Pelican M6 LED vs Surefire L1

I now have several Pelican M6 LEDs, and two Surefire L1 Digital Lumamax.

Despite the higher price (over $100 for the Surefire, although I only paid $79 due to a sale), the beam color and pattern is clearly inferior on the Surefire. One L1 has a bright purple beam--its actually kind of pretty, but for a "white" LED there is no excuse for such a color tint. The other L1 has a blue-purple hotspot with green corona--exceptionally "ugly" beam IMO. The beam also has slight rings and blotches in the corona--probably due to optics rather than a textured reflector.

OTOH...all but one of my Pelian M6 LEDs have exceptionally white beams. The one that is not exceptionally white, is still very white except when compared side-by-side with another Pelican M6 LED (it has a slight green tint). All have excellent beams (no rings, blotches, etc).

Construction-wise, the Surefires feel more well made, no doubt about that. But, to place such a POOR/INFERIOR bin luxeon into such a well made light is silly, IMO.

If Surefire puts nice white luxeons in the L1, it will be a winner. I LOVE the two stage switch and ditigal regulation.

Until Surefire does, I'm going to keep stocking up on more Pelican M6 LEDs....they are such great lights (especially in terms of beam quality and color) for the price. Can't wait till the 3 watt Pelican M6 LEDs come out.....

BTW....Is there actually a reason WHY Surefire is using inferior LEDs in the L1?

I'm considering giving one or the other as a gift to my brother. Which would you recommend? My brother is not 'beam color savvy'. Also, I think the SF would sip 123's, since it uses 1, not 2, plus it has the 2 light levels. I'm thinking long and hard about it, since 123 cells cost C$10 or more even if you buy them at a discount store in Canada. I'd have to buy him 10 or 20 with the light too. For that reason, I'm looking at a SL Luxeon Jr. or a MM sammich also.

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PhotonBoy said:
I'm considering giving one or the other as a gift to my brother. Which would you recommend? My brother is not 'beam color savvy'. Also, I think the SF would sip 123's, since it uses 1, not 2, plus it has the 2 light levels. I'm thinking long and hard about it, since 123 cells cost C$10 or more even if you buy them at a discount store in Canada. I'd have to buy him 10 or 20 with the light too. For that reason, I'm looking at a SL Luxeon Jr. or a MM sammich also.

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Give the Surefire to your brother. Its very well made, and has a great name. If he isn't bothered by Luxeon beam tint, he will LOVE it. The two stage switch and dim/bright setting are excellent.


BTW, if you order 123 batteries directly from Surefire you can get them at $1.25 each (assuming they ship to Canada?)! Battery station also has great buys on 123 batteries.

Both lights eat up batteries quickly. The Pelican M6 LED only goes about two hours (if left on constantly) before noticably dimming. The Surefire L1 IIRC gets 1.5 hours before noticable dimming, but it only uses 1 battery so it may be more efficient than the M6 LED?

Thanks for the advice. It's interesting that you haven't mentioned throw at all here. I'm pretty sure that the Pelican is quite bright relative to the SF, but that doesn't seem to matter in comparing these two. Perhaps all round practicality is the winner here.

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PhotonBoy said:
Thanks for the advice. It's interesting that you haven't mentioned throw at all here. I'm pretty sure that the Pelican is quite bright relative to the SF, but that doesn't seem to matter in comparing these two. Perhaps all round practicality is the winner here.

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The Pelican M6 LED produces about 41 lumens, while the L1 15 lumens. This is a measure of overall light output.

In terms of throw, the Pelican M6 LED has better throw, probably due to the reflector. The M6 LED produces both good throw and good sidespill. My M6 LEDs can throw enough that it lights from one side of my yard to another. The L1 has plenty of throw for inside a house, but doesn't perform as well outdoors.

Note though, that I put beam quality ahead of pure throw. I'd rather have a nice and even semi-flood beam than a very tight throw beam that has flaws (i.e. Maglite 4D).

I think I kinda like the purplish beam produced by the L1 and KL1. I find that using beams like this helped maintain my night adapted vision better than a fully white beam. It also pull out more details in the jungle as compared to a white beam assuming you have both lights at same lumens output. Such beam colors are quite useful for military personnel, especially for reading maps and other more general use where red LEDs are much more dedicated.

Perhaps SF's use of the so called more inferior beam is for pleasing the military which is their main client???

Hello "neighbor to the North!" The days of getting ripped-off by local stores when buying CR123 batteries, is over. No more $8-$10 a pop! "The Battery Station" indeed sells CR123 batteries to CPF members, for $1.00 a piece. Although they are not made by the big boys, Kevin claims that they have the same capacity.

Luxlover

Thanks for the input. CR123 cells are still quite rare and expensive in Canada. I agree that I can get more at $1 ea. if I buy them over the net, in advance, but if I just run into a store and try to buy one here in a rush, it'll still cost me more than C$10. All this is okay if it's your own light, but could be quite a shocker for someone receiving the light as a gift. I still haven't made up my mind.....

I'm also planning on giving the gift of a 123 powered light. What I plan on doing is also giving several changes of (batterystation) batteries along with the light. These things are cheap enough that you should just keep a decent stockpile ready to go so that you'll never have to make an emergency run to the store. If you're giving a 123 light as a gift, I would print up a piece of paper with batterystation's CPF page listed on it so that they know where to get batteries for cheap.