I'm pretty impressed so far from what I have seen from this light. Quality is very nice. And it does have a nice deep reflector. We will soon see if the M3X is ready to admit defeat. Here's some pictures.
Here's a picture of the 7G5 with some of my best XM-L throwers(left to right: Crelant 7G5, Olight M3X, ThruNite Catapult V3, and Olight SR51).
What a picture, the kings of throw!!!!! Can't wait to see some beam shots. How does it look doing a ceiling shot with the M3X and the 7G5, Thanks for putting pictures up it looks awesome.
In my opinion the M3X wins the ceiling bounce test. But then if you go buy that alone the Catapult V3 may beat the M3X. It is very close betwen the 3 of them.
Well it rained here today so not the best of nite to take pictures. But I figured what the heck. So it's a little fog and condensation in the photos. ISO 200 and focal 2.8 sec.
Crelant 7G5 85Yds
Olight M3X 85Yds
Both were taken on the exact same magnification. You pick the winner.
Olight looks like the winner to me but close. The Crelant looks to have a slightly wider beam, look at the closest branch and the two small white dots on the bottom right. Tint also looks nicer on Olight.
You aimed a little low with the Olight M3X. Actually you need the meter for these kind of things (and compared using the same meter and not other figures on the net, unfortunately). Mentioned before that you'd really need about 20% before the eyes can register a confirmed difference. The issue with the camera is that the white balance also plays a bigger difference than in real life (even if it is set in manual WB) another part which is added into the component mix would also then be the monitor. My S-IPS monitor would definitely not display the same esp for those "LED Crystal displays".
Not trying to defend the Crelant, but that's my experience with the 6 XM-L throwers, 2 semi-throwers and 3 XR-E throwers that I have. The XM-L throwers can even look brighter than the XR-E throwers like Masterpiece Pro-1.... heh, but the meter suggests otherwise. The hotspot size for the XM-L throwers also do not dictate the lux@1m. The least "bright" in the bunch, the OTR X5, which gets about 30% dimmer lux, is actually not that much dimmer in real life, though there is a visible difference if you put them side by side. Some of the thrower guys even goes to say that the 6 and 12 million candlepower Maxabeams (different bulbs) do not put that much of a diff in real life.
You may be asking, why are we splitting hairs? That's absurd. Well it's called flashaholism. Who also debates about 100mAh difference in batteries anyway (eg the TF Flames), which is about 4% difference. LOL!
PS. Thanks for doing the comparison, any information is useful. I don't have the Olight M3X and it's on sale at DD at 75 bucks! Ugghh....must resist. I mean people paid 54 bucks for the Sky Ray STL-V2.
Well let's do it this way. Here's 3 more shots. And I got my daughter and her friend to hold the lights. This is approx 60yds. Crelant 7G5 on the left and Olight M3X on the right. Now I'm going to post some that with the whiter tint from the 7G5 may look like it's the winner, but I can assure you with the naked eye and the last shot I am going to leave you with here you will see what I mean.
Here's another that is better focused but the girls got the beams a little closer together so it's hard to tell.
Ok this one although not the best focused shot, you can plainly see which one is the winner. I see it and so did my daughter as soon as her friend put the M3X on the tree.
And to my eyes up close shining both lights in the kitchen at the wife's blender in the corner you can see a slight outer ring on the hotspot of the Crelant 7G5. The Olight M3X doesn't have this and the hot spot is just brighter to my eyes. I would bet a light meter would show this as well.
ILIKEFLASHLIGHTS, can you set the WB to be manual and lower K, like 5300K? Unfortunately there is some variances for branches, but i don't think there are any big buildings with white walls to shoot both beams.
Eg
From the shots it seems that the M3X totally owns the Crelant 7G5. This means that it would also handily beat stuff like Sunwayman T40CS (almost level with the Crelant), and those 2 handily beats the STL-V6. This is surprising, because ergertolis has many throwers than both of us combined, and his M3X sure did not perform that way.
Can you take a current measurement for both flashlights? It doesn't mean much though. <- information is really just for us to know, others pls do not set any conclusions from this.
It never hurts to have both. LOL!
But if you look at the beams only in the mid air from the last picture you can clearly see which one is the brighter intensity.
Well I can assure you I have no reason to lie about my results for I am not partial to any light here. Well actually that is a lie for I do love my Catapult V3 since it's built like a tank and looks ever so cool. But I took both lights out to compare at different distances prior to shooting these photos I posted here, and to my eyes and the camera later reveals what I saw that the M3X wins. Now that's comparing the 2 samples I have.
I have no light meter, so I can't take any measurements.
I just got done checking the volts on the Xtar from the 7G5 and they were 4.03 and 3.99 volts. I had them already charged and they have been sitting for maybe a couple of weeks. I did recharge the Hi-Max today, so I don't know if that means much of the difference we seen here.
nobody has a smart phone? my casio commando has a light meter and I downloaded two (free) apps that show the readings. The data for a light (on its own) might not be much good for other people - but it is great for comparing my own lights, testing lenses, etc.