Sunwayman V10A XP-G vs XML

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AA / 1 x 14500 Flashlights
14

Thanks for your advice. I might wait a little longer and get more cheaper flashlights before taking the plunge here. I see now why everybody has so many flashlights

A little more digging today found this in CPF:

The V10A -XML has the same color tint as the V10A-XPG, the same as my Fenix Tk35 and V60C I can not tell the difference. All are a little cooler than the V10R-AE/V20A-AE. No extraneous color visible. Like the V60C when dimmed down there is a slight color shift to warmer seen in the corona the spill and hotspot does not show any color shift on dim. This of course is visible in wall hunting mode only when used on real objects no color shift is visible.



15

The anniversary edition advertised a neutral tint. Even "neutral tint" is kind of untrue. Most neutrals are a little yellow or brownish. It doesn't seem like there is just "white" which is true everywhere. My white bathtub isn't the same color as my white sink.

16

Neutral tints do look a little yellowish to me too. I always thought that it was because I am used to the the old fluorescent lamp lights and consider them as neutral.

17

I live under neutral (4k?) fluros amd so cool white leds are seriously ghastly, while neutral white (4/5K) look good, amd warm whites (2-3k) are reAlly yellowish.

Its more a relative scale which is more helpful in naming. We also need to remember there are two axies in which a light can be considered neutral, well according to the graph commonly used for the cree binning scale. The scale of colour temperature, (blue to yellowish) (on the horizontal axis). This is commonly used as the description of cool, warm and neutral.

The other axis is the deviation is away from the bbl line, and is usually a red or green shift in the tint. (vertical on the cree graph)

Many cree emitters seem to sit on the greener side, and this is separate to color temp

The neutral white xm-l in the v10r anniversary edition is one of the nicest tints ive seen, something in the 4-5 tint region with no green or red biases. While the standard xp-g is a cool white with a green bias.

I havent got a cool whitr xm-l v10r, but when i am home, i can try to organise a beamshot to illustrate the beam pattern between xp-g and xm-l. Wont be till tuesday though.

18

For the lumens difference, could the wide light source of XML scatters light to sides more and the narrow opening on the front block more for XML than XPG? My Thrunite Neutron seems to gain some light by removing the front bezel. I think XMLs need CR123 sized lights in diameter to focus better. I prefer XPGs or XPEs on AA lights and XMLs on CR123 lights.

19

I would pick the XPG because the smaller tighter brighter hotspot is my preference, and the reflector is a better match for an N219b swap with a more balanced beam transition from spot to spill, and I dont have to change the MCPCB to use a Nichia, like I do on the XML

beam video

reflector hole size and centering ring color differences (thanks to clippings of pics posted above)

V10a

with xpg:

stock xml on left, xpg modded to 3500k e21a on right

20

You are almost exactly 8 years too late. Do read the post’s date before responding in the future.

21

Just received a V10a.

Sweet little light! It has the XP-G, with a very nice beam… much nicer than the XM-L2 version

Im even impressed with the XP-G tint, imo much nicer than the XM-L2

The lowest mode is 0.01 lumens, which Im very happy about… I love firefly options. The maximum on an alkaline, on my meter, is just 68 lumens, but the hotspot is very tight so it actually reaches out quite nicely… I have no 14500, so cant report the LiIon output…

wish me luck, the V10a is destined for an e21a swap, as a gift to a good friend
will post beam pics after the mod, if all goes well

oh, btw, the lego works

a quick test gave 327 lumens from the V10a head and 445 lumens from the XM-L2 head… w fresh 16340. (these are momentary maximum output, not sustained, and the XM-L2 is in a V10r Ti, not a V10a, so I suspect there are also driver parts that differ, not just the LED)

and fwiw, the xml2 head of the V10r Ti, on the AA body makes a max of 75 lumens using an alkaline battery. A very small difference, at that voltage, from the 68 lumens produced by the V10a head.

22

Thanks for the info, jon_slider :+1:

I still have my V10A and V20A lights from years ago. I plan to mod them with nice SW45K R9080 Nichia 219Bs, so your experience is helpful to have :slight_smile:

23

The 219b will be a very good match for the XP-G reflector,

the XM-L reflector is not as focused at the hotspot, and the spill has a dark shadow
but it is still better to have High CRI than Low CRI… The stock beam on the XM-L reflector is not good either… I blame it on the extra large hole at the base of the reflector

I feel like I got really lucky with the beam from this XP-G, I almost dont want to change it… but then, my High CRI priority takes over

if you have the XM-L version, you will want to use a different MCPCB, I hope it matches the thickness of the original, so the base of the LED coming in, ends up at the same height as the LED being removed.

hope that makes sense

that issue came up for me when I did an E21a mod to an XM-L equipped Sunwayman

I much prefer the lights that come with the XP-G, no need to change mcpcb, and a much nicer beam from that reflector

good luck with your mod, share what you learn
let us know your thoughts on the beam quality before and after the LED swap, and which model you have… xml or xpg?

lmk if you need a 12mm x 1.5mm xp compatible mcpcb, to mount your sw45k, if your light is originally xml, I have a few spares

…
ps, thanks for mentioning your V20a, it made me click the buy it now on a V20c… I had not realized they are infinite rotary, for some reason I held back thinking it was one of the 4 mode magnetic rotaries, like the M10r…

I must admit I like the control ring on your V20a better than on the V20c… picky me… lol
first world problems

click pic for a v20c review

meanwhile, a preview of the 3500k e21a mod coming for the stock V10a xpg

24

I’m glad to say that both of my mod candidates are the XPG version, so I can just use the stock MCPCBs. My LEDs have just arrived, too, although it’ll be a long while before I have time to do the actual mod.

Thank you for the MCPCB offer, though - I do appreciate that :+1:

25

yay!

a friend just ordered me another V10a
from a source we have not worked with before

fingers crossed

26

WoW!

Sent you an email!

27

After finding a V10a control ring difficult to open with the Oveready Bezel Tools, I tried a different strategy:

I put the light in the sun to warm up:

went out to eat Carne Adovada:

and when I got home, the light opened easily:

wooohoo! One step closer to a High CRI Rotary.

28

Now you done it, you have opened Pandora’s Box. :open_mouth:
Glad you got it open jon_slider. :+1:

29

How are you liking the V10a jon_slider? :wink:

And…to me it seems that it wasn’t the heat but the meat that made the flashlight open :wink: Popeye style :sunglasses:

Hope you are well :+1:

30

> it wasn’t the heat but the meat

lol, yes :slight_smile:
spinach is overrated
I prefer Pork! lol

> How are you liking the V10a

I really like the control ring design and feel, very smooth. Also a very nice tight beam from the xpg, should be a great reflector for a 219b or e21a mod.

And I ordered some sapphire lenses, more info here:

31

I opened a Sunwayman V10a

and installed a E21a 4500k.
I then did some comparisons to a 219b 4500k sw45k

first impressions
the E21a 4500k is greener than the sw45k

no surprise there, the difference in duv predicted that (thanks to maukka for the charts)

The e21a seems to make colors pop more than the sw45k

even though the sw45k makes reds redder, and on the e21a reds are more orange

the e21a makes whites whiter, the sw45k makes them pinker

I need to spend some quality time with the light during the day tomorrow, to get a better idea of the tint of the E21a compared and contrasted to the sw45k, during daylight brain balance.

work in progress on the beam from the E21a, there is a ring in the outer spill, and a donut hole within 3” of target… need to lift the mcpcb by 0.5mm

and the centering ring needs to be clearanced over the solder joints on the mcpcb
The E21a board is smaller, which creates the contact of the solder joints to the centering ring.

An easier mod would be an sw45k reflow to the stock board, but I am curious to experience the E21a 4500k.

centering the LED is also a work in progress, again because the e21a mcpcb is smaller and not auto centering…

Im expecting some thermal epoxy, to experiment with, for centering and height control of the e21a mcpcb

Its been a long evening peering through a jewelers visor… time for some quality time online… LOL

I want to thank my mentors, coaches, and other supportive members of this community. I could not have gotten this far without you.

===

a few comparisons
fwiw, though the tint of the E21a 4500k seems a bit yellow/green, in actual use the color rendering is excellent. imo, People who find the sw45k too pink, will like the E21a 4500k.

32

That Maratac with sw45k is gorgeaus :heart_eyes:
The V10a, despite the “greenish”/”yellowish” look, seems to be nice, when not aiming at a white wall !

Hope you enjoy it :+1:

33

> That Maratac with sw45k is gorgeous

thanks!
that sw45k CuTool is my most used aaa light

tint is always relative
the sw45k will make anything look “greener”
but that is because the sw45k is “too” pink (farther below bbl)

in actual use during daylight brain white:
shining the sw45k at the palm of my hand, it is obviously oversaturated in red/pink
the e21a 4500k makes my hand look more “natural” color (closer to daylight tint)

the E21 4500k is very good at separating colors, and whites are “whiter” (closer to the bbl)…
here is a daylight comparison

duv reference points
Optisolis 6500k +0.0032
Daylight 5600k +0.0033
Incandescent 3000k duv 0.00
e21a 4500k –0.0038
sw45k –0.0055

daylight Tint is considerably greener than the two nichias, which makes the nichias “look” pink, during daylight brain balance.

In actual use, Im enjoying the e21a 4500k very much. It is definitely “whiter” (duv closer to 0.00) than the sw45k

{pangs of guilt for being disloyal to sw45k… lol}