This has been a big topic of discussion in the last few hours. someone has received their GT and are saying the reflector is more OP than SMO.
Is it possible a few have slipped through QC? or does this look normal?
My production version was not as smooth as the V2 prototype as well. It was between the first prototype and the V2.
I asked them about this and they said that they could not get rid of the specs while keeping the smoother finish for some reason (well, at least with a reasonable rejection rate).
The example above does look a bit worse then my production light, about what the V1 proto looked like based on the picture. Although, keep in mind that I had a hard time getting an accurate picture of the reflectors with my camera. They always came out looking a bit better then they were.
The difference in real world performance between the V1 and V2 was very small in the real world. The only real noticeable change was the Corona was a bit larger on the V1 and maybe a 3-5% drop in lux IIRC. Although that is also within my meter setups margin for error so take it with a grain of salt.
Overall, the real world difference will not be noticeable.
I will talk to lumintop and remind them to keep the reflector quality up though, With the high rejection rate and slow production they have been dealing with it is possible they have reverted to the more “reliable” V1 prototype reflector setup.
Which was still perfectly good and what the 1.29mcd readings were taken with BTW.
I got 7 after 10 hours at work behind a monitor.
This reflector is what i want. Anything better is a bonus but i think unlikely. Mirror like is quite impossible. Fenix uses plastic injection reflector, maybe that explain their reflector is so mirror like, but i am not sure about reflectivity of the coating.
I think it’s just the clouds partially covering some stars. The rest of the picture seems to be of equal brightness. I’m only talking about the last set of pictures though!
I had hoped that the tint debate would go away so I didn’t bring this up earlier but since it doesn’t seem to be going away, here is a rather interesting tidbit from the NASA contractor.
While talking to them about the GT and their planned uses, we went over options to improve the light and different LED options.
From the very start they have asked how they can get a warmer ~2700k LED in it while maintaining high lux.
When I explained that the flat black and other high throw LED’s were only available in CW tints they rejected them immediately.
They said it will be used in many different weather conditions and in disaster areas with high particulates in the air. And the 2700k tint was needed to cut through these conditions and light up the target area better.
They were very clear on this, warmer tints were better for actually lighting stuff up at range and would not even consider cooler options. Even the 4000k stock LED was too cool for them.
So if a NASA Contractor is demanding a 2700k emitter for real world use, that is good enough for me to feel pretty darn good about the stock 4000k emitter.
I think that’s probably the difference between someone building a light best suited to do a job instead of a light best suited to please their preferences. Nothing wrong with the latter of course, but from the very beginning the GT was sold to us as the former. And I still feel like that’s what we got. If someone wants a cool white thrower, they can build it. If someone wants a light saber clone, they can build it. If someone wants a serious no-compromise thrower, well, they already got one (at least, some of us do. The rest of y’alls is coming 
)
sigh
I’ll pull pics off the deleted card and give it another look
Manual exposure, manual aperture, manual Kelvin temperature, timer set on 2 seconds to ensure the tripod didn’t have movement. What I can’t control is some light clouds moving between the tower and the stars. I mean, I waved my wand at em and muttered the words and all, but a few light ones seemed to blow through regardless.
In full disclosure, TA has said over and over that the cells don’t matter, they can be used with different cells in the carriers and all that, so I left the LG M26 cells in the OEM light and put 30Q’s in the CW variant. Perhaps there is a small difference after all in overall brightness, didn’t check on the lightbox with the 30Q’s but have checked with VTC5A’s vs the LG’s and it was of no consequence.
I couldn’t see the tower, only the red light on top… both with my eye and in the live view monitor of my 5D4. Didn’t save the base shot, forgetful me. I’ll pull the pics and double check, get the base shot image. I tried 4K video but it won’t do less than 1/30th of a second (30 frames per second) and that took ISO8000 to even see the lights hit the tower. My wife, jeez she was slaying me trying to run two large lights at the same time. To give her credit, she’s only 5’ tall and her hands are small so maybe I was asking too much. She’d wave one over the tower and then the next, figured a couple of quick passes and she was done. :person_facepalming:
Recovery software here I come….
same for me. (4, age group 40-49)
Will that now mean that I’m a mole or an eagle eye?
For sure that means I need a GT to get a better score, next time 
That second gif where the photo is taken to one side is very clearly the same settings throughout. Some stars are hidden behind cloud but apart from that they are the same brightness whilst visible.
The area below the tower is the same brightness too.
I think that photo is the best we are going to get that shows the differences in throw with each light unless you’re going to get someone at the tower videoing the beams
I got 38 but I’m lazy 
Thank you for your encouraging words. Jason.
[quote=bdm82]
I believe you should add (2) zeros behind the tint colors (4500K) (6200K) (5000K) (3500-4000K)
The cells themselves should not effect the output, IF they are fully charged. High discharge cells will maintain regulation longer then other cells due to less voltage drop, so if the cells are low, then it can fall out of regulation and that will reduce output.
The drop out point is around 14.8v under load IIRC. It will vary some depending on the exact LED Vf.
As if all contracting agents to the Federal government actually know exactly what they’re doing. How much do screwdrivers sell to the government for? No real NASA contractor is going to go with a $100 Chinese flashlight, please!
I have been Shipping and Receiving manager for an Industrial Supply and sold to the Army Corps of Engineers before and they are very emphatic about demanding (and receiving) domestic materials. Whatever, they have their equipment and we have ours, pretty sure nobody on this forum has the grade level of equipment available to NASA.
I’m just a couple of miles from a National Armed Guard training facility, they fly their choppers overhead all the time. They DON’T use warm white search lights, and neither does the Army over at Ft. Hood, who also fly over here all the time. (I’m about 20 miles from Ft. Hood) When the Army bombs the hell out of their testing sites they drop flares to light the bombed area for the training to proceed, these are pretty close to the 4000K of my GT, but way cooler than 2700K! Intense, is what they are! I’m close enough that when Ft. Hood is bombing our windows rattle. Been seeing this stuff all my life. Half a century of dealing with the Army gives a pretty good feel for these matters,
Reckon I need to take a couple of GT’s over to the National Armed Guard headquarters and ask some questions…
They are not going to be mounting the flashlight to the drone. They are just using it for research on how to get the most amount of light downrange in this basic form factor. Much smarter to use an existing product for research then to start from scratch.
They know what they are doing. Plus the science is pretty clear on this subject, no debate about it when you look into the science behind it.
Bluer shorter wavelengths scatter more in the atmosphere. This is scientific fact that can be seen by looking at the sky and seeing that it is blue.
This is the same reason that long radio waves like ham radio can travel around the planet in the right conditions but shorter wavelengths like wifi can barely reach your whole house.
Same thing with light waves, longer wavelengths travel further. 100% science, 100% proven, 0 debate about it.
To take things even further things like x-rays are REALLY long wavelength and they will travel right through things entirely.
Just got my GT yesterday. Wow, that thing is much bigger than it looks in pictures. Monster flashlight. Would be good for self defense too, if you don’t mind scuffing up your GT :-).
Is it just me or does the led in the button switch appear off center? I’ve attached a pic. Honestly don’t care, just curious.
Forgive me if somebody asked this already, but is there any plan to make different types of heads for the GT? I feel like I just want to screw a laser on there and have this massive light saber. Or a head that is pure flood? I imagine with power like that you could make a light that would let the sun retire. And I guess it would be cheaper for anyone who has a GT, because no need to buy the handle. Maybe I’m just living in a fantasy world. I know nothing about what goes in to making one of these things. All I know is I love ’em.
Can we start the group buy for the XHP-70.2 or XHP-50.2 Cooper MPCB? :innocent:
Don’t think so. Red light has a wavelengt of 780 nm (nanometer). The UV-light most discussed over here is 365 nm.
In general the discussion is a bit arbitrair but radiation is called X-ray from 1 pm (Picometer) up to 10 nm.
So X-rays have a REALLY short wavelength. They don’t reflect or “bend” like “visible” light or radio-waves.
They penetrate matter (more:flesh or less:bones). Gamma-rays are even shorter. X-rays on roids: they stop at nothing.
[quote=BoxCarWillie]
You are correct and I know… I was being short/lazy and wrote it as if K was for “thosand” and Kelvin was assumed. After posting I realized the likely confusion.