I had an odd experience tonight. My son and I went for a walk on a trail to kinda make up for a missed camping trip (that's another story). Anyway, I gave my 4 year old son my Streamlight Scorpion and I took my new L4 (got it today). While we were walking, my son made a comment. He said, "daddy, my light is brighter than yours." This kind of hit me. I mean, I just spent $140 on this Surefire and my son, with his $20 Streamlight, was able to say this.
OK, I'll admit the L4 was whiter than the Scorpion, but that's it. If someone had told me, at that moment, that I was going to be stranded there for the night and I had to choose a light, I would have chosen the Scorpion. Some may ask, why?
Well, because. The L4 does have a larger hotspot and more spill light, but that hotspot dissipates quickly over distance and how much spill light do you need? Walking by trees and shining the L4 up into the trees revealed that the L4 did indeed light up much of the tree, but there wasn't really enough light to see anything. Lighting up a tree with the Scorpion was another story. The Scorpion also had enough spill to light up much of the tree and enough light in the hotspot to see what was in the tree.
It seems that the L4 is good at short range lighting, but I wouldn't say it is good at close up lighting because it is too bright. After my experience tonight, I spent a little time running around my house with all of the lights out (my wife thought I was crazy). After doing this, I came to a conclusion. For throw, the KL4 is not what I want and for close up work, the KL4 is not what I want. I really don't see this L4 getting much use from me.
For close up to short/medium range my KL1 modded with a Q3J does really well on either the E1e or E2e body. It has good side spill and a bright hotspot. It's also whiter than the L4. At this point I thought, maybe I could just use the KL4 on my E1e body. Well, I tried that and I have to say that I was less than impressed. When trying the KL4/E1e combo, it was indeed brighter than a stock KL1 when held 12 inches from a wall; but when compare to the modded KL1 at say 10 feet, the light from the KL4 seemed like it was, well, sick for lack of a better word. It just seemed like it could be doing better. The E1e performs much better with the KL1 modded with the Q3J in terms of throw, practical useable light and runtime.
For throw I'll use my Scorpion, A2, E2e w/P61.
The L4 is a cool little light, I just missed the purpose of it. I think I would have liked it alot better if it was available with a optic that had the capability to focus the light a little better.
I certainly don't mean to get anyone PO'ed, it's just an observation.
OK, I'll admit the L4 was whiter than the Scorpion, but that's it. If someone had told me, at that moment, that I was going to be stranded there for the night and I had to choose a light, I would have chosen the Scorpion. Some may ask, why?
Well, because. The L4 does have a larger hotspot and more spill light, but that hotspot dissipates quickly over distance and how much spill light do you need? Walking by trees and shining the L4 up into the trees revealed that the L4 did indeed light up much of the tree, but there wasn't really enough light to see anything. Lighting up a tree with the Scorpion was another story. The Scorpion also had enough spill to light up much of the tree and enough light in the hotspot to see what was in the tree.
It seems that the L4 is good at short range lighting, but I wouldn't say it is good at close up lighting because it is too bright. After my experience tonight, I spent a little time running around my house with all of the lights out (my wife thought I was crazy). After doing this, I came to a conclusion. For throw, the KL4 is not what I want and for close up work, the KL4 is not what I want. I really don't see this L4 getting much use from me.
For close up to short/medium range my KL1 modded with a Q3J does really well on either the E1e or E2e body. It has good side spill and a bright hotspot. It's also whiter than the L4. At this point I thought, maybe I could just use the KL4 on my E1e body. Well, I tried that and I have to say that I was less than impressed. When trying the KL4/E1e combo, it was indeed brighter than a stock KL1 when held 12 inches from a wall; but when compare to the modded KL1 at say 10 feet, the light from the KL4 seemed like it was, well, sick for lack of a better word. It just seemed like it could be doing better. The E1e performs much better with the KL1 modded with the Q3J in terms of throw, practical useable light and runtime.
For throw I'll use my Scorpion, A2, E2e w/P61.
The L4 is a cool little light, I just missed the purpose of it. I think I would have liked it alot better if it was available with a optic that had the capability to focus the light a little better.
I certainly don't mean to get anyone PO'ed, it's just an observation.
