Got a new Ultra Fire 3-mode XM-L from Manafont today. Thought I'd put up some beam shots. As usual, tonight's testing conducted at the world renowned Uglywall outdoor lab. Cactus is 55 feet away and all shots at 1/4 second shutter speed/f2.8. I did a poor job holding each light exactly the same so, I hope that didn't mess it up too bad.
First up; the control shot tonight is a 4Sevens Quark AA2 Tactical. (XP-G R5)
Next is the new XM-L installed in a Solarforce L2P. We'll call this one 4-18-11. (date received)
Now an Ultra Fire XM-L received 4-1-11. (also in an L2P)
Next is the UF XM-L I thought I ruined with 6 volts for 15 minutes. I think it survived okay.
Close up of today's XM-L.
Even closer.
Another.
Some mo.
To my eye, this new drop-in looks whiter and somewhat brighter. That is just an observation however, I don't know if it really is brighter. Also, the pill seems to have been glued on rather sloppily.
Remember that if viewed on a TN type LCD (95% chance you are) then you must compare pictures at the same vertical height. The images in the forum are arranged vertically, so the picture thats higher up on the screen will most likely appear darker.
It seems to me also that the previously stressed one is the brightest. I think you should try running 24V through it for about an hour, then it might really be bright.
This is why I need an integrating sphere or some means to quantify what I think I'm seeing. I could have sworn that drop-in had dimmed. Certainly I did it no favors - it'll probably die sooner than it might have.
Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm not super fussy about tint but warmer would definitely be better. What it seems like I usually get is very, very white with ugly spill tint or green to the point where I check to see if there's a filter on the front of my light.
In my mind, if I can't tell by eye, then it probably isn't worth the hassle. After all, that's what it's for. Unless you just wanna have fun with hard numbers.
