I don’t think there is anything I would consider an easter egg… just little details like how it remembers tactical mode after a battery change, or there are a few arrows missing from the UI diagram.
…. and it doesn’t remember ‘lockout’ after a battery change.
AEDe we get it, you don’t like the inefficiency of the D4. It is a tiny hot rod of a light that I, and obviously many many more, happen to really enjoy. This is the third thread (that I know of) that you have repeatedly mentioned it. Good luck finding the perfect flashlight for you, I really mean that. I enjoy all types of lights and respect the fans and manufacturers of lights that I don’t personally care for. At the end of the day Hank and every other business owner has to produce products that customers want to spend money on. Judging by the responses here he has knocked it out of the ballpark with the D4.
Been looking at different emitters in my D4s. Some thoughts:
This is a good thing, right?
Maybe my M43 is broken or has an older version of the driver. It’s nice and bright with full batteries, but the turbo output drops dramatically with cell voltage. One day I picked it up to show off to a visitor. It had been sitting idle for a few months but the batteries were nearly full when I last used it, and I had loosened the battery tube a bit to lock it out… so it should have been very bright. But I hit turbo and it put out a rather underwhelming ~500 lumens.
Wondering what was wrong, I took the batteries out and they measured only 3.3V or so. I’m guessing it wasn’t fully locked out. So ever since then, I’ve stored it bezel-up instead of bezel-down, and I loosen the battery tube quite a bit more.
Anyway, one of the main points of a regulated boost driver (with a moderate turbo level) is that it can maintain full output until the cells are almost completely drained. The highest mode may not be as high as direct drive, but it maintains a flat output curve. Take the Wizard Pro for example, which Zak found will maintain a flat 1500 lm until the cell is almost empty. The Meteor is designed like that, except with 4X as many cells and 4X to 5X as many lumens.
So I find it really weird that my Meteor runs at less than half brightness on cells which are slightly more than half full. That would be expected from a direct-drive light, but not from a regulated boost driver with a moderately-spec’d turbo level. Based on the D4 XP-G2’s output of 1916 lumens with the exact same battery, a well-regulated boost driver should be able to put out as much as 7664 lumens in the state I tested. Or, maybe subtract 20% due to the boost process, and that would put it at 6131 lumens.
So maybe mine is just broken.
Maybe I should charge up my cells and do a runtime graph test with the Meteor in a tray of ice water, to find out how regulated it really is.
some small frys
That reminds me to try out my green 18350 tube!
Looks like they are extras from one of the Star Wars movies.
I don’t know all the details of the future line up but am I the only one who thinks that a Hank Wang
“DQG tiny” ish 26650 7x emitter light would be the Bomb?
first make it long enough that all cells work (this just seems like an oversight to me)
second offer some of those 90+ CRI nichia emitters
humm and maybe in Tan?
What else?
thoughts? anyone
I guess this might be getting into the territory where some may want the hot-rod DD and others might want the liner driver.
Maybe we can have a choice?
How cool would that be?
.02
I’ve thought similar thoughts. With such a powerful light and a great design at a very good price, you wonder if it could be adapted to other cells and emitters at similar values.
Your point about flexibility in the driver is well taken. Kinda like Convoy and their 4, 6 or 8*7135 options.
I wonder what’s coming up next?
whats the one on the right?
It looks like a Zebralight H302.
thanks!
I guess it could also have a 26350 size tube as an accessory
That would look funny!
Right-o, H302W and one of my most favorite lights of over 100 … super flooder.
yeah - does look real fun! i always find myself attracted to them Zebralights… but so expensive! and sorry to derail the topic.
the D4 seems to just hit the sweet spot though with performance AND price. i won’t be able to keep myself from getting one soon.
Here are three boost driver lights tested with cooling sufficient to prevent stepdowns. Only the Wizard actually maintains flat output, but none drop enough to be visually significant. Something strange is going on with that Meteor.
Cool!
I just charged up a purple efest 18350 and assembled my own little powerhouse quad. I can’t believe it’s so small and powerful at the same time.
Hopefully the reduced (but still powerful) lumen count with the 18350 will keep it a little bit cooler. We shall see once the sun goes down…
I just received my black D4 with XP-G2 S4 3D. I like it better than the 219C version.
XP-G2 throws better…more concentrated hot spot. 219C hot spot = wall of light.
Tint on the 3D has a rosy tint to it. 219C is pure white.
Now i need to figure it out how to flash the firmware to v2…and reflow XP-L HI v3 3C to replace the 219C.
Hopefully I’m getting mine tomorrow… Unless customs decide to sniff at it for another week or so… GA is charged with 4.18V resting voltage. Come to me my love… :heart_eyes: