L5 vs Gladius

I just found this forum and I must say I'm hooked.

I was looking for some input on the SF L5 and the Gladius. I'm looking to change my current light for a LED and thought one of these two might work.

My main uses are for warrant entries and just a good everyday light.

Price is not important.

If anybody else has any suggestions I'm game.

You can find some good reviews at www.flashlightreviews.com/index1.html. There, you'll find reviews on many lights, including the Gladius and L5.

You can also find reviews of both lights (and many others) at: http://ledmuseum.home.att.net.

I have a review of the Gladius at: www.geocities.com/tigerhawkt3/gladius.htm. I don't have an L5, though.

My recommendation would be the Gladius instead of the L5, since the L5 only has one output level, while the Gladius has many. You'll come to appreciate switching between a retina-searing 80 lumens and a barely-there 1 lumen.

You can get rechargeable cells that will work in either light here: http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=125353.

If you go for the Gladius, I would also recommend an FM34 Beamshaper, as mentioned in my Gladius review (reviewed at www.geocities.com/tigerhawkt3/fm34.htm).

Welcome to CPF!

I have around 20 lights and the Gladius is my favorite one. The only downside I believe it has is the star lug gets caught in my pocket sometimes. I don't have any experience with the L5.

SkinlessMonkey said:

I have around 20 lights and the Gladius is my favorite one. The only downside I believe it has is the star lug gets caught in my pocket sometimes. I don't have any experience with the L5.

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I use the starlug to hold my Gladius....between my index and middle finger and toggling the switch with my thumb....great light.

rawdawg, welcome to CPF. Surefire is bringing out a new version of the L5 with a Cree LED that will be brighter and have longer run times. Both the Gladius and the Surefire L5 are excellent lights. There are a number of other lights that would also fill the bill for a warrant/entry light. I'd search around on CPF and go to Flashlightreviews.com and read as much as I could. In the mean time, open your wallet and stay a while.

Gladius is a lovely light to use. It has a few modes and very intuitive to use.

L5 is a floody light while the Gladius is 'spotty' with a decent spillbeam. The output of the latter is also lower (Lux III vs the L5's LuxV). So depending on your needs, both lights are great, but the Gladius' multi-levels are much more flexible. You can always throw on a beamshaper to make the beam floodier.

Of course, if you are willing to go into mod territory, throwing in a Cree and texturising the reflector of the Gladius gives you a light with output probably better than the L5, with both a nice hotspot and spillbeam!

LEDcandle said:

Of course, if you are willing to go into mod territory, throwing in a Cree and texturising the reflector of the Gladius gives you a light with output probably better than the L5, with both a nice hotspot and spillbeam!

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Is there someone who's already done this successfully? Who is it and how much would they charge? How many lumens does this mod bring it up to?

I'd choose the L5 instead of the Gladius any day of the week.

Ignoramus said:

Is there someone who's already done this successfully? Who is it and how much would they charge? How many lumens does this mod bring it up to?

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I have! haha...
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/152502

But I'm not a pro-modder, so I will not be offering my services. I'm sure Milkyspit or some other modder can step up to this.

With a Cree and 'textured' reflector, it has VERY usable spillbeam and still a nice hotspot. I'm sure it is comparable if not better than the L5 (which I've seen once, and am comparing based on memory).

The old Gladius is about 70 lumens on high. The new one is approx 120 lumens on high. If you are ok with the light blinking briefly every 10 secs, you can throw in a 17670 and have very good runtimes. I have a Gladius runtime chart here :-

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/152092

It was done with the original Luxeon, but since the driver and current are the same, it should be exactly the same runtimes on the Cree.

Whats the name of the Gladius's twin brother....The Typhoon? Brand name?? Interested in it since it will now be $130.00 instead of $200 plus

Insight H2X Typhoon apparently and it seems botach carries them for $110 shipped.. BUT, do a search on botach in the JEERS section first. They've come through for some, and not for others.

Surefire is coming out with a new L5. It's already been announced. It is going to blow the old L5 and Gladius away. http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=147271

On sheer lumen and runtime output alone, that may well be the case. The new L5 does look sweet, BTW.

Let's not forget that one of the main attractions with the Glad is the user-programmable variable output and strobe modes -- ain't none of that hapenin' with the L5 anytime soon.

Depends on your needs basically...

TigerhawkT3 said:

You can find some good reviews at www.flashlightreviews.com/index1.html. There, you'll find reviews on many lights, including the Gladius and L5.

You can also find reviews of both lights (and many others) at: http://ledmuseum.home.att.net.

I have a review of the Gladius at: www.geocities.com/tigerhawkt3/gladius.htm. I don't have an L5, though.

My recommendation would be the Gladius instead of the L5, since the L5 only has one output level, while the Gladius has many. You'll come to appreciate switching between a retina-searing 80 lumens and a barely-there 1 lumen.

You can get rechargeable cells that will work in either light here: http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=125353.

If you go for the Gladius, I would also recommend an FM34 Beamshaper, as mentioned in my Gladius review (reviewed at www.geocities.com/tigerhawkt3/fm34.htm).

Welcome to CPF!

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BTW, thanks to Tigerhawk for the valuable info in your post!!

Based on the reponses for the L5 and the Gladius....How do you know if your getting the newer versions of each light.

Once again, I can only comment on the Gladius.

The black version changed to real HA instead of cerakote at around S/N (serial number) 5000 or so. The tailcap troubles were also solved early on. Some CPFers have lights with S/N around 20,000. Mine is in the 17k range. If you get it from a reputable seller, you'll most likely get a recently-manufactured one, which should be trouble-free. If you try a discount store, you might get an older one, as they could be clearing out old stock.

I don't know about the Insight H2X Typhoon, but since those have only appeared recently, I would suppose that they're all pretty new. Botac had a special offer going on them quite recently. I don't know if it's still on or whether they have the Typhoons in stock, but you could always try emailing the address mentioned in that thread. I've heard that if you buy from Botac in general, it helps to call them before ordering to make sure they have stock.

TVoR: My pleasure!

The new version of the L5 is 120 lumens for 4.5 hours. They don't have those numbers on their website yet. They are in the 2007 Surefire catalog. You could go to Surefire.com and see how they get the rated numbers. In general Surefire is seen as giving low estimates of lumens. The run time is not until the light goes out, or to %50 of initial brightness, it is "Maximum run time for useful light levels." I'm not sure how they define "useful lite level", but the Surefires I own match up with the estimates on the site.

You will not have to worry about guessing if you are getting a new one if you go to an authorized dealer. They are going to be making a big deal about how much better these new models are. Bonus: Surefire will not charge any more for the new model than they are for the old.:rock:

The new L5 will probably be what you want because you seem to be a more tactical user of your light as well as everyday tasks. I think the new L5 will be a great tactical light with 120 lumens focused through a TIR lens. It will reach out to long distances or put a high intensity beam into threatful eyes. It will do better in high ambient lighting situations than the older L5 at spotting things. If you need to know that you are getting the new one or the old one just make sure you see 120 lumens at 4.5 hours as the advertised output, however it will not be available yet...might have to wait another month or 6. lol

If you get the new L5 instead of the Gladius, you should also get a dimmer light so you don't blind yourself when doing paperwork, finding keyholes, or other short-range tasks, and to preserve night vision.

And then maybe a thrower... and then a headlight... and then a...