"Review": Amutorch Stainless Steel XPG3-S3 AA flashlight [Modded TIR Lenses]

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights
46

:person_facepalming: :person_facepalming: :person_facepalming:
I just clicked on the links in my purchase and put them here, so of course they wouldn’t work properly :person_facepalming:

Glad you managed to find the products and thanks for fixing the links :wink:

Yup, there are several degrees both for the pebbled and the others . Mine were both 60º degrees lenses, as the original already produces a narrow beam and I wanted floody :wink:

(Now I’m trying to put a reflector on this light, maybe today or tomorrow I’m able to write it down here :wink: )

47

MascaratumB - Thanks for posting this review and documenting your mods. I may just get myself one of these and a ‘hive’ lens.

Would it be worth lining the inside of the white plastic holder with some kind of shiny foil? Do you think there would be any perceptible increase in brightness?

48

Not worth the hassle.
Yes, some light will hit the inside of the holder, but it has to make its way back through the transition from holder surface to air to TIR at a shallow angle so most of it will bounce back from the TIR instead of joining the rest of the output.
I think even silver plating a TIR doesn’t make a significant difference.

What you could do for ‘fun’ is put some glow in the dark tape inside the head.
Enough light will excite it and you have a green after glow (but not a lot in the direction of the beam)
This only works when you don’t use the reflector shaped plastic holder.
You could put the tape in the straight holders though.

49

Hi Intio! Thanks for your words, glad you liked it :wink:
Hum, I must tell you that I’m not an expert on this kind of things (lenses, reflectors….I’ not really an expert on anything, I think :person_facepalming: :stuck_out_tongue: ), but my guess is that it wouldn’t bring more brightness on this, specially using a “pebbled” (“hive”) lens.

I’m not sure about what I’m saying, but my guess is that using this lens with or without holder will produce the same brightness. I’m just using the holder to help to fix the LED in the lens.

(….and just checked it and I confirm: there is no significative difference using it or not! Maybe in a light with a bigger head/bezel/led/reflector that can make a difference, but not on this one!!)

Also, as you may have seen, the holder was cut so there is not much space to place the foil. Plus, maybe that could also damage the led, unless if meticulous placed (with glue or something).

(I just looked to the holder and… I guess it doesn’t worth it (to put the foil), in any sense! Neither the brightness, nor the work that it would imply to make it go perfectly).

I’m just writing an experience with a mod with a reflector and glass lens, and a comparison between this and the TIR lenses, you can take a look later or maybe tomorrow ! Maybe that helps you to decide on the light and what to do later to mod it :wink: :+1:

50

Thanks Jerommel! I was writing and couldn’t see your answer! Yup, it doesn’t worth the work!
About the tape, that’s nice :smiley: Never though about it and maybe I’ll try that :+1:
Nice idea :sunglasses:
I like this funny ideas :smiley: :smiling_imp:

51

So, my quest in modding these Amutorch flashlights continues :wink:

Today I received a small and very cheap flashlight I ordered after seeing this review by mizou51: [REVIEW] Cheap 14500 flashlight with COB light side and little modding .
(Btw, this is a pretty light for its price, and very useful with the COB part! For indoor use, it’s pretty nice despite tint, beam and UI)

I asked him to make some measurements on the reflector to check if it would fit in these lights and…it fits!!!
So, I picked one of the already modded Amutorch (that had a 60º TIR lens), and put the reflector and glass lens of the other COB light in it.

I will show you the comparisons I’ve made! (click the photos for a bigger picture)

BEAM / SPILL with reflector

COMPARISON [L to R: Reflector > Original TIR LENS (10º-15º) > Pebbled/Hive TIR lens (60º) ]

(HIGH MODE, no PWM. Only the camera focus has changed)

COMPARISON [L to R: Reflector > Original TIR LENS (10º-15º) > Flat TIR lens (60º) ]

Pieces used with the reflector and with the Flat TIR lens

(HIGH MODE, no PWM. Only the camera focus has changed.)

COMPARISON [L to R: Reflector > Original TIR LENS (10º-15º)]

Some “conclusions”:
1 - While the pebbled TIR lens seems to drift to Neutral White, the reflector reinforces the Cool White tint;
2 – Also, the hotspot seems to produce a “yellowish to greenish” hallo (more identifiable in human sight than in these photos). I guess that a LED with NW may solve this pretty well;
3 – I couldn’t test the throw in a wider space, comparing the original TIR lens and the reflector, but it seems to me that the original lens may have a bigger capacity to throw as the beam is narrower and more concentrated that the reflector;
4 – The reflector creates a concentric circle in the outer side that is not annoying, but that at a close range is more noticeable.
5 – The PWM “buzz” (Low and Medium) that the light produces sounds the same, comparing the three lights. HOWEVER, in the one with the original TIR lens this sound is louder, a bit more, but still louder.

“And that’s all folks!”…for today :wink:

(BTW, sorry about the not-so-good quality of the images…cellphones are good but they do not capture what human eyes do!

@ Jerommel - I followed your suggestion and resized the images! It’s really light!!! Hope this works better for everyone here :+1:

52

So you noticed the ‘tint shift’ you get with a normal reflector.
Cool white spill and a warmer white beam (spot) with an even darker yellow ‘corona’ around it.
Sometimes the inside bit of the beam (spot) is a little darker than the edge of the beam.
This is even worse with the most modern LEDs (XP-G3, XP-L2, XHP50.2 and the latest Nichia LEDS too.)
Here’s a picture of an XP-L2 5000K in a 20mm normal reflector:

In real life it’s even worse…

53

So that’s the fried egg that Lightbringer raps on about so often… do OP reflectors counteract or at least reduce this?

54

Yeah, a little…

This helped though:

:slight_smile:

The head of that light is glued, so i can’t replace the reflector with a TIR.
So i stuck on a piece of DC-fix (adhesive diffuser film)

55

Yup, there’s a tint shift yes! This is a small smooth reflector, made from plastic, so the quality may not help!
As Jack Kellar asked, I don’t know if a OP reflector would avoid that shifting, but I haven’t found such a small OP reflector to try it here!

I also think that a different tint LED may not shift so much, namely NW ones.

The best option I found, so far, was the pebbled lens! The others always leave something not quite well, the beam, the spill, the spot…
At least, the pebbled creates a uniform spill.

About the DC-fix, I couldn’t find it yet, but I also didn’t search that much too!
Is that a Sofirn SP32? Mine has that same effect. But so far I’m not yet annoyed with it :stuck_out_tongue:

56

That would be a “flood” i think.
Spill is the bit that is not collimated by the reflector.
A TIR has a little lens in the centre to collimate what would normally be the spill.
(So a TIR is usually a ‘Total Internal Reflection’ optic plus a small lens in the middle)

Member ‘Boaz’ sells pieces of it, there’s a topic somewhere.
You can search the forum for it, and i believe a French member also has some for sale.

Yep, that’s a Sofirn SP32. :slight_smile:
I volunteered to review it so they sent me one.
It’s a nice light. I like the Cree 3A tint (5000K)

I agree, in real life you can live with it, but i think tint shift is very annoying when you notice it.
And once you have noticed it, you always notice it… :smiley:
I have another XP-L2 light with a 20mm 30° pebbled TIR and it has virtually no tin shift, not even on a white wall.

57

Yep, nice yellow “yolk” in the middle, cooler/whiter “white” around the outside.

I wondered how a 4C could look so yellow when it’s really not. Ceiling-bounce from my S2+ (when I scalded myself leaving it unattended 5-10min) looked quite nice overall, nowhere near as yellow.

Finally dawned on me that it’s the tint-shift doing it. Actually, that’s a misnomer. It’s not “shifting” any overall tint. Yellower light that comes out at more oblique angles hits the reflector and is focussed into the hotspot. Yellow! Less-yellow light coming straight out from the LED normal to the surface doesn’t hit the reflector but continues straight out to form the spill. White!

Through a TIR where you’re doing a better job collecting all the light no matter what the angle, it blends everything together quite nicely, giving that 4C a real 4500K look, or whatever it’s supposta be.

58

Thanks for the explanation about what is the spill! Sometimes I use the terminology in incorrect ways, so fell free to correct me whenever is necessary :wink:

About the DC fix, I already saw one of those posts and already participated in the thread, I may search for it! I guess that some lights can benefit from that, and maybe the SP32 is one of them, although I still like to have it like it is.
It does have that spot and tint shift, but I’m not unhappy with it !
And I agree with you, I’m becoming more and more attentive to the beams, spots, tints, tint shifts and all of that!!! :open_mouth:

Gotta try the DC-Fix to see what happens! Maybe I could apply that to other lights too… :sunglasses:
Thanks for the tip and help on this !

Yup, agree too! However, I’m still using the original OP reflector that came with the light! :stuck_out_tongue: I have some TIR around, so maybe I will try them someday !!

59

I just made a review / comparison between these Amutorch XPG3-S3 and with a similar flashlight from Neal using a Nichia 219C.
You can take a look at it here: Comparison: Stainless Steel AA Flashlight – Amutorch XPG3-S3 vs “Neal’s” Nichia 219C :+1:

60

The XP-G3 is one of the things that attracted me to this light , but is probably the worst part of it! , cool hot spot , wide yellow ring around this then a dark unlit ring , then spill, Like a target!

The change in colours across the beam is unpleasant to me, But understand this is a symptom of the newer Cree design (xp-g3, xpl-2 etc) with the phosphor higher up in the dome.

Swopped a XP-G2 into it , This gave a more uniform colour across the beam but with same rings.

Lastly put in a XML-2 , Jerommel said it would fit under the TIR nicely and he is quite right, This gives defused hotspot and less rings with no colour change , I have settled on this set up.

The rest of the light I really like , very well machined and good looking , using it with a Lifepo4 14500 , this boosts the output a bit over NIMH , modes well spaced.

Clicky is nice to the feel and stainless cap good , is a bit “ping- pong” rather than “click- click” in sound, different but fine.

Clip sticks out over the top of the light above screws and gives a wobbly tail stand, fairly easily fixed by removing clip and filing it down a little so it sits below top of light and is stands stably.

61

Hey, thanks for sharing your experience on this Sivy :wink:
Yup, the LED tint is not so good but changing the lens as I did, it becomes not so Cool, it tends to Neutral tint!

Got some questions for you, so!

May I ask which XML2 did you put? And do you use it with the original TIR lens?
I’m asking as I want to change one to XML2 T6-3B , but I guess it won’t fit properly in the pebbled/hive TIR lens, so I may have to use the original lens or a reflector!

Do you have any picture to get a notion of how the XML2 works? I’d be glad to see it :slight_smile:

Have you compared LiFePO4 with 14500 in terms of temperature and luminosity on max output? If so, did you feel any significant difference between those?

Thanks in advance :+1:

62

I put in an XM-L2 on a 15mm star I had spare from upgrading something to XPL-HI, Cool white , probably too cool for many on here but I was mostly after getting rid of the rings of different colours the XP-G3 gave.

Fitted straight in under the standard Amutorch TIR.

Lifepo4 probably bumps output to 250lms ish and IMR 14500 to around 450lms ish, IMR gets hotter faster.


XM-L2


XP-G3

63

Thanks Sivy :wink:
Hum, the XML2 looks pretty good, I like it! It is a bit like Convoy S2+ Tan version with XPL-HI U6-3A! I’ll have to see how it works with a different lens :nerd_face:
There’s a huge shift of the XPG3 on the original lens. When using a reflector or a pebbled lens it tends to get more homogeneous, but not as much as an original Neutral LED!

About the batteries, thanks for the information as well! I only have Ni-MH or 14500 (Sanyo UR14500P, I guess they are not IMR) batteries. I thought it would worth to get the LiFePO4 but maybe I’ll stick with those I have.
Even when using the Ni-MH on high for a while it gets a bit hot, the pill and the host are thin! But for indoors environments, so far the Ni-MH have been enough in the brightness produced !
Thanks again :+1:

64

Yesterday I decided to make a small change to one of my Amutorch! I took the original driver out and put one of the Reylight (4 modes: ML-L-M-Hm with the lowest moonlight I’ve ever seen :open_mouth: but, sadly, with PWM on Low, Medium and High modes :person_facepalming: )

I also changed the emitter, placing a XML2 U2-1A that I ended up damaging due to the TIR lens I was using. Later I put the XPG3-S3 back in the place and while I’m waiting for 2 XML2 LEDs to arrive (T6-3B and T6-4C).

Here’s are some pics (click on them to get bigger images):

Left to Right:
XPG3-S3 / Original TIR > XPG3-S3 / Pebbled TIR > XML2 U2-1A / SMO Reflector > Nichia 219C / Pebbled TIR

Left to Right:
XPG3-S3 / Original TIR > XPG3-S3 / Pebbled TIR > XPG3-S3 / Original TIR / Reylight Driver > Nichia 219C / Pebbled TIR

On Ni-MH batteries

On 14500 Li-Ion batteries

Original Driver > Reylight Driver

As mentioned above, the Reylight driver has PWM in L, M and H (perceivable in the photos) modes, and emits a “buzzzz” in these 3 modes. With 14500 batteries, that noise is even louder and it is not so comfortable to use the light due to that.
Also on 14500, on High mode, apparently it produces the same amount of light (or maybe a bit more) than the original driver, using the original emitter and lens.

On Ni-MH cells, the original driver seems to have a gain in all modes in terms of luminosity (it doesn’t have Moonlight, though).

Despite the photos don’t show that (and I damaged the XML2 before taking more photos :person_facepalming: ), the XML2 produces a better and more intense beam inside the original TIR lens, as Sivy showed above.

The tint of the XML2 U2-1A inside a pebbled lens seems to tend more to Neutral White as the original XPG3. When it’s inside the Original TIR lens, it “goes back” to Cool White tint.

I have 2 XML2 on the way and I’ll try them both with the original driver and with the Reylight driver. My guess is that I’ll opt for the original due to the “buzz” on 3 modes, despite the incredible Moonlight mode.

Perhaps with those LEDs the Original TIR lens makes more sense and produces a better beam.

So far, my favourite “versions” are using the +pebbled +lens with the XPG3 and the Nichia.

65

Well, once again I made some changes in these lights (well, at least in 1 of them :smiley: )
I replaced the original LED XPG3-S3 for a XML2 T6-4C and then replaced the already installed Reylight driver for the original one (3 modes, PWM in L and H).
I kept the original TIR lens, not pebbled.

Some comparisons (Left to Right) [click the photos to see them bigger]:

XML2 T6-4C / Original TIR > XPG3-S3 / Pebbled TIR > XPG3-S3 / Original TIR > Nichia 219C / Pebbled TIR

XPG3-S3 / Original TIR > XML2 T6-4C / Original TIR

XML2 T6-4C / Original TIR > Nichia 219C / Original TIR

Convoy S2 / Pebbled TIR+ > Nichia 219C / Pebbled TIR > XML2 T6-4C / Original TIR

Convoy S2 / Pebbled TIR+ > Nichia 219C / Original TIR > XML2 T6-4C / Original TIR

Convoy S2 / SMO Reflector+ > Nichia 219C / Original TIR > XML2 T6-4C / Original TIR

Convoy S2 / Pebbled TIR+ > XPG3-S3 / Pebbled TIR > Nichia 219C / Pebbled TIR