IMHO, L-M-H would be a mistake. This is a thrower/weapon light. Strappin’ this to a rifle (or not) and wanting it to light up your target…and it comes on ‘L’ would be underwhelming and a complete bummer. :~
This is a thrower and it should throw-from-the-get-go! :exmark:
I dunno - Most of my lights start on low, one exception being my Convoy L4. - Bugs the hell out of me, as I want to have something to look forward to, not to just go right to the Max out of the gate, with all the other modes then seeming Anti-Climatic. - It does have mode memory, so I could start on low, but then High is the next in line. - Just don’t like it that way.
As for the rifle thing: I can only agree 100% with you there - I just don’t play that game. - Pistols, Rifles, Shotguns - Love em all! - Just don’t ever see the need for a light on any of them… Hard enough for me to hit what I want in the daytime:-)
I can see that I am going to be badly outnumbered here with my L-M-H request, so I will now withdraw it.
They will negotiate better I think as we get closer to the minimum quanities but I already have a message in about amps and tint options so I will let everyone know if I hear anything about those
Going from 3A to 5A gives 40% more light (percepted by your eyes as 20%) at the cost of 80% more power. This extra power comes with a huge effect on runtime and heat-management.
There is always a trade-off and the closer you get to maximum output, the more unfavorable the trade-off becomes. My personal flashaholic idea of where I think it really becomes unfavorable is 80% of the maxium output, for non-flashaholics that would be more like 65%. In case of the XP-L(Hi), 80% of maxiumum output is at 4.5 amps.
Probably not the M3XUT, but then, it would be close--but the Maxtochs have no step-down, either. Plus, the tint would be much nicer for illumination purposes.
The best quote I heard was between 208 and 211kcd. That was with XM-L2 U2 de-domed. This should be about the same, but offer better tint (which, in this case, helps the throw due to color contrast). But I've noticed my XP-L HIs are brighter and sustain brightness longer than my XM-L2s. They are brighter at lower current and can more efficiently produce their power, so they should be better throwers.