Hey Tom good to hear from you. Ya from my understanding also Armytec supposedly bought all that first run, I don’t know? But that Armytec Barracuda sells for $149.95, claims 1450 lumens off 2 18650’s and 540 meter throw. They’ve already sold out of them, so it looks like this U3 is a Hot item for sure. I can’t wait to see just how far mine will throw with a modified 3.04A driver, I’m sure it will be as good as this Armytek’s Barracuda. But the smaller reflector will have some effect.
Without a good equal basis comparison, yes, will be hard to tell. Amps, star and LED mounting/positioning, etc. all are factors in total output. Then of course if you are not measuring with a meter, perception can be mis-lead by tints, hot spot, flood width, focusing, etc...
I'm getting over 1,100 OTF lumens measured at 30 secs on a mod'ed Convoy S3 now with an XM-L2 U2 1A/Noctigon at 3.5A, so even in a tiny reflector you can get really good output, but of course no throw to speak of... But for lumens, this may be close to what you would get out of a C8 with the same emitter/driver. I've gotten just a little better than that at 3.85A in C8 mods.
Certainly possible what you are seeing is a tweaked XM-L2 U2 setup, meaning high amps, good LED/star mount (maybe copper or good thermal grease, alignment plastic not interfering with output, etc.).
I don’t think its the driver, because the tail reading with my top of the line Excel DMM is only 1.04A which is really low for how bright this is. I agree without expensive equipment we’ll never know, but just looking at one light compared to another against a wall this light is brighter by far, that’s why I want to see how it looks driven to Cree’s spec’s at least 3 true amps or 3.80a with the new board, maybe by then I’ll have figured out how to post pics here. My phone goes up to 8mp so resolution is good just don’t know how to post?
Anyone who knows anything about LED know that is a 300+ lumen difference from the middle hotspot to the rest of the hotspots, that is not a max 7% differnce from U2 bin to U3.
Ok Hikelite, I don’t know shit about LED.
I know I got a bright flashlight, and it’s probably brighter then yours.
Too bad you cant share in the excitement and you’ve got to be a pisser.
You have 6 posts and can't bring any arguments nor have any knowledge but you come with personal attacks.
I’ve been reading these posts for years.
You want to be a Budget Forum Nazi, be my guest.
You came on the attack first jerk off.
I took down my beam shots, everyone thank Hikelite Hitler.
Ya Tom if I can get 1100otf, I’d be a happy camper, but waiting for parts is frustrating, I’m all set up and ready to go and no parts. I’m temped to pay the higher rates next time if it makes any real difference, buy with us customs and Chinese customs you probably don’t gain much. And to Semiloaded, please post beem shots I’d love to see! Thanks I’d appreciate seeing them.
Here’s a beamshot from my Aliexpress C12 XML2 U3:
It isn’t quite as blue as it looks here!
going back to meter leads.
up until it got soaked, I had a megger dmm (8090 I think) with the stock leads, that had no issue giving correct amp readings.
unfortunately it couldn’t be repaired, so I had to get a new meter, I picked up a fluke 117. Now its a nice meter but the current readings suck big time.
I decided to ask the place I use for calibration about what leads they suggest would do, or if it could be calibrated to give accurate readings on the fluke leads.
his first suggestion was to strip the meter, check the port connections and polish the connections to ensure good contact, if the ports need re soldering, do it, or they could be screwed on, he couldn’t remember.
I’ll be having a go at this, see if I cant sort it out, particularly since I already have leads that I know CAN give accurate readings.
I’m also going to strip my cheapy meter and see if that cant be improved.
For interests sake, even 2.5mm squared cable didn’t pull the current readings up to what they should be but that was a quick poor test.
you can carry on with your willy waving contest now, fwiw, my dads bigger than your dad 
:bigsmile:
Tallboybass yep that beemshot looks just like my C8 from aliexpress. Thanks for posting that, what’s the trick to posting pic’s on here?
Where did you get it at aliexpress ? HK dancelite ?
Great store, I also bought a C12 XML2 U3, its bright but I have no testing equipment to say if its really an U3.
Even if its “only” a U2 you will get more light output by using it with AR glass than U3 bin with low quality glass.
Here’s the one I got:
Maybe 900-1000 lumens, throws around 30K~ish, bluish tint, no disco, very small, and now they’re $17.24…I love mine!
lol
I decided to check in and see if I'd made a mistake unsubscribing from this thread a while back. I see my instincts were correct.
LOL…it DID get pretty entertaining for a while there, but now it’s…“move along, nothing to see here.” 
[quote=tallboybass]
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/15452
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Yes - great ref, and I use photobucket and it's great! here's my mod albums: http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/TomE2012/library/. Feel free to experiment with my pics to post if you want. Remember, you can always delete a post afterwards as long as you are the post'er.
That’s a great price on your c12, Ive just ordered one and when it gets here I’m gonna swap out the stock driver with a Qlite 3.04A driver add 2 .380mA 7135 chips bringing it up to 3.80A and see what kind of throw I can get outta that combination, I’ll try and post pic’s of before and after shoots. As far as the tint on yours, I love it, I really like cool white, and strongly dislike the yellower tints, indoors on the higher settings the cool white can be overwhelming, but for out doors here in Montana its perfect.
Thanks Tallboybass and Tom E, photobucket’s the ticket, I’ll give it a try. Again thanks you guys.
You might wait on the driver, mine is running @ 3.6A stock with Samsung 20Rs.