You can see the archived poll results on the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20221220093741/https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/72762
OK please read before voting:
First, when Texas Ace and me were talking about a new project leading up to the GT a lot of things just came together.
Our goal was similar, to quote Texas Ace in a recent post:
The goal is as much throw as we can get out of a 120mm reflector and to beat the TN42 for a lot less money.
In other words, bring TN42 performance for much less money and use something really interesting, a huge reflector.
But as the spirit of the Q8, this too is supposed to be a real BLF project with all open for discussion until a decision is made, so we took a serious look at the boxy design for example when it was not clear what people wanted there was a poll.
Here the same.
LED choice is important and dictates the driver and cell setup.
Both Texas Ace and me have a strong reference for XHP35hi.
Advantages are:
bigger hotspot
on par with all the A lights that are build to give nice throw
BLF advantages over a 3V led, a new driver, we have very nice 3V drivers, something new should benefit the community and seeing Cree com out with higher voltage LEDs used in many popular new lights, we feel it is an excellent chance to develop a driver and help the community forward as Narsil is now ready for e-switch lights with lower voltage LEDs.
I personally love the idea of making this a OL honorary light and for that a XHP LED is vital. This is just my strong wish, maybe not shared with all (or even the whole team) but should not make a difference for those who not care, yet be very nice for those who do.
Please understand we cannot say exactly what cd and lumens figures we are talking about.
A 3V single DIE LED could throw somewhat further at the cost of lumens and hotspot size
Alternative is the XHP35hi, this will throw a bit less (yet with this reflector still extremely far)
I am really sorry for not being able to just present a poll with objective choices and see what is gonna happen but I cannot bring this another way then closing with a strong appeal to all to opt for the XHP35hi.
yet outcome will be respected of course so feel totally free to vote as you want.
XHP35 HI for me. Throw for the hell of it is what I’ve messed around modding cheap zoomies for. This things not going to be dirt cheap so I’d go for the genuinely useable bigger hot spot.
I really very much prefer a “stronger” beam over a farther-reaching one. But there has been some strong argument that with the XHP-35 the throw is still very good even while putting out a lot more light. With a 120mm reflector, the throw is just gonna be awesome anyway.
Ditto them^
While an XP-L Will be a better pencil beam thrower, I just don’t see that being very useable in the real world.
That all said, this light will be easy to mod no matter what so swapping to an XP-L Will be a rather simple task, or even an XHP70 could be done quite easy (and would make for an interesting light honestly, not nearly as much throw but most likely still 1000m+ with 6000+ lumens).
With 4S2P battery configuration,I don’t see the point for 3V LED. Also with 120mm reflector my only goal is to beat TN42 and to hit that 1.000000cd mark. So let’s push XHP35 to 2.8Amp and see what happens… :sunglasses:
Well, the XHP35 HI is in the TN42 light we are working on beating, so it would be logical to use that LED.
Driven the same or even harder (if it can be) it’ll out throw the target light due to the larger reflector anyway.
I can’t picture ‘only’ 1200 lumens coming out of such a huge light now days. It would feel like a step backwards 
What is the TN42 driven at, anyone ever seen a tailcap measurement? Although I bet they use a buck driver so kinda doubt a tailcap reading will be worth a whole lot.
Which LED is available with the highest CRI value?
IMO if you care about CRI then buy an incandescent/HID light, not LED.
If you want a thrower, I would argee, hard to compete with an HID. The issue is they cost 2x the price point we are aiming for or more easily.
For the LED’s we are looking at, XHP35 is by far the best choice for high CRI (which I am seriously considering doing to mine).
There are one or two other drawbacks with incan and HID…
In my opinion high CRI helps quite a bit to see details better.
I recently got XHP35 E4 1A and after dedoming it turned out that the sutiation is the same as XPL and XPL Hi- it performs at least 20% better than the Hi version
Still wondering though….those W2 binned XPL give 2k lumens easy at 6 amps, XPL2 will be even better on a long term base …
For me i cant decide realy, ofc i could mod it to my needs but i aint sure what whould be the best for the ppl here
XP-L2 HI is something I would be interested in if they are released in time and have good test results. As of right now though they are not available.
Unfortunately m8 , so far Hi isnt interesting at all…i am sure you already tested yourself that fact quite many times
Still hoping though……
From a raw performance standpoint the de-domed emitters are better for sure but some of us can’t stand the tint shift. I would much prefer less throw and a tint I can be proud of.
De-domed is still to be discussed but will have to wait until we find a manufacture. Only if the manufacture has had experience de-doming LED’s and is willing to do so again would we be able to consider that.
it aint only about dedoming, i am sure you know whats happening with those warmer tints, high currents and the sillicone near the bond wires…thats an issue that should be definately take under advicement
Yeah, that is why I am not a fan of a de-domed emitter in the production light. Plus it is a fairly simple mod for those that want max throw to do later.
We have not turned down the IM reflector by any means now that we know they could possibly be sourced in china. We have simply not done any further research into it until we have a manufacture as we really need to coordinate with them on the reflector since like you say, it is a major part of the light.
XPH35 3A tint.