I have long been a fan of the iconic SureFire L4. "Pocket rocket," "wall of light," and "creamy beam" are all phrases that have been associated with this widely admired production light. Amazing output for the size and a beautiful, flood-biased beam that's as smooth as it is punchy are its distinguishing characteristics. On the downside, it has also earned the nickname "hand warmer" for the tremendous amount of heat generated and dissipated by the 5W Luxeon V LED in the compact head.
I've carried one almost since the day of its release and almost a half dozen units have passed through my hands and I've gone through just as many lithium ion batteries. This is testament to how I used this light: hard and frequently. My very first unit served me well even to the very brink of disaster. This story is documented on page 11 of the 2007 SureFire Illumination Tools catalog. Yes. I am that Wilkey W. and "trusty" now serves the son of a good friend.
From 2003 until the beginning of 2008, the L4 was my only EDC light. Carried in either of two RipOffs holsters (one for the light alone and one paired with a Leatherman Wave) it was my faithful companion at home and abroad.
Over the last few years, I drifted away from flashaholism as the demands of graduate school mounted. The only constant reminder of that fascination was my trusty L4. And then this year I rekindled the light bug and started visiting this forum again. And when I did, I learned that LED lighting had advanced to almost unimagined levels and the LuxV was considered archaic. And so I found new reasons to revisit the concept of EDC.
My first flashlight purchase was another SureFire, the L1-Cree. My initial disappointment with and subsequent acceptance of this torch were documented in this thread. I soon followed that up with a Dereelight CL1H DI and all of a sudden I now had three distinct EDC lights. The L1 for nighttime at home, the L4 for routine daytime carry, and the CL1H for travel and away from home nighttime use.
I came to appreciate the L1 for its dual levels and compact size and I soon adjusted to a twisty cap in contrast to the clickie on my L4. It was surely smaller and the two-levels made it much gentler for checking on the children at night. It was a good light.
And then one day, Don McLeish, "McGizmo" chimed in response to something I had posted on the L1 and offered to send me a new head to evaluate, the "Arm's Length Mule." It seemed that Don understood my primary usage condition and appreciated the specific light properties most amenable to that use. What is needed is a smooth beam with a gentle and broad transition from hotspot to spill. The L4 provided this but the L1 did not in "as received" form. And so in the thread I linked above, I showed off my lightly modified L1 with an embedded lens from a SF F04 beam diffuser. Now this was a light that was just about ideal for close-up and night time indoor use.
Well, today a box arrived from Hawaii and in it was the "Arm's Length Mule," ALM. Throw junkies need read no further. This head has essentially none. But for my primary use, it has instantly become the gold standard. The output of the Cree XR-E LED is robust and without any optic, lens, or reflector, it generated the most perfect, useful pure flood beam I've ever seen. It was superior even to the absolute reference, the SureFire holographic beam diffusers. And so without delay, here is a photo exposé of this amazing little head.
First, let me start with the vital statistics. The Cree XR-E LED is housed in a bezel that attractively fluted and finished in black HA. But most stunning about this head is the size. It is tiny and is in fact shorter than the L1 tailcap and only slightly larger in diameter! The L1 head is positively gargantuan by comparison with the ALM merely 47% of its volume. The measurements given below don't tell the whole story though. The ALM transforms the balance and handling of the L1 improving it immensely. Whereas I was always conscious of using the L1 as a tool, the ALM-L1 felt telepathic in the hand. I dare say that now this light is perfectly proportioned.
L1 Cree Head: L - 38.10mm, D - 28.02mm
ALM Cree Head: L - 20.07mm. D - 25.16mm
L1 Tailcap: L - 29.10mm, D- 23.54mm
Let's start out with a "beauty shot."
The ALM-L1 is a stunning 3.5" in length (not including rubber switch cover) and perfect for smaller hands employing the "police" or hammer grip.
This first montage presents the obligatory wall-shot but against a brown door instead to provide greater dynamic range. All component images were shot at ISO 200, 1/2 sec, f3.5, 19mm. For all montages, high mode is the top row, low down below, L1 Cree/F04 on the left, ALM-L1 on the right. At this exposure, you can clearly see the difference between modes and the fact that even with the F04 lens, there is a hotspot. A gentle, broad hotspot, but a hotspot nonetheless. The ALM produces a truly uniform bright "space." I did not include shots of the L1 without the F04 because the beam is so intensely tight, it does not compare.
This next set of images demonstrates performance at the maximum end of my indoor use range, about 75" to target or a little over 6'. The hotspot of the L1-F04 is clearly discernible as is the ultra smooth plane of flawlessly uniform light from the bare LED in the ALM bezel. Beyond 6', the extremely diffuse light is still useful but much dimmer as would be expected. ISO 200, 1.6 sec, f3.5, 19mm.
This final montage illustrates the relative performance of these bezels at my most common use range, up to about 33" or arm's length. The images accurately reflect the lights' beam characteristics. When examining white or light colored targets, the spot of the L1-F04 is still sufficiently concentrated to induce a bit of night "bright blindness." With the ALM, however, this is not the case. The light from the ALM suffuses and evenly illuminates the entire visual field. The output can no longer be called a beam. Instead, I'd refer to it as a "light field," perfectly diffuse, perfectly uniform, and essentially devoid of artifacts or features. In other words, perfect. ISO 200, 1/3 sec, f3.5, 19mm.
And so there you have it, the ultimate light for my in-house, close up use. Another McGizmo creation and one that I am grateful for having the opportunity to have tested. Thank you, Don!
Wilkey
I've carried one almost since the day of its release and almost a half dozen units have passed through my hands and I've gone through just as many lithium ion batteries. This is testament to how I used this light: hard and frequently. My very first unit served me well even to the very brink of disaster. This story is documented on page 11 of the 2007 SureFire Illumination Tools catalog. Yes. I am that Wilkey W. and "trusty" now serves the son of a good friend.
From 2003 until the beginning of 2008, the L4 was my only EDC light. Carried in either of two RipOffs holsters (one for the light alone and one paired with a Leatherman Wave) it was my faithful companion at home and abroad.
Over the last few years, I drifted away from flashaholism as the demands of graduate school mounted. The only constant reminder of that fascination was my trusty L4. And then this year I rekindled the light bug and started visiting this forum again. And when I did, I learned that LED lighting had advanced to almost unimagined levels and the LuxV was considered archaic. And so I found new reasons to revisit the concept of EDC.
My first flashlight purchase was another SureFire, the L1-Cree. My initial disappointment with and subsequent acceptance of this torch were documented in this thread. I soon followed that up with a Dereelight CL1H DI and all of a sudden I now had three distinct EDC lights. The L1 for nighttime at home, the L4 for routine daytime carry, and the CL1H for travel and away from home nighttime use.
I came to appreciate the L1 for its dual levels and compact size and I soon adjusted to a twisty cap in contrast to the clickie on my L4. It was surely smaller and the two-levels made it much gentler for checking on the children at night. It was a good light.
And then one day, Don McLeish, "McGizmo" chimed in response to something I had posted on the L1 and offered to send me a new head to evaluate, the "Arm's Length Mule." It seemed that Don understood my primary usage condition and appreciated the specific light properties most amenable to that use. What is needed is a smooth beam with a gentle and broad transition from hotspot to spill. The L4 provided this but the L1 did not in "as received" form. And so in the thread I linked above, I showed off my lightly modified L1 with an embedded lens from a SF F04 beam diffuser. Now this was a light that was just about ideal for close-up and night time indoor use.
Well, today a box arrived from Hawaii and in it was the "Arm's Length Mule," ALM. Throw junkies need read no further. This head has essentially none. But for my primary use, it has instantly become the gold standard. The output of the Cree XR-E LED is robust and without any optic, lens, or reflector, it generated the most perfect, useful pure flood beam I've ever seen. It was superior even to the absolute reference, the SureFire holographic beam diffusers. And so without delay, here is a photo exposé of this amazing little head.
First, let me start with the vital statistics. The Cree XR-E LED is housed in a bezel that attractively fluted and finished in black HA. But most stunning about this head is the size. It is tiny and is in fact shorter than the L1 tailcap and only slightly larger in diameter! The L1 head is positively gargantuan by comparison with the ALM merely 47% of its volume. The measurements given below don't tell the whole story though. The ALM transforms the balance and handling of the L1 improving it immensely. Whereas I was always conscious of using the L1 as a tool, the ALM-L1 felt telepathic in the hand. I dare say that now this light is perfectly proportioned.
L1 Cree Head: L - 38.10mm, D - 28.02mm
ALM Cree Head: L - 20.07mm. D - 25.16mm
L1 Tailcap: L - 29.10mm, D- 23.54mm
Let's start out with a "beauty shot."
The ALM-L1 is a stunning 3.5" in length (not including rubber switch cover) and perfect for smaller hands employing the "police" or hammer grip.
This first montage presents the obligatory wall-shot but against a brown door instead to provide greater dynamic range. All component images were shot at ISO 200, 1/2 sec, f3.5, 19mm. For all montages, high mode is the top row, low down below, L1 Cree/F04 on the left, ALM-L1 on the right. At this exposure, you can clearly see the difference between modes and the fact that even with the F04 lens, there is a hotspot. A gentle, broad hotspot, but a hotspot nonetheless. The ALM produces a truly uniform bright "space." I did not include shots of the L1 without the F04 because the beam is so intensely tight, it does not compare.
This next set of images demonstrates performance at the maximum end of my indoor use range, about 75" to target or a little over 6'. The hotspot of the L1-F04 is clearly discernible as is the ultra smooth plane of flawlessly uniform light from the bare LED in the ALM bezel. Beyond 6', the extremely diffuse light is still useful but much dimmer as would be expected. ISO 200, 1.6 sec, f3.5, 19mm.
This final montage illustrates the relative performance of these bezels at my most common use range, up to about 33" or arm's length. The images accurately reflect the lights' beam characteristics. When examining white or light colored targets, the spot of the L1-F04 is still sufficiently concentrated to induce a bit of night "bright blindness." With the ALM, however, this is not the case. The light from the ALM suffuses and evenly illuminates the entire visual field. The output can no longer be called a beam. Instead, I'd refer to it as a "light field," perfectly diffuse, perfectly uniform, and essentially devoid of artifacts or features. In other words, perfect. ISO 200, 1/3 sec, f3.5, 19mm.
And so there you have it, the ultimate light for my in-house, close up use. Another McGizmo creation and one that I am grateful for having the opportunity to have tested. Thank you, Don!
Wilkey
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