You’re right, one-upped 
http://flashlight.nitecore.com/ILLUMINATION/TM/TM03/
Too bad it’s not a 70.2, that would be even brighter and create less heat.
Yeah it will take one two or three batteries. I built the 4x XPL with it and then added a ton of heatsinking under it. It’s no edc for sure but it puts out a lot of light for the size and it’s big enough to handle the heat really well after adding extra. Old school though, the new stuff out there is a lot nicer. I see one of them was even 16x. I doubt I’ll ever do it, but buying one and turning it into a 16xSST-40 would be interesting, probably de-dome half of them.
Un-modified and available commercially what if the brightest sing 18650 EDC light?
Emisar D4
4300lms
yes,i guess also emisar…but the 4x sst40 project here sounds more bright…
Waiting for them to develop optics I suppose.
do you think they will be used for emisar?
I hope so but I don’t think so. Mainly because the d4 doesn’t possess enough heat sinking to handle 6000-8000 lumens. Plus any single 18650 will be pushed to its limits using 4x sst-40 SD or HD
Stock light: single emitter, single 18650 cell, 3450 lumens = Jetbeam TH20!
Don’t know if it fits the EDC purpose, or how long it holds the max. But besides the Emisar D4, and apart from modded lights, could this be the “brightest single 18650” flashlight :question:
Very similar output to the Nitecore TM-03
Well, more or less!
Shape is similar, but output levels are somewhat different! Implying that time for usability is also different!
__NITECORE vs JETBEAM:
-Low:…………………………40 (30h) vs 15 (100h)
-Medium: ……………….550 (2h15) vs 130 (15h)
-High:……………………1350 (45m) vs 650 (3h)
-Turbo: …………………2800 (15m) vs 3450 (1h10) (or 1900 on regular 18650 battery, also 1h10)
-Candela:…………………….21000 vs 25600
-Throw:………………………289mt vs 320mt
Both have “special” batteries to have full brightness, but maybe Jetbem has more runtime (on lower modes), both with the special and the regular batteries.
Also, from 2800 to 3450lumens theres is a jump that is certainly visible to the eyes!
So I guess my little X5 14500 light at 2063 lumens is not even in the running? Single emitter, single 14500 cell, pocketable.
3300 lumens from a MecArmy PT16 running a single 18500 cell with 4 XP-L’s? Gonna have to revisit this with XP-L2’s…
4123 lumens from a single 18500? 4 XP-L2’s in my Ti/Cu EDC.
4358 lumens from the Sofirn C8F with a side switch and 3 XP-L2’s? Single 18650. This is probably the brightest single 18650 I have, don’t remember anything that beats it.
Yup 3450lm seems to be the best for single emitter single 18650.
The nitecore is lower in throw and brightness because it uses the old XHP70 instead of XHP70.2 which is a lot less efficient.
nitecore…jetbeam…both very interesting names.and.high quality.and maybe is good question-which lumens differenvcy is really visible.this lumen race…cos i feel,that 3000,3500…4000…is it not almost the same??probably not very big difference and you just lost capacity in your lions…but iam happy also with few seconds turbo insanity…
any….:laughing:) but i seems like,the modified from machinist here will be brighter…we dont talk about cooling now of course:)
some of the lights can reach maximum sadly just for few seconds…
well the emisar d4 with xpl goes over 4000 lumens so for me that is the brightest on a single battery, not sure if OP meant single emitter matters or not…
There was a recent review of the Jetbeam. Its max output was within a few lumens of a tested Nitecore. Both were using dedicated cells. YMMV of course.
Eheh, of course yours can be considered Dale 
I was just talking about “stock” lights, using 18650’s 
BTW, what driver and LED do you have on the X5? That is astonishing 
I’ve seen a video comparison (link is below) and indeed the Nitecore seems less throwy and less bright as well! I guess the LED (and the driver, therefore) makes the difference.
You can take a look here vresto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5Lr4pESPss . My guess is that the more lumens of the Jetbeam can be seen in comparison to the TM03.
But, as you said, modded lights like those from Dale and others can achieve more brightness!
[quote=mortuus]
Totally agree mortuus! I just made the reference to the single emitter and stock light as a reference. For multiple emitters, not modded and single 18650, the Emisar D4 seems to be the brightest light! And definitely more “EDCable” than the TM03 and the TH20, for sure
Hum, nice! About that, I’ve also seen some different “max output” advertised to the TH20. I’ve seen 3150 and 3450, so maybe there was some revision of the max output due to tests, or maybe some “improved” 2nd batch! Or maybe they just advertise 3450 but it puts less than that, it is not unusual, right?
For the record, the Sofirn C8F triple with side switch comes with XP-L2 emitters, a copper DTP MCPCB, the cell to run it all, and a charger, for $34 with a BLF coupon. 3000+ lumens out of the box. Any top 18650 cell will work in it, I couldn’t find a top cell to do much better than the supplied cell. They outdid themselves.
Oh yeah, my little X5 now has an XP-L2 on copper, FET driver, spring bypasses. Indeed, it’s a pretty simple mod for 2000 lumens in this little pocket rocket.