I received mine today. The head is slightly larger than a C8 with a 42.75 mm interior reflector opening versus 38 mm for the C8. The lighted side switch is alright even with the evil green smile effect.
The best I can get is about 110 kcd but given that it only draws 4.5 amps on turbo I’m not terribly disappointed. One thing I noticed is that it’s not well focused and this could be the reason why the throw doesn’t live up to spec.
The only advantage it has over the D1S is the ability to attach a lanyard (comes with the package). The D1S out throws it and has full output at the top of the ramp.
For the price I’m relatively happy and it will find a good home I’m sure.
Got mine yesterday. Pretty happy with it. My only complaint is that I really lost the indexing lottery, the button is WAY off from the logo, and not even kinda lined up with a flat or a ridge on the handle.
What’s the desire to replace the stock switch? Just for a better feeling click?
Neutral White with a 30Q. Like I said not terribly disappointed because it takes a FET driver doing about 5.8 amps in a C8 with the same led to best it with a reverse tail clicky which doesn’t behave well with ramping UI.
I might pry off the bezel to see if it can be better focused.
I know the NW reads a bit lower, but I’m wondering why you only got 4.5A out of a 30Q. That’s the same battery I’m using and I got 5.5A.
Does the emitter look off center in the reflector? I was thinking it’s practically impossible for it to be off center due to way the centering ring is made.
I can’t measure the current with ramping, all I get is the double flash on my clamp meter.
Yes, I do believe that the centering ring isn’t the right height for proper focus. From what I’ve learned on here a dedomed led should have a focal point of about one meter like this
Here is the GT mini
On the wall the focal point (where the black center dot disappears) is only a couple of inches with the GT mini.
Are you measuring the Throw at the top of the ramp (not Turbo) double click to put it in Turbo —-my NW mine GT is getting 143k pulling 5.7amps —thats on a VTC6
No I’m measuring at turbo. When first trying out the light I measured at the top of the ramp but after reading the included instructions I measured at turbo. The numbers I gave are from turbo.
I was talking about replacing the switch because of failure or breakdown due to normal wear and tear. I believe the stock driver is already good as it is. For most people, there is really no compelling reason to replace the driver. Lumintop made a good business decision in using ATMEL MCU and BLF-inspired FET+1 driver design. Actually, this is the main selling point for me.
I only got 4.8A with the same setup as yours. Posted it a few pages back.
EDIT:
Measured the current draw again using a fresh batt (VTC5) and was able to get 5.65A. Repeated the test and was able to get the same figure. With a resting voltage of 4.15V, I was able to get 5.53A.
Swib, technically the XP-L HI is not a de-domed emitter and it’s certainly a different beast than a de-domed XP-G2, so these will have different focus requirements. That inverted V shape is indeed a good indicator but 1 meter is entirely too close to reference point-of-focus… a really strong thrower has that point many times further out.
I like to view the emitter from the front, inside the reflector, and see how far back you have to get in order for the yellow phosphor to fill the reflector, that usually shows where the focus point is.
As far as determining just where to position the die surface in the reflector, without the schematic on the reflector it can be a hit-or-miss proposition and simply a hands-on trial basis to find what works best in a particular light.
Yeah it’s not my meter, I just can’t get the light to do anything but double flash when testing. Maybe I’m not fast enough with tapping the leads. I don’t have any problem on non-rampng lights. I’ll switch to the other mode group and try again today sometime.
