G3 Led / L5 Throw Comparison

Hi Guys,

Its been ages since i were here... so long I've had to re-register.
I was Caleo911 but have now changed to Ctrain.

Just a quick question.. been out of action for ages... now I'm shortly about to head off the europe for 6 - 12 months.. bit of backpacking some work and just travel.

I'm buying a new light and am unsure between the G3 LED and the L5.
Runtime and trow are important to me so i just wanted some feedback if thats ok?

Cheers
Clint

Hi Clint, welcome back

For backpacking / travel etc I would personally recommend a L1 Cree. Compact, dual stage, and the high output is in my opinion bright enough and throws long enough to be very useful. I haven't checked lately but I remember the L1 Cree has the same amount of throw if not more than the G3L.

Best of all it only runs on one battery so a spares carrier of 4 batteries gives you a very large amount of runtime. I have found myself that I am more likely to carry my L1 Cree than my g2z, 9p, M3 or G3 because of its convenient size, utility (dual stage) and it is still sufficiently bright for 99% of my tasks (the other 1% involves using the 500 lumen M6 )

Sorry to stray from your question of the G3L and L5 but that is just my 2 cents. If I were in your situation I would have a L1 Cree or even a E1b for everyday pocket carry, and maybe a G3 / 9p etc with a P91 lamp (or the new P61L when it is released) to keep in the bag and keep as a brighter light. 2 is 1 and 1 is none IMHO

If you do consider the SF L1 (I wouldn't use it for hiking/ backpacking FWIW) PLEASE understand that you will have a light with very little (if any) spill. If your use requires more then the use of a narrow beam, might I suggest the SF G3 with a Malkoff M60LL, which will have great regulation for probably about 12 hrs. @ approx. 80lms. (on 3-123's) and offer you a much MORE useable profile/beam. My .02 FWIW, YMMV

Welcome back!

Would a multimode light work?

A throw light with a lower mode.

How much throw? How long of a runtime? Size? Output? Battery?

As for the best throwing production light, the Dereelight DBS is one of the top ones. It should throw usable light 200 meters. It is also pretty easy to upgrade. Just swap the pill.

Also, if you left before the Cree LEDs came, you might want to know that the current gen LEDs are at least twice as efficient as the last gen Luxeon I, III, V and K2s. So for the same power, the current gen LEDs will have at least twice the output. The more common ones are the Cree XR-E, Seoul P4, Seoul P7(pretty much 4 Seoul P4s in one package), Luxeon Rebel, Luxeon K2 TFFC.

RWT1405 said:

If you do consider the SF L1 (I wouldn't use it for hiking/ backpacking FWIW) PLEASE understand that you will have a light with very little (if any) spill. If your use requires more then the use of a narrow beam, might I suggest the SF G3 with a Malkoff M60LL, which will have great regulation for probably about 12 hrs. @ approx. 80lms. (on 3-123's) and offer you a much MORE useable profile/beam. My .02 FWIW, YMMV

Click to expand...

The new L1 Cree's have a very usable beam pattern. There is a hot spot and spill. I believe you are referring to the 3 watt luxeon models that had an optic that threw out a beam with little to no hot spot. The new L1 Cree fixes that issue/complaint.

80 lumens to me is just way to much light in a backpacking type of role.

I would suggest two lights. One more low/general use and a higher powered model just in case. Also you never know if one might take a dump on you and stop working.

No Jason, it is the L1 cree that I speak of. And no (IMHO) there is little (if any) spill with it and it DID NOT fix that issue or complaint (at least for me), but thanks for playing Jason. LOL

But I do agree with you that 80 lms may be too much for hiking and that 2 lights are better then 1 (2 is 1, 1 is none). My .02 FWIW

Thanks for that guys,
Yeh i did leave b4 all the Cree stuff... that stuff is awesome!
I went awol as my shopaholic flashlight spending habbits didn't match my growing mortgage... and rising intrest rates.
I've decided to pack up sell up and travel for a while.. still have a few lights left.. L4 and E2 witha C2 head and some odds and ends but my brother has taken a liking to them so its an excuse to upgrade.

So I'm thinking a 6PL 9P adaptors and an R2 drop in..
Are the R2's on Ebay genuine or a sham? and what would the runtime on this with the R2 and the 3 Batteries?

But I do like the L1 idea as a carry light!

Good to be back in the mix!

Clint

The L1 does have some spill but that spill might not be enough for some.

The comparatively little spill might be perfect for some and useless for others.

IIRC the P60L module has around 1500-2000 lux at 1 meter(do those sound right?) and the L1 has around 5000 lux so the L1 should easily out throw the P60L drop-in.