Surefire E1L Cree on its way to me.

Surefire shipped my new E1L to me yesterday and now I'm just waiting for it to arrive. It should be here today or tomorrow. What does everybody think about the new Cree version of this light? How is the run-time on this? I ordered a lanyard to go with it and will either pick up the F04 or the red filter to a long with it depending on the beam pattern. From the looks of it, it looks like it has a bigger hotspot than the old KL1 version and actually has spill as well. I'm a happy man.

If the beam shape is anything like the new KX2/E2L, you will be very pleased. It has a large hotspot and decent spill. It is one of the better optcs I have ever seen and it is certainly a huge improvement over the KL1.

I just got my light and am blown away by how nice it is. The beam is very nice and the tint is perfect. I can't detect any color in it. It just looks white. The beam is uniform and perfectly round. The hotspot is pretty big and illuminates a good area. Unfortunately I have only been able to use it in the day. I shut off the lights in my office and shined it around and am quite impressed. What I'm thinking is that it offers the same performance of the old E2L while being much smaller and lighter. It has some nice spill to go along with it. Has anyone figured out how long it will go in regulation? I'm really curious. This thing is amazing for its size.

Does it have the ugly rings like the previous gen? Also is the anodising even the whole light? I saw this new SF in the stores here in Malaysia but none have matching anodising colour. It looks more two tone than a single colour..

It has a ring in between the spot and the end of the spill. It isn't that bad and I don't really notice it. The anodizing matches pretty well on my sample. That was one of the first things I checked when I got it and it looks beautiful.

The tailcap did take a dive though the first day I got it. I'm waiting for a replacement from Surefire. I should get it next week. Within an hour of playing around with it, the tailcap stopped functioning properly. I disassembled it and tried fixing it but I can't figure it out. Currently I can either get it to stay on and lock it out to turn it off, or have it stay off and push the button for momentary on. At least the light still functions though.

Does the new E1L and E2L's run on rechargeables? If so what is recommended and what charger?

I am considering trying one of each out.

Thanks

Does the new E1L and E2L's run on rechargeables? If so what is recommended and what charger?

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I have the Cree E2L and I haven't bothered with rechargeable cells since the runtime is so long on primaries. I just picked up a 50-pack of primaries for $43.70 shipped. It's going to last well over a year at the rate it's going.

The anodizing is the same as the old gen, color varies between parts. I got two E2Ls and their color don't even match in the same sections. :thinking:

But color variance makes it look cool to me somehow and it doesn't affect performance. Both E2Ls have perfect round beams but they do vary in tint.. one is cool and the other is slight green (but if I don't shine it side by side, the color almost look white individually).

I would give the overall perfomance a 10.