New KL4 & L2

So I recently bought a new L2. And a new KL4 showed up this afternoon.

Now I'm a little confused.
I really expected the L2 on Hi to outshine my KL4 on my E2D body.
But, what I found is that the KL4 actually looks BRIGHTER than the L2. I've put new batteries in and swapped batteries and shined them in the back yard and on a white wall... The beam shape even looks VERY similar, if not identical.

Everything I had read said that the L2 was supposedly underrated at 65 lumens and that it was more like 100 Lumens. I also saw that the KL4 was supposedly underrated, but still not quite as bright as the L2. BTW, I am pretty sure the KL4 looks brighter than the incandescent E2D head.

Maybe even worse is that the KL4 confirmed for me that my L2 beam has <font color="purple"> an ugly tint </font>.

Am I alone???

Looks like you've been hit by luxeon lottery.

My latest L2 has a snow white tint--to my eyes perfect white.

My first two have minor tint issues: one pink, one green. None of the three have enough tint problems to concern me though.

I will be testing L2 #4 later today, I haven't opened the package on #4 yet. I'm crossing my fingers that tint at worst is good.

LEDs are very sample specific (you can only really base your opinion on the specific flashlight(s) you have because there is much variety).
None of the LED lights I have share exactly the same tint.

The L2 I have outclasses every KL4 I have.

Don has suggested that it is not possible to see the difference between the L2 and KL4 based on the difference in what they are being driven at.

Even if the L2 really puts out 100 Lumens and the L4 actually puts out 80 rather that 65 Lumens I think it's easily possible that LED variation (including tint) could mean there is some over-lap.

If you have not happy with your L2 perhaps you can send it back or have it replaced?

Al

Do you guys prefer a pink tint over a slight green tint? To me, the green tint looks whiter but the pink overall probably looks better. I notice that it seems the KL4 was greener but the newer ones seem to be pinker.

For what it's worth, I have NEVER had a problem returning anything to SureFire. They have always been helpful and have never charged me any fees for restocking. You don't get shipping back, but you should have no problems otherwise.

Hey Size15s, do you know if the U2 will have any tinting problems like autospike has had. Someday, I will be buying one and I hope It will be worth it...

Yeah, I thought about sending the L2 back. But... I didn't buy this one direct from SF (SF had them on backorder with no ETA - I actually have another one on order from SF, but was going to cancel it Monday).

And, I'm pretty new to this so I wasn't sure if a pinkish beam that I *think* (but am not quite certain) is dimmer would be worthy of a return to SureFire. I mean, until today, I was pretty happy with it. Just VERY surprised when I compared it.

It just may be the tint that is messing with my eyes and making it seem dimmer. And I probably can't see a diff of 20 Lumens.

Question - just to stir things up /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I've heard people say that the L2 "must" be producing more light because it uses more power. But, (and I know this is heresy) could it be that the electronics in the L2 are not as efficient as that in the KL4?

Yeah, yeah, I know, someone at Surefire now says the L2 is 100 Lumens...

The KL4 drives the Luxeon at around 620 mA. The L2 drives the Luxeon in the neighborhood of 700 mA. The variation in LED output even within a single bin range of say W can account for more actual output than a 80 to 100 mA increase or decrease in drive current. If the 5W's used by SF are V or W flux bin which is quite likely, the reported variation in flux as stated by Lumileds could range from 113.6 to 192.0 lumens. I suspect that SF is working primarily with W bin but you still have a gross or at the source output range from 147.7 to 192.0 lumens. That's 25%-30%!

A 15% increase in power can possibly imply a what, 5% increase in flux? Well if the flux can vary by 25% due to bin, an increase or decrease of 5% can hardly overcome this?!?! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif

When I see someone state a tint or brightness comment to be presumed for the full line of a flashlight model that contains a Luxeon, I fear that that person needs to see their protologist about having their head repositioned so that they might think more clearly. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif

I don't believe any of the commercially available flashlights are making any claims about the tint of the white LED's. Regarding the U2's, if they come out soon like expected, they will be host to Luxeons which are also of the same lottery that all of the other 5W's are.

BTW, I mean no offense to anyone here. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif It just seems like the issues of luxeon tints and outputs might have been discussed a few times. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif I know, I should keep my fingers still and let it ride. My bad! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Opened up L2 #4 30 minutes ago. This one also has snow-white tint. So, two L2s with WHITE tints, one with slight pink, and one with slight green. Not bad at all, IMO. Especially considering my Surefire L1s have absolutely terrible tint. I think my L1s use a 1 watt LD?


The 5-watters in my L2s seem to be much better bins.

[ QUOTE ]
RH said:
Do you guys prefer a pink tint over a slight green tint? To me, the green tint looks whiter but the pink overall probably looks better. I notice that it seems the KL4 was greener but the newer ones seem to be pinker.

[/ QUOTE ]

If there has to be a tint, I don't mind pink at all. Pink tints are usually barely noticable. OTOH, I HATE green tints....most of them time they stand out with a sore thumb.

If I were to say the tints I prefer the best (assuming a perfect white tint is not available):

pink (most preferable)
yellow
red
purple
blue
green (most hated)

Snow white is always what I want, but its hard to get (only about 5% to 10% of my flashlights appear to be snow white when compared to other flashlights). Most of the time, there is at least a noticable tint--unfornunately most seem to be green.

i usually prefer a slight green or yellow tint, to a pink or purple tint. a slight green or blue tint makes the light emitted appear to be more white and natural under most ambient lighting conditions. just MHO /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

What Don last said.

Al

Autospike started this thread with 6 post's. I got a lot more post's and I'm still trying to understand bin's and tint's. the SE doesn't always get a great result so imho learning about this stuff from ones in the know is nice gesture. especially when the SF's have had a checkered past on tint more then other's maybe, from what i have read on the CPF. VDG

357, are the tints the color you see on the high mode or the low mode of your L2s? I only notice a greenish tint on the low mode. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

You are not alone. One of my L4s outclasses the only L6 I have. Now, what can I do?

Anthony

[ QUOTE ]
leukos said:
357, are the tints the color you see on the high mode or the low mode of your L2s? I only notice a greenish tint on the low mode. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

The green is more pronounced on the low mode of one L2. Although, you can still see the green in high too.

My L2 with the pink tint is more pronounced in high mode--but still appears white unless comparing against other lights. In low mode, the pink tint becomes more creamy/off white.

I dont mind blue at all, that makes it look almost HID like, its the green thats gets me.