I first saw this lil' guy at Shotshow 2008 and ever since I've been wanting one. The original intent was for everyday carry for undercover police officers or as a backup light for those who already carry a big boy flashlight. It is only 4 inches long and uses 1 CR123 battery yet is still able to produce 80 lumens for 1.3 hours or 5 lumens in its low setting for 37 hours. They call the exterior shape "melted" styling which generally means it was created with as few snag points as possible. The body and clip are specifically made to be easy on your clothing, while still having a decent grip. I remembered hearing that the clip was reversible and one could mount the E1B bezel up or down, thus felt stupid when I could not figure out how to do bezel up . After some futile attempts to move the clip, I found out one still uses the clip as is, however they use the slot that the space between the clip and body makes. An example of this can be seen on my hat mounted picture.

I've been rocking my old SureFire E1B backup light as a part of my EDC (every day carry) loadout for quite some time, but while wanting to try out using the Thyrm Switchback with it I was sad to see this model was not supported. Since Surefire doesn't make the E1B anymore this made sense design wise on the Switchback and ended up as a good excuse to try out the EB1. (Yes the names are a bit confusingly similar)

I'm sure there are some extensive reviews out there, but I thought I'd give a quick rundown of the semi-new G2-LED version. The original G2 is a nice combo of effective and affordable. It was actually my first "good" flashlight getting me out of the realm of the old mag-light era. The new G2-LED version may cost more, but claims to have more lumens and ridiculously more battery life. A quick rundown: The G2 rates around 65 lumens for 1 hour while the G2-LED is 80 lumens rated for 12 hours. The shape in the LED version is very similar, just the cap is longer. The push button isn't as springy since it doesn't separate out like on the G2 and has a slightly different relief pattern. The main reflector on the LED version appears smooth while the G2 has heavy texturing to help diffuse.

A review of SureFire's newest gotta-have gizmo:

The HL1-A-TN Helmet Light

I saw this briefly at SHOT Show 2006 in Las Vegas but was overwhelmed by the thousands of other goodies through out the convention hall and the tent outside that I didn't take much time to check it out. But as fortune would have it, a good friend of mine gave me one shortly after the show. I would have preferred a pint of Guinness but I reluctantly settled for this instead. ;)

Construction

This compact helmet light is molded out of a sturdy, tan-colored polymer with the SureFire logo in raised lettering above the brightness adjustment button. The brightness adjustment button and toggle switches are covered with dark brown rubber. The IFF LED has a soft, khaki-colored cover with "IFF" recessed below the actual IFF LED. The battery compartment lies at the bottom of the helmet light assembly and has a battery cover complete with o-ring. There is a thick rubber lanyard attaching the battery cover to the helmet light.

I snagged one of these fun packs at shotshow to check out. Included in the kit is the Z2 LED with batteries, 3 additional batteries to go in the holster, a hex bar to adjust the holster, and to top it off, a lanyard setup. If you liked the original Z2, the LED version is a pretty rockn' upgrade going from the original 65 lumens for 1 hour battery time to a crazy 80 lumens for 11 hours. Looking at those numbers just want to make you go DAMN! It was on the original Z2, but the syringe grip adds great gripping options when using with pistols and helps make a mean grip when extracting out of the holster.