Just ordered a L2

Hi Guys,

I just ordered a L2 from Meridian Tactical. The offer is too good to pass! It has been 11 months since I last ordered a light from anyone. Now I am waiting patiently go get my hands on this light. Those who own this light, what are your opinion on it? Is the $165 well spent?

I've gone through the threads discussing this light, and there seems to be some discrepancies in the specs. Is the light suppose to be:

65 lumens, 60mins on high; 15 lumens, 8hrs on low,

or

100 lumens, 60min on high; 15 lumens, 18hrs on low,

or anything else in between?

Also, are both the high / low modes regulated?

Thanks!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

It remains my current EDC even though I have other newer SureFires.

I was under the impression is was about 40 minutes at 100 Lumens on high...

Yes, both levels are regulated.

I like the L2, its my 3rd favorite SF, after the A2 and 12ZM. I use mine as "the around the house" light so I would think its worth the $$.
The only thing that bugs me about it is the "humming" noise on low and my L2 is a relatively quiet one.
I'm not sure which specs are more correct but I certainly don't get 18hrs on low.

I make good use of the L2. I'm currently using it as my primary "preflight" flashlight on the 737. It's certainly compact enough to fit in my flight bag and is virtually weightless compared to the old 2 D Mag I used to carry (and my 40 lbs of Navigation pubs). I find that the "low" setting is sufficient for most up close preflight work around the aircraft, and the "high" is great for illuminating larger areas like the underside of the wings or horizontal stabilizers, or the tail. The top of the 737's tail is only about 40 feet off the ground, so the L2's throw is adequate for this task, and since the low setting preserves battery power, I expect to replace the batts infrequently. For this reason, I think it's better than, say, the L4, though it's a bit longer. For most uses around the house, job, or yard, I think the L2 is an outstanding choice.

12ZM?? Never heard of it

One of the most beautiful and powerful flashlights ever created.

The 12ZM is the CombatLight version of the 12PM.
The 12ZM has a CombatGrip body style.
The 12PM has a straight body style.

Click Here to see a photo

I believe the 100 lumens figure. All of my L2s are VERY bright on high, at least for the first 15 minutes.

I think its about 7 hours on low at a nearly flat 15 lumens (then diminishes after that).

30 minutes of partial regulation at high (so the 100 lumens is only when you first turn it on, it slowly loses power on high almost immediately). I think this would explain how they got the extra lumens on the L2...they sacrificed full regulation on high for more raw power during its initial use? I am guessing this since the L4 can manage 65 lumens for an hour, and every graph I've seen the L2 in has it only staying at high brightness for 30-40 minutes, and without constant regulation.

My latest L2 to arrive (#3), has an exceptional snow white beam. This is one of the best tints I've ever seen, tied with one of my Pelican M6 LEDs.


Is Surefire improving the tints they use? My previous L2s had good tints (one slight pink, one slight green), but never this outstanding.

I got my L2 about a month ago and am still on my first set of batteries. I use the low setting most of the time, which is easily as bright as my 10 led 4-AA light. The high setting lights up the whole room.

It's also my first 'real' flashlight so I don't have anything to compare it with. So far I'm very happy with it. It is a little long for EDC (although I do anyway) and I sort of wish I had gotten the L4 with aftermarket dual switch. But that was a little more than I was ready to spend.

My low setting is quite greenish but the high setting is much whiter. It has a good throw on both settings as well.

However, I'm still trying to find the best way to carry it. I would prefer to carry it in a dual holster with my SOG Power-Lock. But it doesn't fit in a Nite-Eyez 'Stacker- thingy', a "Pocket Eyeze", or my EMT type pouch. They do fit together perfectly in a Maxpedition Double Pouch- but that thing is bomb-proof and looks too much like ammo pouches for EDC. Would be great for hiking, LE, or military use though.

Lately, I have been wearing it like a tactical knife- bezel up inside my front pocket with the clip hooked on the pocket This seems to be better than just hanging it on my belt. I wish that the clip was reversable so I could wear it bezel down- and not have the lens and shiny reflector exposed. At any rate I always use the super- cool lanyard. I don't completely trust the pocket clip. It's not nearly as 'springy' as the pocket clip on my knife.

I'm sure you'll be very happy with it! Wear it in good health!

--LazerBurnz

Re: Just ordered an L2

Spango & astrogrub,
I have no idea why SureFire has not updated their L2 page to reflect the real ratings for this light. The high is 100 lumens for 40 minutes. The low is 15 lumens for 8 hours. When I discovered these discrepencies, I called SF and spoke to two people in two different departments, who were aware of these two distinct errors. That was three weeks ago, and it has not been corrected yet. By the way, there is no way under any circumstances, that an L2 on low could last 18 hours with the current battery chemistries available to us. The 8 hour figure is reasonable.

Although we have been told time and time again that SF is very busy with their Iraq and Afghanistan military orders, what does this have to do with the webmaster of the company revising a page that is posting erroneous information? I am sure that hundreds of people have reported the error. It is one thing printing errors in a catalog that is published once a year, and entirely another matter posting gross errors on a webpage. The catalog cannot be economically revised. The website can be revised anytime. The fact that it has not been corrected in the last three weeks, means to me that SF is trying to drum up sales by exaggerating the runtimes of the L2. I can offer no other reasonable explanation for this behavior.

If it means anything to the members who are reading this post, I love SF lights dearly, and will continue to study them, buy them, and if necessary upgrade them through modification. Each time SF does this type of thing, it loses some of it's customer base because it looks either like a dishonest ploy or indifference to a mistake. Whether it is or isn't, it should be corrected immediately!

Re: Just ordered an L2

My Operator's Manual for the L2 (Dated 2-1-2004)says:

"Output & Runtime:
Accurately specifying light output (lumens) and runtime is more complicated for LED flashlights than it is for tungsten flashlights.

What can be said, in simple terms at this time, is that the light output of the L2 exceeds the 60 lumen output of comparable SureFire tungsten lamp flashlights (6P, C2, E2e, etc.), and runtime is longer than the one hour specified for these tungsten lamp flashlights."

There is no mention of the bin or any other specifications of the flashlights. (only that it's a 5 watt white LED).

I'd be interested to know the actual specs and stats too.

Re: Just ordered an L2

Some of the reviews that first used a light meter to graph the low mode on the L2 put its runtime at 10-12 hours before reaching 50% brightness. One other little caveat is that none of us here can measure actual lumens. Maybe the low mode is more like 30 lumens and over an 18 hour period the average is something like 15 lumens? (attempting to explain SF stats).
Also, it seems that the curcuitry for the L2 in high mode was designed more for momentary use rather than continuous on for 1 hour (40 minutes). I would like to see one of the reviewers with a light meter take lux measurements intermittently on the high mode. For example, run the L2 on low mode for an hour, then measure the lux for the high mode, run it on low mode another hour, then a few seconds on high mode, etc until battery depletion. I wonder if the high mode might be nearly the same lux for most of the battery life when used intermittently?
My reason for suggesting this is that when using the high mode intermittently on my own L2, it seems to the naked eye that my nearly depleted batteries can still momentarily produce a dazzling white light (even if I compare it with fresh batteries). Just my $.02. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Don\'t screw the bezel on any other body!!!

Whatever you do, mine stopped working......
I loved it to death the few hours it worked though. You won't be dissappointed. There a two little tabs in the bezel that may contact the body for a ground or something. I screwed the l2's bezel on my e1e body just for the heck of it and it must have pushed those two tabs down? Not exactly sure what happened , just an educated guess.

That was meant for spango, not leukos. My bad

Please bare with me. Still working on it.

Re: That was meant for spango, not leukos. My bad

We are waiting for a happy ending. I hope that you got your L2 bezel to work!