How white are the SureFire L5 and U2 Beams?

I want to get either the L5 Lumamax or the U2 if it ever comes out. My problem is I dont like the bluish tint of the LED's I've seen so far. I have a Streamlight BatonLite, a Lightwave 3000, a PAL survival light and I see bluish tints in all of them. The other lights I've seen in stores have similar bluish tints. Do SureFire 5W luxeons found in the L4, L5, L6, L7, and U2 also have tinting? Are the 5W Luxeons used by surefire the whitest of all because of their price? (The bluish tint gives both me and my wife headaches) I probably wouldn't mind a bit of green tint or even slightly pinkish tint, but I don't know for sure. I just know I am used to the awesome beam quality from my 6P and 9P, and that is a lot of money to spend on an L5 or especially a U2 and not like the color or quality of the beam. Thanks for any info...

So far, all the Surefire beam colors look much like the Luxeon lottery, as far as the samples they have in the local sportsman store (tints of yellow, green, warm, cool, blue, etc). I fiddled with half a dozen Brownings, and they seem to be tighter binning that the Surefire's they have there. Go figure...

The lottery is more common with the older low dome Lux1.

Blue-tinted output is generally the rule with 5-mm LEDs, such as those used in the Lightwave 3000, PT Attitude, etc. In fact, the Trek/Expedition/CCrane lights are the only ones of this type I've seen that consistently have very white LEDs.

However, Luxeon LEDs are a different story altogether. Many of these are very white, particularly the high-dome emitters. There was a time--say, in late 2002--when Lumileds had horrendous quality control, and good Luxeons were the exception rather than the rule. That is mostly reversed now.

I have owned both a Surefire L4 and L5 during the past year. The L4 had perfectly white tint. The L5 was a little on the blue side, but nothing like what you get from those 5-mm LEDs.

The low domes seem to be the ones with the terrible tints. My L1s have absolutely pathetic tint, but I suspect they use low domes due to the beam pattern (no square in the beam using optics).

My L2s have good tint, one is slightly pink and the other slightly green. They look pretty white when not compared against any other LED though. I think the 5-watt LEDs Surefire are using have pretty good tint on average.

Most all of the 5-watt LEDs Surefire is currently using seem to usually have a nice tint to them, at least IMO. It's worth noting that all new L1's now have high domes in them, which usually means a vast improvement in tint quality. While the new L1's do have less throw because of the emitter, my newest one (a HD) beats the tint of my other 3 LD L1's hands down.

If you are concerned about the tint, and have some extra $, you can order 2 of the light and then keep the best tinted one, selling the other. You also can pick the lights up off of BST and ask about the tint, or get one at a brick and mortar store and check the tint yourself. Just a few thoughts. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

-Mike

Do the new L1s (with high domes) also have the square beam common when HDs are mixed with optics?



I really hope one day that Surefire goes with a reflector for the L1. There is really no reason to use optics, unless Surefire INTENDS to produce mediocre beam quality.

I just dug out my L5 and checked it.
The beam is pure white, with no yellow, blue, purple, or "rotten cat urine green" tint anywhere in it.

Unrelated, but kinda related:

The Q-III (3 watt Luxeon) has a fantastically white beam. It's rather outstanding, really.

How do you tell if a L1 has a low or high dome?

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Foss said:
How do you tell if a L1 has a low or high dome?

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One way would be to disasemble the light and look at the LED. However, that might void the warrantee, and may be difficult to do (I'm not sure how easy Surefires are to disasemble)?

The other way, certainly NOT 100 percent, is to look at the beam when on. A low dome will generally give a smoother beam shape with optics, but has terrible tint (usually blue or purple center, and often green corona). The high dome with optics produces a square beam with more artifacts, but often relatively white tint.