EDC for civilian purposes

hi i'm pretty new here, but i been reading the forums for quite some time. well i want to know which led light is best for civilian purposes, the surefire L2 or L4, my use for it will be mainly for night walks at the beach, camping and anytime i am out and about at night. I do have an E2e and i like it well, but of course can never settle for just one light, and i want to try an LED one this time since they last longer in battery power. One thing that grabs my attentoin to the L2 is the high 100 lumen output, but it seems more of a tactical purpose light and might be more then i need, but it is nice. I never tried a 100 lumen light so not too sure if you can notice a big diffs from 65 to 100 lumens. so basically i want you guys opinions what would you pick if you were in my situation.

You might take a look at the Nuwai QIIIs they are also small, put out 40-60 Lumens depending on battery used (with the stock LED), and can be purchased for around $30.00. They are also pretty easy to modify later.

Another idea is to purchase a LED head for your E2E.

Or you could buy the L2, L4, the QIII, the ORB Raw, the LionCub......

Oh wait welcome to CPF and HIDE YOUR WALLET NOW!

I'm not sure you'd get that much more runtime for the L4 after reading the Surefire Site info. I'd appreciate if somebody could help out here.

I look at the SF site and note that the stats on the KL4 head if purchased separately say 65 lumens for an hour and several hours of useful light thereafter. Yet SF's stats on the complete light - L4, specifiy 65L for 150 minutes.

So what's the deal here?

Welcome to CPF! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink2.gif

Since you already have an E2e, all you need to get an L4 is the KL4 head which fits on the body of your E2e. The L4 is almost the same size as your E2e and can be run with a rechargeable pila battery for guilt free lumens. If you add a 2-stage McE2S switch, you have a low light option similar to that of the L2 but without regulation on "low".

The L2 is a bit longer, driven harder - so it is probably a bit brighter with less runtime - and it's low mode is regulated too. The pila battery doesn't fit in the L2, you have to use 123's.

Both the L4 and L2 provide a wide flood which is very useful for walks in the night.

If you prefer "low" and use "high" only occasionally I vote for the L2.
The L4 is your choice if you use primarily "high" and want a more pocketable light with a rechargeable option.


EDIT: "High" of the L4 is around an hour with declining lightoutput thereafter, the runtime of the L2 on "high" is even shorter. So if you are after a long running LED, those two lights might dissapoint you unless you use them mostly on "low".

A long running, low cost LED light is the Inova X5T. Built like a tank, waterproof, but unregulated and not really a retina scorcher. But long runtime it has.

Hi there. I'm new also. I asked a similar question about a month ago. Do a search for my user name and it should turn up. I ended up getting the L4 based on size and the advice that it works well with rechargables. Now that I have had it for almost a month, I can say I prefer my L1 for everyday use.

Everybody has different uses, so think about what works better for you. I tend to use my light a lot in the daytime for working on cars and other smaller equipment. It sees some night use too, camping etc. The L4 puts out a whole lot of flood light, more than I need for most things I do. That is a waste of batteries until I get some rechargeables. maybe then the L4 will see everyday use.

The L2 on low may work better for you for walking around and such, especially if you are not planning on going rechargeable. Don't get me wrong, the L4 is a nice light, but it wouldn't be my choice for a nightly walk unless I had rechargables and the 2 level tailcap. For camping and around the house I like my Gerber LX3.0 with rechargeable AA's. Its a little long for everyday in the pocket though. With the rechargeables, its no big deal to just leave it on for a long walk or home project.

The L1 works good for me for edc in my pocket. It has a good throw, and it eats less batteries than the L4. At first I thought the low beam was useless to me, but I have found that when my eyes are night adjusted, it is plenty of light to walk around a campsite or mill around the house during the night. Good luck. Like they say, buy them both!

If you ask me, the Nuwai QIII is hard to beat. Not only because it's inexpensive, but for it's size and beam quality.
For my purpose, it's just perfect. I wouldn't want another light for EDC. I use it for almost one year now and I'm really addicted to this light.
And don't worry about it's toughness. It is as tough as a flashlight can get. Mine has fallen to solid ground (stone) countless times and it never had a single malfunction. The only thing I did (recently) to improve it, was to install a UCL lens. I don't care how many scratches the body of the flashlight gets, as long as the beam-quality stays as perfect as it is to me.
I tried to get something similar from Surefire, because I like the design and the hard anodising, but I couldn't find something similar for a price, which I could justify, since I'm not searching for a collector's item, but for a good bang for the buck. The old L1/KL1 is a pure flood-light, while the new one is totally useless to me, because it has no side-spill at all.
Since I never found something that could replace my Nuwai for a reasonable price, I gave up. It deserves to be my EDC. Just my 2 cents...

Hi cyberskater,

If your choice is limited between L2 and L4...I would go for the L2. The two levels of light along with increased runtime make it a very handy light.

If you want the Ultimate EDC...take a look at the HDS Ultimate 60. It has Four programmable levels of light and MANY other useful functions. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Welcome to CPF

-David /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ QUOTE ]
Geologist said:
You might take a look at the Nuwai QIIIs they are also small, put out 40-60 Lumens depending on battery used (with the stock LED), and can be purchased for around $30.00. They are also pretty easy to modify later.

Another idea is to purchase a LED head for your E2E.

Or you could buy the L2, L4, the QIII, the ORB Raw, the LionCub......

Oh wait welcome to CPF and HIDE YOUR WALLET NOW!

[/ QUOTE ]

Its a great light, but it most definetely doesnt have 40-60 lumens. It might have 30 lumens, but definetely not 40. The pelican 2020 has the same output and it has 30 lumens, the Xo has a little more output and has 32 lumens.They overstated the lumens on that one.

-David

OH yeah, where do you get LED modules for E series lights?

-David

The lumens average between 19-30+ lumens, depending on the bin of your light, as they've gotten a real Luxeon lottery going. It is, hwoever, a good beginner's light and a decent light for the price - few get it as right as cheaply while delivering this performance in this suitably compact package.

I agree, the "bang for the buck" on the Q3 is the best I've seen.

-David

Take the plunge .................. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Go for it. Go for the U2 !

Six levels of light.

Up to 100 lumens.

Great throw.

Good spill.

Takes rechargable Li-ion batteries.

And it's a SureFire !

This flashlight stuff is intoxicating .... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy23.gif