hmm, the led-protector don´t look good.
maybe this damaged the connection between emitter & board a little bit ???
you can lift the led-protector with a needle, it´s not glued so much.
Only led/board is glued VERY strong!
I have put the driver out of the manafont dropin and put it in a other XM-L flashlight, there i measure now over 5A @high (thick body, good contact).
In the original dropin i ever measure much over 3A ;)
So, I couldn't use a 3xAAA properly, but did some measurements using my camera.
Setup: 1m from wall, measuring at the center of the spot, spot fills camera sensor.
Camera: Fuji S6500fd, 58mm lens, full zoom, spot metering, F 4.9, 0 EV compensation, 100 ISO, some constant WB setting (fluorescent #3, whatever that means).
Results are for shutter speed, in seconds:
| C30 P4 | flood | 1/20 |
| throw | 1/640 | |
| iTP A3 R5 | low | 1 |
| med | 1/5 | |
| high | 1/15 | |
| Q5 18650 | low | 1/30 |
| med | 1/160 | |
| high | 1/320 | |
| XM-L 18650 | low | 1/20 |
| med | 1/125 | |
| high | 1/320 |
The XM-L on low and med show very low frequency PWM, so the readings are approximate (tried to take the highest the camera picked).
The readings for the C30 and iTP were made with slightly used batteries - voltage about 1.35V.
The 18650 was the same for both Q5 and XM-L, fresh from the charger @ 4.10V, dropped to 4.03V after I finished testing.
The XM-L and Q5 readings are identical, but the XM-L has a much larger hot spot, and the spill is brighter, so I guess it's kind of OK.
So, I finally had the time (and darkness) to take some pictures outside.
First, some pictures from the yard (all with 4 seconds exposure, f2.8, 100 iso), length of the builsing ~20m, distance to nearest tree/branch ~10m:
Next some photos of the ground floor - 1.5 seconds exposure, f2.8, 100 iso, distance to wall ~15m:
(sorry about the mess - you can blame my neighbours for it)
So, what do you say?
Bright enough?
Should I ask for replacement simply because of the defects of the emitter as seen in the macro shot in a aprevious post?
Oops, forgot to say - all of the above pictures are with an OP reflector for both Q5 and XM-L.
I just replaced the smooth reflector the XM-L drop-in came with with a reflector from one of the Q5 drop-ins.
I think that is bright enough and from my expirience your multimeter or the leads must be faulty. That looks at least 2A draw of the xml...
It's funny how yet another group of beam shots show the XM-L totally destroying every light in the comparison in terms of brightness. Also, all three of my XM-Ls have the same green tint as we see here. Not a deal killer for me but it defintely has a slight green tint.
Foy
Yes, it's plenty bright :)
Now the main concern I have is the emitter - do you think it could fail in the future or could emit less light (draw less current?) than possible because of how it was assembled?
Take a look again at this picture, tell me what you think:
Same idea here, since MF actually care what they get from manufacturers. I would notify them at least. The emitter should work fine but the assembly is atrocious.
Yes, I sent them an email about it, including photos of the emitter.
Let's see how it goes from here. (looks good right now, I really like their responsive and helpful support service)
Those are great pictures of the LED. It looks okay to me. I don't know that it matters if it is a little crooked as long as the connection is good, which it seems to be given the beam shots.
Man, that XML is really bright :O (comparing to your Q5). Perhaps it could be brighter, but I think it's bright enough.
Maybe the emitter is well reflowed and is just the black isolation part the wrong positioned.
Seeing all these reviews has got me really wanting one of these budget XML's for my 6p. Wish I had a single cell that would fit.
I'll probably try to find a 17500 when, and if, there is a decent budget neutral XML released.
Not to detract from Haggai's problem (if it is a problem), but in case others are concerned about ordering, I got my second Manafont 3-mode XM-L drop-in about the same day Haggai created this thread. Mine is fine. But the tint has more hues of purple in the spill than my earlier one. And the one I purchased even before that, a Kaidomain 5-mode, is the warmest/best tint of the bunch, I just don't like the blinkies or the orange peel reflector. So, my XM-L emitters seem to be getting cooler as time goes on. Could be coincidence, but I've heard that early samples of LED runs are often warmer. Indoors, it makes more difference. Outside, I honestly could hardly tell the difference. I then compared my 'worst tint' XM-L to some of my XR-E's, and my 'worst tint' XM-L was still more neutral (less blueish) than any XR-E I tested. Made me appreciate XM-L's even more in a weird way, although I'm still not liking the slightly purple spill (I'm spoiled now).
Funny thing about XM-L's is different color temparature light coming out of different parts of the beam pattern. Most of the hotspot center is a nice yellowish tint, with a thin cooler outer zone, and the spill is bluer or more purple-y, especially at the edges. Even on my purple-y spill XM-L though, the hotspot is a nice tint. Still cool, but a lot better effort at neutral than the XR-E's I have.
Funny enough, I swapped the wonderful smooth Ultrafire reflector into my (slightly less bright) KD drop-in to good effect. And for some reason, the KD orange peel reflector did surprisingly well in the above-mentioned Manafont/Ultrafire drop-in even though it seemed like it wasn't screwing down all the way, so I worry about heatsinking in that config. (The UF one did screw all the way into the KD one though--extremely nice reflectors if you ask me.) Hey, just noticed they're selling 5-mode versions too now. It's odd they don't bother to put in the key term "XM-L" into the product description! Just mentioning the flux bin (T6) is not enough, and confuses buyers. For instance, I have a friend who owns a Surefire (plus a few DX items, including drop-ins) and holds patents in lighting, but still doesn't understand the difference between the XR-E, R2, and "drop-in".
Finally - the flame 18650 Trustfires and the CT1330B lux meter have arrived.
So naturally I tested the Manafont XML and some other lights. The XML totally destroys the other lights and make them weep in the corner.
But it produces only about 8000 lux @ 1m with the Trustfires (fully charged to 4.19 by the XTAR WP2), and more surprisingly it does about 9000 lux @ 1m with 3xAAA eneloops (freshly charged, combined voltage 4.20)...
These are the maximum readings of the hot spot center.
Are these numbers good? old4570 reported about 13000 lux here http://budgetlightforum.cz.cc/node/1193 ...
I got 18000 throw on high with mine. And 19400 with a new coated glass lens.
I wish my new Vichy VC99 multimeter will arrive soon and I can check current then.
Still not in the Israeli post company database... although it was sent from China about a week ago.
Ah well, should be here next week.
I like the sound of that. Better than myself weeping in the corner.
Nobody puts edc in the corner.
[quote=fishinfool]
Nobody puts edc in the corner.
[/quote]
LOL! Didn't know edc'd real name was Frances Houseman 
(obscure movie reference, in answer to any future questions).