XHP series is not designed for flashlight use??

Off-topic Chatter
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So, Supfire contacted me and wanted to work a deal for flashlights. OK, so I told them which light I thought they ought to modify and make it into a good XHP70 light. One of their 2x26650 lights with the larger head. I laid it all out to them, with what they needed to do, to make a successfully selling light and their "manager" made a statement that the XHP series was not designed for flashlight use, that it would not work in one and they would not be using them.

Hmmm, seems like he needs to read the forums more.

How come these companies just can't step into the real world? They told me XM-L2 was it. I told them, they will dry up and blow away in the wind, but of course, the XM-L2 will flourish for many ears to come. Lots of prospective customers who will think they are great and new 10 years from now.

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Ha!
Supfire, show me a single one of our leds that was actually “designed for flashlight use”.

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Low budget thin margin business is by definition NOT where R&D happens.

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Supfire will build lights with XHP leds when they start losing sales to the opposition that are building lights with them.

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I'm fairly certain that will now see them selling flashlights with the XHP70..

On the surface..things are never quite what they seem..

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Hey Lumens… I was going to go with these new led but Richard was saying they had the crosshair issue. You give up on the MT-G2?

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In the right reflector (faceted or OP) they work pretty well, but in 100% smooth reflectors they just don't do it for me. I know that you can make them so they look acceptable, but in most lights there is almost always significant artifacts from the quad die arrangement. When you think about it, it makes sense since the central point of focus isn't emitting any light!

The only one I like is the huge faceted reflector light that OldLumens built for me. That one rocks, but it is a huge reflector that won't fit in most lights. In most lights I'd rather use an MT-G2--I don't care if I throw away 500 or 1000 lumens.

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i had that issue too with xhp50 with some lenses, a dark spot right in the middle of the hot spot, i have not tried them yet with smooth reflectors, but most likely they will have a cross like mce or p7. op reflector however should reduce it, or even eliminate, but this is just a guess.

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RMM made a good reply in the next post, to your question. Has nothing to do with MT-G2, just four die leds.

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OP is the easiest way to smooth out the cross hairs of a 4 die led. I believe that even half OP might work in the right reflector. Time will tell, as manufacturers get going on making lights for them.

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Yeah I like the way the MT-G2 looks too. Just the right tint but it sure does make thermal management a trick in itself. I guess have to try one of these out see what happens

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Yeah, I see the problem, you even put it in quotation marks. “Manager”

In my experience, unless this title is preceded by “Engineering” they know more about golf than they do about product design.

I find it especially amusing that they came to you, presumably because you have a reputation for knowing what you’re talking about, and then the manager proceeded to tell you that essentially you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Anyone else feel like emailing Supfire repeatedly with links to lights built by members using an XHP 70 that would smoke their lights? I mean come on, they make good lights, but obviously not that good or we wouldn’t constantly be able to improve upon them for so little money.

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Welcome to the same crap I got from uniquefire. A lot of the stuff I talked to them about, they didn’t even realize was possible or done. They have a nice little box of ideas and it’s blasphemy to think outside that box. They were amazed we pushed so many amps through the LEDs. They asked me, don’t they burn up if you go over the maximum current? This was the “engineer” at uniquefire.

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In theory there’s no difference between theory and reality.

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Theory is a wonderful place, everything works there, I wish I had a map how to get there.

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How many flashlights were built with Cree MCE’s? Wouldn’t the reflectors from these work with the XHPs?

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they should work, most of mce lights I’ve seen had op reflectors.

ledil iris 38mm made for mce, for some reason has very visible crosshair with mce, yet with xhp50 only darkish spot, not really noticeable unless on white wall. but the farther from the wall the bigger the spot appears. but lens otherwise works great with xml\xpl\xpg .
I tried xhp50 with ledengin tir for lz4 led(also 4 die led), very smooth beam, no spots or crosses, but I do not think it is 100% in focus, i’ll have to experiment more with it. lz4 is same size but it has a raised base, while xhp looks like the dome sits right on the star, i’ll try to lower lens a bit will see how it’ll work.

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once upon a time? “engineers” were a breed apart. These were (mostly) men who didn’t put their pants on one leg at a time… they sort of held their pants in front of them, and just JUMPED into them. It was an impressive undertaking to WANT to become an engineer, and to take the steps necessary to TRY to become one.

You had to be one of the best and brightest in school, all through high school. You were expected to take EVERY math class available, as well as physics and chemistry. At least 2 years of a foreign language… and had to score well on the SATs… all to TRY to get into a good college or university.

Once you got accepted INTO the engineering course? You did not just “take” the required courses and “get” your degree… oh no, not at a “real” college… they took IN, say, 400 engineering students into the program… then they intended to “weed out” the vast majority of the students.

if all the students were PASSING all the courses too well? they instituted WEED OUT courses. IE… the dean waved a magic wand, and EVERY engineering student SUDDENLY had to take a (very hard) 400 level course OUTSIDE their normal course work. It was just to get rid of the “whiners”. To get rid of the people who got “all A’s” in everything, but, couldnt learn something NEW and learn it quickly.

it was once the “special forces” of the educational world, to graduate as a real engineer.

I was a computer programmer back in the day, and i have 2 college degrees in mathematics and computer science. To get my second degree, i had to take some engineering classes.

in one of them? i was about sickened… the professor was lecturing on the various “types” of engineers… among the TYPES of engineers? there were the engineers that more or less specialized in the compiling of the data and writing the reports, called the “secretarial engineers”. There was one type that specialized in talking to the businessmen and making presentations, because businessmen had been complaining for years they couldnt “speak the language” of the engineers… there were engineers that “helped everyone”, ran for food and coffee, assisted, etc etc… (i called them gopher engineers, which made the professor mad)

after about 5 or 6 of the various “types” of engineers, during the lecture? I raised my hand, and asked:

“I dont mean to be RUDE, but… exactly which type of engineer ACTUALLY does the WORK on the project? We always got minimum wage flunkies and interns at my last job to do all THIS stuff…”

the professor said, and i quote:

“Oh. Thats the PROJECT ORIENTED engineer…”

so? back in the day… all the “wannabes” that couldnt do the “heavy lifting” on THE PROJECT, now get to have degrees, and call themselves engineers too, and claim to be important to the “project”. (which in my book? they aren’t terribly needed, but what do i know)

the company i worked for? we would “sniff out” the “impossible” programming jobs… the jobs that a “team” of PhD’s spent a year and a half doing a “feasibility study” and pronounced it “impossible”…

our favorite “trick”, was to take the money to do the “study” along with several other firms getting money to study the programming task? When the deadline came, and one by one all the other companies sent their presentation teams in to report on it? We simply walked in with the programming task “done” and DEMONSTRATED it…

my famous phrase when i was still working in the field?

“with enough black coffee and cigarettes… all things are possible.”

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You should use that as your signature.

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I like this dude and his war stories :beer: