WOW!! … hunting team and I here in NZ tried alot of lights over the years before settling on and developing Maxtoch designs with Amanda and company. We have been very impressed with the size/power/output/price etc of the 2X and M24 - especially dedomed.
On saturday night gadgetman (also from this site) and I headed out for an evening bunny shoot. We took our dedomed U3 Maxtoch M24s, and the new BLF high current M24 into which we had fitted a U4. The normal dedomed U3 M24s run at about 210-220k lux on my meter, and this new BLF M24 tests out at 306k after its change to higher output U4.
Very pleasant evening’s shoot - we nailed 66 rabbits and hares. The little Marlin 60 .22, my 75 year old side by side 12 guage, and the .223 all performed very well. But the undoubted star of the nite was this new BLF M24 with its U4 fitted. Amazing power and range with the 306k lux - lighting up fields hundreds of meters across in seconds, and showing up hills over 1000 yards away. The normal dedomed U3 M24s were almost as good, but new BLF light with U4 is absolutely exceptional. This is the best hunter light setup I’ve come across to date. Light weight at just 270gms, huge range, good beam width for scanning fields, and surpisingly good runtime with panasonic 3400s. Perfect warm tint for hunting. The light was on/off during spotlighting - mostly on - and it was 2 hours before first batt change.
Extremely impressed with this new BLF M24 with a U4 fitted. Might have to talk to Amanda about a production option here. Have just recharged the pana 3400s and am doing a comparative runtime test right now with both normal M24 with U3, and the BLF M24 with U4.
The BLF M24 with its stock XPL HI led is an excellent all round outdoors light. But…add a dedomed U4 and its one helluva hunter.
Yup im impressed with the numbers you guys got out of the dedomed U4. I have been considering putting a U4 in one of the 2 GB m24’s I got to see, but you made up my mind now. I will be ordering me a couple of U4 1C tint from Richard soon.
Thanks for the feedback on the GB M24 , glad you liking it and that it is doing well with the emitter swap for you guys.
306k lux out the front with a near perfect hunting beam. And just finished runtime test and it did 75 minutes with freshly charged panasonic 3400s. That’s good for an amped light, and acceptable runtime for hunting.
I think that is about 10 to 12 minutes more than I got out of mine (with XP-L HI) with the Protected Panasonic 2900’s when I tried it and about 15 minutes better than the LG HE4’s.
Decent runtime hunting or not for the higher amps I think.
Thanks again for all the information mudgripz (thank gadgetman for me too)
There is a trade off in runtime, but as you had stated the runtime isn’t bad for the higher amps, and the output went up considerably with the U4 so if you need to see further then that’s the way to go it seems, but if you don’t have so far to see then stick with stock for the run time.
Either way you got a great light stock, or higher amps / domed, or dedomed with the M24.
Anyone who was wanting one of these GB lights and missed the GB, Amanda (Maxtoch) has just informed me that there are 7 of these lights left , they have the normal M24 tube but the same inside as the GB lights, and they are on the aliexpress site now. ONLY 7 of them them left though and when they are gone there will be no more.
Since I am using the dedomed U4 (machined reflector housing for best focus) in my resistor modded Yezl Y3 is probably why it is out running the M24. May do the same to the M24 if I can find something in a cooler tint than a U4 1C.
The Maxtochs are bulk production lights and have not been pushed for extreme output. Yet… :bigsmile:
The BLF model M24 with its XPL HI led runs at 4.5 amps and approx 250k lux rather than a highly modded 350-400k lux which is also possible. This is because the design must be reliable for customers, cannot get too hot in the field, and must sustain good runtimes - in this case 74 and 75 minutes runtime in two tests with panasonic 3400s. These lights are designed for reliability and utility in the field.
The addition of a U4 led popped my BLF M24 up to 306k lux - still retaining that reliability. And a 300+k light at just 270gms and with still 75 mins runtime is a serious performer.
Now I wonder what Maxtoch could do if they REALLY wanted to push performance boundaries :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
Watch this space…
(Note: lux results are from my meter and shd be considered +/- 5% depending on meter, batts, test conditions etc)
Did you get the U4 pre-mounted on a Noctigon? I see Richard has a few sizes listed and I’m not wanting to try a reflow just yet so which size am I about to order? :bigsmile:
If you order a emitter and Maxtoch board he will mount it for free, he charges a fair fee for dedoming. The downside at least for me was the tint is much warmer dedomed. Am looking for a 1A or cooler tint if I go this route with the M24. Runtime on a Y3 with 26650s will just about always be better than a 18650 light.
I’ll get him to mount the emitter but if it will ’gas de-dome” I’d kind of like to try that myself. My only fear is that if I try a reflow with my now-well-centered board/emitter I might screw something up royally and end up with a dead light. I’d rather have to old parts to reinstall just in case. All of this will be a first for me but I’ve done quite a bit of electronics soldering so I know I’m OK that far.
I think from memory - could be wrong here - the stock Yezl runs at about 60-65k lux, which means dedomed it’ll be round 120-130k. To have that light running over 300k like the BLF M24 with U4 is quite an achievement.
Willie you shd have a crack at modding up the BLF M24 to same degree - resistor mods etc - could end up way over 400k.
I wouldn’t like to hold onto it for too long but it would be great fun…
Richard has some 5+ amp buck drivers I think that would fit the M24 if you were just wanting to push it to see what it could achieve, you will of course be getting maybe 40 or 50 minutes run time out of it then.
That Y3 is 65K at stock 2A at the emitter. With a resistor mod (2x26650) bumps it closer to 5A at the emitter. No mystery that a dedomed XM-L2 U4 will out throw XPL HI. 26650s @ 5500+ma vs the best 18650 @ 3500ma, capacity is not an issue. IMO the best feature of the M24 is weight and is easiest to mount to weapon platform. At around post #166 Tom E does almost the identical mod I referenced to build mine complete with UCLp lens. The only major difference was his used a U2 vs my U4 binned emitter and our different method to obtain focus.
Ok guys I have been reading through this thread and tried doing some searching but have yet to fully understand the performance specs of this light. I am looking at the two versions Richard carries, the xml2 U2 and the xpl hi @ 4amps, but not sure what the candela is of each. I know the xpl hi will be more than the xml2 but by how much? It’s going to be a while before I get one, I’m just doing research now, but I want to get one that is at 220k candela.
The XM-L2 U2 is around 200K lux while the higher amp with XP-L HI is at 250K lux, the 4 amp version has been tested at 306K lux with a dedomed XM-L2 U4 dedomed emitter swapped for the XP-L HI one.
As another option - if you get Richard to swap a dedomed U4 into the M24 with XML2-U2 it will pop it up to the desired 220-230k lux, while retaining round 100-115 minutes runtime (on full power) on panasonic 3400s.
