Q for Surefire E1L owners - is 3 lumens low too low?

I like the concept of the new E1L outdoorsman and think the conservatively rated 45 lumens high is enough for general flashlight needs. But I do wish the low was a bit brighter at around 8 lumens. Does anyone feel the 3 lumens is too low? Is this good for looking behind things in daylight? Anyone feel they wished the low was brighter?

Thanks

I don't have the two stage E1L (mine is the 2007 version), but my NovaTac allows low settings. I use the 10 lumen setting more than any other (the other settings are 60, 120, and 0.12). Everybody's eyes have different sensitivity, and 3 lumens may be all you need. For me, 0.12 is plenty to move around in a pitch black house.

I received my 2 stage E1L yesterday and my experience with the light is that the 3 lumen low is plenty bright for many tasks even during the day. I took it into a construction site today and was able to look into the ceiling with good results. Of course, it was much better on high especially during the daytime hours.

Based on my experience, I have found that:

• Surefire's 3 lumens is a bit brighter than what I have experienced from other companies 3 lumens. Kind of like the U2's 2 lumen low.
• Most of the 3 lumens are focused into the hot spot giving the light some extra reach for the low output.

I am very satisfied with the light. I sold my 1 stage E1L because for me, a low level beam is a near mandatory requirement for modern LED lights.

I find a very low very useful sometimes, particularly when I wake up in the middle of the night and don't want to blind myself. I don't know what level/lumens I have it set as, but I have my HDS set at 60/42/10/VL. However, I find a very low level useful only when there's plenty of flood. I would personally find the 3 lumen low of the E1L annoying because of the focused beam.

I've had an E1B for a couple weeks and find its 5Lm LOW adaquate for walking around outdoors, but too bright for inside the house at night. The E1L arrived today, and its 3Lm is still a bit much for around the house!

My avatar (recently upgraded to a SSP4) seems to be ~1Lm and does the job fine. (24 Ohms into a MadMax+ WO driver, and a useful runtime of ~24 hours last time I bothered to check it when it was Lux3.)

If the advertised runtimes are for real, SF has a real winner here! That's some serious efficiency! So Far, it hasn't exhibited any flakeyness switching between HI/Low like the E1B.

I may pull them both down (if I can) and see if a resistor change can bump the E1L's output up tp the E1B's, and can I lower the Low a little?

Larry

I've done some night wandering around the house this past week with the new E1L on the low setting and it works great. The 3 lumens is plenty enough. If you put the F04 beam diffuser on it you suddenly have a mini floodlight.

I think this is my new favorite "all around" utility light.

:thumbsup:

:)> said:

I received my 2 stage E1L yesterday and my experience with the light is that the 3 lumen low is plenty bright for many tasks even during the day. I took it into a construction site today and was able to look into the ceiling with good results. Of course, it was much better on high especially during the daytime hours.

Based on my experience, I have found that:

• Surefire's 3 lumens is a bit brighter than what I have experienced from other companies 3 lumens. Kind of like the U2's 2 lumen low.
• Most of the 3 lumens are focused into the hot spot giving the light some extra reach for the low output.

I am very satisfied with the light. I sold my 1 stage E1L because for me, a low level beam is a near mandatory requirement for modern LED lights.

Click to expand...

could you explain how the clickie works?

does it start with LOW or High?

Planterz said:

I don't know what level/lumens I have it set as, but I have my HDS set at 60/42/10/VL.

Click to expand...

My settings on my unmodded HDS 42's are 0,12/2.6/21/42. I find I use the 2.6 setting most at night. It's also bright enough for many tasks indoors even during the day. At night, with dark adapted eyes, I often use 0.12. 3 lumens is a good compromise for the low setting in my opinion.

Hans

regulator said:

But I do wish the low was a bit brighter at around 8 lumens. Does anyone feel the 3 lumens is too low? Is this good for looking behind things in daylight? Anyone feel they wished the low was brighter?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Actually, I think 3 lumens is a little too high. I run my Novatac 120P at the .33 setting, and it gets me around just fine for just walking around at night.
So 3 is sure not too low, and is probably a "just right" setting for a light that has only two settings.

As far as "looking behind things in daylight", no, 3 lumens won't cut it. You'll want to click to the high setting for that anyway.

My original E1L (Single Mode) is one of my favorites, and with plenty of output (30 lumens) and 12 hours runtime on a single CR123 battery, I'm not about to let it go even though I have a new Dual Mode E1L on the way.

On the other hand, if a person wants to EDC a single-cell Surefire, the new E1L is probably one of the best choices.

dinocol said:

could you explain how the clickie works?

does it start with LOW or High?

Click to expand...

The light will turn on first at the low setting, and if the button is pressed again w/in 2 seconds, the high level will be activated.

The tailcap can be pressed a little for momentary or it can be pressed the whole way in to latch it in the on position. If you want to use the high level, you simply gently push the switch, release it and then press it again.

It really is a good light. I need to get the F04 beam shaper for it.

Sounds good so far. I know that compared to other light MFG's that the Surefire numbers are always lower/conservative. Does anyone know how the E1L beam would compare to a first generation Inova X1? The Inova had a 5mm LED and an optic. I'm still trying to picture how useful the low is on the E1L. But I bet being a Surefire that it has been set to that level after careful consideratin as to what would be useable.

I like the 45 lumen setting and think it will put out PLENTY of light and the runtime is extremely impressive for this much light.

I think I will try to locate a store nearby to try one out and maybe comapre to the E1B and L1.

:)> said:

The light will turn on first at the low setting, and if the button is pressed again w/in 2 seconds, the high level will be activated.

The tailcap can be pressed a little for momentary or it can be pressed the whole way in to latch it in the on position. If you want to use the high level, you simply gently push the switch, release it and then press it again.

It really is a good light. I need to get the F04 beam shaper for it.

Click to expand...

thanks.. im going to get one!!!

do you know if this works with AW RCR123a 3.7v?

regulator said:

... Does anyone know how the E1L beam would compare to a first generation Inova X1? .....

Click to expand...

The first generation Inova X1 is a spot light with no spill. The E1L has a large hotspot and weak, but useful corona surrounding the hotspot.

dinocol said:

thanks.. im going to get one!!!

do you know if this works with AW RCR123a 3.7v?

Click to expand...

I haven't tried it w/an RCR123 3.7v battery and I don't think that I will The reason why is that I briefly tried a 3v rechargeable this afternoon, and it made the light act a bit wierd... when I turned it on to low, it did not come on a the low level, but it came on quite a bit brighter.

I don't know what causes that, but I figure that it can't be good for the light so I don't intend to try anything else like that.

Goatee, I was all set to get the dual mode E1L until I read your post. I'd really prefer to run it with some form of RCRs at the 3lumen low spec.

Does anyone else have a similar experience with 3 or 3.6V RCRs?

Personally I am going to buy the new E2L or E1L. I think they both will make a tremendous outdoorslight.

Got the Cree L1 and use it as an EDC, also a tremendous light.

However i have found the 10 lumen low to be too much in a very dark environment like reading in a tent for example.

Now, 3 lumens should not at all be too little. After all You need 4 times the lumen to notice twice the output. That means that it will be close to half the noticable lightlevel of a L1 low.

That should probably be perfect for close ups in dark environment. The runtimes seems to be very good too.

I think they both will be winners once they come out.

All lights surefire plan to release this year seems good, too good to be true infact. But it is true isnt it.

3 lumens for low is perfect!........

And folks, don't forget that once your night vision ramps up you'll not need near the amount of light to get by.

The Surefire "lows" are actually rather bright. You can, like Bigfoot mentioned, use a dedicated diffuser, or the bottle cap version in several colors.

My E1B low is too bright, yet w/ a cap diffuser I can read/ navigate w/ a nice subtle flood.

Jim Holzemer said:

And folks, don't forget that once your night vision ramps up you'll not need near the amount of light to get by.

The Surefire "lows" are actually rather bright. You can, like Bigfoot mentioned, use a dedicated diffuser, or the bottle cap version in several colors.

My E1B low is too bright, yet w/ a cap diffuser I can read/ navigate w/ a nice subtle flood.

Click to expand...

I concur. I had Milkyspit put the "extra low" tailcap on my ML1. It should be around 1-2 lumens, just enough to navigate a dark hotel room in the middle of the night. Anything brighter is too bright for night adapted vision.

On the other hand, if you walk out of a well lit building into a dark parking lot, a brighter low is better for finding a dropped glove or keys.

Everything is a compromise, you just have to decide what works best for you in the majority of circumstances.

:)> said:

I haven't tried it w/an RCR123 3.7v battery and I don't think that I will The reason why is that I briefly tried a 3v rechargeable this afternoon, and it made the light act a bit wierd... when I turned it on to low, it did not come on a the low level, but it came on quite a bit brighter.

I don't know what causes that, but I figure that it can't be good for the light so I don't intend to try anything else like that.

Click to expand...

@goatee
brighter than 3lumens or as bright as high?

i was planning to use this on rcr123 3.7v.. could anyone else give it a try?