Calling all E1L lovers.....

I love my L1's. Always have. I just recently got my first E1L. I wasn't really expecting much. It's "only" 45 lumens on high.

BUT this little light is really awesome! It's a sleeper. It's small. Lightweight. Put's out just enough light while retaining super run times.

I think this has become my new favorite Surefire. I can't really think of a better edc. Especially outdoors, such as camping...which of course is what this light was designed for.

Wish I had picked one up earlier.

Why no love for the E1B :shrug:

Nap

Brasso said:

I love my L1's. Always have. I just recently got my first E1L. I wasn't really expecting much. It's "only" 45 lumens on high.

BUT this little light is really awesome! It's a sleeper. It's small. Lightweight. Put's out just enough light while retaining super run times.

I think this has become my new favorite Surefire. I can't really think of a better edc. Especially outdoors, such as camping...which of course is what this light was designed for.

Wish I had picked one up earlier.

Click to expand...

How's the tint of your E1L? I agree with all of your points about this excellent light, but the tint of mine is too green. Just wondering how yours is...

Mine is slightly blue on low, but not too noticeable. And I really hate blue tints. Looks pure white on high.


The E1B comes on in high first. Deal breaker for me. Plus it can't use RCR's. The L1 is better all around than the E1B. Better UI, can take RCR's, and on RCR's is a LOT brighter than the E1B. Sorry man, but no love for the E1B on my end.

Brasso said:

The E1B comes on in high first. Deal breaker for me. Plus it can't use RCR's. The L1 is better all around than the E1B. Better UI, can take RCR's, and on RCR's is a LOT brighter than the E1B. Sorry man, but no love for the E1B on my end.

Click to expand...

Coming up on high first is not a defect. For other people/applications it's a mandatory item in the checklist.

Nap.

I understand it's use, but the L1 does both, at the same time.

Anyway, let's try and keep this about the warm and fuzzy E1L.

Brasso said:

I love my L1's. Always have. I just recently got my first E1L. I wasn't really expecting much. It's "only" 45 lumens on high.

BUT this little light is really awesome! It's a sleeper. It's small. Lightweight. Put's out just enough light while retaining super run times.

Click to expand...

+1, it was my first Surefire 3 1/2 years ago and got me hooked... :thumbsup:

I think I had bad luck.. mine has a very green beam tint, but I really like it with a diffuser on it. I generally carry my E1B with me, but you have inspired me to give my E1L another try... I got it on sale for $80 brand new a year or so ago. I felt like I was ripping the store off!

Still using my E1L quite a lot after 3+ years. The tint is slightly greenish but not too much.

Brasso said:

Mine is slightly blue on low, but not too noticeable. And I really hate blue tints. Looks pure white on high.


The E1B comes on in high first. Deal breaker for me. Plus it can't use RCR's. The L1 is better all around than the E1B. Better UI, can take RCR's, and on RCR's is a LOT brighter than the E1B. Sorry man, but no love for the E1B on my end.

Click to expand...

I was under the impression that none of Surefire's lights were rated for rechargables (i.e. certainly not 4.2 volts) and doing so would void the warranty/blow up/et cetera. I run a 3 volt rcr in my E1B.

JohnSmith said:

How's the tint of your E1L? I agree with all of your points about this excellent light, but the tint of mine is too green. Just wondering how yours is...

Click to expand...

I have an old-style (ribbed) KL1 - Gen1, I believe. When I first fired it up, I actually thought it was a KL1-BL instead of KL1-WH (!) Yeah, it's pretty blue ....

The E1L was my first Surefire as well I have since traded them both and I kind of regret it, IIRC it was actually ~60lms and would run for 4hrs on high.

The problem is the first E1L I bought had a awful green tint so I bought another and it wasn't any better, but still I really loved those light's.

Have an E1L too and love it. Mine has a greenish tint too but in actual use my eyes sort of adjusted to the color in a few minutes and everything seems to look alright. In fact I have all the duo output Outdoorsman series and I love them all. Have an E1B but it got no love from me.

I put a mcclt tailcap on mine so itcam tailstand. Im waitingtofind an E1B clip to finish it up.

I also like the E1L (as well as the E2L). The E2L uses a buck/boost converter and I would hazard a guess that the E1L uses the same converter. If it does, the output remains almost identical with either a primary or a rechargeable cell - the following numbers were recorded in my shop built IS:

E2L two stage KX2 head = 12/119 lumens (1x17500)

E2L two stage KX2 head = 11/118 lumens (2xCR123)

E2L two stage KX2 head = 11/113 lumens (1x18650)

It would be interesting to test an E1L with all three sources.

The E1L doesn't work with an RCR.

To my surprise, the head off an E2L-AA won't work with a single RCR. And even more surprising, the voltage from 2 e2 lithium AA is too much for the E1L on low mode. Nimhs work fine.

+1 here !
E1L is the light I love the most .
I have 2 x E1Ls and 2 x E1Bs also but if I were to remain with one light from my 30+ lights collection that would definetely be the E1L .
It has a runtime of 3hrs+ on a primary CR123 while the E1B lasts 1:20hr . You can see too many 1xCR123 lights regulated on primaries right now ... add to that good throw for its size , pocketability, excellent grip, fwd clickie and you'll get the receipt of success !

I had the chance of choosing it out of 3 or 4 KX1heads the throwiest one .
It has a greenish tint but it doesn't bother me at all as long it lasts 2.5hrs with a primary CR123 and throws almost as good as an E1B .

I love the look and run time, it is just too big for my pockets for EDC. Clipped to my fishing vest... it worked just fine.

I have the older version with the KL-1 head. Still a decent light but these days it is a bit lacking. Nice part back then is the KL-1 heads work fine in a 2X battery situation. One of mine is being used with a 1750. Have had the greenies and a couple were pretty neutral though hint of blue-purple. Luck of the draw. The E1-B is nice.

Brasso said:

I love my L1's. Always have. I just recently got my first E1L. I wasn't really expecting much. It's "only" 45 lumens on high.

BUT this little light is really awesome! It's a sleeper. It's small. Lightweight. Put's out just enough light while retaining super run times.

I think this has become my new favorite Surefire. I can't really think of a better edc. Especially outdoors, such as camping...which of course is what this light was designed for.

Wish I had picked one up earlier.

Click to expand...

Hi Brasso!

I also love my E1L. It's a very nice light with a very useful beam profile for outdoors use. But I think the 45lm actually is 80lm, because I measured EXACTLY the same lux value with ceiling bounce test as my E2L AA stated at 80lm.
My excitement over these lights made me getting also E2DL Defender. Surefire TIR-optics are GREAT, and you can guess I now want the new M3LT...
Only serious drawback I can see with E1L is that the clip is mostly useless because it's the wrong way. The head is heavier than the body and the body is very short so the light wants to to turn around.

Regards, Patric