Review: Xtar B20 Pilot, Now with Full Video Review (added 7-29-13)

Thanks carmantl, I spent many hours on it.

Very nice review sir. Bravo!

Thanks for the review. Nicely done for what looks like a nice light.

Could it be a EDC light?

My hat is off to you Sir.. What a fantastic indepth and detailed review. Thanks very much indeed for the tremendous amount of effort and dedication!

Well done review on a great looking light! I really like how you did the runtime photos. :)

Thanks. It was my work around for not having a lux meter. It actually donned on me after having done two other runtime tests with pictures that didn’t make it into the review- that I should take all the pictures at the same and regular intervals. Sounds simple right? I had the day off so I basically baby sat them.

For my tastes it’s just slightly too large. It fit’s nicely in jackets and pants with larger pockets though- I could hardly tell it’s there in some of my cargo shorts.

Cool

Oh, in case anyone wants to check out larger versions- including a ton of photos that didn’t make it- here is where the photos are hosted.

If you’re a flickr member feel free to add me as a contact.

Ok, I added some more pictures. Including using it as a bike light, and expanded on some of my initial thoughts. Also a medium mode run time chart will be up around 10pm tonight. It’s a 7 and a half hour test.

You’re reviews are pretty great too!

Thanks, these really take a while.

It is a very nice light and set. A great multipurpose, and compact light.

:wink:

Back at cha!

As I promised. 7.5 hour run time chart. This one was broken up by hour instead of half hour because of the length. The settings are identical to the other charts, so you can compare.

Great review mhanlen! Very unique way of capturing the run time output. Looks like a great light. :beer:

Thanks, much appreciated! Just making due with the tools I’m given.

Since I also posted this review on CPF, someone mentioned that I didn’t comment on it’s lack of PWM. Since I hadn’t noticed it like I did on other obvious examples like the Small Sun Zy-T11 or the SRK, it slipped my mind. I did the fan test and the shower/running water test- and compared it to all my other lights… the verdict…

No PWM on any mode (except on beacon/strobe- because it’s picked up in the video at one point). It appears to be well regulated. I mean considering the even curve in output levels I’d assumed this anyway.

Finally, here is the runtime test on low.

Several things to note. I had to adjust the camera settings for the low mode on the light because the previous 1/100 shutter speed I used on the other runtime tests wasn't going to be able to show off the light well. Second, there's a much greater time between pictures to help reduce the amount of data- and makes it much easier to digest at a glance. Also, those were the only regular intervals that I could be home to take the picture. The final picture, taken at about 43 hours, should be considered a "moonlight" type mode. In order to show the light was still on, I repeated and enhanced the final photo to illustrate that the light was still on. This picture was taken about 330 in the morning, and at that point it was flickering slightly, probably because the light was attempting to hit a low voltage shutoff battery protection. When I awoke again at around 7am the light had shut off. So there is a little less than 4 hours margin of error on the total runtime. I was unable to get it to turn back on.

For me though the amount of useful light probably runs out around the 30-33 hour mark. Of course if you're using it for more than 30 hours straight, then maybe you're in an emergency situation and then you still have about 10ish hours of low intensity to moonlight mode anyway (after the 30 hours). One other thing to note is that the battery protection did not kick in. Because I would get a brief flash of light when I attempted to turn the light on, I assume the lights low voltage feature cuts the light off somewhere in the 2.6ish voltage range. Ok here it is.... The initial review has also been updated.

Just entered the site and saw this thread. Great review, lots of pictures :heart_eyes: thanks! Looks like amazing light.

Ok, I finally finished the full video review, making this review a double whammy. It has tons of cheezy music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yshUluZpEI

Nice video .

Very comprehensive .

I like the part at about 5:04 where it appears that the low voltage protection turned the light off as you were going down a flight of stairs ...

Laughing

Thanks! That was "simulated" of course- to illustrate the point of low voltage protection. When real low voltage protection kicks in on this light, it definitely won't show up on my camera. It's outputting moonlight mode levels at that point- so it'll probably be accidental.

Thanks a lot for the review! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.