IIRC, the SBT-90 and SST-90 are the same LED (well, have the same die), except the SBT doesn’t have the dome, giving a smaller apparent size and increasing throw. It also has less output overall then the SST-90, something about efficient extraction of lumens with the dome.
There’s also the CST-90 and CBT-90, same die as the SST/SBT-90s, except the CxTs are mounted on a larger copper heatspreader. The copper heatspreader extracts heat better and allows the CxTs to have a higher rated current, 13.5 A. The heatspreader is kinda big (needs to be trimmed to fit in a mag) so might not be suitable for a flashlight. But the higher currents and output means a higher surface brightness and more throw.
For super throw, at the expense of overall output, an overdriven XP-C or XR-C, 1-1.2A, behind a 50mm + aspherical lens should give a pencil thin beam.
I hope I didn’t come across to harshly.
Was looking to do a high output long throw LED light and started looking at large die LEDs, but decided that HIDs would be brighter, cheaper, and simpler to deal with overall. I can also get a neutral white tint without loosing output. Haven’t gotten around to either yet though.
ma-sha did a Maglite 1D mod with the CBT-90 and the heat spreader was trimmed to fit.
skytop, if you don’t mind a larger, pricier light ($100-$300, 2D Maglite size to xx candlerpower spotlight sized) and don’t need instant on, a HID light might work. They will usually out throw LED lights.
Gunner: I have been reading huge amounts of articles and forum posts coming up to speed learning the fundamentals about flashlights. I had no idea it was so extensive and it can be a keen hobby unto itself!
The impression I get with the HID’s is that they perform well but there are a number of serious drawbacks. The warm up period, the cool down period, the inability to flash on and off for signal purposes and no strobe. Also, I read that the output of the bulb linearly decreases causing gradual loss of performance. The LED’s don’t suffer from any of these shortcommings.
Whereas I was not involved seriously in flashlights over the years, I have been using LED lamps in my business and so have witnessed the rapid improvement in their performance and lowered associated costs. I see that high output LED’s are ‘approaching’ the luminosity/performance of the HID’s. I want to purchase a beast of a thrower but want to obtain one that uses an newly released state of the art emitter. Like most all of us weened on computers and autos, it is not a good thing to make a serious purchase only to see it superceded or obsoleted right away.
BTW, thanks for that succinct explanation of the ST90 family of emitters. I also learned a new web acronym from you…IIRC
Cree Q5 is not my first choice, AFAIAC. $14? Think we are made out of money!!!??? 8)
In small lites, with the availablilty of the superb XL-M U2, it is the best choice due to its awesome performance. I have had one for months in my little TK21 and love it! I ordered two UF2220 as gifts. I am hoping they measure up to their web specs and build quality. I will post what I think of them after they arrive.
I also liked how LEDs can be flashed on an off along with the lack of warm up and cool down. Personally, I don’t need huge amount of light for thousands of hours on end, and I can live without multimode or flashy stuff, so a HID would work well as my high output light. I still want a high power LED light with the CBT-90 but that’ll be after I stop screwing around and get myself some bigger tools (lathes, a house, a car, etc :P).
I might hold off and see if the Cree XM-L2 is coming out soon. If the XP-G2 is any indication, the XM-L2 should have better performance and probably a bit more throw as well from the higher surface brightness.
You are a resource of flashlight knowledge. Keep talking, lots of people are listening! September is around the corner and I remember last year, many manufacturers released new lights then in anticipation of the Xmas selling season.
I need a powerful long thrower for when I am out on the prairie pastures at night tracking coyotes, and Javelina (hooved mammels, belongs to peccary family) and various wildcats that prey on the helpless cattle. 5 to 800 yards is chicken feed out in the wide open West. And mind you, those animals are not wearing Dallas Cowboy uniforms so I need abundant light to see their light damping, camouflaged body. Many times, just the intense light will make the predators skedaddle.
I don’t want something super large and heavy like those huge HID’s since they will bounce around and possibly upset my horse. I already have a heavy rifle on board plus my .44 mag on my hip so I have to draw the line somewhere. I am leaning toward Wayne’s time dilation LED Search & Destroy light. It appears to have serious throw without being a beast to carry.
I just got my first thrower based on reviews here on BLF: the UltraFire HD2010. I may have missed if someone here has already mentioned it, but my god, what a BEAST of a light. Last night, I had it up at the pub to show a couple people, and we were lighting up the front of a supermarket an easy 200+ yards away in a suburban street-light saturated environment. You give me a moonless night out in the the country with this thing and I have no doubt I could be clearly spotting stuff 400+ yards out.
Again, it’s only my first thrower, and I don’t have my 26650s yet - just a TFF 18650 powering it - but it’s certainly a respectable thrower. Good use of a single XM-L emitter, that’s for sure. $33 at TMart.com, and shipped from a US warehouse. I got it in 4 days.
Yeah……. A 26650 will make a difference …… Not by much if you are running a Panasonic 3100mah, but the beam will be brighter and more sharper with a 26650. I think it has to do with the draw on the cell. I have heard that a TR-J12 puts more lumens out with (2) cells than 3… IMO opinion all lights react different according to the driver and quality of the LED.
Interesting. I’m just running TF Flame 18650s right now. Haven’t gotten Panasonics yet. I am sticking with single cell, single emitters for now. But I wanna at least pull as much as I can out of them. I know I can mod the HD2010 to run more efficient and less hot. But I don’t think I’ll try to do that for now either. Not yet.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the 3100mah, as opposed to my TF 3000mah, only have longer run times, right? WHen I read the reviews here on BLF, it seemed the TF cells from Manafont were fairly consistent with capacity and voltage output. Are the Panasonics really capable of putting out more amps? And it seems the 26650s would have to be higher voltage as well to push these lights to higher amps, as opposed to just delivering longer run times?
(only asking these questions because they should still pertain to the original post about dedicated throwers, not just the HD2010…)
Per experience I bought UF cells 2400mah, 3400mah, 4000mah, 5000mah…… Name it I bought it …….
My lights burn brighter and more constant with a good Panasonic 18650…. There are a lot of good ones like Callies, AW, and my favorite Orbtronics.
All I can explain is that a light running on a 2400 UF will run bright at full power for 5 minutes then empty in 1.5 hours.
A Panasonic will run on full power from the time you turn on until dead and run for 3 or 4 hours….
This is an example, I’m not a battery expert !
With a good cell your flashlight will turn HOT in 30 seconds to a minute, with a budget battery it might get warm…… This at the end means, get the best cells if you want your torch to function at It’s full potential…….
So are saying the 26650 battery puts more amps to the emmitter? If so I will be ordering some tonight, have the ultraok light with the 57mm head and meritline just shipped out my HD2010 today!
It’ll be hard to get 800 yards of throw from any LED light. Even some HIDs have trouble at that distance.
You’ll need a very large reflector to get lots of light that far down, a custom job might be in order. If you need the light to be small, a powerful white laser with a beam spreader (red, green, and a blue laser diodes and a few beam splitters working backwards). The white laser might not give you much spread though.
From selfbuilt’s reviews, the Olight SR95 UT seems to have the most throw out of the LED lights he’s reviewed. The Titanium Innovation’s L35 HID still out throws it though.
Yeah…. You see a different beam, I don’t know how to explain it. I have a Trustfire A8, with a 18650 the center is a round bright circle with no definition, with a 26650 you can see on the wall more definition on the LED…. Does it make sense ? It just puts out more light……
I’m sure it’ll hit 800 yards and more and return good amounts of light (the SR95 UT has similar/slightly higher lux numbers), I’m just not sure how much light he’ll need to easily identify animals at that distance. It won’t hurt for skytop to try it
Oh man……