FOG HORN Gear Review
Surefire’s IR M1 Infrared Illuminator
By: Sal Palma
In this slice of my IR illumination series, I
will be examining Surefire’s M1 Infrared
Illuminator.
For this review, I took to the woods to put
the M1 through its paces. I also wanted to
show readers that night vision technology is
not the great magic potion that we think it
is - it has limitations.
With this article, I want to accomplish two
important things. First, provide you with a
thorough hands-on review of this excellent
handheld illuminator. Second, demonstrate
why illumination is necessary.
To accomplish my goal, I selected a forested
area with a heavy tree canopy. The canopy
acts as a shield or umbrella to limit the
amount of ambient light. There was also a
considerable amount of cloud cover.
Copyright, Sal Palma dba Twobirds-Flying Publication, 2010. All rights reserved.
2 September, 2010
Both of the IR images that you see in this
review are at 19 to 25 meters from the
NVD.
Surefire’s M1 illuminator is a handheld
infrared flashlight, designed explicitly for
use with Night Vision Devices or NVDs.
The M1 comes packaged in a one-inch
diameter aluminum housing 3.8 inches in
length and Mil-Spec Type III hard anodized.
The light source is an IR LED that is
extremely durable and capable of providing
a sustained maximum output of 10 mw at
880 nM1, and runs on a single 123A battery.
The entire package weighs a mere 3.10
ounces, which includes the battery, so it is
easily carried in your shirt pocket, or
mounted on your rifle using the appropriate
mounting hardware.
In the IR image below, designated as Slide I,
we see a well-defined circle with a much
darker area all around it. Note that the dark
areas lack recognizable details; it is only at
the hot spot that we are able to recognize
the tree leaves. An image you would see if
you were operating in a jungle, where you
contend with heavy tree canopies. This is a
clear indication that NVDs require a light
source, and it illustrates why the DoD wants
to incorporate thermal imaging at the
operator level and throughout the ISR
chain.
1
mw is a milliwatt and it’s a measure of power output. An
nM is a nanometer and it is a measure of wavelength.
When discussing light that falls outside of the visible
1
spectrum, we describe it in terms of its wavelength and
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power output.
 FOG HORN
Slide I IR image in a wooded area at ~ 25 m
In Slide II, we are closer to the objective so
we begin to receive the benefit of the
peripheral lighting, from the M1’s IR LED,
with more of the surrounding area and its
background becoming definable.
Current revisions of NVDs provide a higher
level of performance so operating ranges
will be improved; however, broadly
speaking, Slide I and II is representative of
what you can expect to see in a heavily
wooded area.
Readers should also note that depth
perception is impaired when NVDs are
used. If you look at the pictures, you will
see that they are flat and lacking a sense of
depth.
Copyright, Sal Palma dba Twobirds-Flying Publication, 2010. All rights reserved.
Gear Review 2 September, 2010
Slide II IR image of the same area at ~19 m
Surefire’s M1 IR illuminator is easy to
operate with its tailcap switch: press for
momentary-on, twist for constant-on. The
switch lock out prevents accidental or
unintended activation of the light.
Conclusion
There is not much more that can be said
about this little light. It functions flawlessly;
it is reliable, shockproof and waterproof.
The IR LED will last for thousands of hours.
The housing is built to Mil-Spec so it will
take anything that you can throw at it.
Finally, as an added incentive, the M1
illuminator ships with a great lanyard. In
short, it’s Surefire!
-SP
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