The Best XM-L Throwers: You Pick The Winner

When I saw your first post after buying the 7G5 I was gutted I didn't buy the M3X, but now you have a replacement I'm happy again, 7G5 wins to my eyes :)

The m3x gets my vote out of that bunch. Got a few lights now huh?

You'd be fine with the STL-V2. I have the STL-V6 and it's definitely in the same "throw" league.... We are just collectors, that's all.

The up close white wall shots can be misleading. I always find myself saying this one is brighter...no wait this one is and so on when they are pretty close in brightness. But if one is quite a bit brighter, you should see it. But when you take nite shots at this yardage your eyes usually can pick the brighter one. I know which one I know is the brightest.

Not sure what you are looking at but the Crelant clearly has a larger hotspot and greater spill making it a better all arounder. :slight_smile:

Here's the order I got them picked.

1. Crelant 7G5

2. Sunwayman T40CS

3. Olight M3X

4. Olight SR 51

5. Fenix TK41

6. ThruNite Catapult V3

Yes, that's true when it comes "just" to the perceivable brightness. I was thinking more about the dimensions of the hot spot and spill - the proportions which do not change in the longer distances either do they?

And tonite I'll go ahead and throw the Sunwayman V60C in here as well. But it will probably be around the bottom and might even beat the Catapult V3.

Thanks for your investment in time and your investment in great lights. Very few of us has the desire or the funds to buy all of the best throw lights and your comparison helps us pick which one we want.

It really looks to me that there is hardly any difference in throw between all of these lights and few people will lack needed throw for 99% of what they will be using their light for.

If one is looking for the best buy, the 7G5 is probably the best deal.

If one is looking for solid quality, the Catapult is probably your light although all are good to excellent quality.

If one is looking for a light with forward buttons to change modes, the TK41, SR51 and T40CS are your lights.

If you want to mount the light on a weapon you will not want the SR51 or TK41.

If you are looking for a tailstanding light, the TK41 and SR51 are the way to go.

If you want AA NiMh batteries the only light is the TK41.

If you want a light with lots of usable modes, the TK41 and the T40CS have this base covered the best.

If you want a light with the lowest low mode, the TK41 with it's 10 lumen low mode is your light although the T40CS will go down to 20 lumens. All the others have a low mode of 60 on up to 250 lumens.

As I look at all these lights, the one that covers the most bases is the TK41 followed by the T40CS.

Can you compare the STL-V2/V6 also? :slight_smile:

I don't have that one. But it will fall around the same category as the SR51 or Fenix TK41. That is going off of the lux readings that others have claimed for that light. It will not beat the 7G5, T40CS, or M3x.

I also may try taking a picture with the Crelant 7G5 using 4 CR123A batteries. According to selfbuilt you can gain 1500lux@ 1 meter over using two 18650 batteries. He has the Crelant 7G5 at 55,000 lux@ 1meter using two 18650's vs 56,500 lux@ 1 meter using 4 CR123A batteries. Don't know if the camera will pick that difference up, but it is worth noting.

You can read about it here.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?329794-Crelant-7G5-(XM-L-U2-2x18650)-Thrower-Review-RUNTIMES-VIDEO-BEAMSHOTS-and-more!

This order is a quite different than my perceived impression from those pics (as I wrote also some post above).

What am I missing? Please explain

Well as I said, you can pick the winner. I rated them in the order I see them. And I have no doubt that others will see it differently. So this will change to who is viewing it. Everyone has differnet eyes. My vision is 20/20 or better. And I can very easily pick the winner. My hunch is most will pick the 7G5 as being the best.

I even removed my glasses and my optometrist has told me that I have about 20/13 vision w/o them up close and very few peoples eyes will focus or see like that up close. And I still see the 7G5 as the winner. Like I said it's all in the eyes. He also told me that explains why I see better up close w/o my glasses. No corrective lenses will make you see that good up close as I do is pretty much what he told me.

Based on the photos, I would make my decision based more on price and form than throw. They are close enough to be interchangeable in the real world, so decide which one is easiest to carry, and balance that with the price.

LOL!

Well my driving licence says I can still drive without lenses so my eyes should not be that bad afterall!!

Ok, I compared again all those pics, opening all them in different browser pages so to be able to shift from one to another.

Maybe it's just the pics, maybe with both the lights and the camera on tripodes would make for precisely comparable pics... But if you state that when you used them the difference was clear to your eyes, I have no reasons to doubt what you have seen from real.

Well, from a point of view, this makes me more happy, as I have my "King of Throw" new 7G5 arrived at home and waiting for me (i'm away a few days for works)

Now that I have the King there's no reason to still look around for new flashlights, uh?!...

Well I will say that the T40CS surpised me that it beat the M3X. And I will also say the reason why I picked the 7G5 over the T40CS is due to the whiter tint that the 7G5 has and also the tighter hotspot. The pictures that coolperl posted summed it up more easily. And I sure do thank him for doing that. Now remember the first 7G5 I had would have ranked probably towards the bottom. And I hope that Crelant has their bugs worked out for the underdriven ones that may be out there. But this one is my new king.

Let me check and I will tell you.

T40CS 1.7 amps

M3X 1.335 amps

TK41 I can't get a reading

Catapult V3 1.660 approx

SR51 I can't get a reading

7G5 1.905 amps

In yours eye which is producing more light?

Also which throws the furthest?

Just look in the center (M3X, mouse over - 7G5).