Used my E1e tonight

Illum

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After many years of storage, I decided to pull it out of the box and shine it around the house. What a lovely sight. The last couple years LEDs really took off and 1000 lumen EDCs are becoming a norm as it seems. Looking back 10 years ago, 65 lumens dominated the playing field on middle end lights. The "P60" D26 lamp kicked off a revolution that at the time no one was fully aware of. No one knew short of Malkoff even that modular drop-ins would soon become so popular.

This little two flat E1e was sealed in the box that it showed up, put on sale with no takers, forgotten, found, lost, found again. Tonight I look it out to play once and for all, the Z52 was hard as a rock. Put a Z57 on it and went to town. The little bulb put out 15 lumens, fifteen full spectrum hot and excited lumens. My EDC for the last year has been a EagTac P200LC2 XP-L HI Neutral, a Fenix E05, and a Solarforce L2P w/ Sportac triple XP-G2 Neutral. I was used to lighting up the night with a splatter of lumens. Tonight something in the E1e made me pause and introduced a stutter into my voice. It reminded me of how far we have came, and how pleasant incandescents look when lit. This house has no tungsten lamps anymore, all CFL or LED. I found I had missed this glow, feeling the heat that came with it. I find that my eyes prefer it over any neutral LED available.

I was in love with incandescents once again. looking around the house with 15 lumens I began to find other incandescent lights I had forgotten. It is as if they have been waiting for me, a little child guided me by the hand to them and I was reunited with my old friends. With each of them shared a memory that came alive the minute I loaded batteries in and clicked them on. Lumens no longer mattered, at least not LED lumens. Not now

Tomorrow is a new day. My EDC? Surefire A2-HA-RD, E1e, Solarforce L2+Extension 2x18650 w/ P90 lamp.

Just had to share that, I don't know why. :whistle:
 

tech25

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That nostalgic glow! I have a hard time upgrading my Surfire E2E from that warm beam. For the meantime I keep a 16650 in it and enjoy those warm guilt free lumens.
 

Str8stroke

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Glad you shared. Good read. For a brief time, maybe a year or so I abandoned all of my Wire lights. The New and amazing LED fad had gripped me tightly. I even thought that angry blue led was a dream come true. Funny how time changes things. Now, I still keep a E2E with a Lumens Factory bulb on the night stand. I still have a bone stock 3D Maglite on the kitchen counter. The Mag is mostly if a neighbor needs a light. lol
It is good to keep them around as reference too. Put your "warm" leds up against one. Huge difference to say the least.
 

bykfixer

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Unless you live in the country (in the US) these days, everything is so lit up at night the LED lights just make sense.

But sometimes using an old incan is like working outdoors in the heat all day, staying hydrated with water and at the end of the day, while driving home stumbling across a 7-11 with a grape slurpee machine.
 

Minimoog

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Incandescent torches satisfy, its as simple as that. A well driven hotwire is as good as it gets for high quality lumens.

This was proved to me after I lost a small spring washer from my car on the garage floor. I tried two LED lights - one a Nichia Hi CRI - yet was not able to distinguish the item. Picked up my 1930's Ever Ready rocking a 6 Volt Krypton bulb, found it in about 10 seconds.
 

scout24

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Carrying an E2e with LF EO E2R 150lm bulb driven by rwo IMR 16340's today in honor of this thread. :) Well driven, indeed.
 

thermal guy

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I loved my e1e! As well as my A2. Miss them both will have to start looking for them to buy once again.
 

RobertMM

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I'm jumping in, I always have half a dozen boxes of CR123 and will burn the oldest bunch off with my lego G2 with 6P bezel and one of my stash of P60 lamps.
 

recDNA

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Kind of like in the old days when sitting around with incandescent light bulbs. Things don't appear particularly yellow to the eye. But if you took a photo with a camera with no white balance, the photo, when developed, would look horribly yellowed. The old film camera actually captured what was the actual color in the room, not what your brain and eyes perceived at the time.
Middle of the day or middle of the night incandescent illumination has always looked yellow to me. I never prefer it. At night I like dimmer white light.
That nostalgic glow! I have a hard time upgrading my Surfire E2E from that warm beam. For the meantime I keep a 16650 in it and enjoy those warm guilt free lumens.
I would never "upgrade" my E2e. It's fine as it is. I don't carry it but often use it when messing with wires behind tv.

I miss my E1e but was worth more to collectors than to me.
 

Modernflame

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I carried an E2e in my back pocket for several years, and always had my prized M6 guardian nearby. I love my modern LED lights, but I remember those days fondly. I had never heard of any such thing as a "Color Rendition Index."
 

Illum

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:wow:
Quite a response, glad to see the tungsten is far from being forgotten. :)

A couple mentioned the E2e, I miss mine. Anyone remember winelight? :grin2:
Theres something about Surefires of that era, circa 2003 when PK was an up and running New Product Development Manager and just debuted the Aviator.

I dugout the oldest of my old hotwires. An ordinary 2D eveready that held a mag 6D bulb and a early development Mdocod 6AA to 2D adapter. Being an idiot the cells have since exploded and welded the battery holder inside the plastic body. Would have been remarkable to light it up again :banghead:
 

kelmo

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This thread made me dig out my 9P. I remember when I first purchased it a long time ago. It was at the time my brightest light. Another CPFer encouraged me to buy it, Critter Ridder. I hope he is doing well. I took that sucker camping and it split time with a E2O I bought from Old Grandpa Jack. I hope he is doing well too! Ahhh the pleasant memories these lights bring back! My E2O is loaded up and ready to go.
 

Modernflame

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This thread made me dig out my 9P. I remember when I first purchased it a long time ago. It was at the time my brightest light. Another CPFer encouraged me to buy it, Critter Ridder. I hope he is doing well. I took that sucker camping and it split time with a E2O I bought from Old Grandpa Jack. I hope he is doing well too! Ahhh the pleasant memories these lights bring back! My E2O is loaded up and ready to go.

Your post made me remember my C3 Centurion! In those days I worked as a night shift security guard. There were no shadows or dark corners I feared with my 105 lumen p90 lamp assembly. Always had the p91 in my spares carrier in case things got hairy.
 

Minimoog

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This thread made me dig out my 9P. I remember when I first purchased it a long time ago. It was at the time my brightest light. Another CPFer encouraged me to buy it, Critter Ridder. I hope he is doing well. I took that sucker camping and it split time with a E2O I bought from Old Grandpa Jack. I hope he is doing well too! Ahhh the pleasant memories these lights bring back! My E2O is loaded up and ready to go.

Those CPF days of 2006 really were great. I loved the SF range and ended up with a fair few E1's, E2's and E2O's. I remember a seller who used to split lights so you could just buy a E1 body or an extra head for a few bucks. Pocket money fun!
 

Daniel_sk

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Yesterday I took my E2e for walk with the dog - it's still an excellent flashlight and does the job.
I am running a 16650 Keeppower rechargeable with a Tad 3712 bulb (3.7V, 1.2V, 80 lumens, $2 / bulb :)) and a Surefire FM54 diffuser, this should get me about 2 hours of guilt-free 80 incandescent lumens

sf0uM8S.jpg
 

Swedpat

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Thanks for sharing Illum! I have been a bit interested to get an E1e and have seen a few at ebay but the price has been a bit too high...
 

flashfan

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I still carry my stock E2e in an everyday "gadget" bag. It used to be paired with an E1e with a KL1 head. I prefer incandescent outdoors, so I still carry the E2e, but the E1e has been replaced with the Nitecore TIP. The E series of SF lights represented the optimum size for me, and I was always hoping SF would come out with an E3e for added output.
 

recDNA

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I still use my E2e with stock bulb around the house with 2 primaries. They last a long time.

I've got a Surefire 2 way clip I keep meaning to put on it.
 

DRoc

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The E1E is an amazing light....I bought four of them right before they all but disappeared....
 

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