New Surefire L1 LumaMax!

I finally got past the $100 mark, and it would be due to a Surefire L1 LumaMax. :duh2: It's not my first Surefire, but it's my first Surefire LED. That 6P has been retired to my gun cabinet.

It's got a slight green tint, but not too much. Actually, I'm not sure if it's a green tint, or if I'm just used to the blue tints. Looks great, though! I haven't had a chance to play around with it at night, but from what I've seen so far, it's great. And that low light mode will be great for most of the tasks that I have to deal with, as well as for draining the batteries from my Fenix P1... assuming that I even use it anymore.

Aside from this, lately all I've been using was a Rayovac 3-watt, IE a Nuwai X-3, and a Fenix P1, both having more blue tints, so it's a big change, though I'm sure I'll grow to love it.

So, though this obviously isn't exactly a new light, does anybody else have any experience with it?

A few weeks ago I got an L1. On low, the beam seems just a bit green, but on high, it loses the green tint and just seems to have a nice warm tint. I'm very happy with it. Pretty bright, uses only 1 battery and a nice beam. The lanyard will come in handy too. My only issue with it (and it's not a big issue) is that it's a little large for a 1-123 light. A winner in my book.

One of the best lights SureFire currently offers, in my opinion. Enjoy it!

It will make an excellent EDC.

Regards,
Tempest

The L1 Cree is one of the most documented lights on CPF. Do a search for L1 Cree, using google, cpf only at the top of every CPF page. There are literally dozens of threads on the Surefire L1 Cree. CPF is about information; take advantage of it.

Bill

Yeah, I've been noticing that it has a warm tint on full, and the green is more visible on low. But not enough to cause problems, I'm loving it. (Insert McDonald's sound-bite here)

I'm curious as to the lens, though, what I can expect from it. Obviously can't clean plastic lenses on a shirt, they scratch up, but what about this lens?

Tempest UK said:

One of the best lights SureFire currently offers, in my opinion. Enjoy it!

It will make an excellent EDC.

Regards,
Tempest

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I agree with your post / opinion. After testing and messing with my 1st L1 Lumamax, I understood that I needed a back-up to that light. So I bought another L1, and I won't drop down $135 on any light unless it meets my strict needs or potential future uses.
I have a few SF flashlights (2ea 9P's, 6P ,2ea G2's, G3, E1e, E2D and my favorites... the 2ea L1 Lumamax lights. I really like the 16 hours of 10 lumens for most uses, yet I can twist or push it to 65 lumens for a little blast, up to 1.5 hrs if needed. I actually wear my L1 everyday, or when day switchs to night. I am amazed at the tough construction, and especially the use it provides from just 1 battery. The L1 is one solid, tough, durable mamba-jamba. :thumbsup:

zulu45 said:

Yeah, I've been noticing that it has a warm tint on full, and the green is more visible on low. But not enough to cause problems, I'm loving it. (Insert McDonald's sound-bite here)

I'm curious as to the lens, though, what I can expect from it. Obviously can't clean plastic lenses on a shirt, they scratch up, but what about this lens?

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Santa Claus brought me one model just like yours! You´ll gonna love it. The slightly green tint on low is normal (mine´s do that too), but on high mode it disappears. So it´s not an ice white cold tint, but a warmer tint. In real world (not hunting white walls) you´ll gonna see that colors looks more vivid with warmer tints, specially in forests and bushes.

I clean my lens with a soft cotton (damn, I don´t know the word in english for that!)... looks like a handkerchief, but made of soft cotton.

Be happy with your new SF ! :wave:

I think my real question, then, would be "does shirt cleaning hurt the pyrex lens?" Spent a lot of time searching, but haven't found anything yet.

Use liquid lens cleaner and a soft cotton cloth, for example, a clean cotton T shirt. This should not be a big deal with 300 suggestions from CPF'ers or a google search. Actually, use water and a soft cotton cloth. Just flush off dust first.

Bill

Bullzeyebill said:

Use liquid lens cleaner and a soft cotton cloth, for example, a clean cotton T shirt. This should not be a big deal with 300 suggestions from CPF'ers or a google search. Actually, use water and a soft cotton cloth. Just flush off dust first.

Bill

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It wouldn't be a big deal IF the standard search function worked, but the problem is that the Google search lacks the ability to search the titles only (at least to my knowledge, if I'm wrong I'd love to know how to do it). I searched a great deal for a clear-cut simple answer, and on a slow connection (Kentucky at it's finest), it is difficult. Going through post after post, with almost all yielding totally unrelated topics turns what could be answered in one or two posts into potentially an hour long searching, only to yield no answers. It's not to say I didn't try, but I can only try so much, ya know?

So I'll just ask it in a simple way, will using my shirt (without any cleaning agents, just out in the field) cause all those small scratches that fog up a plastic lens on the Surefire L1 CREE's lens? Most don't carry cleaning agents in their EDC gear.

EDIT: I've made even more searches, and while I've found stuff regarding the plastic lenses out there, I haven't found anything about using a dry shirt (with no cleaning agents) on a Surefire Pyrex lens. Information about this will be greatly appreciated, where I will send you some free Colt 45 in a can... (not really, just kidding)

Spit on the pyrex window and wipe it down with clean cotton. You say lens, you mean window. Pyrex is a type of glass, different composition, that is tough. Is there a plastic film over your pyrex window on L1? The TIR lens, as Surefire calls it, actually an optic, is plastic, but is under the pyrex window.

Bill

Thanks for the suggestion, heh never thought to spit, although I'll probably try water first, unless it's urgent.

Wow, we're polishing porsches here.... I just took my L1 out of my pocket, looked clean enough, and put it back in, i guess if i really needed to clean it it would get a shirt wipe...but probably just to get the mud off it from that puddle. This is a REAL light folks, no need to pamper it, it'll be ok.

scottaw said:

Wow, we're polishing porsches here.... I just took my L1 out of my pocket, looked clean enough, and put it back in, i guess if i really needed to clean it it would get a shirt wipe...but probably just to get the mud off it from that puddle. This is a REAL light folks, no need to pamper it, it'll be ok.

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Heh, I'm a little paranoid. It's my first light over $100. But good point, I forget that this is a Surefire, not just another light, and that it's made to take a lot.

I've sort of been interested in an L1 but don't understand why the battery efficiency seems so much lower than a G2L.

paulr said:

I've sort of been interested in an L1 but don't understand why the battery efficiency seems so much lower than a G2L.

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The L1 is running one CR123, the G2L two. Draw from battery is over 600mA's. Efficiency of boost circuit is not the best, so some losses there.

Bill

scottaw said:

Wow, we're polishing porsches here.... I just took my L1 out of my pocket, looked clean enough, and put it back in, i guess if i really needed to clean it it would get a shirt wipe...but probably just to get the mud off it from that puddle. This is a REAL light folks, no need to pamper it, it'll be ok.

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I just washed mine earlier today... in a muddy puddle. Got it's first nick on the anodizing with the fall too. The L1 :rock:

Bullzeyebill said:

The L1 is running one CR123, the G2L two. Draw from battery is over 600mA's. Efficiency of boost circuit is not the best, so some losses there.

Bill

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Well, ok, but compare also with the E1L, which also has a boost circuit. The E1L has a tad under half the output, but more than 5x the runtime.

These are acutally some pretty amazing performance figures. I thought I'd been following what the new leds can do but the E1L and G2L numbers are ahead of what I thought was possible. Actually I have to wonder if they're playing games with the specs, of a sort that they formerly didn't play.

I'm glad your brought up the E1L because I consider the E1L and the L1 to be a "working pair" since the E1L puts out 30 lumens @ 10 hours while the L1 puts out either 10 lumens @ 16 hours or 65 lumens at 1.5 hours.
Plus, they're both using 1" bezels so they can share filters.

Between those three sets of brightness vs. runtime, it's hard NOT to be able to handle just about any situation that's appropriate for those capabilities.
Not bad for a pair of one-cell CR123 lights.

paulr said:

Well, ok, but compare also with the E1L, which also has a boost circuit. The E1L has a tad under half the output, but more than 5x the runtime.

These are acutally some pretty amazing performance figures. I thought I'd been following what the new leds can do but the E1L and G2L numbers are ahead of what I thought was possible. Actually I have to wonder if they're playing games with the specs, of a sort that they formerly didn't play.

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We have seen runtime graphs for the L1, 62L, and E2L but not for the E1L. Until we do we are sort of shooting in the dark. I think that the L1 is doing the best it can, considering the limitations of a single CR123. It may be putting out more than 65 lumens also. Looking at the runtime graph for the L1 it seems to be on the edge of efficiency, not showing a flat runtime profile. The L1 reminds me of the L2, which is certainly pushing the limit for two CR123's. We need Chevrofreak to do a nice graph/lumen assessment for the L1 and E1L.

Bill