I really love the Eagle Eye X6 flashlight, have far too many of them… all in different configurations. I priced an AR coated Sapphire “Window” in 35mm at $195 each. Having a “window” could indeed drive the price WAY up!
I suppose going off topic in this thread is completely acceptable, or maybe the norm, so just out of curiosity, Dale, what is your brightest EE X6, and which is your current favorite? I ask because I have a couple I love as well.
1) The Zebralight will be more efficient due mainly to their buck drivers, versus the linear regulators in the FW3A. Here’s some examples of measurements Maukka has done:
SC64C (90 CRI XP-L2): 140 lm/W on lower output, 106 lm/W on high.
Emisar D4 (80 CRI 219C): 84 lm/W at regulated channel, ~67 lm/W on medium FET
There is, of course, a ~2x difference in price, and you trade Anduril for a different UI (although one that is still well-liked by most users).
Edit - Since Maukka now has numbers in his review, the FW3A with XP-L HI showed 93 lm/W at max 1x7135 channel, and 85 lm/W at max regulated level.
2) The default ramp ceiling for both smooth and discrete modes for the FW3A build of Anduril is the maximum regulated level.
If you want both channel boundaries, for the FW3A specifically, you can set the minimum ramp at level 1, the maximum at level 130, and 7 steps. This will result in mode 4 being the maximum 1x7135 channel, and mode 7 being the maximum 7x7135 channel.
It’s not really a fair comparison. XP-L2 is very efficient, 219C not as much.
LH351D right up there with XP-L2 in efficiency and the additional 7135’s add more efficiency to the medium modes.
This frosted lens will also be a few % worse too. In any case the Zebralight will still probably be more efficient but the FW3A will be closer and have a better range of efficient modes as well.
My brightest X6 is 10,660 lumens, my favorite is the solid copper one-off with it’s Nichia NVSU333A UV emitter, but only by a slight margin. The Tritted Titanium X6 is pretty close…