For all those in Southern California, Lapg has now opened a storefront. So I went in today to see if I could test out their new line of lights. I was surprised how these did.
I won't get too much in the individual specs as you can see them on their site.
First the L1. The build quality is pretty good. The walls are not super thick, but plenty durable enough for LE use. The surface has very grippy knurling; sweaty/wet/oily hands, it won't slip out. The pocket clip has a lip allowing it to slide in thick pockets, and takes quite a bit of force to remove.
The rear switch has a good amount on tension and the surface is grippy with nice texture. The intent in the tail switch has a good space for your thumb and doesn't require your thumb to be in just one spot to activate. The head is large with heatsinks. The lens is glass and anti reflective. Bery deep, smooth reflector. The threads look triangular cut, and appear as decent as Klarus' for comparison. Has O rings at head and tail and look plenty water resistant.
I have average size hands and it feels very nice to hold. My pinky finger stops at the base of the head, and the clip isn't affecting my hold.
Beam. This thing will throw. I was in one of Lapg's dark hallways at 25 yards and the hotspot was probably about 4-5 feet across and the spill provided tons of illumination. Comparing to my Klarus XT2C (470 version), the XT2C's hotspot was about double the size and appeared about 40-50% as bright. The spill between the two was close with the L1 being a little brighter. Spill brightness is pretty comparable to a Klarus RS/XT11. I have no doubt the L1 is pushing 750-800 lumens.
The beam is a little cooler than my xt2c, with the L1 giving slight blueish tint, but color rendering is very good. Zero artifacts in the hotspot and with the transition to the spill. I couldn't recognize a distinctive corona as it really does blend well. There was only a faint ring around the outermost edge of the spill. It is not within your periphery vision. Your eyes will typically be following the hotspot and the corona. I barely noticed it and doubt it would be seen during outdoor use. I didn't have specs but I would guess this thing has a cd of 11-13000.
The interface is pretty well thought out, and very similar to Nitecore Mt series. The only exception is head tightened is High, strobe. It will always start in high with a momentary press or constant on click. To get strobe, you must momentary press or click twice within 3/4 of a second. For typical LE momentary use of high being the desired setting, strobe won't be activated unless you intentionally activate the button within the 3/4 second. Pretty good and I find acceptable for field use. General mode as I stated earlier is just like the MT series.
When on high, the head does get warm, but doesn't get uncomfortable. I was told that at 5 minutes on max, the light will turn off and not step down. If you immedietly click it back on it will again activate though. I hoped it would step down versus shut off but for LE use, If I needed a light for more than 5 minutes constant, I could make due with the medium mode which is 330 lumens and puts out close to the level of light my xt2c does. I would guess this does not have a dedicated thermal sensor but rather a timer. I was using it for a good 20 minutes on max with random on and off usage and the brightness stayed constant and the head was always safe to hold.
I forgot to mention that I tested this with both SL cr123's and my personal Eagletac protected 18650 3100 mah batteries. The 18650 fit very well and there was still a little room inside to possible fit a 3400 mah. Don't quote me for sure on the 3400 one, but the 3100 (white/red label one) eagletac fit nice.
i can't think of much more but please query away if I missed something.
Now the L2. It's a bit thinner and shorter than my xt2c, so it's very pocketable. Same great knurling as the l1, switch, clip, threads, o rings, glass lens (smaller diameter of course), smooth reflector, and interface.
Although the head is smaller, this throws a hotspot (25 yards distance) about 3/4 the size of my xt2c. Both the spill and hotspot appear about 30-40% brighter than my xt2c. The head gets warm/hot, but not too hot to hold. I used it for about 10 minutes on on/off at max and it maintained brightness and didn't shut off.
These lights put out performance in the 80-100 dollar range at half the price. Best bang for the buck on the market right now. I don't work for La police gear, just a fellow enthusiast looking to spread the word.
I won't get too much in the individual specs as you can see them on their site.
First the L1. The build quality is pretty good. The walls are not super thick, but plenty durable enough for LE use. The surface has very grippy knurling; sweaty/wet/oily hands, it won't slip out. The pocket clip has a lip allowing it to slide in thick pockets, and takes quite a bit of force to remove.
The rear switch has a good amount on tension and the surface is grippy with nice texture. The intent in the tail switch has a good space for your thumb and doesn't require your thumb to be in just one spot to activate. The head is large with heatsinks. The lens is glass and anti reflective. Bery deep, smooth reflector. The threads look triangular cut, and appear as decent as Klarus' for comparison. Has O rings at head and tail and look plenty water resistant.
I have average size hands and it feels very nice to hold. My pinky finger stops at the base of the head, and the clip isn't affecting my hold.
Beam. This thing will throw. I was in one of Lapg's dark hallways at 25 yards and the hotspot was probably about 4-5 feet across and the spill provided tons of illumination. Comparing to my Klarus XT2C (470 version), the XT2C's hotspot was about double the size and appeared about 40-50% as bright. The spill between the two was close with the L1 being a little brighter. Spill brightness is pretty comparable to a Klarus RS/XT11. I have no doubt the L1 is pushing 750-800 lumens.
The beam is a little cooler than my xt2c, with the L1 giving slight blueish tint, but color rendering is very good. Zero artifacts in the hotspot and with the transition to the spill. I couldn't recognize a distinctive corona as it really does blend well. There was only a faint ring around the outermost edge of the spill. It is not within your periphery vision. Your eyes will typically be following the hotspot and the corona. I barely noticed it and doubt it would be seen during outdoor use. I didn't have specs but I would guess this thing has a cd of 11-13000.
The interface is pretty well thought out, and very similar to Nitecore Mt series. The only exception is head tightened is High, strobe. It will always start in high with a momentary press or constant on click. To get strobe, you must momentary press or click twice within 3/4 of a second. For typical LE momentary use of high being the desired setting, strobe won't be activated unless you intentionally activate the button within the 3/4 second. Pretty good and I find acceptable for field use. General mode as I stated earlier is just like the MT series.
When on high, the head does get warm, but doesn't get uncomfortable. I was told that at 5 minutes on max, the light will turn off and not step down. If you immedietly click it back on it will again activate though. I hoped it would step down versus shut off but for LE use, If I needed a light for more than 5 minutes constant, I could make due with the medium mode which is 330 lumens and puts out close to the level of light my xt2c does. I would guess this does not have a dedicated thermal sensor but rather a timer. I was using it for a good 20 minutes on max with random on and off usage and the brightness stayed constant and the head was always safe to hold.
I forgot to mention that I tested this with both SL cr123's and my personal Eagletac protected 18650 3100 mah batteries. The 18650 fit very well and there was still a little room inside to possible fit a 3400 mah. Don't quote me for sure on the 3400 one, but the 3100 (white/red label one) eagletac fit nice.
i can't think of much more but please query away if I missed something.
Now the L2. It's a bit thinner and shorter than my xt2c, so it's very pocketable. Same great knurling as the l1, switch, clip, threads, o rings, glass lens (smaller diameter of course), smooth reflector, and interface.
Although the head is smaller, this throws a hotspot (25 yards distance) about 3/4 the size of my xt2c. Both the spill and hotspot appear about 30-40% brighter than my xt2c. The head gets warm/hot, but not too hot to hold. I used it for about 10 minutes on on/off at max and it maintained brightness and didn't shut off.
These lights put out performance in the 80-100 dollar range at half the price. Best bang for the buck on the market right now. I don't work for La police gear, just a fellow enthusiast looking to spread the word.
