Name: David Sowards-Emmerd
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 8'' (1.73 m)
Weight: 155 lb (70 kg)
Email Address: drunken_marmotATyahooDOTcom
Los Altos, California, USA
June 27, 2006

Backpacking Background:

I generally take weekend (1 night) trips, and occasionally take 3-4 day trips. Most of my backpacking is at moderate altitude, 6,000'-12,000' (1,800-3,650 m), in conditions ranging from dry desert to hail/heavy snow in the mountains. In winter and spring I split time between Southern California (SoCal) deserts and snowshoeing/skiing/snowcamping in the Sierra/Cascades. Summer and fall I tend to stick to the high country.

Manufacturer's Website: www.surefire.com
MSRP: $135 US

Manufacturer's Specifications: (from website)
Weight: 2.9 oz (82 g)
Length: 4.6'' (11.7 cm)

Specifications (as measured by tester):
Lanyard Weight: 0.5 oz (14 g)
Flashlight Weight (without battery): 2.7 oz (77 g)
Tailcap Weight: 0.5 oz (13 g)
LED Head Weight: 1.0 oz (28 g)
Central Body Weight: 1.3 oz (36 g)
Battery Weight: 0.6 oz (16 g)
Flashlight Length: 5.0'' (12.7 cm)
Lanyard Length (end-to-end): 18'' (46 cm)

Product Description:

The SureFire L1 is a compact, single-cell LED flashlight with an anodized aluminum body. The L1 has a very narrow and well-shaped beam and has two brightness settings. For more details on the L1, see my Initial Report.

Field Testing

So far, I've used the L1 as my primary light source on snowcamping trips to the Devastated Area in Lassen Volcanic National Park and to McGurk Meadow in Yosemite National Park. I used the L1 quite a bit on a 9-day trip to Joshua Tree National Park and Channel Islands National Park, for task ranging from exploring old mine shafts and various old homesteads to illuminating some mystery sea creatures that seemed to glow for a while after I shined the light on them. Typical use on these trips included night hikes, searching for animals eyes in the dark, various camp chores such as cooking and making sure my pee bottle doesn't overflow. I also spend an evening at Carrizo Plain National Monument, where spent an hour or so investigating the nightlife that included dozens of kangaroo rats, four owls, and some pigs or deer in the distance. Additionally, I used the L1 quite a bit around my apartment and also for changing oil and filters on my cars. Finally, I used the L1 with the red SureFire filter for a few star parties at my previous job teaching astronomy. Unfortunately, this produces a very dim red light, even on the high power setting.

Observations So Far:

Beam:
As mentioned in my Initial Report, the beam shape is very narrow, and I find this just about useless for illuminating the trail in front of me (say 5-15' / 1.5-5 m from my feet) when hiking at night, or for use around camp. However, it is very useful for searching for trail markers or animals further away. SureFire sells a bezel to diffuse the beam, but I was unable to find this at any of the local SureFire dealers. So instead, I made a cheap one myself from duct tape and a water bottle cap (see photo below). This slides nicely over the end of the L1 and diffuses the light. Below is a photo showing the narrow beam and the effect of the diffuser. The diffuser also turns the L1 into a very useful in-tent lantern. Between the normal beam and the diffused beam, I haven't really felt the need to focus the beam to any size in between the two.

Photo of the homemade diffuser.

Photo of the homemade diffuser on the L1.

Below are photos of the beam with and without the diffuser. Both the camera and the L1 were at a distance of about 6' / 2 m from the wall and the exposure settings were not identical. The narrow beam is very tight and doesn't spill out from the main beam, whereas the diffused beam illuminates the entire wall.

Photo of the diffused beam. Photo of the narrow (factory) beam.

Output Levels:
I find both levels of light output to be very well chosen. The low power setting is excellent for reading and camp chores, especially when combined with my homemade diffuser. The high beam has been plenty bright in the narrow beam shape, but when used with a diffuser, I'd prefer a bit more light output.

Operation:
I find that most of the time I use the light for short periods of time, and just using the push cap works fine. In this case, I hold the flashlight with my thumb on the push cap. When actually hiking in the dark or using the L1 to illuminate difficult to reach areas - working on the cars, or plugging in computer/TV cables - I tend to use the twist-on method. In this case, hold the L1 with the LED head between my index finger and thumb, similar to gripping a knife.

Clip:
The clip is removable, but it takes some effort. I used a small pair of pliers to slide the clip out of its housing. However, screwing the LED head back on with the clip removed leads to the O-ring bulging out of its usual resting place - it seems the clip and the small plastic piece hidden behind it keep the O-ring in place. Due to this effect, I haven't removed the clip from the flashlight for more than a few minutes of the testing period so far.

Wear and Tear:
The lens hasn't acquired any scratches yet. The body of the flashlight shows just a few spots where the anodized coating has worn through, all of which are on the knurled portion of the flashlight. The rubber push cap is also still as good as new.

Lanyard:
The lanyard works well for neck carry, and does a good job of illuminating the ground in front of me (using the diffuser) when worn this way, just hanging around my neck. I've also used the lanyard as a makeshift headband for the light, effectively turning the L1 into a headlamp. I did this by cinching the lanyard around my forehead and clipping the flashlight into the lanyard twice, with both the lanyard clip and the flashlight clip.

Rechargeable Batteries:
I was able to find some rechargeable Li-Ion CR123a batteries. However, they were slightly larger than the SureFire brand batteries, and they would not fit in the flashlight, D'OH!

Conclusions So Far:

Overall, this is just about the perfect little backpacking flashlight for me, so long as I remember to bring the diffuser along. The high and low power settings and narrow and diffuse beam options cover all my normal needs. And all this comes in a small, bombproof package.

Continued Testing:

During the next two months, I will continue to carry the L1 on all my backpacking trips and nearly all my dayhikes. I anticipate this will include a handful of overnighters and a caving trip to Lava Beds National Monument. In my final report, I will report a bit more on battery life, when I hopefully will have used up a few more batteries.

Read more reviews of Surefire gear
Read more gear reviews by David Sowards-Emmerd

Field Report

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