atbglenn wrote:

I just want something significantly brighter flood wise. Will the Meteor do that with the XP-G2?

If you want it to be a real flooder, you could also get some different optics to swap into it; it’s about $6 for a full set of 4 optics. From throwiest to floodiest, the optics are: 10507, 10511, 10508, 10509. Each produces a wider and smoother beam than the one before it. The Meteor comes with 10507 optics, and you can swap any or all of them pretty easily.

I really like the 10508 for floody lights; it barely has a discernible hotspot and mostly just gets gradually dimmer from the center out to the edge of its 180-degree-wide beam (good for biking). It and the 10509 look very similar to a reflector-based light with a frosted lens, like the Zebralight ‘F’ lights. For throwier lights I like the 10511 — not quite as throwy as the 10507, but it’s much smoother and lacks the 10507’s solar-flare-like corona artifacts.

Thanks for the info guys/gals. I think I'll wait till the reviews and comparison beamshots come out. That being said, I'm very interested! 

I’m still trying to figure out if I can afford one… and I have until the XP-G2 3D version comes out to decide. 3D is the sweet spot for pure neutral white in Cree emitters, and this light makes one hell of a nice flooder.

OTOH, I already have a Blackshadow Terminator modded for vivid wide-spectrum color rendition with a floody beam. It’s like a TM26 with a handle. The Meteor is just smaller and brighter and … um … awesome-er.

I’m undecided which one to get.

I’d like to see a beamshot of the 1D dedomed to see if I can stand the tint (I’ve yet to be pleased with any dedomed CREE tint). Unfortunately, so far nobody’s posted a beamshot of that emitter. :ghost:

I don’t really want to spend this kind of money on an emitter with tint I might hate, especially given the complete absence of beamshots. I haven’t even been able to find a beamshot of a dedomed 1D in a different light.

The tint on the de-domed sample is warmish when in lower modes, but pleasantly white at higher levels. I don’t find it distasteful at all.

And it DO get HOT!

DBCstm wrote:

The tint on the de-domed sample is warmish when in lower modes, but pleasantly white at higher levels. I don’t find it distasteful at all.

And it DO get HOT!

Sounds intriguing. Can you post a beamshot? Doesn’t have to be a perfect beamshot. Just enough so I can see the tint.

FWIW, tint is remarkably difficult to show effectively in beam shots. Cameras and monitors simply don’t have the right sensors and emitters to portray tint accurately.

I did the deed and ordered one in stone white with S2 1D’s dedomed. Depending on how easy it is, it may get half dedomed XP-L V6 3C’s after it gets here.

Todays digital sensors are very well capable of showing tint differences, all depends on how you set the camera up for the shot. (Maybe it’s the $8000 sensor , not sure?) And today’s monitors have also come a very long way.

I will try, it’s almost dark and my sample’s cells are almost recharged.

An early observation/question has come to my attention…. the cells are none too tall in the battery tube and I’m wondering if the short phosphor bronze springs are taking some set with heat as Djozz found with his samples. Might it come to be that the cells won’t make contact? Seems like early pictures of this light showed the button top cells slightly protruding, these are slightly below the rim of the tube and I don’t feel like they’re being compressed by the springs very firmly when screwing the light together. They don’t rattle, but they can’t be in there really snug it seems like.

Could anyone give some feedback on this potential issue?

DBCstm wrote:

Could anyone give some feedback on this potential issue?

They were like that when I first pulled it out of the box.  No connection issues with the button top cells.  The driver contact protrudes below flush.

Click for larger pic in a new window.

Oh yeah, these pics are with the Canon 20D and 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens. Settings are ISO1600, f/4, 1/8 second exposure. The red oil drum is at 97 yds, lens was at 24mm for the beamshots (or equivalent to about 29mm on a 35mm film camera or full frame sensor)

Those 10 lights use 42 batteries, so all of them are not in their optimum arrangement. lol The Meteor is, with freshly charged HE-2’s. Several of the others that should be kicking some bu.. have lesser cells or rested/partially used cells.

thanks!

great pictures!

would you say the S2 1D D-D is a GO!
or why not?

Looks very nice to me and anything less is going to be all flood.

The lumens figures in those pictures was measured in the box right before taking the pics. Those are the real time numbers for the picture you see. So for a light like my Eagle Eye X6 Quad that typically makes some 4500 lumens, tonight it came straight out of my pocket, partially used cells, and was measured then shot.

I purposely did not match up any of the 10 lights, left the photo order pretty random so as not to be misleading. The Nitecore Caveman AA light just came to me today so it’s in there as a first measure and as a stock AA light. Surprisingly tight beam, old XM-L emitter even.

Hi Dale,

What do you judge the Meteor M43's tint to be like?

Thank you,

George

It’s not green, more of a yellow/orange warm at lower power that get’s whiter on the high end. Not a problem to me and definitely better than most XM-L class emitters when de-domed. The XP-G2 seems good in this respect, holding a more pleasant tint when modified.

http://forum.fonarevka.ru/showpost.php?p=706091&postcount=157

Thanks for the beamshots Dale.

Awesome job!

Dale, having the light in hand have you changed your opinion at all about the domed vs. dedomed emitter statements you made earlier?

I like the size and flood output!

DBCstm wrote:

Click for larger pic in a new window.

Oh yeah, these pics are with the Canon 20D and 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens. Settings are ISO1600, f/4, 1/8 second exposure. The red oil drum is at 97 yds, lens was at 24mm for the beamshots (or equivalent to about 29mm on a 35mm film camera or full frame sensor)

This is the XPG2 DD sample obviously? How does it handle the heat? This light lowers the output the hotter it gets right? No thermal stepdown or turbo timer right?

Thanks! I really wanted to see how the Meteor compared to a Terminator, and also wanted to see the driver.

The size and output definitely look nice, but the driver looks like it uses chips I can’t reflash. I was really hoping the MCU would be friendly to reprogramming.

Thanks DB!

lionheart_2281 wrote:

...... This is the XPG2 DD sample obviously? How does it handle the heat? This light lowers the output the hotter it gets right? No thermal stepdown or turbo timer right?

There is thermal regulation which will lower the brightness based on 2 temperature thresholds, 50C and 70C (press button Turbo only) according to the manual.

pilotdog68 wrote:

DBCstm wrote:

Rumor from the other side has it that Vinh is getting some of these to modify.

Modify? What would you do to it? Just bump up the amps a bit? (and add $75)

LOLed

DBCstm wrote:

Todays digital sensors are very well capable of showing tint differences, all depends on how you set the camera up for the shot. (Maybe it's the $8000 sensor , not sure?) And today's monitors have also come a very long way. I will try, it's almost dark and my sample's cells are almost recharged.

Owning various DSLRs and lenses I can tell you that the same scene under the same light condition, preset white balance, etc, you will see for example how one lens favors certain colors more than others. I once had a major problem during a shoot of works of art ( I was using and L lens) where a certain purple color kept showing as almost cyan under natural light at shade.

Sony cameras (like prosumer A6000) even to these days have inaccurate colors that must be post processed. Inaccurate does not mean bad colors to the viewer, I am just saying inaccurate colors.  Some will go be infuriate if the red they have chosen for the specific work of art is not absolutely identical to reality, then you explain to them that you TN panel is not suitable for photo viewing, does not go through to them

Maybe a bit too detailed, even if you struggle hard, the viewer may have a display that is either bad or either favors certain colors, certain Sony laptops had some weak blue range, and yellow was dominating,  several years ago ( real issue not setting could do nothing for them, not even calibration with custom profiles), so even if the user is happy with his IPS display that still is not realistic.

Wow Dale, that’s an impressive collection to compare it to. That Shocker is serious. This will definitely be the brightest light I have when i do my beamshots.

ToyKeeper wrote:

but the driver looks like it uses chips I can’t reflash. I was really hoping the MCU would be friendly to reprogramming.

Wow and ouch. That Nitecore EA8 looks like an anemic mini mag incan 2xAA :s