Thanks a million, weiser701, for posting your comparison photos. Judging from your first mouseover photo, I would say that, when you compare the two models on 1x14500, the BD-1 has about 20 percent more output AND a slightly wider flood. All this while drawing less current than the SE-1 (<1.9A vs 2.0-2.5A). If one can spare the extra $20, the BD-1 seems to be the better choice.
Does the BD-1 stay cooler than the SE-1? I just tried a 14500 and IMR in my two Peak LED XP-G 1AA lights (El Capitan and Volcan) and couldn't believe how quickly they became uncomfortably hot (about 2 minutes).
Just to be certain I'm going to do it all over again in a different location (hopefully outside). I want to make sure I wasn't holding the flashlights at different angles because the output is so similar. Outside, where there's more room for light to escape, should work better. It's cold and windy so I wussed out the first time. haha
EDIT: The BD-1P kills the SE-1 in the heat category. After five minutes you can barely notice a change in the BD-1P while the SE-1 is nearly uncomfortable to hold on to. It's still not hot enough to hurt your hand but it would sting if placed on your back. Check out the body thickness between the two:
Just a thought Paul_in_Maryland. If you have the AA dummy cells that AW sells then you could use the BD-1P in 2 AA cell format with a dummy cell and a 14500 cell. That way your hand would be away from the head where the heat is being generated and if you use it outside that should allow more of the head surface to be exposed to the air so cooling it. Do you think that would work?
Wow. I just received mine a couple days ago. And I'm quite impressed! It's a cute little light that has some serious punch. The only thing that could make it better is if it had a tad more throw.
It’s a clever suggestion. But I’m looking for a keyring flooder, a keyring thrower, and a shirtpocket thrower. The Balder’ 24mm heads are “pushing it” for keyring duty. But my Peak El Capitan XP-G will probably do for a keyring flood.
I have three 1x14500 throwers on their way:
17mm Nitecore EZ AA XP-E R2 (unbranded)
22.5mm XTAR XP26 XP-E R3
24mm Balder SE-1 XP-E R3
I'm guessing the Nitecore will end up on my keyring, and the XTAR or Balder in my shirt pocket.
Mine was, too. They sent me a replacement with no hesitation and it has been working fine. I think there's clearly a fault with the SE-1 driver. I informed them of that in a recent email. I hope they take a serious look at it. But they've been giving fantastic customer service and even sent me the BD-1P for review when were initially discussing my DOA SE-1.
Well , Ric wants me to send the light back , and I do not want to do this at my expense . He also said he would send me a new driver , so I asked if it was the same one as the original . He said it is the original driver .
I guess I'll ask for a new driver and find someone to install it for me .
Seriously, first contact Balder. Tell them everything that happened. I would hope that they're familiar with the SE-1 problems by now and won't hesitate to replace it. I've already mentioned to them in a recent email how there's a recent trend of faulty drivers with the SE-1. You can also mention that you've already contacted the vendor and you're not getting the service you expect (I'm not blasting Ric or anything). Give it a try before you attempt to replace the driver.
That’s encouraging! If it’s too wide for my keyring, it may yet earn a place in my shirt pocket. Often, I find an urgent use for a thrower as I walk from work to the train in the evening, or even as a sit at a red light.
It seems that in all the reports of a faulty driver, the SE-1 was using an XM-L emitter. Is the XPE's driver more reliable?
I would also like to see the comparison beamshots. I am very new to all this powerful flashlights, and discovered this forum by searching the net. Actually I was very surprised there are numerous communities online discussing these! :thumbs up:
Anyway, I recently got my Balder se-1 xml. Having previously bought a no-name 3xAAA XRE (and was very, very impressed by it) I was expecting this little dude to blow my pants off. One of the reasons I bought it is because of XM-L. I put the rechargeable NiMh in it, click and ... what? Ok, might be empty. I put in a regular 1.5 AA in, click ... ha? That 3xAAA looked like a space ship compared to this! Ok, 3xAAA has larger head, but I mean damn... Not so visible beam, very short throw (I guess you guys use word "spill"; compared to mentioned 3xaaa) ... So that brings me here - I want to see if I got a faulty something in this flashlight, or I just need a 14500 cell to bring this suck*# up to the max.
Right, I've been reading some more on tha forum, especially what gcbryan had been writing about emitters and how they compare in throw/spill, head diameter, surface brightness etc, etc. Frankly I'm not in that league to understand all that, but I do see if one light is brighter that the other. In this case, my no-name (as per pictures, it looks like this one: http://www.miniinthebox.com/mxdl-3w-led-3-mode-focus-flashlight-3xaaa-yellow_p187610.html) flashlight has brighter light (not zooming) than my Balder se-1 XML. Maybe I was expecting too much?
The light is really meant for 14500 li-ions, and basically a dim floodlight on all else.
FYI, the XR-E is going to have a small, bright hot spot, the XP-G will be dimmer looking and bigger, and the XM-L will be even bigger and dimmer looking. What is hard to tell is that the XM-L is putting out the most total light, but it is dimmer and more spread out. If you want to enjoy it, putting a 14500 will make it about 4x brighter to your eyes.
Mine arrived yesterday (XP-G) and it is a great small light. I prefer xp-g over the others due to the size of the hot spot which gives a balance of throw and flood.
What I like:
Forward clicky- I can turn on the light momentarily by pressing the button
Great Modes- has a nice low even running 14500
What I don't like:
Pocket clip gets in the way when removing the battery
Momentary on is easy, but getting it to click on requires a lot of effort
I didn't know just how much I'd like the forward clicky until I tried it... Now I'm hooked. All my other reverse clicky lights seem obnoxious because of the loud "click" that is required to turn them on.
You know, maybe your switch is difficult, because mine is super easy to click.
