Review: L3 Illumination L10 Nichia 219

Now that it is dark inside and out, I’ve gone back to look again.

Shining the light on a light beige tile floor here in a fairly dark room, I can very slightly see a fainter ring around the hot spot, but only at about 1-2 feet. Up very close the brightness tends to hide it, and back any distance beyond about 3 feet the ring seems to disappear into the spill. It may still be there, but I’m just not sensitive enough to see it at that point.

Walking around the house, the ring is not noticeable at all on our darker Spanish tile floors. On high it is most noticeable at the short distances on light colored surfaces like the bright white appliances or cabinets in our kitchen. I don’t observe the effect at all in typical use or in use with lower power settings unless I look closely for it at very short distances.

In mine, the reflector seems to be almost resting on the very outer edge of the 4 corners of the LED die. There may be a very small sub-quarter-mm gap, though. Mine does seem to be very well centered, too.

I, too, have both the T10 and the L10 Nichia. On my two lights the Firefly mode is ever so slightly brighter on the T10 than the L10, but, not as low as the Ti 0.04 lumens. I’d guess that the L10 is around 0.07 or 0.06 lumens. The weird thing, though, is that my L10 is brighter than my T10 on high. Yes, I traded batteries thinking that the battery in the T10 was getting flat and got the same results.

I’ve pretty much decided that all lights in my EDC rotation for use up close and personal should have a Nichia 219 emitter in it because you can appreciate it more. For longer range a cool white emitter will be the way to go because Lux is more important in this situation and cool whites give more output for the watts than neutrals or HCRI emitters give.

I have an orange and a white L10 Nichia 918. I love the light, it’s a Nichia damnit, but the colours can be misleading. The orange is nothing like the picture. It is more of a metallic rust red. The white looks good, but I’m pretty sure it’s just white enamel spray paint.

Your ‘orange’ looks a lot like the red they offer

Orange from CPFM post

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?281491-L3-Illumination-L10-(1xAA)-XP-G2-LED-4-mode-in-Orange-and-Natural&highlight=l10+white

Also, white is different from the HA3 finish of the other colors in this post on CPFM:

” White is unknown. I need your guys’ opinion on White. So far the best they can do is a glossy white finish (anodizing is not a possibility).”

Unless your camera color is off, the one on the left is red. See post #132 in the CPF thread linked above.

Yes, my colour is a little off. It’s closer to gotta zooms pic. It’s still nowhere near the international orange in the stock photos. The white is white-white, not bone, as it appears in my pic. It’s not a big deal with me, I just wanted the Nichia.
I really wanted a pink Nichia so I could trade heads with the white and make a “Nichia Lipstick”.

Thanks very much! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

Nice review…

FWIW, I took the following lumen measurements with my DSLR for both lights:

T10: 0.13, 13, 113 (coincidence?)
L10: 0.03, 2.5, 20, 80

(DSLR calibrated off a D25A Clicky)

A couple of things I didn’t see mentioned:

- The L10 uses a foam sponge spring which gives me durability concerns, particularly for a light which needs to be cycled to reach higher modes ie, no memory.

  • The reset time to return to low is a quite long 5 - 6 seconds. I hear there’s a V2 that brings it down to a more reasonable 2-3 seconds.

I’m a big moonlight mode fan but my biggest disappoint that the firefly mode is just too low. The N219 is really a gorgeous tint though.

I have been looking for a small 1xAA pocket light for some time. I finally settled on this model from SBFlashlights who shipped well packaged and extremely fast. It’s got a nice HA3 natural finish in the version I selected as well as an orange peel reflector and anti-reflective lens. The knurling is well done without being overly aggressive befitting a light of this size. The emitter is well centered and has no yellow or blue tinge. The twist head function I don’t find at all objectionable again for something this small. The regulated ~0.1/5/35/130 Lumen spacing I find to my liking. I disagree with those who feel the the super low firefly/moonlight is too low; I deem it very useful. The only nit is the sharp edge to the bottom lanyard cutout. I may have to give it a light pass with a very fine file.

Sure is tiny! :slight_smile:

Just a guess but if you study this and the image of the black / silver light I think it is not a photo but is a rendering out of a computer program. That would be why the color of the actual light doesn't match what is here. For me, the little ripple is the giveaway...just too even. AND... the ripple in both images seems to be identical.

Dan.

Does anyone use a 14500 in their L3 ?

Some folks on CPFmarketplace reported on using a 14500. No increase in output over standard or NiMh AAs. And as long as heat was controlled, no problem.

Now that pocket clips are being made available, I ordered an orange 4500k 92+CRI B10 bin Nichia 219 to go with my natural XP-G2 R5 L10. It has a 2013 serial number whereas the XP-G2 is a 2012. The threads were perfect out of the box allowing effortless one handed operation. The emitter is well centered and no issues have been noted. NICE :slight_smile:

I’ve been looking at these for a while and finally decided to just bite the bullet and order. I got a 3-mode orange with XP-G2 and a 4-mode white with Nichia. Wanted to get them different to justify getting two. Otherwise I would just be buying two of the same thing in a different color. :slight_smile:

Can’t wait until they arrive!

Would love one of these, unfortunately shipping is $15 to my country. :frowning:

Nice Clip, but 15$ shipping to Spain :_(

I got my two copies today. An orange 3-mode XP-G2 and a white 4-mode Nichia 219.

Orange 3-mode XP-G2:

- Even with the same battery as the white, the head doesn’t screw on far enough in my opinion. There’s a gap about the thickness of a penny that’s visible copper. Ruins the look in my opinion, so I’m a little disappointed.

  • Although there’s no moonlight, I think the low is a pretty decent low for practical usage so not terribly upset it’s missing.

White 4-mode Nichia 219:

- The white looks great, but it feels like some sort of metal paint so makes it feel cheap.

- I assume the branding lettering was just painted over, since none of it is visible

- The Nichia is VERY nice. I hadn’t previously really cared about high CRI lights until I put these two side by side. Wow! What a nice natural color!

- The head is much harder to turn on this one than the orange for some reason. Requires two hands.

- I really like the moonlight

  • Like the orange, I really like the fact that it always starts on the lowest. I think I’m now only going to buy lights that go L-M-H from now on.

I wish this was available in pink with Nichia 219. :_(