SUREFIRE L7 DIGITAL LUMAMAX


SureFire L7 Digital Lumamax, retail $205.00 (www.surefire.com)
Manufactured by SureFire (www.surefire.com)
Last updated 06-13-05




SureFire is well-known for making the toughest and brightest personal and tactical lights in the world, and the L7 will not disappoint you.

The L7 has a 5 watt Luxeon Star LED and a stippled (textured) reflector to make its light, feeds from a rechargeable battery stick, has a pushbutton on the tail for momentary function, and constant-on is achieved by turning the bezel (head). The LED and reflector are protected by a pyrex glass window (or "lens" if you are more comfortable with that term, even though it does not focus or defocus the light in any manner).

The L7 is rated to produce 75 lumens; however I am not equipped to measure light in lumens - you need an expensive instrument called an integrating sphere to do that, and I do not own or have access to one of these devices.


SIZE



Charge and install the battery in the L7 first, and then you'll be ready to roll.

For momentary light any time, press firmly on the tailcap button and hold it that way for as long as you need light. Release the tailcap button to turn your L7 back off.

For continuous mode, turn the bezel (head) clockwise (as if tightening it). The L7 will come on and stay on without any further intervention from you. To turn the L7 off, turn the bezel counterclockwise (as if loosening it).

There does not appear to be a lockout function on the L7; please do not look for or expect to find one.

The L7 can be held overhand (like a police officer usually holds his or her flashlight), or underhand (like how most other people hold a flashlight). When held in an overhand grip, your fingers curl around the barrel, and your thumb automatically falls over the tailcap switch.

You can also use the L7 with a pistol, as the LED inside won't blow up when the gun recoils (kicks) every time it is fired. I'm no firearms expert, and I don't even own a gun, so I cannot show you with pictures how the flashlight would be used with a gun.



To charge the battery in your L7, unscrew and remove the bezel, throw it in the {vulgar term for toilet}, and flush it away...O WAIT, YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

Tip the discharged battery out of the barrel and into your hand.

Insert the used battery into the charging cradle, orienting it so the button-end (+) positive faces the two LED indicators on one end of this cradle. Plug the connector on this cradle into the mating plug on the wall charger, and plug the charger into any 2- or 3-prong 110-130 volts AC receptacle.

The red LED on the charging cradle should now come on. When the red LED goes off and the green LED comes on, unplug the wall charger, and remove the battery from the cradle.

Insert the battery back in the flashlight barrel, button-end (+) positive facing up. Screw the bezel back on, finger-firm tightness only. Back it off slightly when your L7 springs to life.
Aren't you glad you didn't flush that bezel away now?

I cannot measure its operational current due to the way the L7 was constructed.

According to SureFire, the L7 produces 1 hour of tactical-level light, then .5 hour of diminishing moderate light, then 1 hour of minimal light, giving 2.5+ hours of total useful light. SureFire tends to not exaggerate its runtime values, so these values should be at very minumum reasonably accurate.




Picture of the business-end of the L7, showing the LED emitter, the textured reflector, and the lightly scalloped bezel.

The L7 is extremely well-made and engineered. The same SureFire quality you've come to expect from their personal and tactical lights is built into this product. The exterior AND interior finishes are a type 3 hard anodize ("HA-III" as us flashaholics know it).

One of the things I noticed quickly is that the L7 has a "scalloped" bezel, so if the light is set face-down while it's burning (well, LEDs don't "burn", they just emit light, but you get the idea), some light still escapes and you can easily tell it's still turned on, even if you set it down on a completely flat surface like a tabletop or countertop. No more ruined and wasted batteries from your setting the light down and not realising it's still on.
(Yes, I really did that - to a SureFire KL2 if I remember right!)

The L7 is water-resistant, but it is not submersible. When I removed the bezel, relieved the barrel of its battery, and performed that dreadful suction test, a very, very small leak was detected. It doesn't hold a *PERFECT* partial vacuum, but it comes very, very close. It also performs the same with "The Blow Test". Some leakage was detected, but it's a very, very small leak.
If I had to venture a guess, I'd guess this very minor leakage occurs around the tailcap.
But there is no hole or other opening in the barrel OR in the bezel (it passed "The Suction Test" completely), as had been brought to my attention the SureFire 8AX and 8NX flashlights do, to help vent gases from the NiCd batteries they also use.

If your L7 goes in a shallow mud puddle or if it falls in the toilet, I think you'll be fine if you fish it out of the water quickly. But falls into deeper water may cause it to very slowly flood.

Because this is a loaner sample, I will not perform "The Toilet Test" or "The Smack Test" on it.

There is knurling (texturising) along the barrel and on the tailpiece; this helps aid in retention (the ability to hold the flashlight when your hands are cold, oily or wet).

The beam this sample produces is a pure, slightly warm white in color, with none of that obnoxious purple, blue, yellow, or "rotten dog urine green" tint anywhere in it. Not in the hotspot, and not in the corona either.
The beam does have a very slight "doughnut" configuration to it, in that the center of the hotspot is slighly dimmer than the edges of the hotspot, however this is not objectionable unless you only shine flashlights at blank white walls. This is a perfectly normal characteristic of a 5W Luxeon LED and reflector combination, and is nothing whatsoever to be concerned about.

I believe the L7 is regulated, meaning it will give constant illumination regardless of what state of discharge the battery is in.



Beam photo at ~12".
Measures 1,060,000mcd with a Meterman LM631 light meter.
That slight greenish color was created by the camera; a more accurate rendition is directly below.

The reflector is textured, giving a very smooth beam to the L7.



Beam photo at ~15 feet.



TEST NOTES:
Sample was sent by a website fan as a loaner, and was received on 05-31-05.


UPDATE: 06-13-05
I have now boxed the L7 back up and sent it back to its original owner, so additional analyses and comparisons can no longer be performed.


PROS:
Very durable construction and fantastic engineering, like other SureFire flashlights
Insanely bright.
Excellent beam quality.
Enough spill light to be truly useful.
Never have to buy disposable batteries for it


CONS:
*Very* slight anodizing color mismatch, however this is normal with the HA-3 process, and will not figure into the rating.
If battery dies while you're away from the charger, you might be SOL


    MANUFACTURER: SureFire
    PRODUCT TYPE: Tactical handheld flashlight
    LAMP TYPE: 5 watt Luxeon LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 1
    BEAM TYPE: Narrow flood with dimmer corona
    SWITCH TYPE: Tailcap click on/off/momentary
    BEZEL: Lightly scalloped; pyrex glass window protects LED and reflector
    BATTERY: Rechargeable battery stick; NiCd, 3.6 volts, capacity unknown
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/nable to measure
    WATER RESISTANT: Yes
    SUBMERSIBLE: No
    ACCESSORIES: Two battery sticks, charging cradle, wall transformer, automobile charger
    WARRANTY: Lifetime, except batteries

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star RatingStar Rating





SureFire L7 Digital Lumamax * www.surefire.com






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