How many different versions of the KL1 did SF make

I bought one of the early KL1's; ribbed body, LD 1 W Luxeon. Well known for it's blue and/or violet color, which I have gotten used to (mine seems mostly bluish, to me). I still find it very useful, in that it delivers a nice hot spot, and a lot of spill light.

The KL1 that people call the 'latest edition', is in a KL4 head, or something near to it, with a HD 3 watt Luxeon, delivering much whiter light, but in a much tighter spot, with little or no spill light. And I get the impression it has a shorter run time that the first KL1's made by SF, although I don't know the exact figures for the newer one. The oldest model was supposed to get 4 hours from 2 123 cells, which is pretty decent runtime from a SF light.

Please correct me if I'm wrong in my descriptions. I also can't recall if there are lumen output figures for the two models, although I would bet there are.

How many have there been in between; what are the differences in the light output. Is there any way to tell them apart physically? How about run time and total lumens, and a description of the beam pattern?

I'm sure the information is here on the forum, but running a search on 'KL1' in the LED forum is a bit like typing 'antique' into eBay's search function; I tried it and got literally hundreds of just main threads! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif

Thanks!

Re: How many different versions of the KL1 did SF

If I remember correctly, there were four versions. The first was the original with cooling ridges and a plain round bezel. Technically this one could be split into two sub-versions since the very first ones had a dome shaped positive contact wich was quickly upgraded to the current design incorporating a recessed contact for reverse polarity protection. They had a Lux-I lowdome emitter (often unfortunately very purple tinted) and NX05 optic. Version 2 added scalloping to the bezel rim so you could see if it was left on when placed down head-first, but still had the same type LED and optic. Both low-domes had the usual medium width beam with blue/purple tint to the beam center and a surrounding corona that often had tinges of yellow/green.

Version 3 upgraded the LED to high-dome, possibly Lux-III but I`m not sure. Typical highdome/NX05 beam shape - narrower, round hotspot and a diamond-shaped corona surrounding it. Colouration is much more even than the lowdomes. This and the previous one also features some usable side-spill.

The latest one is version 4 with a new body in the style of the KL4 and uses a Lux-III with the same optic as used in the X200. I havn`t seen it myself but apparently the beam is a narrow and diamond shaped spot with almost no corona or side-spill. Colour is very good as is common wiht Lux-IIIs.

Version 1 was made in HA-Nat and Satin-grey. The older ones also came in a choice of four LED colours. Not sure if the current generation will be offered in other colours or finishes. You never know with Surefire though.

The original Lumen rating of white KL1s was arouns 15, but SF changed their mind so much that they eventually settled on saying "it is hard to measure the Lumen output of LEDs" and no longer stating an official number. Likewise with the run-time, once it was four hours, then an hour and a half, now I don`t believe they quote an official run-time any more.


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Re: How many different versions of the KL1 did SF

Great explanation Chris M!

Thanks!

Thanks for the information! You answered most of my questions. I *thought* there were 4 versions, but I sure couldn't think what they were!

Funny, or more properly put, it's pretty sad that SF can't measure either lumens or runtime of LED's with their *va$t* resources....But Arc Flashlight could!

Yes is 'difficult', but SF has all or most of the equipment, and the people and recources to do it.

As for run time, all they need is a a set-up like Roy has; surely SF could cut a few senior manager's pay by a few percent, and provide this information.

The reason they don't, is they simly don't *care* about providing this information. Less customer service, higher prices. What a formula for success: for SureFire, but not the people who pay their hard earned dollars to buy their products, and find they are dimmer than expected, or have much shorter runtimes OR BOTH.

I hope they lose some their military/police contracts, soon, and have to LOOK for business *here*.

Perhaps then they could be 'bothered' to provide SPECIFICATIONS ON THEIR LED FLASHLIGHTS /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/poke2.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rant.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twakfl.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif

Ya think?