Surefire T1A Question

I know that in today's standards, 70 lumen for 1 hour off a single CR123 seems archaic. It is like paying a premium for a piece of history if I may say that. I never really fancied the T1A Titan because of this and also due to the many reported cases of T1A spotting a rather bluish tints.

Well, I saw the T1A Titan at my local dealer and noticed on the box that it was rated at 4 hours on 70 lumen max. I thought that I had read it wrongly and have to reconfirm that I am looking at the column marked "Runtime". It says 60 hours for 1 lumen and 4 hours for 70 lumen. With that information on the 4 hours runtime, and the thought that I may want to get it modded to a neutral white or high CRI LED at a later stage, I bit the bullet and purchased the T1A.

Now that I am home, I read the instruction manual (funny since I never read the instructions on all my lights except the HDS clicky and rotary) and to my utter disappointment it says 1 hour on 70 lumen on the manual. If that really is the case I would be pissed.

Anyway, I shot Surefire an email asking for their confirmation regarding the actual runtime and is awaiting their reply. But I thought I would post here first asking if anyone has some solid info regarding the runtime of the T1A? Did Surefire modify the circuitry to allow for a much longer runtime? If it really is 1 hour for only 70 lumen I would be daft spending the dough on it since I am thinking about getting an Elzetta ZFL-M60.

I don't know about what you saw, but I like my titan alot. It's on my keys so I've always got it with me unlike my other lights. The titan serves it's purpose for me. However I didn't pay retail and don't think I ever would for a Surefire.

I love the T1A titan. But now I have a Sunwayman LED V10A, which has just been bored out for 17500. But I run it on a 14500.

V10R the CR123 body version puts out 210 lumens for 1.5 hours.
V10A on a AA ( I assume nimh, alkaline or lithium) is 140 lumens for 1 hour.

Now since I use 14500 and now 17500 I will get 210 lumens but longer run times. Not quite sure how long. I should do a run time test.


But anyway back on topic with the Titan. It is a great light. It is truly one handed operation and butter smooth. My sunway man not so since it has a tailcap but I find it more tactical. It can tailstand and I can throw in a simple AA if need be. It is So versatile.

I just like my Titan cause it is sexy looking haha.

The thing about the T1A though, is that you are unlikely to be using it on max very much anyways. It's max output is not that high and it's a flooder, not a thrower, so if you need big light light far away, you are going to use another light. That being said, you are likely using this for situations where you are doing close up work and want to dial in a very specific amount of light, and the beauty of the T1A is that you can pick a VERY TINY amount of light. So, assuming you are using it for such tasks, as it was designed, the 1 hour max output runtime is not really an issue.

I use my T1A as a bedside/around the house light, and I feed it solely partly depleted cells from other lights. And it takes FOREVER to run out a cell. Unless you are using it on max A LOT, you will not notice the less than ideal runtime on the high mode. I sincerely think that you should just use it for awhile for the purpose that you bought it for and see how you do on batteries. I don't believe it will be as bad as you think, and I do believe you will fall in love with it very quickly. :kiss:

This isn't an answer to your question....


But I know you're a fan of neutral tinted lights. I have a T1A modded by DaFabricata with a neutral tinted xp-g. It puts out way more than 70 lumens, and is one of probably two of my favorite lights, the other being an HDS modded with a neutral white xp-g. I don't know if he is still doing the mod, but I don't think you'd be dissapointed at all in the result. I rarely use it on max, and a primary lasts a longgg time in it.

@deerslayer6837,

I wouldn't pay for retail too considering it is such an old model but it is kind of difficult for me to find one on the BST since many are not willing to ship overseas. Even if there are, I wouldn't be fast enough to grab it as I am on a different time zone. So when people are there sourcing for the latest bargains I am here sleeping at home.

@Solscud007,

I know about Sunwayman. I have the V10R Ti and I love it. I just thought that I would want a piece of the legacy light left over by Mr Paul Kim since he is no longer directly involved with SF's design implementation.

@nbp,

Thanks for those consolation. I like the overall design of the T1A but I just dislike the very short runtime considering it is only rated at 70 lumen. I would have expected SF to reengineer the light engine for longer runtime or higher output but they didn't. Maybe disappointed is what I felt but definitely not dislike the light. I will try EDCing it together with my HDS rotary.

@ecallahan,

Thanks. I know about DaFab and his mod. Have already PMed him and is awaiting his reply.


To all, Surefire has already answered my question. It would run at 60 lumen and above for an hour and thereafter continue on diminishing output for the remaining 3 hours. I asked about warmer tinted variations too especially of their Outdoorsman series and they said they are already looking into implementing some models with a warmer tint. Maybe that's some real good news.

I like the T1A so much that, when I lost mine for a week, I bought a spare! It is a great flood beam and the low to high spread could not be better. I use mine every night at home and at work everyday. It seems like I never run out of juice.

Seriously do not despair about runtime - use it and you'll see.

Well hopefully Surefire's catalog may be a sign of things to come. They mention a Minimus Vision with a warmer tint. I would imagine Surefire may be testing the waters with warmer tints with the Minimus.

The problem is that the people who complain about tint are a small minority and percentage of surefire's sales. It is like transformer toys. A small minority of fans want more out of Hasbro. They want certain characters or they want more details in the toy. But where does the money come from? Target, Walmart and Toysrus. They are Hasbro's major customers. So changes from big companies are not really feasible. It comes down to 3rd party and aftermarket parts to satisfy the hard core fans like us.

Maybe with the change from Incan to LED they have realised that many customers may not be happy to go to blue tints??

I think you are too optimistic. Most people only care about brightness and runtimes. The tints probably doesnt even come across their minds. Probably the only people who do care, outside of this community, are motion picture lighting people and photographers.

Mind you, the newer LED models have been incorporating more "appealing" tints. Z2-S, AZ2, LX2 etc.

DimeRazorback said:

Mind you, the newer LED models have been incorporating more "appealing" tints. Z2-S, AZ2, LX2 etc.

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Personally I never really enjoyed the tints from lights like the AZ2 and Stratum. The K2-TFFC emitters emit a sickly yellow instead of pure neutral white or warm white. However, the LX2 I have has a tint I would describe as creamy white.

Look at the Titan this way...

I love my Kroma...I'm glad it is only rated at 50 lumens in high...that's all I need for 99% of what I do. Increased brightness=decreased runtime. Yeah, Surefire doesn't drop what they're doing and replace every light with a new emitter every time a new one comes out (I'm guessing they buy in bulk, but they're lights are good at what they're designed for. Not to sound critical, but if 70 lumens isn't bright enough, or if the runtime isn't enough, get a different light. I'm glad my E2L is only 3 lumens on low...that what gives it the 100 hour runtime, which makes it a perfect survival light. 3 years so far on the same set of batteries. It's a give and take. Use it and enjoy it.

Thanks AOW,

I don't really mind the 70 lumen output. What I actually mind is the short one hour runtime at 70 lumen. Given, I am happy with this light except the rather short runtime and bluish tint. I wasn't really expecting it to give me 4 hours of full output even though I was led to believe it based on what was published on the packaging. As long as I can get about slightly more than a couple of hours I would be happy but that is not the case with the T1A. Whether to call it false advertising or not remains a point of argument, but I do agree with what all of you had said, it is a nice light made for specialized purposes. I am sure I would be able to find a task to fit it in. I did enjoy using it around the house last night.

The Titan has a pretty short runtime on high, but the advantage of it is that you don't use that high too often.
Basically you just dial the light up to the right amount of light for the job at hand.

Mine was used as a "backup" edc, worn around my neck unless I was swimming or having a shower.
Having it there all the time meant I used it a lot, especially for those late night runs to the kitchen or bathroom.
All in all, it probably got used 5-10 mins a night, every night and the batteries used to last ages (I got a bunch of half flat CR123 from my previous employer, they had been used in old film cameras, and were of no use to them) a half flat 123 generally went 3 months before it started flickering on the higher settings.
It's a great light, the beam is good for indoor tasks, but a bit too floody for anything outdoors. Mine is still on my bedside table, but the neck carried EDC is now a muyshondt neutral ion

When you pay as much as you do for the T1A, I think it's a silly defense of the light to say "you don't use it on high very often"... The light looks nice and comes with the high cost of a surefire.

Ak_Drag said:

When you pay as much as you do for the T1A, I think it's a silly defense of the light to say "you don't use it on high very often"... The light looks nice and comes with the high cost of a surefire.

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Use one and you'll understand.

^^^ Agreed... I own a T1A and two Ti Titans, and for what I use them for, nothing else I've tried will do... rarely if ever do any of them see high level use, much more often as low as possible. The ability to add or subtract just a hint of light without being structured into modes or levels is fantastic, and they have the best UI on the planet IMHO. Easy to extend runtime, just dial it back a bit. 5-10 lumens less is hardly noticeable, and helps with battery life. As stated above, on lower level use, a primary cell lasts seemingly FOREVER.

Ak_Drag said:

When you pay as much as you do for the T1A, I think it's a silly defense of the light to say "you don't use it on high very often"... The light looks nice and comes with the high cost of a surefire.

Click to expand...

Well, when I bought the T1A I already knew it is putting out only 70 lumen max. To be honest I don't need it as I have many lights that does the job at hand and are brighter and maybe runs longer on a single battery. But like the others have mentioned, it is a nice light that does it's job well. The twisty interface is real nice to use and it is not too bright that it is blinding but yet bright enough to see around the house, in fact I would say plenty bright if you are in a room. Anyway, I did not buy this light for the max output. I bought it for the easy to access low output. There is no way I could blind myself with this light on night adapted vision and it is proving to be a really wonderful light. Can't help playing with it again the whole of last night. If you ask me, yes I would say it is expensive for what it does but the UI is hard to beat, especially considering that I don't see any PWM from the lowest to highest output.

Yup, for low level lighting situations, you will not beat the T1A/Titan. I don't think there exists a light that goes lower. My HDSs on level 1 are .07 lm I believe, and I would say that is probably 20 times as much light as the T1A on minimum. You can literally stare at the emitter with dark adjusted eyes. That is what makes this light so special. It can be used where only the most minimal light will do, or be dialed in to exactly what you want at any point. Pjandyho, I am happy to hear you are liking yours. For those who haven't used one, don't knock it. The UI and the versatility of this light for close up tasks and stealth mode is awesome.