The first XM-L T6 bin flashlights and P60 modules. This is the beginning

Ceiling beamshot in new style 504B. The XM-L is on the left, the right hand one is a low voltage Solarforce single mode R2 dropin in an L2i with an 18650. Yes, the hotspots are burned out - this is just a quick shot before I take the dog out.

The odd shape of the XM-L beam is due to the bezel ring on the 504B.

Throw at 1 metre is 5250 - you can see from the beamshot how huge the hotspot is.

It is snowing quite hard just now which might make for interesting beamshots later on.

The colour on the XM-L hotspot sure looks nice! Looking forward to some real world photos : )

5250?! Is that the same measurement that gave 3240 on the MC-E M bin? (edit: no, I was getting throw mixed up with lux). Of course, it's a given that they sent you the best one they had and all subsequent ones are going to be garbage. Sounds really great so far though. Do you have a current draw on it? LED is secured well?

Wow...

Wow...

I had to go and get the dog a new eating bowl. The city is gridlocked, but I'll do some testing once I've eaten - it has taken me more than 2 hours to get back from the dog dish shop about 3 miles away.

Problem is the rural hinterland shoppers who infest the city at this time of year. They tend to drive extremely slowly in the middle of whatever road they are holding up and tend to be erxtremely aggressive drivers as well.

Add to this a blizzard and the rush-hour and the conditions get really bad.

And my assistant threw up all over the back seat of my mother's new car. The new dropin will certainly get some testing while I clean the seat.

You've been on a real lucky streak lately with cars and weather . . .

Also, like to know how well the modes are spaced and if the light has memory. You know, while you're in the car, cleaning up.

Couldn't face cleaning the seat just yet. I'd made a mistake with the throw numbers - it was on medium, not high. The throw number I'm still finding hard to believe.

Lightbox
Light Battery Immediate
KD XM-L Dropin High in L2m flat bezel 18650 3160
KD XM-L Dropin Medium in L2m flat bezel 18650 1250
KD XM-L Dropin Low in L2m flat bezel 18650 125

Same meter, same conditions as the MC-E. I'd better go and see to the car seat before I play any more..

But first I put the details into the Google Docs spreadsheet

Oh my god! 567 lumens on med mode!

How about the heat on MAX after 2 minutes Don???

Imprehesive!!!!!!

Can you measure current draw on HIGH and MED, when time permits? thanks!

That looks really really nice! : ) Now I have to get one, lol!

2600mA High

960mA Medium

90mA low

1100mA strobe

Looking good!

Definitely an XM-L, not something one can take for granted from HK dealers.

But...... 567 lumens maximun? maybe is not driven at full specs? or bad dissipation?

Umm draws 2600mA on MAX.... lets imagine the LED gets 2400mA...........

ummm

About 1A on med mode and only 220 lumens? an xpg-r5 at 1Amp gives 320 lumens

Mode spacing is roughly 100%

40%

and 4%

Not bad spacing though medium might be better a little lower.

The head does get warm - there is a lot of aluminium foil stuffed in with it to make it a tight fit.

But the lumen maintenance over two minutes is extremely impressive - this may be the best maintenance of light on max of anything I have. The reflector seems a bit different from the usual P60 one. I'll do some pictures to explain, I've failed to put it into words.

The LED is not perfectly centred in the reflector as you can see from the picture above.

There are certainly more XM-L lights in my future - I never bought a huge number of XP-G lights - but I can see me replacing most XR-E ones with XM-L's or modding the XR-E lights.

If it'll stop snowing for a while I'll try for some beamshots, I've dug out an M bin MC-E, my brightest P7, an R5 and the XM-L. All have fresh from the charger 18650s in them.

Since the test range is a lot more reflective than usual, I'm going to drop the exposure a lot so the next shots will not be comparable to the usual ones.

You have to take off about 30% from LED figures to what a light puts out the front. This is why I almost always use the L2m body and flat bezel ring so at lest the losses are consistent.

The XM-L does need a lot of current from what I've read - at lower currents an XP-G can beat it from one test I read somewhere.

It isn't close to the claimed output but which one ever was?

The LED certainly isn't getting 3A, probably in the 2200-2500mA range. It might actually be brighter than the MC-E - it certainly is after a minute - remember the errors in these tests could be quite large.

So visually the XML is brighter than your MCE, no matter what the numbers say

Yes - it is also a better colour and no holes in the beam at any range.

Beamshots uploading now. Turned out the R5 I'd grabbed was actually a single-mode R4 so it got left out.

While I wait for the beamshots to upload, here are Lambda's from his Varapower lights with an XM-L in them.

http://flashlightnews.net/forum/index.php?topic=2398.msg30577