Surefire L7 LumaMax Kit

Has anybody gotten their hands on the Surefire L7 LumaMax Kit.
It is a 5 watt LED, I would assume a Luxeon Star, with a
rechargeable battery. Surefire says it has a one hour tactical-level
( 75 lumens ) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif, a moderate diminishing for 30 minutes and minimal
output for another hour. Its just under 8 inches long and 1.5 inches
at the bezel. It also comes with two rechargeable batteries, an AC
charger and a DC a auto adapter.

It looks pretty good to me ! Maybe a Xmas gift in my stocking. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif

What is the definision of tactical-level output ? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif
What is minimal output ??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

What are your thoughts !!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

Tom /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

<font color="800080">Has anybody gotten their hands on the Surefire L7 LumaMax Kit.</font>

I got one a little while ago. Rather than re-post my observations, you can read them and see the photos on this page.

According to Dan of Dan`s Data, "Tactical" usually means "Black" but that wouldn`t be of much use as a description of a light beam. I would guess that in this case it means bright enough to sufficiently illuminate an attacker at "normal shooting distances"/be used for clearing a room/dazzle someone temporarilly/etc. Contrastingly, minimal output is probably enough to see your feet in a dark room and/or find your way to the battery charger to top it up again.

Overal I like it, but it isn`t to everyone`s taste and the tail button is a bit too sensitive for me to carry one every day. Still gets used around the house, and it looks good too.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

So what's up with the battery being a NiCad and not a NiMh battery? At that price you would think they could have atleast made it a NiMH battery. Should have given more runtime too, I believe?

I've got an L7 too. I think people have dubbed it as a rechargeable L5. It's definitely bright enough to be used anywhere around the house. Outside, it's pretty good as well up to about 50-75 feet. Anything more than that is still incandescent world by my books.

Complaints? The tailswitch is archaic. It's a part of the body and when you push on the rubber tailcap, that jams the B90 battery up to KL7 and behold, light. Twisting the head/body for constant-on is the same deal. So don't expect any clickie or LOTC conversions. The tailcap is part of the body.

It's also a little beefy as well. I've grown so familiar with the E2e/E1e/L4/6P sized lights, that this L7 is like a giant. Realistically, it's still tiny compared to the Mag2D but I'm just saying...

Another thing I noticed with my L7, is that there is a tiny little hole (1-2 mm in diameter) drilled into the side of the KL7 head. I'm not sure what this is for but if I were to take a guess, I'd say that it's to help vent any gas from the B90 NiCad? But this hole means that this light is not to be used around water and that's kind of a bummer because sometimes I am in the rain or around other sources of water. With a 6P, you can happy run around in the rain but with this L7, I have to protect it like a baby. Anyone else see this little hole on the KL7? Or is it just mine?

But anyways, overall, it's still a great light. I'm looking to convert it into a turbohead with a KT5 kit. Hehehe, we don't need regular incandescents at all anymore.

[ QUOTE ]
ErickThakrar said:
So what's up with the battery being a NiCad and not a NiMh battery?

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point !!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/buttrock.gif
I use NiMH in my Tasklight Luxeon 3AA and
they preform very well. No memory problem
like NiCad's. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

I think Surefire has invested so much into the B65 and B90 NiCad batteries and chargers that it would cost them too much to re-invent the wheel with NiMH batteries and chargers that are backwards compatible with the NiCads. And besides, Surefire concentrates more of their R&D on the lithium lights than the rechargeables.

I do have to agree though...I want NiMH's!!!

NiMh chargers are hardly rocket science. For 40 bucks in a retail store I can get a 1 hour charger and 4 2100mA batteries made by Kodak. Rayovac has the 15 minute charger.
Saying that they would have to reinvent the wheel? Hardly.
They're being lazy, I think.

Sshhh, don't look now, but for $40 I can get JSB's lithium ion charger and two rechargeable 123s..

IMO this fixes all of SF's rechargeable problems, AND gives you more light in a smaller package to boot.

If anything, they should get some Li-ion or Li-poly packs. They are supposed to be the fore-runner in flashlight technology, right?

Hmm, 2 R123's would blow it up.

The safe and economical way is to get the SF L5, Pila charger + Pila 168S.

I wonder if SF priced the L7 so low due to them knowing the SF L5 + Pila combo is out there or simply the nicd technology is dirt cheap now.....

I don`t think it`s being lazy or cheap, but rather it could be to avoid confusion among chargers that could cause damage to the batteries. If SF changed the B90s to NiMH they would have to update the chargers for the new sticks. But since there are a whole hill of chargers including loads of older "dumb" units out there for the NiCd batteries, it is very likely that the new NiMH sticks, even if they were bright green with a bold warning on the side, would still get put into old NiCd chargers quite often, and vice-versa of course. Some of them might be OK but some could cause damage to battery or charger. So I don`t think we`ll see NiMH for existing SF lights any time soon.

New models on the other hand, now that`s a different story. If they produced a new rechargeable range with a different type of battery stick that didn`t fit any of the old chargers, they could use whatever technology they liked and not run the risk of "user error" causing damage. And then they *would* be foolish to use NiCd given the advantages of other types. But given the resounding indifference towards SF rechargeables in general, I can`t really see that happening either, even though it would be nice if they came out with something that really could compete with Streamlight.


/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

The hole in the bezel is a vent.
The B90 has not changed from NiCad in the same way that Streamlight's Stinger battery has not changed for reasons mentioned in this thread - charging and whatnot.

SureFire does not use Luxeon Stars. They use Luxeons. Not the stars version.

Perhaps there will be more rechargeables from SureFire? I don't know.

[ QUOTE ]
Heck said:
The safe and economical way is to get the SF L5, Pila charger + Pila 168S.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmmmmm .... Pila 168s & a Pila charger.
SF L5, why didn't I think of that. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif

Is the belt clip on the SF L5 removeable ??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Thanks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif

Yes, it can be removed.

If I got the SF L5, which batteries would give me
the best run time ??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif NiMH or Li-ion ???

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif