Surefire E1B Question

zlf15

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Jul 9, 2007
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In Surefire's 2010 tactical products catalog the E1B backup is listed as having a maximum output of 110 lumens. On Surefire's website the E1B is listed at 80 lumens max. output. Is the new E1B upgraded or have they just updated the output values to reflect the true output of the light?
 

Henk_Lu

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Oct 31, 2007
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I have no idea about that, but I just ordered an E1B from a german dealer... :thinking:

I suppose this is the same thing as with the E2DL, where we never really found out what was going on, they probably tested the light with the new emitters and changed the specs. I guess, as for the E2DL, if I'm lucky I get an "old" E1B that performs about as good as a "new" one.

LEDs probably evolve constantly, but specs are only updated once a year or less...
 

Sammax

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Dec 12, 2009
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I have the Backup. Mine (80 Lumens) is far brighter than any other lights I have that claim to be in that range.
110? Nice! Dang, and I haven't had mine long.
 

zlf15

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Is there anyone that would be willing to contact Surefire and get to the bottom of this dilemma?
 

zlf15

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I just looked at the Surefire website again and the runtimes for high (1.3 hours) and low (37 hours) are the exact same on the website as they are in the new catalog. This leads me to believe that maybe Surefire just updated the lumen value to better indicate the actual output versus replacing the LED in the newer model.
 

illuminare

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I had a chat to a Surefire Rep at IWA in Nürnberg who shared that they had upgraded the LED on the new E1B batches for 100+ lm output :)
 

BigBluefish

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Jan 25, 2008
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The E1B was tested by Precisionworks when it first came out. 113 lumens for the first gen, if they upgraded the emitter then we'd be looking at ~140 lumens for the upgraded version. The question remains, did they adjust their lumen figures or upgrade the emitter.
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2572733&postcount=1


I went for an E1L with the thought that the 45 lumen high was probably a bit underrated, and liked the 4- 4.5 hour runtime before regulation dropped off.

Turns out, in a ceiling bounce test, the output is indistinguishable from my NovaTac 85 T on 85 lumens.

So, I saw little point in getting an E1B rated at 80 lumens. Even assuming it's a bit more (and it appears to be indeed a bit more), I'm not sure that the differnce between 113 vs. 80 or 85 or whatever is actually coming out of my E1L is noticeable, or even if it is, whether there is any practical difference in the output. Several other members have posted observing that their E1Ls were just about, if not as bright as, their E1Bs.

But, if there actually has been an emitter upgrade, and the E1B is now putting out 140 or 150 lumens, that would be noticeable, and might be worth considering. So I'm eagerly awaiting the definitive word on whether the latest E1B has a different emitter with a higher lumen rating, and what the actual torch lumens of the latest E1B are.
 
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