L1 Bright enough?

Is the surefire l1 (cree) bright enough on high to screw with a bad guys night vision? I can't get any hand on time with this light at my supplier and i really want a single cell surefire thats bright and knurled. I will get a e1b if i have to but i like the idea a two stage tail cap too. Thanks for any input.

Re: l1 Bright enough?

Yes it is.

Re: l1 Bright enough?

The E1B does have a two stage tailcap. And unlike the L1, it comes on in high mode first.

Re: l1 Bright enough?

I wouldn't want to take a blast in the face from one... and i much prefer the L1 switch to anything in the world for "i need light, right now" It's the most intuitive switch i've ever used. Don't think that it "comes on in low" if you slam down that button it's in high.

Re: l1 Bright enough?

The optic on my Outdoorsman puts out a beam that looks much brighter than the stated 45 lumens. The L1 is 65 lumens and has an optic that produces a very bright hotspot. Any bright light will mess up night adapted eyes but the L1's hotpsot would be brighter than a comparable reflectored light at 65 lumens. I'm sure it up to the task.

Re: l1 Bright enough?

anon031508 said:

Is the surefire l1 (cree) bright enough on high to screw with a bad guys night vision? I can't get any hand on time with this light at my supplier and i really want a single cell surefire thats bright and knurled. I will get a e1b if i have to but i like the idea a two stage tail cap too. Thanks for any input.

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I would say yes it is bright enough. In the tests I have done and the comparisons I have made, my L1 is between 75 and 80 lumens on high. But I would also say that the E1b is brighter than 80 lumens on high. My point is with the L1 you will be getting more than the stated 65 lumens on high.

Re: l1 Bright enough?

chaoss said:

The E1B does have a two stage tailcap. And unlike the L1, it comes on in high mode first.

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The E1B just has a standard clicky tailcap. The two stage part is due to electronics in the head. I think the L1, L2 and A2 are the only Surefire lights with 2 stage tailcaps.

Re: l1 Bright enough?

thegeek said:

The E1B just has a standard clicky tailcap. The two stage part is due to electronics in the head. I think the L1, L2 and A2 are the only Surefire lights with 2 stage tailcaps.

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:thumbsup:Thanks for the clarification, my mistake.

Re: l1 Bright enough?

That's right - there's two-stage switching, and there's dual output switching.
They are very different User Interfaces.

The two-stage push button pressure switch allows the user to press for low output and press harder for high output. The TailCap can be rotated for either low, or high output mode constant-on. When the low output mode is constant-on the user can still press the push button for high output.
The TailCap can be unscrewed from the body to disable first the high output, and then the low output, locking out the flashlight.

The dual output UI uses a standard Clickie constant-on TailCap push button switch. One clicks the light on and off and on again to toggle between output modes.

thegeek said:

The E1B just has a standard clicky tailcap. The two stage part is due to electronics in the head. I think the L1, L2 and A2 are the only Surefire lights with 2 stage tailcaps.

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Also the Kroma, and the 10X - the one that started it all.

Al

Re: l1 Bright enough?

Realisticaly,i think the E1B puts out a good 120 lumens.
This is comparing it to my other lights ofcourse,my L1 is even brighter than my E1B because i use a AW 16340 cell in it.
So my answer is hell yeah it's bright enough.

anon031508 said:

Is the surefire l1 (cree) bright enough on high to screw with a bad guys night vision? I can't get any hand on time with this light at my supplier and i really want a single cell surefire thats bright and knurled. I will get a e1b if i have to but i like the idea a two stage tail cap too. Thanks for any input.

Click to expand...

It will totally blind the ******* for a few seconds, even if he's under bright ambient light.

While I really really like my L1, you would need good aim for this. At a close distance, the spot is very small from the SF TIR LED's. This makes it good for throw, but the Malkoff M60 would give you more leeway for spot size, plus the output is substantially greater, ~2x. I've went from my L1 to a C-series SF for general use, and have thought that this would become easier - I know that coordination & control goes out the window in an extremely stressful situation such as this.

For a single-cell host, the M30 in a 3P or C2 could compare nicely. No low level with the standard tailcap, but that's what your other lights are for.

My two lumens,