I’m considering a new light between the Courui D01 and the HD2010… especially seeing how the Jacob A60 is MIA nowadays.
I don’t have a “legit” purpose for the light, it would just be for playing with, goofing off, showing to friends, etc… possibly for spot light searching out across Lake Huron out .25-.50 miles or so.
These two lights seem very similar in terms of performance. I’ve read nearly all the mod posts for the D01, and it seems with some added investment of time and money you can get ridiculous candela readings out of it; but I always see it compared to or spoken about along with the HD2010.
What’s the general feeling about these lights when looking to buy a mid-long range thrower? Total lumen output is not as important to me in this application as would be beam distance and beam quality.
I have both, actually more 2010’s , but anyway the D01 can be made to do what you want.
However it is a Bear to focus and needs more attention to get it right. If you want to tinker for a time, and spend time on the driver, get that.
Mine throws great but still has donut hole in the beam up close.
HD2010’s with a good driver throw a great beam and have distance right out of the gate. Again, if you are going to use an XP-G2 de-doomed, get ready for focus trial and error.
Jacob A60 will throw right out of the box and improve with a little work, but they are not super bright lumen wise.
Another one to consider is the Small Sun ZY-T08.
I like the meatier wide spot of the HD2010 for lighting up areas at a distance, but if you want to cloud spot, then the tool of choice are the Zoomers like the Uniquefire 1405 with a de-doomed XP-G2.
I've owned 5 of them and the HD2010s are just not reliable (every single one eventually failed me for varying reasons). But they are, stock, great throwers. A stock D01 buys you right at 78,700 kcd with the 2010 at about 51,000 kcd with XM-L2 T6, but the D01 would smoke the HD2010 in terms of focus just from the reflector size alone. But the D01 is fairly underdriven, by all reports. You'd still like the D01, however, since the spot quality knocks most other contenders out of the park.
But both are budget lights, so get ready to mod them, and don't expect much. Or, invest in a higher quality brand, like the Maxtoch M12, which buys you 96,000 kcd and is first-rate quality...
Thanks for the comments. I am not above modding, and anticipated doing so on whatever light I had picked.
I think I am leaning more towards the D01, upgrade springs and tail connecting wire, slap in a de-domed XP-G2 and AR coated lens… should be good for somewhere in the 90-100kcd range.