If you're interested in light output at high currents, you can calculate the theoretical lumen output at various currents for most of the LEDs from the spec sheets. Someone at DX did it http://www.dealextreme.com/forums/Forums.dx/Forum.-209~threadid.530221
I tried a few myself and results seem the same.
BTW the XM-L is is supposed to put out 750 lumens at 2A! (Yes this isn't that far from the highest binned MC-E or P7 at the max spec 2.8A.) Although I would take a guess this is the top bound of the highest bin at release, i.e. the actual bin will be something like 680-750 lumens at 2A (still 2A for 680-750 lumens vs 2.8A for 800-900/753-858 lumens). If you haven't seen it there's now also a slide from Cree's presentation at Light Fair on the XM-L that may be of interest http://ledinside.com/News_cree_LED_20100513
Oooops, this review escaped me until now. Sorry about that brted! Wonderful high-quality review as usual. Now frontpage'd and sticky'd. I also played with physics and changed the date you published the review so that it goes to the top of the frontpage. ;)
The bottom line is that the new driver doesn't ever draw 1.4A like the original did (sometimes), but it is much better regulated and maintains that 1.05A draw down to about 3.8V. Also I like the 3 modes. I also replaced the smooth black tailcap with an orange one with some texture. So it was pretty easy and cheap to get rid of a few of the cons about this light and it is still very bright.
I got the 5 mode version of this from KD. There's only 1 board inside with what looks to be 1 mcu chip, and the current draw (>2a at start) implies it's just direct drive with a mode circuit. The soldering is also pretty crap (driver fell out), and the thermal compound never vulcanized properly or something so the emitter pcb falls out too if you take the reflector off. The 502b is pretty nice, though.
So.... get the 1 mode from dx and avoid the 5 mode KD if you really want to take the chance.
Sorry to hear about yours. I hope you were able to get your fixed up (or return it). After KD's early R5 drop-ins seemed to have the LED well behind the bottom of the reflector, I was afraid to get one from them. Is/was your LED partially blocked by the reflector?
I still really like my 502B with the 3-mode NANJG AK-47 driver in it. I also replaced the smooth black switch cover with a textured orange one and I think it looks great.
I imagine the 5 mode drill is same as my WF501s. Don’t have my 502 yet, but I don’t think I like clips. Maybe just remove it and replace the screws with a little CA to seal. Shorten the screws? Otherwise the light looks good for 11 bucks with a long delivery wait.
My opinion of banggood is it's a spammish POS foul looking ebay type trash site . Everything they sell is same old same old ebay trash ..If you want to know what are the worst lights ever made they are showcased Right here on Banggoods 4 flashlight pages .Every single one of them should be avoided and would probably yeild a nice purplish bad binned emitter,bad heatsinks ,nasty PWM,cheap andozationetc.... it's obvious that they are just scraping the bottom of the barrel ..A shop purely price driven .I see nothing they sell as redeeming in any way .I'd avoid them at all costs and assume everything they sell is a fake / a second or something being dumped .
im sad read so…. at least in hobby models thing their products are very good, and even if something is failed, they change without they ask u send it back (t happened to me), i had to send them a small video showing smt was no ok.
On NG http://www.rcgroups.com many users bought from banggood many different models and are originals.
I'm personally not much of a manafont believer either but they actually sell much better lights .. the selection from banggood is like I said a bad smattering of what ebay sellers who don't know and don't care puke out ..They do it only for one reason ....price ..good or bad they don't know or care . It would be presumptous of me to say it's all pure garbage because lots of these lights obviously sell pretty well..But look at the batteries and chargers they last as well ..Fake ultrafire reds and junk chargers are the spotlighted /featured add -on
If this isn't spam ... it ought to be
Manafont /DX /Dino/KD/Focal etc... Any or all would be preferable to what I'm seeing from the banger
Having said that ..I'm assuming that buying a 502B xml from banggood is about the same as buying one from almost anyone else ..i'm not sure there are any real ones . the trustfires501/502/504 etc...are pretty much what they are ...they are what they are ... Manafont sells fake 501's too And so does dino ..Until I bought a really old 501b from dino really cheaply did i ever see a real trustfire light in the 501/502/504 series lights .. I think they are just so copied again and again ..99% of the people out there will never see a real one ////That said it still isn't that much better ..It simply had a better anodize,a better thread and metal... You could postulate that someone made a mistake and just made a copy too good .:P
I don't think anyone needs to be scaring you away from a 502Bxml for 12$ . I assume bangood will deliver for you ..
I just overall question their entire choice of flashlights and their business model ...like I said it would be like randomly buying from a Chinese ebayer .. not worth freaking out about
Seems my 502s mode memory is not the same as my 501s. It does not remember the last on press but thinks there is a half press and goes to the next mode. Just me or is it defective? I’ve got another coming from a good deal to see if it’s better.
