In my other driver reviews I promised to post test results of this driver as soon as my order from Fasttech arrives, and here they are - sort of.
I have to say sort of, because the drivers I received are possibly not the real deal. I ordered three of them, and as soon as I opened the package I noticed they look different than the ones I received before.
The new driver has less parts and the pcb layout has changed as well. Unfortunately I haven't got any of the earlier drivers left to do a side-by-side comparison, but I remember that the older one looked very much like if not identical to the product picture from FT. This is the new one:
I assume that the design was changed by the supplier and FT doesn't even know about it. I decided to test it, because I thought if it would perform according to specs, I wouldn't have anything to complain.
Before I post my results, here are the technical specs according to the Fasttech page:
Technical specs
| Constant Current | Yes |
| Driver Type | Boost driver and Linear regulator |
| Input Voltage | 0.9~3.6 -volt |
| Output Current | 800 mA |
| PCB Height (w/o Components) | 1.5 mm |
| Reverse Polarity Protection | No |
- Booster driver mode when input voltage is 1.5V or less
- Linear regular (constant current) mode when voltage is between 1.8V and 3.6V
- Rated at 500mA current output @ 1.5V input
- Rated at 800mA current output @ 3.6V input
- Lead wires pre-soldered
Disclaimer from my other Driver Review
[quote]
I performed the test with an XR-E R2 mounted on a fan-cooled chipset heatsink. This is an older emitter with a relatively high Vf. I think one can safely assume that driver efficiency will be better with a newer, lower Vf emitter.
The batteries were fully charged eneloop AA cells, HR-3UTGA, about one and a half years old.
Driver performance in real life applications will likely be better. My testing setup consisted of battery holders, alligator clips and breadboard, which added additional resistance to the circuit.
Since I wanted to include efficiency, I decided to measure the input voltage as well and not guesstimate it from the charge state of the batteries. It is quite interesting to see how much they sag under load.
There's a german saying: Wer misst, misst Mist. It basically says that every measurement has to be taken with a grain of salt and is probably not comparable to other measurements.
[/quote]
Results:
| Batt | U in (V) | I in (A) | U out (V) | I out (A) | P in (W) | P out (W) | Efficiency (%) |
| 1x Eneloop | 1,22 | 1,33 | 2,94 | 0,22 | 1,62 | 0,65 | 39,86 |
| 2x Eneloop | 1,85 | 2,18 | 3,21 | 0,50 | 4,03 | 1,61 | 39,80 |
| 3x Eneloop | 3,45 | 1,17 | 3,31 | 0,87 | 4,04 | 2,88 | 71,34 |
Conclusion:
To sum it up, the driver like I received it is not a very good one IMO. When used with 1AA, it is only slightly better in terms of output and efficiency than the old DX driver, and 220 mA emitter current is disappointing. With 2AA it is actually worse than the one from DX!
I will file a ticket with FT and ask what happened to the earlier, better design and I'll keep you updated.
So far, the best of the three boost drivers I reviewed is the 1000 mA driver SKU 1143101 from FT.