The Flydragon head is just 80mm, with the SST-90 in direct drive mode of about up to 15 amps and with direct copper to LED bonding it is possible. 1000m is out of this world. You need 250k cd to do that for the target at 0.25 lux. If you look at CPF mod section there are very few folks who manages to do that, namely ma_sha, Saabluster and a few others, with huge lenses.
This is with a 110mm lens, SST-50 driven to 9 amps, copper heat sink with active cooling.
But with a 7 x50 bino (some light amplification) and a really dark site like in the desert, light at least 15m away to the right or left from the observer and a good target, eg a silver car, it is possible even with 100k cd @ 1000m. But that is not realistic.
In fact i rate my 3.8 million cd light to be good at 2km. That is 1 lux at target.
66mm lens with XM-L driven hard gives you 100k, that's the ballpark of this Dereelight DBS aspheric light. :)
Actually you could get even more lux with the XP-C driven to 1A
The die is 0.7mm x 0.7mm. EZ900 die XR-E R2 is 0.9mm by 0.9mm. EZ1000 XR-E R2 is 1.0mm by 1.0mm. The beam is quite narrow, so it is not useful even at 100m (handshake, causes the beam to dance around at target)
Thanks for the info 2100, I will ask to get some luxometer tests for the Flydragon head and SST-90, which I believe it was driven at 10A.
My plan as I thinks said before, is making a flood to throw with the DBS with an XM-L, by the time I get it I hope I can get a U3 (they are just about to be released).
With an XM-L U2 and a 38mm lens I got, I have managed to get around 400m throw "by eye" , do you feel the DBS will throw further than 400m with an XM-L?
I happen to have the T6 3C neutral white pill which has the same output as regular cold-white T6. I measured close just a wee bit over 50k for that. So that's about 450m throw for 0.25 lux. I guess you live at a really dark site plus you had dark-adapted eyes.
Sounds good, what I do not know is if 0.25 lux is visible by eye to know more ore less what is the difference.
Don´t tell me why I have ordered the Ultrafire T8 with two lenses from Manafont, I don't feel it will win any of these throwers, but I wanted to give it a try as it is a new concept for me.
0.25 lux is just barely visible to the naked eye at a dark site. In an urban environment, it is very difficult to see but not impossible on a total white or metallic silver surface. My external ambient is about 0.05 lux.
Sorry for being a pain 2100, I am like a 6 years old boy asking why are the clouds white.
Do you know the focal length for the DBS?
I feel it is also a parameter that can make a difference, and more with XM-L and its bigger emitting angle, the less focal length (the closest the die is to the lens) the more light it can throw as it will not hit the walls of the head.
I know the CL1H v4 and DBS tube are compatible with STL-V6 head. And Ultrafire U80 and Ultrafire C8 is compatible with STL-V6. You can search in this forum, i posted some pix and another guy also posted his C8/STL-V6 combo. It is used to get an ultra-short STL-V6.
However, i am sure you can never get it to work in the DBS head housing because it is slight smaller. Besides the focal length is different.
I read that the head collimates a wee bit better and gets you more lux. It's nearly 100k for the current DBS EZ900 aspheric and 120k for the Tiablo A9 modded with a R2 EZ900 (and it is extremely difficult or rather literally impossible as it is glued to the die, you need to screw and lever and knock it out). Stock Tiablo A9 that WAS being sold last year gets you about 90 plus K cd. Note the word "WAS".
But do note, though the CL1H v4 uses P60 style drop ins, it cannot work with Ultrafire P60s with the external spring and you need to take it out. So i guess the threading is identical.
Not sure how are you able to get a Tiablo A9 currently.
Another option is the Lumapower Ultra VX with Turboforce reflector head. Not sure how can you swap in the EZ900 pill as i am not sure how does it work, but it gets 90+ K cd as well with EZ900. Stock is already 70k cd. Not cheap also.
In short, the DBS aspheric is your best bet, no meddling, gets you into the 100k club for 86 bucks.
I actually paid 79 bucks last time for the EZ1000 pill and "upgraded" to this EZ900 for $23. Should Cree come up with something else next year, no problem at all. Dereelight is one of the most stable brands after Fenix and has a history as long as that if i am not grossly wrong, but it is not marketed well.
As far as I have been able to find out for myself, the hotspot size is also determined by the lens curvature / thickness and its diameter, so with a lens closer to the die, depending on those two factors you can have smaller or bigger hotspots.
The further you can get the best focused part of the beam, the further it will throw, some lenses make the beam look focused at 1-2m and other ones look defocused on that distances, but focused at 5-6m.
The hotspot size does not determine how far it throws, that is true, but because there are more factors that determine the throw in my opinion, but the smaller it is helps to determine how concentrated the beam is.
With a smaller focal length the lens will be closer to the emitter and will capture more light and that’s why the hotspot is larger. It doesn’t throw further however.
With a larger focal length the hotspot is smaller but it’s not any brighter so it doesn’t throw any further than the smaller focal length.
You can check this out for yourself with a light meter.
When the diameter increases and the hotspot decreases the light does become more intense and it does throw further.
The common mistake is thinking that since the hotspot is smaller with a larger focal length than will a shorter focal length that it must be more focused and therefore brighter but that’s not the case.