have been given. I'm not sure my non flashlight friends would realise just how special these lights are.

Chris,

I think an E1L is a fantastic gift! Mine has been my EDC for I dunno how long and there's very little "light-related" it hasn't been able to do!
Sure there are brighter 1xCR123 powerd lights, but the E1L will give them over an hour on full power as well as lifetime warranty and excellent customer service should they ever need it.
As for the batteries; write down the web addy of Lighthound or Batterystation for them. They are (I assume) adults and will know they need to feed their new gifts!:laughing:
And I think you did great in buying an american product for them!

FWIW my E1L sat under 6" of water for two weeks and was absolutely dry. I realize that's not deep but still...and no damage occured to the finish.