[PART 2] Official BLF GT Group Buy thread. Closed, but Public sales open!

Yes indeed I use Samsung Q30 and also Sony VTC6 batteries for my flashlights. I did use these batteries in both flashlights. Did test over different distances. For me the Astrolux is the better thrower.

Because it measures turbo a tiny bit higher? You can’t even see that difference with your eyes. I would have to evaluate both lights as a whole and on many other factors to say which is better overall.

I was told Sony VTC6 are the best for boost driver or FET.

There are a lot of high drain cells that are all pretty close to each other. If you look a HJK’s comparator you see the VTC6 and 30Q are pretty much the same, even at 15A.

For heavy loads it seems the general rule is you want the less voltage drop for the particular load you are running to get the most power.

FET drivers are a bit unique because turbo is direct drive. So you really need to match the battery to the emitters voltage characteristics. A VTC6 might burn up the certain led, while a 35E high capacity might not. So you have to get the right combo.

Do we have any progress with broken parts replacement?
Sad, that that such a big company is burying head in the sand.
Mike

None of this info is going through me or TA. Lumintop (maybe Neal) should be contacting the people directly to sort out the issues.

Although… I did ask everyone on the Issues list if they heard from Lumintop or Neal last week. I have not from 3 people, yet. Here is the results so far:

sp5it - no contact from LT
zelee - no contact from LT
FreeMagenta - ???
Bruno28 - no contact from LT
VRT - ???
Tete - no contact from LT
Jimmy007 - no contact from LT
k125bw - no contact from LT
Dustynell - ???
Chito - Neal contacted him on the 8th, but instead of trying to send replacement parts, he offered a $10 refund. That is not a proper solution to a light damaged in shipping (registered box).

Maliblue recieved his missing light so I removed him from the list.

Leo at Lumintop is supposed to be handling these issues, but he did not contact anyone on the Issues list last week. :open_mouth:

That really sad

I think they (LT) must finishing BLF GT group buy before start blf GT70 group buy.

Hope TA can help people that still not received GT or acc and broken parts.

Look like he have contact with LT / Neal in GT70 thread about update on the search for the XHP70.2.

Good luck for you and people in “issues list ”

I sent them another reminder about these issues just now, I am not sure why it is taking so long.

there is no response from neal or leo (lumintop)
and i was planned to use it on my birthday and that was today :frowning:

I am very sorry to hear that, I contacted them again last night and they said they would get in touch with people. Hopefully they follow through.

Here are the pics of Chito’s shipping damaged GT.

It’s not as bad as Sp5it’s, but still pretty bad.

Here are Sp5it’s pics from the old thread dated March 6.

If this were my light, I would file, bend or cut away the metal lip so I could at least screw the battery tube in while I’m waiting on a replacement part to fix it. It must suck not being able to try it out.

Yep… there is no doubt these people are way past due getting taken care of!!

But I’m like you Jason, I would have done whatever it took to use my GT during the wait…… A little bending, prying, and/or cutting…… that bad boy would have been shining. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

I might have an issue.

I finally got around to measuring the lumen value of my GT, and it’s only coming in at around 1400 lumen, repeated. I’ve so far double checked the batteries, and compared some other lights, which measured as expected, such as a TN42 that measured at 1850 lumen.

Isn’t it supposed to be more like 2000 lumen?

I’m not sure what the lumens are meant to be but did you double click for Turbo?

Yes. I double checked to make sure.

Was there any difference between hi and turbo?

We know the GT driver puts out 2.5A and the reflector and lens are a fairly constant percentage of loss. One actual variable is the emitter. Even though all the GT’s use a D4 bin, Cree allows for a 14% tolerance in output.

So as long as your batteries are good enough to keep the led in the regulated output mode (2.5A) all the GT’s should measure within 14% of each other.

The TN42 only puts out 2A to its xhp35-HI, so it’s strange it would measure a higher lumen output.

I’ve got a TA Lumen tube, but the GT is too big to fit the opening. I can swap a smaller reflector on it and measure 2200 lumen, but that should be a little on the high side as the big stock reflector has a bit higher loss. So a would put it closer to the 1900 range.

Most other people measure about 1800 to 2000 lumen.

Another variable is whether your lux meter is sensitive to different color temps. A lot of them are less sensitive to warmer tints. If your TN42 is CW, then your meter is going to automatically read disproportionate high compared to the NW led in the GT.

The biggest variable is of course how you measure it. You would need to tell us in detail how your measuring your lights.

MRsDNF - That’s interesting, and I’m glad you brought that up. I just tested that, and came up with 1430 lumen for (double click) turbo, and 1344 lumens for “press and hold” full brightness. The time between the two test might only represent voltage drop, as I used the same charge.
What does that mean?

JasonWW,

Thanks for your response. I’m using a 180 degree bend 7 inch PVC pipe setup, meticulously sanded on the inside, with a clean, scratch free plexiglass window silicone glued in place, and calibrated for margin of error to 2 known value flashlights in 2 settings each, and averaged. I use white cloth packed around the reflector head during testing. It’s the best I could come up with without going nuts.

So far, I’ve tested 32 flashlights with this. One that I trust is an Olight Valkyrie which was rated for 400 lumen, and tested to 399. Another is a Thrunite TH10, which is rated for 825, and tested showed 903. My BLF Q8 tested to 5076. Solarforce and other oddball brands usually test far below rated lumen values. I don’t trust those ones.

On lights, I use VTC4 or Samsung 25R from known good suppliers, and I have heaps of them. (The GT blinks out 4.2v, prior)

You’re probably correct about warmer light, but I most always choose 4k-5k light on flashlights. I dislike blueish light.

The meter I’m using is a Dr Lux LX1330B, and the window on the other side is cut to match the size of the light collector on the meter, which is fixed in place during testing.

I have not conducted a beam test on the light at range, because I stopped as soon as I got the low reading, double and triple checked, and then came straight here to ask for advice.

My setup is very similar to this guy’s setup. How to measure Flashlight Lumens and Candela using ANSI/NEMA FL1 standards. - YouTube

I have found a Problem with my Lumenbox. Throwers and extreme High-Lumen Lights shows too less Lumens on the higher output levels. I compared the lower levels with new readings in my guests toilette and calculated the higher output levels with this. Afterwards my readings were near other readings.
Perhaps you have a similar problem.

I have measured 1925 Lumen with changed LED (XHP35 HI E2-3C) and without Reflector on my Lumenbox. Reflector is too big for me, too.
Mostly, my readings are on the lower end, but I think my box is good calibrated.
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Edit:

With dead Emitter (one dead die), I have measured 1400 Lumen (without reflector) and 1270 Lumen on max ramp (without reflector): BLF GT official support thread [FAQ updated 11 Jan 2018] - #145 by Wieselflinkpro