What kind of driver did the old and new sd05 uses? Which one are more efficient? I want to buy them but cancelled buying since I don’t know what other difference they made to the light.
The old was regulated and the new is not . Old emitter was 6 v and new is 3 v. There are differing opinions as to which is better. I have the new and the one good thing is it does not have a timed stepdown, only thermal stepdown. This could be a huge difference in actual use, especially in water.
Pretty sure yes to both (fet/pwm). With that said, this is one of my favorite winter outdoor 21700 lights (in the rev2 with the XHP-50.2; no step down). It THROWS for it’s size and doesn’t heat up as fast as my IF25a. Beam isn’t too bad color-wise either.
I WAS going to do an actual diving review for the (XHP 50.2) SD-05 last August for Sofirn, but Covid “effed” those plans up. We tried again for this X-mas in Cozumel and had to cancel again when Covid got “hot” again this fall.
I have an old SD-02 that worked well for a night dive taken back a few years ago. What was cool is our dive-master was using a small dive light to “strobe” so our group didn’t get mixed up with several other groups on the same reef that night. This was the FIRST time I though of a strobe being VERY useful.
Time will tell on the SST70 and I do hope it’s not too narrow in output. I typically “hang” a few feet off the coral and like turning under for cave or shelf views from between 3 ft. away to 15 ft. I want a nice wide beam but some “punch” on high if I need to see further. From what I can tell on land so far- the SD-05 XHP-50.2 will do good when I get it down (one day)
All bets are off as the SST70 is an unknown (kinda, in this light anyway). But generally speaking… the SD-05 has more MASS than the IF25a and so it CAN run longer given basic physics. I WAS waiting for the 5k forever and now I see only the 6.5k SST70 and so… I’ll “stay on the fence like you and wait for the review”
Would it be safer to use a protected battery in the SD05 just in case water does creep in and creates a short? I've always been using protected in my Sofirn SD02 diving light just in case.
Hum… I’m not sure protected Vs. unprotected would matter much if water were a factor. I’d guess the protection circuit would be “bi-passed” by the water itself- but not sure. I have dove with the SD-02 and didn’t think twice about it
True. I don't have a charger that would fit them either. Would be interesting if someone did a test to see what would happen if the flashlight leaks underwater with protected and unprotected