Same for mine too.
X6 looks like a 3B but X5 looks like a 1A.
I might have ordered them that way if I had a choice so it’s OK.
US Coins can be used to estimate metric thickness
Penny: 1.5mm
Nickle: 1.95mm
My AlKX5 lens is just slightly thinner than a penny.
This lens is also a smeary mess on the surface, even after complete and careful cleaning — whatever antireflection stuff it’s meant to have was just dribbled on and dried, not evenly spread.
I’m inclined to conclude the aluminum lights got the second quality parts — lenses and clips, at least, maybe as suggested thinner lenses to fit with reflectors that might be a bit off-size?
I have no opinion yet on whether the electronics and emitters were first rate, since I don’t have a CuKX5 to compare.
“It’s good, though!” — Utah Phillips
Waiting on another to compare.
Awesome thermal readings, and that back-lit LCD DMM is pretty neat too. How do you like it so far?
A note of caution: AR coating usually changes the beam tint. You might want to consider uncoated lenses on some lights, if the tint is important. Fortunately, the site you’re buying from has some amazingly good quality uncoated lenses available.
Now we know how they behave in near-worst-case conditions. Any chance of repeating it in normal usage conditions? (horizontal orientation, with a hand around the pill to give it a meaningful heat sink, possibly switching hands when it gets too hot)
The CU-X5, even with the cheap lens from dx.com is a stunning piece of technology and i really enjoy it, even without AR-lens. But the AL-X6 with it’s really totally borked reflector i can’t even consider to live with that. The beam is modestly ok, but not even near to a thrower type. It is so completely borked, it is even less throwy than the beam from a Balder BD-1, modded to a Nichia 219A from the year 2013. Sorry, but i can’t tolerate such blatant oversight in quality check and live with that unbearable fault… :-/
Who’s temperature test should we go by? Aardvark Spleen or Sharpie’s? Sharpie said that the coating that Aardvark Spleen used on the lights gave them better heat emission. Is that true? Does that mean Aardvark Spleen’s test is inaccurate, or will the coating not make a difference?
Yes, I bought my set in 3B but my x5 looks CW like yours, definitely cooler than the X6 on a white wall, in fact my x5 appears to be about the same tint as my CW Eagletac D25C2.
Er, I didn’t say anything about the reflector…
The flashlightlens.com site you found has some awesome lenses though. Best place to get lenses which improve transmission without changing the tint.
Yeah, i’m sorry, the rant to the reflector hasn’t anything to do with your remark, sorry about that!
It was me being heavily upset about the borked reflector, bringing this topic to that context - sorry again, but i’m really pissed because of this blatant fault…
Nevertheless i’m considering buying various lenses from that site, not only to recover the CU-X5, but also to upgrade other lights i own. 
I’m not sure but, from Sharpie’s pics it’s possible that the Kapton tape is blocking air flow past the cooling fins.
The tape may be acting as an insulating layer that holds the heat in, also causing the 40 minutes to cool down.
Thanks for all the thanks, everybody! I really appreciate it.
Like onetrickpony mentioned, the thermal camera won’t measure reflective surfaces. It bounces off, like a laser, I guess. If you try and measure something through a window, it’ll show you a picture of yourself. There was one of the measurements I was taking during the first attempt where the cux5 was only reading 57 degrees after being on for a minute, looked stone cold. I realized I was looking at the side that I hadn’t painted.
My camera only measures surface temp, as far as I know. Understanding how all this stuff works is way above my paygrade.
Not sure if that was directed at me or not, if so I love this thing. Has a nice loud continuity buzzer, I use that a lot. It comes with decent quality leads, I hate cheap stiff ones, they aren’t as nice as a Fluke or anything, but they’re up there. The backlit screen is the best thing since bbq sauce. I do a lot of work on cars and equipment, the back light is awesome if you’re up under a dashboard or in a darker engine bay or whatever.
Milwaukee also makes a magnet that clips on to the back, it’s also freggin’ sweet. It has more than enough umph to hold it and the leads on a vertical surface, or to keep it from vibrating off a fender or something. I like it so much I’m following an ebay search for a deal on a 2nd one to keep at work.
I’d go with Sharpie. I’m just a bored, 1/2 drunk guy who’s dumb enough to spend most of a week’s pay on a thermal camera, hahaha.
3.908v and 4.15v 02/24/2016 - 21:26
Maybe I should move this to a different thread so I don’t have to keep going back 3 pages to find the one to quote.
No way mine are 3B although the box the box was in said 3B.
That little bug I don’t care about.
The chip I am still waiting to hear from Neal.
If the X5 oring works like the X6, it is meant to allow for CTE differences.
One should provide a very small gap wherever the o-ring is.
This gap is the allowable difference with a proper gland design.
A AL/SS X6 weighs less than a AL/CU X6 259.1 vs 265.5 And it’s really hard to get the AL/CU light hot.
I carried the AL/CU light for the last couple of days, maybe tomorrow I’ll carry the AL/SS stubbie.
Ignore the temp reading on these, it was reading the box in the background. I tried what Sharp suggested with a stripe, while it worked, I doubt it’ll do it that way again. In the 2nd (the one on the left) try I painted half the light, it worked ok. The plastidip cleans off ok with brake cleaner. I figure I made the line too narrow.
Thermal pics taken every minute:
Right side up:
Upside down:
I burnt my desk.
I wouldn’t dismiss your testing so easily. I’m going with your results. I doubt Sharpie’s testing has no flaws either. There’s a lot of variables involved. Like what richnpc mentioned about the krapton tape.
Yep, that last picture should be a warning… don’t set your flashlight down on a friend’s counter in turbo mode!
I think both methods have merit. Valuable data gathered and shared, I’m grateful to anyone that takes the time to do so.
Got a couple LG HG2’s from the nitecore oops Xtar BOGO in the mail Monday. Much slimmer than the 30Q and only a tiny bit thicker than My efest’s which tend to be my thinnest cells. I’ll post a draw comparison with the 30Q when I get a chance to charge them both.