Here’s my quick first impressions and some pictures of the new Surefire KX1 dual-output LED head. This is designed to be swapped onto existing E1L (or E1E) flashlight bodies. I had an E1L with the older Luxeon III head; installation of the new KX1 took all of about five seconds. Just unscrew the old head and replace it with the new one.

This new dual-output KX1 is advertised to have 48 hours of runtime at the 3 lumen level (low mode) and 8.5 hours at the 45 lumen level (high mode). As I understand it, the electronics to allow for a low & high setting are housed in the LED head itself. The switching works by going into low mode first with the first click, then click off, followed by high mode with the third click. You can also use it this way in momentary mode. (This is exactly the opposite from how the new E1B Backup works; it goes into high mode first, followed by low mode.)

My KX1 has a slight greenish tint on low mode and a warm white on high — compared to my E1B, which has a snowflake white output on both low and high. I think I prefer the warmer tint for outdoors use, so the KX1 should be fine. The optic isn’t exactly lined up with the LED, so the beam isn’t perfectly aligned; white wall hunting is not advised.

Fit and finish are great as usual, with the exception of a small piece of what looks like dust or debris at the bottom of the optic inside the head. I’m not sure if this related to the dual-output electronics, maybe it’s a wire or something. Besides, you’re not supposed to point the light in your eyes anyway. ;D

The 3 lumens on low are more than enough to navigate around the house or campsite. The 45 lumens on high should be great for spotting that “noise” in the bushes.