XR-E's do throw better, it is down to die size. The larger the die is, the larger the reflector you need.
The higher surface brightness also helps with throw. A dedomed SST-90 will throw like crazy and put out enough light that the size of the reflector is almost immaterial.
A laser will throw even better, bit is a bit lacking in spill...
Essentially oxygen gets where it shouldn't. The SST LEDs are still sealed when dedomed. There are some reports of dedomed XM-Ls doing well, but time will tell on that. Like you say, dedoming an XR-E is a bad idea.
Got it in a givaway from Don (thanks again). Best thrower I ever seen. Very large reflector gives a very narrow beam. Reaching 200-300 meters at least.
Somebody needs to do the math and figure out a reasonable price to lumen ratio..
it seems that there are lots of older lights that will sell cheap and will generally do 76.3% of what the newer more expensive lights will do . Some in very nicely built bodies that are easy to mod ..This is what I'm on the look out for . One reason i was sad to see edi-t lights go up at DX ..i thought they were right up my alley .After getting my hands on a 501b and some pathetic small suns I realiz what real garbage threads and el cheapo bodies there are out there ..I want budget ....Not bad **it...
I think the easiest thrower i know is a solorforce with an xpe r2
Just out of curiosity, the p60 dropins if i unscrew the reflector off the pill can it be inserted into a C2 or C8 body without modification or it is an entirely different pill? Wishfull thinking?
If i decide to get the manafont mrv... is it possible to mod it for better throw or it is best left as it is. Would a XM-L do that light justice. I understand the XM-L has a wider angle but is it enough to compensate with brute force output?
Another option would be changing the driver and the led for an R2 slightly overdriven at 1,1-1,2A...
I own two hs-802 from DX and they both are not glued. They are very easy to mod and with very deep smooth reflectow that gives pencil thin beam. If you could mod that with XLM it will throw like crazy. In stock form it throws superfine up to 200m or so... For 25$ it's a steal.
I`ve got the SkyRay 1JC8 .Throws like crazy useful up to 200m . It has an xre q5 drawing 1,6 Amps at the Tail outperforms in throw everything i have . Lights up to a distance from 400m (Google Earth measured). I think a good xre overdriven and a perfect smooth reflector will do the trick.