Beamshots - New Mag 3C XP-G R5 4C Neutral & Others for Comparison

LED Flashlights – General Info
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Tonight I pretty much wrapped up my 3C Maglite mod, at least to the point of testing it out so I thought I'd do some beamshots for comparisons. (Beamshots taken at the same spot as these.) The camera was on a tripod and I used the following settings: f/3.5 (lowest I could go), ISO 100, and 2-sec exposure time. I set the white balance to "fine" (whatever that is) so it wouldn't auto-adjust on me. I feel these photos are just a tad dimmer than what I saw with my eye. The shed in these shots is believed to be between 150 to 200 feet away 184 feet away. (EDIT 4/19/2013 - finally measured this distance at 184 feet.) The flashlights are set on the fencepost you see the shadow of. All lights were using good freshly charged batteries. All shots taken on flashlights high setting. Camera did not move during photos (except with the 2D Mag short shot).

First up, the Maglite 3C with an XP-G R5 4C (neutral tint from Shiningbeam). Boy do I LOVE this tint! Wow! Driver is 3 mode Nanjg 1.4Amp. I used the Mag LED reflector and it's currently powered by AA NiMh's in C cell adaptors:

Next, the Palight XP-G R5 Cool White modded with the same Nanjg 1.4A driver:

Next is a KD C8 XM-L with LOP reflector (3A on High, "SG PCB" driver):

Next is my fake Solarforce L2 (P60) from Lightake with Lightake's XM-L drop-in (3A on high & SMO):

Next is my 2D size Maglite with DX's 52mm XM-L drop-in running on (2) 18650's (approx 1.65A on high). This is my backyard flooder:

Next is my Dongrui All-920 from Manafont running an XR-E Q5 (1.96A+). My favorite thrower:

(See what I've been meaning by large hotspot thrower with very useable spill?)

Next is my Super Tactics Q5 thrower (+/- 1.6A):

(You can barely see that the hotspot is smaller than the Dongrui's. Also, this one is more of a true cool white, while the Dongrui shows a little purple.)

Next I decided to backup another 100 110 feet. So in these shots I'll estimate the distance to that shed as 250 to 300' 294 feet. Distance to the light pole is about 60' 81 feet; to the wooden fence post just to the left of the pole is about 120' 126 feet (this is the fencepost I had the first shots taken from). (EDIT 4/19/2013 - finally measured these distances).

Mag 3C:

KD C8:

Mag 2D XM-L:

Mouse overs:

Mag 3C Neutral XP-G (mouse out) and Palight cool white XP-G (mouse over):

KD C8 (mouse out) and Fake L2 (Mouse over):

Dongrui (mouse out) and Super Tactics (mouse over):

There you have it. Seems my KD C8 doesn't have that bad of a tint. I'm surprised by how it leans toward neutral (just slightly). I also see that the KD C8 does in fact throw better than the Fake L2. While using the lights I thought the beams looked nearly identical. I did take some photos of my Ultrafire sipik SK68 clone on NiMh & 14500 both flood and zoom but decided to leave them out. For some reason there isn't much difference in output between NiMh and the 14500 (I can barely tell a difference). I also took photos of the Mag 3C on med and low, but will save them for my future build thread.

It's late here, I'm going to bed!

-Garry

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Boy, that neutral tint makes it look like an Incan. Thanks for putting up these photos.

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I really like that tint. On the screen it doesn't look all that impressive, but in real life I find it much more attractive than cool white.

Thanks for the beamshots!

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Yeah the "neutral tint" came out with more "yellow" than I expected. If this is what "neutral" is like I don't think I want to bother with warm white.

-Garry

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Cool shots, thanks ;)!
I was at the country side the other week and had my Sipik SK68 clone with me, my brother had 2xD NATO incan angle light and while it was not as bright and throwy as Sipik and it had far less usable beam pattern, I was amazed by the depth perception it gave over LED! It was easier on the eyes and it was easier to recognize objects from a distance, lot easier than with SK68!
So my next lights are going to be neutral/CRI lights for sure! I will have regular cool tinted leds as well, thats inevitable for flashaholic since there are so many great lights on the cheap, but that doesnt mean I wont be able to make them better with better emitters

Why did you opt for C Mag instead of D mag?

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vēer, I've been trying to build the optimal light for underground surveying use (my original thread here). I'm looking for a light that has a wide hotspot, good long throw, long runtime, with as little weight as possible. 3C cells powering an XP-G seemed just about ideal. Should get about 3.2 hours on high from 4500mAh NiMh C cells (crew would carry a spare set of cells to make it through a workday.

Also, this DX heatsink module fits the throat of the C Mag with some grinding/filing. Here's a link to a CPF post by Techjunkie: "Built: The Everyman's XML Thrower" where he used this combo. I don't know for certain that this is the same module used in that post, but most likely it is. On the DX product page, if you click to "read all 6 reviews" you can scroll down and find a review written by Techjunkie which contains some instructions. I then took Chicago X's instructions and filled the heatsink with pieces of 4AWG solid copper wire and solder.

I do plan on doing a complete build thread about it, but I am not quite ready yet.

-Garry

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Lots of good information in this post. Thanks this thread was going on about the same time I joined i think. The only question I have is how to make the electrical connections from the battery to the “drop-in”. I probably am making this alot harder in my head then it is but have been wanting to do something like this to my 3d mag that is laying around in the garage calling my name.

thanks again

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I was planning to do a build thread on this 3C Mag, but never did.

Here is how I got my connections to battery from the original Mag switch:

I also did a 2D Mag build with this DX XM-L module running on (2) 18650's and ended up soldering the negative driver lead to the snap ring inside the Mag head which didn't work well at all (hard to get good contact and tough to solder on) but I had broken that original Mag switch and stripped the head of the original negative contact set screw. That drop-in by the way isn't too bad for a nice starter project (but will require grinding to fit it).

Here is a photo showing the other ends of those leads soldered to the driver's backside. (The entire module is coated in fujik here before press fitting into the body.)

The hardest part was getting the 17mm driver mounted in the +/-26mm heatsink! I used pieces of copper (copper fins from a CPU heatsink) to bridge from the driver to the edge of the heatsink.

That heatsink is also filled with pieces of AWG4 solid copper wire and solder:

That's a 3/4" diameter dewalt drill bit from Lowes that I used to drill a spot for the driver to recess into.

If you go with the Mag 3D I'd suggest getting some AA->D adaptors (2AA -> 1D) like these from DX. That will save you from having to buy D sized NiMh's. Oh, and don't forget to pick up some 52.8mm glass lenses from DX for your Maglites too!

-Garry

(P.S. I have plenty more photos if you need more to reference.)

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I know it's an old thread, but I wanted to see this mouseover of a C8 XP-G vs. C8 XM-L (albeit not driven at the same level).

Mouseover: Mouse Out Palight XP-G 1.4A, Mouse Over KD C8 @ +/- 3A:

-Garry

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Thanks gb. Would the medium on the XML be closer to the 1.4 amps of the XPG for a comparison?

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Perhaps for total light output, but I think the XM-L needs the extra amps to throw as far as the XP-G.

-Garry

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True which is why I prefer the XPG in smaller lesser driven lights. I just thought it would be another good comparison with the two at around the same current without taking away at all from the original shots.