Today’s discussion is about a small SureFire LED lithium flashlight that I’ve found to be the best little flashlight for everyday carry. This small flashlight was released earlier this year by SureFire out of Fountain Valley, CA and it has been carried daily, clipped to my pocket for over 6 months now. What is the name of this amazing light that I speak of? The SureFire E1B Backup.
First up, this little Surefire LED lithium flashlight really is small! The E1B is only 4 in. long (slightly longer than my index finger) and weighs only 2.80 oz. It is made of aluminum and has a HAIII hard anodized black finish (mil-spec). It includes a forward-click tailcap (press for momentary light, click to keep on) which activates it’s two modes of light output. To change modes, you simply turn it off and quickly turn it back on to cycle between high and low.
What’s truly amazing though, is the shear brightness of its LED and its amazing runtime on low. On high, this SureFire LED produces a near blinding 80 lumens of light–more light than a big 3 D-cell flashlight! It’s low mode produces 5 lumens of light for an amazing 37 hours.
My Thoughts Over The Past 6 Months
As I mentioned above, this Surefire LED lithium flashlight has been clipped to my pocket and used regularly for over 6 months now. Here are my experiences and findings.
First, let’s get my only gripe out of the way…
Unlike most other SureFire LED flashlights, it’s aluminum body lacks knurling in the finish which I’ve found makes the light a bit slippery at times. On the other hand though, it’s lack of knurling is easier on your clothing and other items in your pocket. I’d say it is probably a fair trade off.
I really like that when I turn the light on, it always come on in its high mode first, then I have the option to cycle to low. This way, if I’m walking along and see or hear something and need to light it up, I don’t waste time have to cycle to high. This SureFire E1B utilizes what SureFire calls its Total Internal Reflection (TIR) lens which allows this lithium flashlight to more efficiently capture all the light from the LED emitter and “throw” it further distances than a similar sized flashlight. I’ve found that it is really is amazing how far you can see with a flashlight of this size.
In addition, it’s TIR lens also makes the 5 lumen low actually useful in my opinion. 5 lumens is really not a lot of light, but when all the light is projected tightly together, I’ve found that it’s actually useful enough to walk around in the dark if you need to conserve battery life.
In closing, I have been extremely happy with my SureFire E1B lithium flashlight over the past 6 months of use. If you are looking for a great lithium flashlight for everyday use that is compact enough to fit in your pocket, I strongly urge you to look no further than this SureFire LED flashlight–the E1B Backup.
If you own one yourself or have any questions, I would love you hear about you experiences or try to answer some questions. Please feel free to comment below. Here is a link to the SureFire E1B Backup.
