So how do you feel about the life of the LED running on high with 14500 most of the time? Not running at extended lengths of time, but rather just the times that it is used would mostly be operating on high. Would XM-L (even XP-G) driven at these levels in this light be much more stable? I'm still trying to figure out the appeal of an XP-E in this type of light if XP-G would be a more well-rounded emitter for a 1xAA.
One more thing: Run time? I'm curious how high mode run time stacks up to the XP-G and XM-L 1xAA alternatives.
Well , Id be a lot happier with lower current and the XP-E [ 14500 ] I would think 1A would offer over 200L so the fact that its doing 1.8A and sagging to 250ish within 30 seconds , tells me the emitter is doing it hard ..
1A and maybe 220 ish would be so much better ...
The XP-G should handle it better , and the XM-L - would be a walk in the park and more Lumens ..
The XP-E might throw better , but do you buy a AA light for throw ? [ Actually some people do ]
Its not a bad light , and I really like it on the AA , but I think its wanting a XM-L emitter in it ...
For now I will leave it alone , but as soon as Im done with school , I may pop in a XM-L emitter .
If I was good at modding already I wouldn't have a problem buying this light and swapping for an XM-L in the near future. But I'd rather not bust up nice lights in the process of learning. If I buy it now hoping to mod when I acquire the skills I'll probably have lost interest by then. It's so frustrating coming across great lights like these only to be let down by something important such as an over driven (or under driven) old emitter. I appreciate the purpose of an XP-E, but I certainly don't need it for a 1xAA, EDC light. That's why I was wondering why they'd go with that emitter for what seems to be an otherwise well crafted and well thought out light. Are they simply trying to save some pennies.
Great job as usual Old.
XP-E lights driven at 1Amps will only get warm, my Skyray S-A5 is perfect, it only pulls 1Amps when the battery is at 4.0v. Anything higher and it puls more than 1Amps which is bad for the emitter.
I just got it for $20 shipped from CNQG so now I don't mind hanging on to it for a bit until I'm capable of swapping the emitter :)
Not sure , the reason for the XP-E , if they were going for more throw - ok , but it does say in the description , easy to upgrade emitter .
I have been using it a lot around the house on a Nimh , and it works well , I think the cheapest retailer now is like $20 shipped , so Balder or other AA ??
Damn , Id have to say Balder . At $20 shipped , its a great buy .
Yeah, I didn't balk at the $20 price drop from CNQG. I snatched one up right away. :)
At least I would just be changing the emitter since the driver is already pumping hard enough. Maybe I'll be happy with the light as it is. I'm not too worried at $20 for a quality light :)
Not good. After nearly 5 days I'm notified the SE-1 isn't in stock and I'll have to wait until next week if I still want it. I ordered it the same day the price was lowered, or at least that was when this forum first noticed it. Not only does the website not reflect this status, I have to wait this long to find out after placing my order. There sure wasn't a problem taking my money :) I wonder if they filled orders that were placed after mine. I doubt it sold that quickly after lowering the price, considering I placed my order shortly after. It's a bit frustrating and not very professional.
order placed for the XML version, thanks for the heads up how2.
Received my XP-E from CNQG today. It worked for about 30 seconds and now doesn't come on at all anymore. It started to flicker and then stopped working completely. I tried cleaning the threads and I inspected all that I could but there doesn't appear to be anything wrong visually. Crappy.
Too bad because when he did actually ship it the speed was the best I've ever got from China.
EDIT: I didn't even notice at first but there are absolutely no brand markings on this light. There are no markings whatsoever.
Bummer about the (nearly) DOA arrival man... I'm no tech expert on the lights but I'd make sure the contacts are clean and all the other things like that, that might be causing a problem.
Any suggestions to what I should do specifically? I cleaned it thoroughly with alcohol. Ric already responded and asked if I could return the light for a replacement. I'm not going ship a $20 light back to China, especially during the holiday season.
weiser701 Use a paper clip to to make contact from the battery to the threads if it lights up then it's a problem with the tail-cap. Make sure that the pill is screwed in properly and the tail-cap is screwed tight.
You could just send back the pill, use the old packing to keep costs down.
I was just about to do this since I started thinking it's a switch issue as opposed to a driver issue. I'll report back.
Martin from Balder has already responded as well. He might send me a replacement.
UPDATE: Okay, Martin is sending me a replacement but I'm still trying to figure out what the problem is. I've tried the paper clip trick and it still won't come on. Sometimes it wants to work fine and the rest of the time it doesn't come on at all. For example, It'll be working fine and then I'll set it down. I'll pick it up a few minutes later, try it out and get nothing. Seriously, what could be the issue?
Possibly a contact issue ...
If its not the tailcap ....
Then it has to be something to do with the driver :
Does the battery tube screw down deep enough to make proper contact - neg path !
LED DRIVER wires , perhaps poor contact here / or a intermittent short ?
The tail cap certainly makes solid contact. I inspected the solder points on the led board but I can't see anything between it and the driver. It's all sealed within the pill. It just seems so strange how it decides when and when not to work.
In response to your review I can say that the pill is threaded into the body and not glued. I've had the pill completely removed from the body and the head. Actually, when I first unscrewed the head from the body the pill came with it and I originally thought it was glued into the head.