[PART 1] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Group buy officially closed! Lights shipping.

The LED in the GT is overdriven already. It is run at 2.5A in turbo which is about as high as is practical before rapidly diminishing returns.

You could swap the sense resistor and raise it to 3A if you really wanted but you would only gain a small amount for the first little bit until the LED heated up.

The biggest reason for the lower readings then other lights is that the GT is using a Neutral white 4000k emitter vs the CW ~6500k emitter in most other lights.

The lux meters we use are biased to the cooler white range and will artificially inflate those numbers.

The stock LED is a D4 bin. The highest bin that Cree lists in the data sheet is E2, which is 1 bin above D4. Or about 7% higher output. So 7% higher is about the most you can expect with another LED, everything else should be the meter bias.

Ceiling bounce is not a very good way to judge lumen output, its not going to be very accurate

This is another point, the concentrated beam of the GT could also effect the way the light bounced and cause less light to reflect at all, skewing your readings further.

Basically the LED in the GT is driven as hard as is practical for a production light, harder then most other lights, including the tn42 (it is driven at 2.25A IIRC). So you won’t get much more out of another LED, I wish we could. The only real improvement is going with an E2 bin LED for a 7% improvement. Which we could not source for the GT due to a shortage of NW E2 LED’s.

R/C I googled it and bing kept coming up.

which handle did you have in mind?

Im number 1186 on the list. I would like to order a 2nd one if possible. Thanks

Two posts. Two GT’s. That’s an amazing track record so far.

that looks perfect!
wonder it the threads will match up ?

Damn, I’m going to regret joining this forum real soon ( I got my first LED flash light only ~ 2 months ago, a brand new old stock TN32, got me addicted to LED flash lights already :smiley: ). Please put me down for a 2nd GT ( even if I didn’t get the first one yet :smiley: ), I should be already in the list somewhere around the position number 11xx .

PS: Happy New Year to everybody ! I wish everybody and their close ones to be healthy, the rest is bonus :smiley:

A happy and healthy 2018 right back at you sunfire!

Yeah, there are no membership fees on this site, but it will still cost you some money from FAD (flashlight acquisition disorder).

Sorry BrianK, I was working on an animation.

The search was a "general" search for a velcro strap-type, that wraps around the battery tube at two points. Mainly as ideas from products made for other things. If you look at the images there are universal grab handles available that are used in off-road vehicles, as grab handles. They are adjustable for 2"-3" diameters, and would wrap nicely on the battery tube of the GT, I think.

My idea may not be for everyone. I was merely trying to help find what's readily available, and share my findings.

EDIT, Your search is done through "Bing". I searched through "Google". When you search for Universal Grab Handle, check images to see what's available.

This is a Universal Grab Handle. There are many types and styles available.

That makes sense to me. Thanks. I found it impressive that i still hit 1.2 million cd even with a NW emitter. I wonder what it would read with a led closer to cool white. my meter is crazy bias to cool white leds for measuring throw. but i LOVE the NW emitter so ill leave it as is. That is till i can get a CFT 90 in there. 5000 lumens and 1.6 ish million cd sounds amazing(just a guess). it wont be cheap but if a driver can be made for it to drive it to its max potential im all in.

Back home from the holiday and I got to take my light out. Man this is the brightest beam I have seen. I have a nice light on my boat but this thing is crazy! I have two questions for the group.

What is the life expectancy of the LED?

Has anyone figured the illuminated circle diameter at a given distance?

Thanks

Lumintop should ship Asean’s GT first after USA’s GT.
Just kiddng… :smiley: :beer:

I tried a variety of methods to get the bezel off (clamp in vise, twist with hands, press down on rubber or leather, twist with hands), but I guess my hands are not strong enough. I think I’ll buy two rubber strap wrenches (like in the picture below) and twist in opposite directions. If that doesn’t work, I don’t know what will.

Maybe we could tell the factory to lower the torque settings on the head and bezel. They are tight to the point it feels glued. I know there’s no glue, but wow is it tight. There’s no need for it to be this tight.

I have a pair of gloves rated for high temps, for cooking on the BBQ, and they work amazingly well for removing jar lids. When my GT's arrive I'll try them.

If you have a pair, clean them up real good to remove any grease, dry them out good, clamp that light back in the vise, and try it.

Looks like many will open their GT to let the smoke out for first few days or weeks :smiley:
I migth do that too. :person_facepalming:

My hands didn’t slip, my arms just did not have the strength to twist it. The strap wrenches extend the diameter and give more leverage. That should get it done.


sb56637
Mr.Scott
JasonWW
Coyotehawk
teacher
Fritz15
djozz
ToyKeeper

Neal - Valuable collaborator
Outside the team?

I think KawiBoy1428 was the only one that had any smoke (on only one of his two lights). Mine didn’t. I haven’t heard anyone else say they had smoke (from excess flux residue). Hopefully if anyone else sees it, they will mention it.

I wonder is there method to make all the material dried or settled so that they don’t smoke, for example switch on in High mode for a few days before using Turbo mode. Really don’t feel like to open a newly bought flashlight unless I want to mod it to improve it. But GT is already very very hard driven.