I posted the link somewhere around here, the lenses I bought were from fasttech. Keep in mind that the numbers I posted are for the 1405, and as of yet I don’t think I’ve seen any numbers for the driver they are putting in the 1504.
Yes, dedoming helps throw in an aspheric. Period. How much depends on the LED and flashlight.
For the 1504 you can’t get much easier than a Q.lite driver with some extra 7135 chips and a dedomed XP-G2 S3 3C or XP-L V6 3C in my book, but other people prefer other tints, so that’s really up for you to decide.
the dome on the LED makes light have a wider viewing angle and protects the LED. If you take the dome off, the viewing angle decreases, and typically in the process it warms the color of the emitted light. People generally start out with a cool white to dedome so that it turns into a neutral white and sometimes even warmer.
Once dedomed, this is where die size comes into play.
XM-L/L2 and XP-L have a 2 mm x 2 mm emitter for 4 mm^2 surface area
XP-G/G2 have a 1.4 mm x 1.4 mm emitter for a 1.96 mm^2 surface area
XP-E/E2 have a 1 mm x 1 mm emitter for a 1 mm^2 surface area
XR-E have 2 different emitters. The EZ1000 had a 1 mm x 1 mm emitter for a 1 mm^2 surface area. The EZ900 had a 0.9 mm x 0.9 mm emitter for a 0.81 mm^2 surface area
So with the emitter surface area in mind, the smaller the area the more focused the light. An aspherical lens is made so that in one position it increases the viewing angle to cause flood. In another position, it focuses the light. If you take the emitter with the smallest surface area and focus it even more, it will increase the throw but with a very small illuminated area. The XP-G2 tends to be the winner. The XP-E2 and XR-E have smaller surface area but can’t be pushed very hard with current. Up to a certain point, they do win. When you start increasing the current, the XP-G2 takes the lead. That’s why many like it because it can be dedomed and pushed to 5a current.
As for the driver, there are drivers that are direct drive in High, but also have modes. They aren’t all just a single mode.
Remember, the usual tactic is to make some last minute cheaper corner cut and part substitution, send it to the seller, and hope they don’t notice til it’s gone out to a bunch of early adopters in hopes they’ll choke it down.
It’s called “Charlie Testing” in the industry — comes right after beta testing, where you sell the beta to the early customers and “sorry, Charlie!”
Patience furthers.
Give the seller time to take a dozen out of the box, see if they turn on, check that they are put together right, and run the lights for a few hours to see if they fizzle.
Or be the customer who does that work for them, of course.
How much cheaper do you want it? They are $4.29 with the discount code. That’s not a bad price. That’s about the price of C8 pressure switches and cheaper than most flashlight pressure switches. My Maxtoch M24 pressure switch was twice that price.
And Pressure switch.
I put in the comments box this;
“I thought we got Free Tracking as part of the BudgetlightForum Group Buy?
If so please add that and please pack well.
Thanks!”
Don’t know if it will help, but the $1.99 digs into the savings, so if it comes with no tracking, so be it. I will be able to tell when it is getting close by other members getting theirs, they always seem to come in one big blob.
That is the downside of ordering early, waiting longer, but that is nature of the beast.
Thanks n10sivern for all your hard work on this group buy!
Later,
Keith
