XM-L2 U3 available at IOS ~ The real McCoy

Just noticed that Hank has a new batch of XM-L2 U3 in 1A and 2A tints.

Finally a U3 that can be trusted

Here's the link.

http://intl-outdoor.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=Xm-L2+U3&x=0&y=0

Next stop: xm-l3

Aye I need those in my lights… the precious!

A question which would give out put and lumens, the XML2-U3 or the XPL?

Haven't seen specs on them, but looks like the XP-L is the same level as the U3's - think we always were saying that since the XP-L came out. I recall comfy pointing that out early on.

Just ordered 3 U3 1A's, and 4 of the XP-L 2A's on discount. Wish he had them bare though Frown.

Thanks ouchy! I knew they were coming and RMM will have them any day now, or at least soon.

i have the perfect host to test one of these in. Will order a couple of them.

Thanks for the heads-up Ouchy.

Hank just replied to my email that the U3’s will be for sale bare by today.

Crap - thanx though!

You probably remember this, but September 5th, 2012 we found out about the XM-L U3:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/11104

Then three months later, the XM-L2 is announced:
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/13782

We’ll see if history repeats itself.

Now available on 20mm Noctigon as well.

These are the real McCoy - got qty 3 in mounted on 16 mm Noctigons. First mod here: https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/29006, post #25

Hey all been awhile not trying to start a fire but thought I’d share my thought’s comparing my favorite LED witch is the XM-L2 U2 1d which I purchased several of these at mtnelectronics.com.

I also purchased three CREE XM-L2 U3 1A from the same source (my favorite source).

All LED’s mounted and loaded with a 5 amp LCK driver into an STL-V6 and to my surprise the old XM-L2 U2 1D either tied or beat the new CREE XM-L2 U3 1A in each light I tried them in (I have a lot of Stl-V6 flashlight’s from a discount I received awhile back).

The XPL was no contest no offense but it got it’s behind kicked by both of the above LED’s but still a nice LED but to be fair I bought mine from Fasstech and they were mounted to aluminum and were the CREE XP-L V5 2A.

This is only my testing in the above light also put a few of each in some of C8’s and 501b and 502b’s….all great LED’s but I will be going back to my old favorite and also having fun with a Luminous SST-50 in a Trustfire X7 got the light for $35 shipped and have realy enjoyed this light very natural color with a very large round hotspot that throw’s so far I guess price is what has kept this LED talked about more……but anyway don’t want to hog up the original topic.

Good to see some familiar faces take care you all.

Thanks for sharing tarpon31. Its a bit strange. Very recently I heard from a BLF member (in PM) who upgraded from U2 to the two different new U3 emitters bought from RMM, and there were no gain.. Actually there were some loss in in those cases as well.

I have only used the U3 (1A) emitters in one light (bought from IOS), and based on the numbers, I got the impression that the emitters I got performed like expected from U3 bin, although, not by great margin. When that is said, in my case there were several changes before/after emitter upgrade that made it hard to judge the exact performance gain (One being I did not upgrade directly from XM-L2 U2).

Looking forward to hear what other have experienced...

Theoretically you can have two MTG-2 leds. A P0 bin and Q0 bin with exactly the same output. XML-2 without looking them up could well be the same.

Yes, MRsDNF that is true. What was reported to me was 2% lower in one case and 10% lower in another when upgrading directly from U2 to U3, all else being equal. I asked to check if amps changed (in case of high Vf on the new U3 emitters). But now I hear tarpon31 report loss (or tie) in output as well. And that is with a regulated driver.. Strange that I hear of several mods with lower results within 2-3 days when you should expect about 7% higher output on average.

Hopefully these are just some isolated cases... I have no good exploitation based on what I have heard..

I seemed to get a good increase on my light, so I cant complain. Ill report back with the specifics on my mod when I have to time to post more about it, and have taken another measurement. Which is not top priority right now..

Hi RaceR86 and no problem on the report on my experience.

I have no testing equipement or any other way to measure the lumen’s and such.

The driver I use mostly is this driver—> http://www.ebay.com/itm/221195469886?\_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT and I get it from here because I hear the discount bag of this driver sold at a popular shop sometimes send’s the 3 amp version….only issue I have had with this driver from LCK is the modes are in differet order sometimes which is weird and then sometimes I get noise. The other driver I use is this one after I sand it down to fit—> http://www.ebay.com/itm/221237954783 but it is more work plus the mode arrangement I do not prefer.

What realy concerned me is the visual difference outside at night….most of the time you could clearly tell as soon as you clicked the light on which LED was the winner when there was one and the new U3 in the STL-V6 never won against the few U2 version’s I tried in the same flashlight.

All this will probably change when all the U2’s are sold out and the binning of the U3’s are straightened out.

You say no offense but you realize 5A on aluminum is comparing apples to oranges right, when you say no contest compared to how you got your other LEDs from MTNelectronics? Get than on proper MCPCB for 5A before saying no contest, and you may get a contest.

Hhmm. Only did 1 mod with the U3 1A (from IOS) so far and it turned out very well, but could not compare it head to head with a U2 1A. Was planning on doing that, but got delayed, as usual. Been my experience with U2 1D's in the past they were consistently lower than the 1A's, but who knows - could be the tint's effect on the cheap light meter, or could simply be the 1D's are lower than 1A's but still fit into the U2 bin range of output.

Yes - we must be careful when comparing LED bin/tints to be sure it's apples to apples. Also as RaceR86 points out, it's important to check amps to see if there's differing Vf issues.

The way to find out is to output-test at least two of each, mounted carefully the same way, using a well controlled power supply and an integrating sphere. But those tests are quite time-consuming and would be sooooo boring that I am not willing to do them :bigsmile: