Steve, If you think it looks great in photos, wait until you open the box and see it with your own eyes. The first words out of your mouth likely will be, wow.
I'll take your word for that 
I am so tempted to get the black from IOS. Having an internal battle between that and the new IOS Mini..... (must resist!)
Steve - the yellow really is striking, you are gonna love it!
i'm new to the light lingo but appreciated the extensive reviews here. brought up two questions:
- what is the difference b/w cool white and neutral white on the IOS site?
- the lumen counts here are so different than what i'm used to that i think there must be different definitions? i'm used to fenix and preon and surefire lights in the 30 - 200 lumen range. i've never heard of 600-800 lumens on a AA light...am i missing something?
Thanks!
Hi and welcome to BLF, bourbontoo!
- Cool White appears brighter, Neutral White gives more natural color rendition, especially outside.
- The Roche F12 is an 18650 Li-ion light, not AA. Current lumens debate is between the versions from CNQG (harder driven light) and IOS.
Hi Bourbontoo, welcome to BLF.
If you go to this link below and check out a light CNQ sells, it shows what the difference in color tint looks like for reference. Not all lights are available with a choice of tint, but some are available from CNQ and IOS giving the end user a choice so you'll know ahead of time if the color rendition apeals to you.
http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1483
I assume you are refering to the F12 as reviewed here in this thread, it's a 1x18650 battery light, not "AA". As for brightness or lumens, perhaps a good rule of thumb would be for every 200 lumens higher in lumens, you should be able to see a diffference in brightness. So a SF light rated at 200 lumens, compared to one rated at 600 lumens, the 600 lumen light may be about 3X brighter to your eyes.
Welcome to BLF, bourbontoo.
Aloha and welcome to BLF bourbontoo!
Welcome to the monkey house, bourbontoo!
Hi bourbontoo, welcome aboard.
just ordered a neutral F12..can't wait to get it..my paypal finger has been twitching ever since it came out lol..
Pounder - ordered from CNQG or IOS?
fancyflashlights which is cnqg..
Nice purchase Pounder! Can't wait to hear your impressions of it.
I guess nobody has gone with IOS's black version yet?
Saw this light yesterday @IOS along with this one. And wow, what a beauty :love: (both actually :love: ):
- great, small HAIII host (both models)
- no PWM
- excellent driver (AFAIK. Do we have a review here @BLF? Want to see if it's good regulated or not)
- @IOS you can choose 2 mode, 3 mode (strobe), 3 mode (low), 5 mode
- CW and NW tint available
- SMO or OP reflector
Darn, a nice light! Why I see these type of light only now? :|
BTW, want to thank Richie & BetweenRides for an excellent review 8) Can you post regulation/runtime tests, please? Thanks in advance.
Your welcome Sashi. Also, BLF member, BetweenRides also added some excellent useful information to this thread too.
As for regulation/runtime tests, I typically don't perform those tests, and there is no way I'd risk running the CNQ version of this light on HIGH mode for an extended length of time. I'd say the easier driven IOS version on High mode running at 1.75 amps should be able to remain on high mode for a long time. Should I feel I may run the light for a long time, I'd simply carry a spare 18650 with me.
Just remember if you decide to purchase one, only certain batteries will fit this light. Member, BewteenRides call out a few more batteries than I did as to what may not work. If you have any other questions, feel free to post them.
Of course, Richie, forgot to mention BetweenRides in my last post. Updated! ;)
Yup, CQG is hard driven for such a small light. And on med and low will be quite difficult to see if the regulation is good or not because I'm almost sure the regulation on those levels will be quite flat. Does anybody tested this Nanjg driver in other light? I'm a little bit paranoid regarding regulation :bigsmile: :8) You know, when you need HI, and know that the batt is about @40%, you still want that HI :p Can you compare beam profiles with XML AA sized lights? Should be slightly more concentrated beam, right?
Thanks ;)
SashiX, I personally don't have any XML "AA" lights to compare it to, but I couldn't imagine any XML powered by "AA" would be able to hold a spark to the F12 driven to 2.5a and powered by an 18650. Although the beam shots I posted in my review compared it to other lights of a similar size, the LED's in them were not XML's. The best way I can describe the F12 is it puts out a very floody and bright powerful beam. Hope this helps.
Sure thing, Sashi. Regarding AMC7135 based drivers, regulation depends on the Vf of the LED. The XM-L has a low Vf-about 3.35V at 3 amps (iirc). The chips aren't superconductors, so battery voltage must be ~0.12V above this forward voltage (so 3.47V) in order to maintain full regulation. Once the voltage of the battery drops below 3.47V, the emitter will be directly driven.
These drivers are a good match for the XM-L + a single Li-ion cell. Output will be regulated for most of the runtime. Hope that answers your question.
here's a good runtime graph of a P7 Mag on 1 li-ion and this driver.
Definitely once the LED cannot get it's vF for the specific current (2.5A 3A) the light will go direct drive. However the vF will drop if the LED is too hot and thus the brightness should go down slightly. The body is small and it's hard for the heat to be dissipated at 2.5-3A since the driver and battery also produce heat.