Stability of Surefire L1 tailcap?

Recently when i was surfing a site, it is said that the stability of l1 lumamax
isnt reliable,regarding the flux regulation made by the tailcap.
The information is: the tailcap contain 3 very thin pieces of metal,
during half press 1 metal piece contact with the PCB and low intensity is achieved while full press, 3 thin metal contact with the PCB to give you a high intensity beam.
My question is:
1. It is said that the 3 pieces of metal is very easy to be fractured, is it true?
2. The light regulation is done by internal resistor or the metal pieces act as a signal controller(by high and low voltage?) which "tells" the IC rather to give you a high or low beam? In the other way: do the low beam extend the runtime.

I am being hesitate that should i get a L1.

Jh.

A lot of SureFire's use the same tailcap design as the L1. I think the L1 tailcap is pretty reliable and from what I remember reading a while back, the resistor doesn't use too much power.

If you are really worried about it, inspect the tailcap whenever you replace the battery and look to see that all three metal tabs are still present. IIRC, the light can function with as little as one of those present. If you see that one or more has broken off, just call SureFire and the will replace/fix it for you. I've never personally had any tabs break off any any of my SF lights that use that style of tailcap.

The L1 is a really great light. I don't think that you will be disappointed. The unique tailcap is what gives the L1 it's awesome user-interface (instant access to either high or low mode).

BTW, :welcome:

What website was it, care to share?

jh333233 said:

Recently when i was surfing a site, it is said that the stability of l1 lumamax
isnt reliable,regarding the flux regulation made by the tailcap.
The information is: the tailcap contain 3 very thin pieces of metal,
during half press 1 metal piece contact with the PCB and low intensity is achieved while full press, 3 thin metal contact with the PCB to give you a high intensity beam.

Click to expand...

1) It is possible for the switch to be damaged; however, Surefire will replace it for you for free. Secondly, it is fairly rare for the switch to be damaged and is in fact generally more reliable than most switches commonly found these days (clickies mostly)

2) Runtime is longer on low, by a significant amount. The resistor is used as a signal to the regulation circuitry. In any case, even if it did not act as a signal, a resistor would still increase the runtime due to reducing the power draw. My memories of college physics are forgotten, or else I'd explain why.

3) Just buy it; you'll love it.

carrot said:

Just buy it; you'll love it.

Click to expand...

Yup. What he said.

What you have read is about the older pre-Cree L1's I suppose?
No I think I read it wrong.....

koala said:

What website was it, care to share?

Click to expand...

from a chinese(simplified) website
heres the link for google translation
http://www.shoudian.com/thread-152185-1-4.html
(i hope this doesnt violate the rules of forum)
Title: To question the reliability of Surefire flashlight
L1 tailcap failure due to metal fatigue

I wanted to buy the L1 because the tailcap was nice.
Personally i don't really like forward clicky w/ modes
because everytime if you wanted to change the mode, you will have to click it, while the L1 can deliver high/low beam just with a press
Thanks for the assistance everybodylovecpf
Jh