Surprise - Nice find!

So yesterday I took my wife's car to get her gas. While at the gas station I decided to clean up the wrappers, water bottles, kids trash, etc. While I am looking in the center console I find a mint SF L1. Now I am 99.9% positive I have only bought three of them and they have all been the new L1-Cree, but how do I look at the light and make sure it is the new cree with the new output??

Look at the emitter and check if it looks like a Cree. Square, 4 bond wires, gap on board.

I just checked: look into the lens of your L1 with another flashlight set at low/medium level, if you see a yellow color everywhere then you have a CREE emitter. The TIR makes it difficult to examine the LED itself but the color reflection through it is unmistakable.

heres what a cree XR-E, 4 wire emitter looks like, this is the silver-backed Asia manufacturing origin.



Luxeon-I


Low-BIN Luxeon rebel

You shouldn't be worrying about what kind of light you found; you should be worrying about WHO left a L1 in your wife's car!

Easiest way to tell the cree from the non cree is the length...the luxeon was about 3/4 inch longer

The light looks like it has a round led. I assume that is not the new cree led. Should I sell the current L1 and upgrade to a new Cree? I already have a Cree-L1 but shoul I keep the non-cree and a cree model? Any benefits one way or the other?

I just called SF and they said that they cant tell which model L1 I have by the serial number, but if I can see the diode then it is the new cree light. The old non-cree had a different reflector and you couldnt look into the lens and see the diode. I dont know, I am only going by what the SF cust rep told me, is that correct?

I can look into the lens and see the diode, so maybe I have 2 Cree-L1's and I didnt realize it.

Isn't the Cree version shorter?

1. The cree version is much shorter than the older lux 3. If it's the same length as your current cree L1, you'll know.
2. Also, compare the output. The cree version is a lot brighter on both settings.
3. Look at the beam profile (with no beamshaper). The lux 3 version produces a somewhat square beam, the cree beam is much more round.
4. these comments only hold for the lux 3 version--I don't have the version before that, but you can always look at Milky's L1 evolution thread for details. It's here https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/151425

5. If it's the old version and you already have the new version, then keep the old one! The runtime on low is fantastic (90+hours) and is a great low output light. I use low with a beamshaper nightly to check the kids and house. I like both versions (yes, have them both).

-prof

On the central part of the body there is a marking in white: 'L1 DIGITAL'

If the end of the clip falls above the word 'DIGITAL' it is an old L1.

If the end of the clip is a few millimetres beyond the end of the word it is an L1 CREE.


PS: I found it just a bit later: pic and a picture is worth a thousand....

Great, thanks guys for the ways to tell the difference. My only problem now is that when I got up this morning before heading into my office I checked my flashlights and I cant find my new Cree-L1.

My wife, kids and I took a mini vacation a few weeks ago and my mother-in-law came over and to be helpful she moved all my SF lights except one of my M6's that stays on my night table. I always leave all my lights together normally.

So I looked where she moved them all and I cant locate it right away. I will go home and do a major search and post which model L1 I found in my wife's car.

BTW, the one I found in the car is not the new one I cant find right now, I am sure of that.

wow


considering I don't own a single Sf yet.........


this has to be the most disgusting thread I've ever read :green:

Disgusting??

Ok, just to follow up. The light I found is my new L1-Cree that I bought 1 month ago. I did not lose one.

The clip does go past the words L1 Digital Lumamax and when I look into the led it is a square. I didnt realize what you guys meant, it is square in there.

Thanks for the help guys!

So how did you not know your brand new L1 was missing? How did it get in the car?

Ok, here is how it went. I am OCD. I told you I went on a mini vacation. Everytime I go away I make a list of everything I pack, call me crazy. I came home tonight and found the list in my fanny pack and on it I packed my L1-Cree. On the list I take I also write down serial numbers in case anything gets stolen from the car or hotel room. I wrote down the L1, Garmin GPS, Uniden 396T scanner, etc. serial numbers. So I took my wifes car away and I guess I left the light in the car and didnt realize it when unpacking or I thought I would get it another day and I just forgot. So I got the light checked the serial number and it was the new one I bought last month. End of investigation