Surefire Cree owners - show your pics here!

To head off the inevitable deluge of member based posts' and pics of the new Surefire Cree lights, I created this thread as a "one-stop-shop" for them. That, and I REALLY would like to see some real world comparison beamshots and pictures!

Maybe a mod will come and sticky it for a while....I don't have one yet (didn't win the raffle).

Wait, I thought the Cree Surefires wouldn't ship till August?

People already have them?

Where are they buying them?

None of the places I look at even list them yet...

OpticsHq shipped a bunch out that are supposed to arrive today for some people...these aren't the G2Ls' and 6PLs, they're the E1L/E2L/L1s'.

KDOG3 said:

OpticsHq shipped a bunch out that are supposed to arrive today for some people...

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Awesome news, thanks!

Request: in addition to beam shots, please describe the beam.

Beam shots rarely give a good indication of beam quality--since most cameras don't pick up artifacts too well.

I'd like to know how clean the beam is.

Does it have a nice defined hotspot AND smooth spill (with few or no artifacts)--or is it just hotspot only with ugly rings like the current TIR optics of the Luxeon E1L / EL2?

My ideal beam is a balance between throw and flood. Is this beam throw only or a reasonable balance?

Picture of the L1 in hand please. Surefire has one in their site, but I'd like to see something else.

E1L's E2L's are L1's started shipping TO DEALERS from Surefire last week and the G2L/6PL will ship TO DEALERs week 1 of August. I say 'to dealers' because direct to consumer sales from their website start like 6 weeks after the dealer releases.

E1L (KX1):
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2066723&postcount=19

L1:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/168648

These would be easier to find if the search function worked reliably....

o0o said:

Request: in addition to beam shots, please describe the beam.

Beam shots rarely give a good indication of beam quality--since most cameras don't pick up artifacts too well.

I'd like to know how clean the beam is.

Does it have a nice defined hotspot AND smooth spill (with few or no artifacts)--or is it just hotspot only with ugly rings like the current TIR optics of the Luxeon E1L / EL2?

My ideal beam is a balance between throw and flood. Is this beam throw only or a reasonable balance?

Click to expand...

i went to one of the dealers here in los angeles to check out the L1.

this store only had 1 L1 left, this is the only new L1 i have seen but there was a prominent ring and a few artifacts more so than i've seen in the handful of fenix cree lights i have handled (3LOD-ce's, 5P1D-ce's).

i couldn't tell you about throw since it was in the middle of the day but it was definitely brighter than the old L1 they had.

i hope that helps.

THE_dAY said:

i went to one of the dealers here in los angeles to check out the L1.

this store only had 1 L1 left, this is the only new L1 i have seen but there was a prominent ring and a few artifacts more so than i've seen in the handful of fenix cree lights i have handled (3LOD-ce's, 5P1D-ce's).

i couldn't tell you about throw since it was in the middle of the day but it was definitely brighter than the old L1 they had.

i hope that helps.

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That is a major turnoff then.

The Cree Fenix lights I have have minor artifacts, but it sounds like the new SF L1 has moderate to major artifacts.

Surefire continues to advertise good beam quality, yet the only lights they make that deliver the promise in my opinion are the Lux V models, and the incandescents that use the P60 bulb.

I guess I'll have to be content with the Bugout Gear Cree drop-ins....

enLIGHTenment said:

E1L (KX1):
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2066723&postcount=19

L1:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/168648

These would be easier to find if the search function worked reliably....

Click to expand...

+1 on that
DON

That's jumping to a conclusion a little quickly when the beamshots enLIGHTenment linked to show beams much better than any of the four Fenix Cree lights I've seen in person. And the many beamshots of Fenix cree lights look exactly like they do in person.

o0o said:

That is a major turnoff then.

The Cree Fenix lights I have have minor artifacts, but it sounds like the new SF L1 has moderate to major artifacts.

Surefire continues to advertise good beam quality, yet the only lights they make that deliver the promise in my opinion are the Lux V models, and the incandescents that use the P60 bulb.

I guess I'll have to be content with the Bugout Gear Cree drop-ins....

Click to expand...

Blindasabat said:

That's jumping to a conclusion a little quickly when the beamshots enLIGHTenment linked to show beams much better than any of the four Fenix Cree lights I've seen in person. And the many beamshots of Fenix cree lights look exactly like they do in person.

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Perhaps...

But I don't trust beamshots, they almost always look much better on computer than in person.

If many other PEOPLE report good beams, then I will be happy to be proven wrong.

yes, enLIGHTenment's link show a very good beam coming from the new L1.

mind you i have only seen one surefire cree which was the L1 and it wasn't that good.

i'm hoping too that many others start reporting good beams coming from the TIR optics.

o0o said:

Surefire continues to advertise good beam quality, yet the only lights they make that deliver the promise in my opinion are the Lux V models

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You mean the ones with the donuts?!? :ironic:

The upcoming G2L looks pretty good, too. Would it be safe to assume that if Surefire rates it at 80 lumens, that's 80 lumens out the front?

Valpo Hawkeye said:

You mean the ones with the donuts?!? :ironic:

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I've been lucky... my Lux V SFs (except for one) do not have noticable donuts. The one that does is very minor in appearance and only sticks out on a white wall at certain ranges. Plus, a minor donut hole to me is a lot less offensive on the eyes than several rings, and other non-even irregulaties as TIR produces (I cannot even count how many rings are in my L1's flood part of the beam--Luxeon III based--probably more than Saturn).

It all comes down to user preference of course. There isn't a right beam for all users.

o0o said:

Perhaps...

But I don't trust beamshots, they almost always look much better on computer than in person.

If many other PEOPLE report good beams, then I will be happy to be proven wrong.

Click to expand...

I just received a L1 in the mail and it has a perfect beam.

for all you L1 owners, turn you L1s to high and let it sit for a bit to see if it would keep staying on high. Mine would drop out of regulation after about 20 seconds. It's on its way back to the factory as we speak.

I found some pictures of the new Cree Surefires on a Korean website:
L1
E1L
E2L