Solarforce XP-G drop-ins

Right now itc_shop has a sale on both xp-g modules (1-mode and 5 mode).

Does anyone have experience with these to help determine which may perform better (since so many xp-g's are driven at only 1A instead of 1.5)? Supposedly the 3-18v 1mode has a decent driver (1-1.2A, but seem to need 2cells to perform well), but I can't find anything on the 3.7-8.4v 5mode.

Links, svp! :)

I can only find these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Solarforce-320Lms-R5-XP-G-Cree-Led-5Mode-4-2V-8-4V-Bulb-/270632441163?pt=US_Flashlights&hash=item3f02f3554b

But I can't see any sale.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Solarforce-320Lms-R5-XP-G-Cree-Led-5Mode-4-2V-8-4V-Bulb-/280558576230?pt=US_Flashlights&hash=item4152982266

http://cgi.ebay.com/Solarforce-320Lms-XPG-Cree-Led-3-18V-Bulb-4-Surefire-/230453208154?pt=US_Flashlights&hash=item35a814e45a

Seems like a good deal if properly regulated because even the crappy dx/kd dropins are that much.

Indeed. But the specifications for the second dropin leaves alot to be desired.

I have the single mode Solarforce dropin and i like it alot, it is the brightest R5 i have. Compared to a 3 mode Thrunite R5 on high it is brighter but the Thrunite has a mop reflector and the hotspot is roughly twice as big. I cant really compare to my DX / KD dropins as the single mode died a few hours after arrival >.< however it had gone head to head with the Thrunite and lost. The multi mode DX dropins where much dimmer than the Thrunite and have since been dismantled.

Difference in brightness of the single mode Solarforce dropin between 2x 16430 and 1x 17670 is just about noticeable to my eye.

Phone cam pics so please forgive the poor quality, settings where the same, no flash, florescent white balance. approximately 3 feet from the ceiling and the tint looks cooler in the pictures than by eye.

2x 16340

1x 17670

Thanks for the heads up agenthex, for the price these dropins look like a good deal and ITC will be getting some more of my hard earned cash very soon.

According to someone on CPF the single mode has an AX2002 based driver. This would make sense considering the specs. In other words it has the same driver as the DX ones. May be better constructed, have different current and obviously it's smooth of course.

Not R5 but R2 but looks pretty decent!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Solarforce-300Lms-R2-Cree-Led-3Mode-0-8V-4-2V-Bulb-/280428612614?pt=US_Flashlights&amp;hash=item414ad90c06

look 3 modes no strobe! Yay!

I got my Solarforce (SF) R5 single mode in today. It's very nice. The hotspot is perfectly round and the beam is very smooth, no artifacts or rings. I expected it to have artifacts in the hotspot like my Trustfire F23 and R5-A3 (both have smooth reflectors), but the SF doesn't relate. My KD 501B R5's hotspot is different: it has a noticeable corona around the hotspot, but still kinda looks cool.

The SF pulls 0.8amps on a 4.20V 18650 vs. 1.3amps on the KD. However, it seems like they both produce the same brightness with the same spill. The SF has a farther throw than the KD. After 2 minutes on, the KD gets pretty warm while the SF is only slightly warm in the head.

I tried 2x 3.7V CR123A in the SF and it's noticeably slightly brighter.

This Solarforce drop-in is well worth it!

I purchased the solarforce 1 mode, it should be on the way. How much better is the throw compaired to the dx? Is it marginal or is there really going to be a big difference? I have the dx 5 mode but the emitter fell off, so there will be no compairing anything untill i get both my solarforce and an emitter to fix the dx one.

Not a huge amount in it. The DX one on high gave me 10,490 lux at 1 metre, the Solarforce single mode R5 gave me 11,450 - around 10% better.

Flashlight throw is defined by emitter surface brightness and reflector size. P60's by definition have same size reflector. If you look at the photos for the solarforce, they are ez1000 dies, so a ez900 emitter would have better throw, an xp-g probably worse.

Hmm... , I think the division in ez1000 and ez900 is for XR-E emitters only. I'm not sure, that I understand what you are trying to say agenthex. This thread is about XP-Gs and to my knowledge, there is only one die area available for XP-Gs (1.4 mm × 1.4 mm ~ 2 mm²). Even if the size of the reflector is similar, the shape can be completely different - degree of how convex the surface is e.g. - which might effect the throw.

I looked at budgeteer's post above, so, my bad--especially considering I started this thread, too.

BTW, the XP-G 5-mode I got from KD as part of the cheapo ultrafires is terrible. 2A draw on high and probably blue because of it.

If you wanted a good xp-g, also consider the Skyray S-5. The module in it is almost perfect.