Sunwayman V10A XP-G vs XML

I know that the Sunwayman V10A is a very popular flashlight here. However, I cannot find any comparison between the Sunwayman V10A XP-G versus the XML version. I want to get one of them but have not made up my mind yet. I will be using 14500 and falling back to Eneloops if the 14500 runs out.

Which one would you get if you had the choice and why?

For maximum output, the XM-L, though it will be floody. For more distance the XP-G.

Thanks brted. Have you seen anywhere with pictures of beamshots from both lights? I like lights that do not have too much throw or flood... something in between.

I've been looking for info, but not finding a whole lot. A guy on CPF said he had both and just repeated what I said. I don't have an XM-L version to compare with, but XM-L's in general are pretty floody, especially with a smaller reflector like the V10A has. The increased light output will make up for some of that though.

For whatever reason, Sunwayman actually rates the XM-L as having fewer lumens on a AA battery than the XP-G, but on lithium-ion the output will be double with the XM-L.

If money is an issue, I don't think you can find the XM-L version for much less than $80, while you might be able to get some kind of deal on a XP-G version for around $50.

I wonder why the XM-L version is actually lower on using AA battery. Possibly the driver is optimized for 14500 batteries instead? I am planning to use 14500 in it so XM-L sounds like a better match.

I don't buy their numbers. Even at a lower current, the T6 should put out a little more light than the R5. It won't look like as much light because the hotspot of the XM-L will be softer, but overall there should be more lumens.

tint comparison is important too.

Sunwayman does *not* have the best reputation when it comes to tint. ( premium tints can be found in Klarus and Zebralights and Lumintop. and 4sevens works it out with optional offerings in NW, High CRI, and even WW. )

IMO, 4Sevens lost a lot of legitimacy by selling green tints. Those had no business being in a flashlight. If they were worried about their customers instead of making a buck, they would have sent those green LED's back to Cree.

But I agree that my Sunwayman V10A has quite a cool white tint. Their special edition lights had neutrals though, so I think they are at least aware of some demand for neutrals.

Obviously I know very little about tints because I am new to this. What kind of tints are typically considered desirable?

i am not a tint whore or expert, and from my experience *any* typical Cree LED has *somewhere* a little of greenishness hidden in the beam pattern. a beam consists of spill area, corona artifacts and hotspot.

if you look at the dye (light off. sun light), a Cree LED is greenish-yellow per se. and the lower the current or frequency (PWM), the less "brightness" comes through the LED dome and the more tint you will see.

typically all three areas (hotspot, corona, spill) have different tints. If you got a bad Cree LED, then all three areas are green. haha

I much prefer tint snob , thank you .

I am lucky to be partly color blind. Tint being a bit green or a bit blue does not bother me at all. I just get to enjoy my lights no matter the tint. I can tell a difference between neutral and cw but don't have much of a preference.

I have the R5 model, and it throws pretty well for a tiny AA light. On 14500 it is a beast! So for price point, the xpg-r5 is definitely the best option in my eyes.

and i am partly deaf. and i dont mind loud music

:D

( sorry. couldnt resist ;) Was a bad joke of mine i know. )

Thanks for your advice. I might wait a little longer and get more cheaper flashlights before taking the plunge here. I see now why everybody has so many flashlights

A little more digging today found this in CPF:

The V10A -XML has the same color tint as the V10A-XPG, the same as my Fenix Tk35 and V60C I can not tell the difference. All are a little cooler than the V10R-AE/V20A-AE. No extraneous color visible. Like the V60C when dimmed down there is a slight color shift to warmer seen in the corona the spill and hotspot does not show any color shift on dim. This of course is visible in wall hunting mode only when used on real objects no color shift is visible.



The anniversary edition advertised a neutral tint. Even "neutral tint" is kind of untrue. Most neutrals are a little yellow or brownish. It doesn't seem like there is just "white" which is true everywhere. My white bathtub isn't the same color as my white sink.

Neutral tints do look a little yellowish to me too. I always thought that it was because I am used to the the old fluorescent lamp lights and consider them as neutral.

I live under neutral (4k?) fluros amd so cool white leds are seriously ghastly, while neutral white (4/5K) look good, amd warm whites (2-3k) are reAlly yellowish.

Its more a relative scale which is more helpful in naming. We also need to remember there are two axies in which a light can be considered neutral, well according to the graph commonly used for the cree binning scale. The scale of colour temperature, (blue to yellowish) (on the horizontal axis). This is commonly used as the description of cool, warm and neutral.

The other axis is the deviation is away from the bbl line, and is usually a red or green shift in the tint. (vertical on the cree graph)

Many cree emitters seem to sit on the greener side, and this is separate to color temp

The neutral white xm-l in the v10r anniversary edition is one of the nicest tints ive seen, something in the 4-5 tint region with no green or red biases. While the standard xp-g is a cool white with a green bias.

I havent got a cool whitr xm-l v10r, but when i am home, i can try to organise a beamshot to illustrate the beam pattern between xp-g and xm-l. Wont be till tuesday though.

For the lumens difference, could the wide light source of XML scatters light to sides more and the narrow opening on the front block more for XML than XPG? My Thrunite Neutron seems to gain some light by removing the front bezel. I think XMLs need CR123 sized lights in diameter to focus better. I prefer XPGs or XPEs on AA lights and XMLs on CR123 lights.

I would pick the XPG because the smaller tighter brighter hotspot is my preference, and the reflector is a better match for an N219b swap with a more balanced beam transition from spot to spill, and I dont have to change the MCPCB to use a Nichia, like I do on the XML

beam video

reflector hole size and centering ring color differences (thanks to clippings of pics posted above)

V10a

with xpg:

stock xml on left, xpg modded to 3500k e21a on right

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