Thanks man, glad it’s of use to someone.
Alright I finally have some indoor beamshot comparisons to show. Was hoping to also include the Kinoko IMR test results here but I had a bit too much fun with the light outside earlier and they’re still recharging.
So this shows a comparison between the stock Apex, taken a year ago on the same set of batteries (albeit brand new at the time),
the first iteration of the Mod without the mcpcb trace modifications and finally the current “final” version of the light.
You’ll see why I wasn’t too keen on showing the initial comparisons between Stock and first iteration mod, the combination of older batteries, slightly different distance from flashlight to wall and generally saggy performance of those batteries doesn’t show a particularly true representation of the increase in performance.
I may also have had a particularly eager driver in my stock apex, perhaps pushing more than the advertised 8.5A. Unfortunately I never did get round to doing a proper tailcap measurement on it so I’ll never know.
But then we look at the shots after the trace mod, now that’s what I’m talking about! Still the same batteries but look at the further increase in output over the modded first iteration!. And all I did was even up the trace lengths and eliminate the resulting overdrive on the top LED.
Also notice how much nicer/warmer the tint is as a result, this is particularly obvious on the wooden ceiling boards lit up by the spill and bounce from the wall. That’s not a difference in camera white-balance or anything in the scene, it’s a difference I notice in regular use as well. Lovely improvement on what was already my favourite light in terms of tint!
And all I did was solder some extra bits of 18awg wire into the head! Great returns for that mod for sure.
-
As a rough comparison and just to give a sense of perspective to the above results.
Here is what this test setup looks like hit by a T-Mart HD2010 with an XML U2-1C on Led-tech Copper pcb using the stock DD driver and a single Trustfire 26650. Everything else is the same.
It pulls a healthy 5A on a fresh battery and is a great thrower but next to my Apex it looks a bit pants! The apex throws almost as well and illuminates the whole forest in front of you rather than just a single tree! Love it 8)
I’ll post up the Kinoko IMR results when I get round to doing the test again with them but wouldn’t expect a very noticeable difference to the above. These tests are done about 5-10 seconds into turn-on with freshly charged batteries and in that scenario even the saggy Senybors come close to matching the IMRs in terms of total initial output. The IMRs just peg the performance at 16+ amps and hold it there for at least the next 5mins while the Senybors drop steadily and much sooner.
In any case this light now chucks out more lumens than I can sensibly use in most situations!
Cheers