Honest opinions, 2008 Inova T1 or Surefire E1L Cree dual output

Which light should I get, I have about a 150 dollar budget right now. It's between the E1L cree dual stage and the 2008 Inova T1. (don't have enough to get them both)

I would seriously go with the Surefire E1L myself....
The E1L is alot brighter than it claims to be.
I did compare them both before buying and went with the Surefire, as a matter of fact I have the E1L in my pocket 24/7.

I would definitely go for the surefire.

One reason:

You Break It, We Fix It.

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Hassle Free Warranty

The T1 might conceivably be a little more bang for your buck, but I'd definitely go for the E1L. They'll probably have comparable brightness, since they rate their lumens differently. The E1L will also be a lot whiter. The T1 has a fairly yellow tint, which can be nice if you want an LED that mimics incandescents. But honestly, I've found the cooler, whiter SF tint to be more useful more often.

I'd also recommend getting an F04 diffuser to go with that E1L. Without it you have a great hotspot with great throw, and with it, you have a perfect light for closeup tasks. And being able to put it on or take it off as needed gives you the best of all worlds.

These two lights are about as different as can be. Different sizes, different number of cells, one a multi-level, one a concentrated spot with dim spill, one a flood... The choice here really depends on personal preference and intended use. If I were going to buy a single light to handle all situations and it had to be one of these two, I'd go for the E1L simply because its dual outputs make it far more versatile and its size makes it a good edc. However, my preference is the T1, because it has more to offer me and I don't have to choose just one light. The T1 is larger, not terribly versatile, has no clip, can't be backed off to run for extremely long periods, but the warm tint is exactly what most of us seem to want and the floody beam is very practical.

So basically, unless you tell us your uses and needs, this isn't a matter we can really give you a definitive answer to. You'll have to pick the style of light that suits you best, and we're kind of stuck giving the safer recommendation of the E1L, since its versatility makes it the better choice for a wider variety of uses. Both are good—but completely different—lights from manufacturers of quality products.

zven said:

The T1 has a fairly yellow tint, which can be nice if you want an LED that mimics incandescents. But honestly, I've found the cooler, whiter SF tint to be more useful more often.

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Tints will vary, so generalizations like this aren't worth much (though the K2TFFC varies less than most, it seems). My T1 looks warm compared to most (but not all) of my other LEDs but pure white next to an incandescent (which looks very yellow by comparison), and its color rendition is fantastic. In other words, it's the kind of tint many of us have been waiting a long time for, truly the best I've ever seen for outdoor usage. But that's me and mine, of course; I can't speak for every T1 and every pair of eyes. And the majority of us would disagree with the tint preference expressed here (now at least; there was a time when we were hung up on cool tints too).

Interestingly, my gen6 L1, which is much the same as the current E1L, is perhaps the only led I have that's warmer than my T1, and what I've seen and read suggests a warm tint is common for these. So the issue of tint may not be a significant one here for most.

zven said:

I'd also recommend getting an F04 diffuser to go with that E1L. Without it you have a great hotspot with great throw, and with it, you have a perfect light for closeup tasks. And being able to put it on or take it off as needed gives you the best of all worlds.

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This is good advice, these heavily spot-oriented lights become much more versatile with this simple addition.


Good luck making your choice, I know how hard it is to choose what will work best for your situation without actually trying them out.

Now for a different view.

Let's see, you could buy 2 Inova T1's for under $100 at $48.79 per (2 is 1, 1 is none), then buy 2 Fenix E01's at $15 per (again, 2 is 1, 1 is none), and have money left for batts..

So, you can have a "back-up" of your primary light and a seperate light (with a "back-up" also) for low lumen light use. I won't even get into the "useful" beam/spill of the T1 (a WONDERFUL light for the money!) vs. the "useless" beam/ no spill (which is why some suggest the F04 diffuser, to "fix" a $100 light and make it "useful") of the E1L.

Seems pretty easy to me, but then I don't fall at the "altar" of SF (I own many SF's, but not ONLY SF's). What it comes down to is, do you want to own a SF, or do you want a "useful" light or 2 (or 4)?

My .02 FWIW YMMV

Aw heck, I guess I am going to have to wait for my next pay check and buy both, I kind of need a warmer white light some times and I also like surefires (yes I know, the Surefire No hassle warranty). From what I have been hearing about the new E1L (more or less the KX1) is that the beam is a little more spread out and diffused than the Luxeon III version KL1 (has to do with a diffuser film on the TIR I think (only some had "frosted" windows)). I just need something small and bright (and reliable) to ride along side the L7 I lug every where these days (now I am thinking, why didn't I just get an L4 2 years ago)

Lightingguy321 said:

Aw heck, I guess I am going to have to wait for my next pay check and buy both, I kind of need a warmer white light some times

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Unless you're extremely picky about minor differences in tint (as I am), the tint offered by the T1 may not be worth too much to you over the typical tint SF is using in its cree lights (though it is to me).

Lightingguy321 said:

and I also like surefires (yes I know, the Surefire No hassle warranty).

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From my own experiences and those of others, the SF warranty is excellent but sometimes not no hassle. I hear the Inova warranty is also excellent, though I have no experience with it because I've never needed to use it... unlike the SF one. This is one of the reasons I'm not such a SF fan these days.

Lightingguy321 said:

From what I have been hearing about the new E1L (more or less the KX1) is that the beam is a little more spread out and diffused than the Luxeon III version KL1 (has to do with a diffuser film on the TIR I think (only some had "frosted" windows)).

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The frosting on some of the windows actually seems to make a minimal difference in beam profile and may be there more to clean up artifacts. The difference in the beam characteristics comes from a redesigned optic. It might be a little misleading to think of it as "spread out" though; it's still very much a spot, only now the spot is round and surrounded by a large but very dim spill. The spill is bright enough to be useful and get rid of the tunnel vision feeling of the old KL1s, but the effect outdoors is basically one of what I think of as "peripheral lighting." What I mean by this is that it's bright enough to maintain awareness of what surrounds the spot but not bright enough to see with great detail at any kind of distance without moving the spot to what you want to see.

As RWT kind of said above, I think there are better choices out there than the E1L, but I tried to answer within the scope of the original question. The T1, on the other hand, is a wonderful and rather unique light, but it's very simple and can't do what a smaller and more versatile light can do (much nicer price though). So, a difficult comparison to make, as I said.

I'm leaning towards the E1L right now, but might get the T1 first then the E1L later.