Mod Results Part 2 ( beam shots) Good News!

Well, after a bit of venting in this thread I decided to revisit my pitiful aa-s1. Please don't read the tone wrong, as I'm having a lot of fun playing around with these things (wouldn't do it otherwise). Fired up the soldering iron and had at it. This time I decided to give the golden dragon emitter another chance and installed it with a known good driver. Also took time to re-flow the solder on the emitter itself (looked frosty...never good). The results were better than expected. Now I can see what all the fuss is about with the osram emitters. Take a look below as how it compares to a few of my other lights. The tree is @ 25yds away.

AA-S1 on alkaline


H51 (alkaline)


Trustfire XP-EF21 (alkaline)


Unfortunately I jumped the gun and didn't take any "before" shots of the aa-s1, but suffice to say it was only marginally brighter than the typical GITD tailcap. The driver I used with the osram was this one and works wonderfully on el cheapo alkalines. I tried it with a 14500 and it got angry and blue....as seen here:


This doesn't bother me, since I plan on running it strictly off the alkies... In usage, it actually compares favorably now with the H51. It's not as bright and is more floody, but the warm even beam pattern is now quite pleasant. While I was at it, I also snapped a few shots of some other lights:

This is my edc keychain light. The LDO1 is a monster on 10440....for about 10min :)


The next two are ones I never see a lot of beam shots on:

Zebralight SC60

And the MG P-Rocket XPG (OP) from shiningbeam:


A note on the two pics above: In a ceiling bounce test, the P-Rocket is only marginally brighter (if any) than the SC60, just a heck of a lot more throwy. I love em both :)

Well, there you have it. I got sidetracked with the camera, but the gist of it is I'm now happy with my modded aa-s1. The culprit was either a bad driver or bad solder joint at the emitter.

Dang this is fun...

-Match


Crud...thought the photos would show up bigger....gotta figure out how to change that now....

Go to edit mode, select the photo then click on the photo properties box in the toolbar. It s the 18th from the left and looks a bit like a tree.

Click on the appearance tab and either type in the size you want or a percentage. If you use a percentage, clear the contents of the right-hand box.

Hope that helps

Thanks Don... I just realized that I copied the thumbnail url instead of the actual photo itself. This was the first time I've ever posted images... I think I got it now.

...awesome, and thanks, always appreciated.

by the way, how do you like the p-rocket? i have the pli (mc-e) and the p-rocket sst-50. if i wouldn't have already bought the sst-50 i would definitely have bought the xp-g. pretty amazing lights, huh?

I really like the P-rocket XPG. It's the brightest torch I own, but then again I'm just getting into this hobby and don't have much else in its class to compare it to. For me, it's a bit too big for edc but for evening strolls or woods adventures it's fantastic. Built like a tank, it has great throw combined with usable spill and good runtime. I was going to get one of the DX P7's, but for small difference in price this was a no-brainer.

Those Osrams really do come alive with a good driver, don't they?

Yes they do. I'm not sure what's going on yet with the stock driver, but plan to test it out here in the near future. Either way, the driver I ended up with suits me better and the color tint is beautiful!

Glad you were able to put your skills to good use and get the light to work like it should. That P-rocket kicks butt.

Match - Is the SC60 from the beamshots the regular or neutral version?

It's the regular. I don't think Zebralight has released the neutral version yet, although they do have the H51/SC51 neutral up for pre-order...I'm trying to resist.

Thanks. That looks really neutral, is that how it appears in real life? I'm assuming the MG is also regular.

Yup, the MG is regular. Both the SC60 and H51 lean more toward the neutral tint (even though they're not, supposedly) than any other light I own. Very pleasing to the eyes, especially after using a cool white torch for awhile. Since the H51 is mounted on my hard hat at work, I find myself edc'ing the SC60 more than any other torch. My only gripe is that I have to give the tailcap a half twist so it doesn't accidently turn on in my pocket. Although as of late, I've been clipping it to my t-shirt like a tie and carrying it there, since I always have another shirt over the top. This will work for winter...will have to figure out something different for summer.

-Match

Cool! Thanks man I'll be getting an SC60 soon.

The beam shot of the pocket rocket just sold them 20 flashlights guarenteed ..shinin beam thanks you and his starvin babies are grateful that there'll be a new Escalade in the driveway come new years ..

I think that pocket rocket woke Zombies .... Must have ....pocket rocket ...need rocket

Boom Boom ....out go the lights