That Varapower 2000 really does put out a lot of light, the beam shot really could pass for an average day time photo.
I've got one of the KD XM-L dropins, when the light is focused with an aespheric lens so you can see the details of the emiter, I can see that the light given off is not even.
There are darker areas on a couple of the five bars (complete mental block on the right word) that make up the XM-L.
It would have been much easier to post a picture, but sadly for the moment I'm not quite sure where I've hidden my 28mm aespheric.
I took a couple of pictures of my KD (first version, reviewed here) and Manafont Ultrafire XM-L drop-ins. The KD came with a OP reflector, but I swapped in a smooth one to match the Ultrafire one. The output seems comparable, but I think the reflectors are still a little different, so you see a different beam pattern. Probably need to take the pictures over again using the same reflector on both pills. The mouse out is the Ultrafire, and the mouseover is the KD drop-in.
Both of these drop-ins have noticeable PWM. In this picture, the Manafont Ultrafire is on the left and the KD is on the right. Looks to me like the Ultrafire has a little bit higher PWM rate. But either way you shouldn't be able to see separate dots.
I ordered an XM-L drop-in from Manafont a few days ago. Tonight I see this thread and hurry back to check if the "Ultrafire" drop-in I ordered was the same SKU as the blazing howitzer in these beam shots. I just about yelled out loud when I saw the 5720 on my order. I came this close to getting that strobe one. The Ultrafire name threw me and I almost didn't get it.
Don, you are the man. I'm gonna have the brightest L2P on the planet!
Sorry for the long delay in measuring. Kept forgetting about it. Just measured it at 2.285A and 3.153A on the Manafont one. The Manafont one may be being driven too hard for the longevity of the LED.
no problem Don..appreciate the work..and the readings show that your kd is a tad underdriven comparable to others (my kd is 3.2a)..not that that's a bad thing like you said because you get longer led longevity, added runtime and decreased heat..I rarely use my xml on high and prefer the medium (1.2a) for most things..nice that things added up though..had your kd read 3a I would have been really confused with the output difference..
I'm going to jump in here and say that the beautiful beam shots in this post are largely responsible for spurring me into this madness, especially when I saw the XML compared to everything else.
Good stuff, this and nice to see the assistant again.
back, 
