US - Defiant "Super Thrower" 3C (New Model - +/-64mm Head XM-L) - Get To Home Depot Now!

71 by me.

gonna grab one today!

Why doesn’t the inventory checker work for me? I get the page okay but when I hit the link for a list of stores, it’s a “page not found.” Huh???

Never mind. I can get the store number on the HD site.

I did a 30 minute test run on mine. Light starts out at over 500 lumens but quickly drops like a rock. It’s down to 400 lumens in under three minutes. After 30 minutes it’s down to 300 lumens.

Thermal management is either very good (body temp only rises 10C) or very bad (heat can’t get from the LED to the body). I suspect it could be the latter… the color temp shifts 200K (from 6000K down to 5800K) and tracks the body temperature/light output. That’s quite a bit of color shift for a well managed LED.

I measured the tail cap current after the run and it was 1.4A

I found one at my local store. They were still in the back but all I did was show the sku number to an employee and he went in the back and brought me one.

I took it apart in the parking lot and it looks like an Lflex driver will fit and work just fine. I’ll have to figure out the switch and battery connections but it all seems possible. I hate to tear into a perfectly good working light though!

What do you guys think of the mechanical switch? Think it's capable of handling upwards of 3.5 amps?

Hmm. . . well it's pulling 3+ at start now. The contacts seems like cheap aluminum, but I bet they could be modded to copper.

-Garry

Did you get a chance to evaluate how it throws in comparison with the HD2010 or Small Sun ZY-T08?

Not yet, no. I will try tonight. I should get just enough free time to check it against my Small Sun ZY-T08 and maybe get a couple beamshots. (My HD2010 is dead, so I can't compare to it.) I'll check it in the same locations that I tested the first Defiant 3C black Friday light.

-Garry

Your the only person i know who would test a cheap home depot light! :bigsmile:

Now it is starting to make sense.
I called a Home Depot about 15 miles from me yesterday to make sure they had them, Yep we have 36.
So I go there today, no one can find them. They show up on their little hand scanner things but no stock on floor.
Had an older nice gentleman check the whole store, evn climed up a big ladder to check some big boxes up above the racks near the flashlight section.
Thanks for the update.,
Keith

Same experience I had. I asked about 4 people and I scoured the entire store, yet nothing. They don't have a warehouse at all, so where the heck are they?!? ;)

Hey, this thing costs over $20. That’s not a cheap light. :wink: A Coast G20 is a cheap light (and for $3 it’s also inexpensive)

I was also going to test one of those cheap 9 LED lights from Harbor Freight, but the POS won’t turn on. Switch is good, it looks like the “driver” board is not making contact with the body.

Sorry guys, not going to get those beamshots tonight (been a rough night). I did get a chance to grab my ZY-T08 and shine both back to the woods line behind my house (200 to 250 feet). I tell you what, this Defiants got some serious throw! It was neck & neck with the ZY-T08! I think the ZY-T08 just barely beats it, but its close. (My ZY-T08 is unmodded.)

I'll see if I can get tailcap currents on NiMh's shortly.

-Garry

Ok, dropped in 3 new Turnigy LSD NiMh AA's in C adapters. These were charged months ago and have been sitting. Each measured 1.325v. I got 2.36A at first, then slowly declining from there. Declines much slower than alkalines.

So why only 2.36A from NiMh's but 3.10A from C alkalines? Does it have anything to do with the voltage difference between 3 alkalines (+/- 4.5v) vs. 3 NiMh's (+/- 3.6v)? I also tried some mostly depleted AA alkalines (in adapters) and the light still worked, but a little dimmer (didn't measure current). Is this driver optimized for alkaline usage perhaps?

-Garry

Yes! I took the head off of mine and connected it to a bench supply. It is running in my sphere right now. At 4.0V in it draws 2.4A After the run that I am doing, I’ll see what the current is at various voltages. I don’t think that this thing is current regulated. Maybe even direct drive?

I'm expecting the "driver" to just be a battery contact plate with a resistor behind it. I haven't taken mine out to look yet. Like said previously, I hate to take apart a perfectly good working light.

-Garry

This thing is basically direct drive. AT 4.0V in and cold it does 2.4A, warmed up it does 2.6A Note that at 3A to the XML you get less than 500 lumens. Those huge optics gobble a lot of light.

Here are the currents and lumens at various voltages. Note that the current and voltage numbers were read off the power supply meters that display to tenths:

3.0V 0.40A 140L
3.1V 0.55A 175L
3.2V 0.75A 185L
3.3V 0.90A 210L
3.4V 1.05A 260L
3.5V 1.40A 300L
3.6V 1.60A 335L
3.7V 1.90A 365L
3.8V 2.10A 410L
3.9V 2.30A 430L
4.0V 2.60A 445L
4.1V 2.70A 460L
4.2V 2.90A 470L
4.3V 3.20A 480L
4.4V 3.40A 490L
4.5V 3.50A 485L

All this talk about this light and not one single beamshot. Come on guys. Show us the photos.

I want to mod this! Maybe I'll try the store on the other side of town tomorrow.