My first McGizmo

That is one sweet looking light. Congrats on the new addition. :beer:

Wauw what a beauty!
this must make you feel vry hapy and content to use, or even have in line of sight, congrats!

It is quite a piece.

Congrats!

After spending several years on CPF I understand these are not made to win the lumens race, for that you have all of your other modded or off the shelf lights. Its a nice piece you can keep for years even decades and still admire the craftsmanship involved.

will34: Thanks. Yes, that’s one of the views I have, it’s an art in it’s own right.

I like mine. But it is modded with a fet driver. :slight_smile:

These are nice lights but not “budget” in any way.

gunga: Sorry, what’s a fet driver?

I believe fet is short for mosfet, but the function of a fet driver is basically that it drives the LED as Direct Drive from the battery instead of with a regulated current metered out by the driver IC. The LED will pull as much power (voltage, amperage) as it can. Exactly how much is a function of the rest of the build and the resistances in play - light construction, springs/bypasses, wire gauges/lengths, and even battery internal resistance. fet drivers will produce maximum output from the LED but they also have some downsides like they won’t reach their potential unless all the other parts of the system are tweaked as well, and they will produce lots of heat which means either short useage times at max output, huge cooling requirements, short runtimes, or some combination of those.

Exactly!

That’s quite sweet :sunglasses:

From your post here , which colour temperature do you find seems the most neutral/natural?

The triple Nichia Haiku, I assume this is all flood? Any throw?

I have ruined the three 219C leds in my titanium triple flashlight (Reylight) because of a FET-driver. Because the titanium does not conduct heat very well, it got scorching hot inside without me noticing it. So a McGizmo may best be driven by the driver it came with, hotrodding it implies that you have to monitor it in use.

djozz: Thanks for that info :+1:

Yes you dont want to drive a haiku hard, completely pointless and goes against the grain of the light. The tana is 2.8a and imho pushing it still due to the small titanium mass. The option i went for sounds perfect for you then if you want a neutral. The 219B triple is 4500k, real nice accurate colours without too much exaggeration that can be had from warmer temps.

Triples tend to give a large hot spot, slight spill around(optics can vary depending on which flavour). But generally they are good for close to moderate ranges, i find them very useful. Here are a few of my triple and quads in EDC size(ok some are pushing it a little but can be carried easy in a coat)

So they do reach out a decent way, my advice would be enjoy it as is, maybe order a head from Don and send this to tana. Then you can simply swap the head and have best of both worlds. I have no regrets at all, as although i liked the beam from my xpl HI 4000k in dons reflector, i still prefer a nichia 219B triple.

I would guess your getting on for 800lm from the triple, too much to run longer than say 40s or so. However 30% can be run for a few mins and offers plenty of usable light(probably similar to max out the box haiku output).

LD3 driver would be good for that.

The haiku gets scorching hot on the outside super fast, the xpl HI 4000k driven at 3a would make it HOT in 45s or so that was fitted. On 30% you got a lovely 4000k beam, real nice happy medium of hot spot and spill…………beam perfection i guess(subjective).
Super fast heat transition from engine to outside. I noticed it cooled pretty fast too, but ti is certainly not as efficient as alloy………….and better still copper. The haiku is more for 100-200lm type of outputs, one where you can actually use without worry of it burning through your hand then floor!. More a general edc type light , certainly no hot rod(like the HDS is many ways).

As long as its programmable, you have the option for that short blast of crazy its not too bad. I find around 20-30% a happy medium of output and run time(heat wise).

Agree fully though with what you say, its about the right tool for the job and although the haiku can be a hot rod………it has to be in hand and monitored carefully. I set my modes to start in low, that way no or a lot lower risk of any accident. The haiku makes for a near perfect EDC light, tough as old boots and can be polished up if needed. Providing you dont loose it, you will be using it in 25yrs time and it kind of helps funds by not being as interested in other similar size lights as you know there is no real comparison(personally speaking).

Don who makes the haiku, has a similar thought process to gene malkoff and henry at HDS, they are tools and designed for hard use, to work every time no matter what, when you may need it and your life may depend on it. Surprisingly Don gave Tarik his blessing/support on the triple mods which goes a long way into tana’s work. Its perfection, clinical and………………well hard to say but you can tell he is fastidious in his work and everything is perfect. No blemishes or anything here, just perfection from my experience and many others. Even the label he puts on the heads of his work is stuck on with crazy precision…………

Yes expensive(or not to some maybe), but it is something of an investment for me, a tool for life and it perfectly complements the haiku.

On the head showing 4500k

Before doc i really liked the haiku, now i love it

I am real tempted for a mule , mule head maybe or just get a gizmo mule which is a better option. Kids have took my flashlight funds anyway and sent to santa :person_facepalming:

Besides the oveready BOSS has got my interest now anyway……………

Thanks for all your advice ven, I think I’m gonna go for the Triple Nichia 219B for this XML2 Haiku that I have right now. I have another Haiku coming, that is with the XP-G2 which I’ll leave as is.

My two cents, the Haiku is in a league of its own, and is no doubt a luxury in terms of price per lumen. It is a culmination of Don’s work in custom lights in design, choice of materials, drive level, LED selection, and the sublime beam pattern the reflector yields. He offers both Hi CRI and low CRI options depending on your preference, and he drives the LEDs at reasonable levels for the LED and driver given the Titanium host’s poor thermal conductivity. The McClicky switch is another culmination of pickiness, and I refuse to use anything else, the forward interface and reliability are excellent, and can be torn down for cleaning if need be.

The Haiku host itself reminds me of a lightsaber…but anyway, it is despite its short length a comfortable light to use in 1x123, but there are other battery pack and driver options depending on the choosen number of cells and voltage.
The Titanium is itself a funny thing, and I think anyone who appreciates Titanium can agree, it is a unique feeling material that is just special, it is pleasant to the touch, not too heavy, not too light, in grade 5 it is fairly hard and tough, and the color is pretty appealing in the raw state. While I have argued in the past that Titanium makes no sense from a performance perspective, in the right configuration, it can be used to make a heck of an EDC light.

As others have mentioned there is plenty of modding options depending on whether you want to do it yourself or send it out. My favorite is Tana’s triple conversion. They can be acquired in host only or just a single part on request as well.

The long and short, McGizmos are a well designed and prized tool, and for those who don’t mind the price, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. I will probably be buying back a Haiku once I get my latest round of tooling paid for.

Welcome and anytime , that’s what I went for and can recommend it. The 4500k nichia 219B are well matched for what you want. Also even though 2.8a is quite a bit for a small ti host,it can handle it well with all things cosidered(size/titanium). The xpg2 as a single led works best in the haiku reflector ,a wise choice to leave that head imo as well.

You will be a happy chappy!