Seems like the XPG R5 has High -Low- Strobe and the XRE is 1 mode.
I have ordered one from Shenzhen (on the mainland) for ~$37 plus $6 postage.
No difference in price between this site and the other that offers free postage, but I might get it a little quicker after paying freight costs??
The service seems OK so far with prompt confirmation emails (in good English) from the supplier and fast dispatch after payment.
Ordering from this site was a little odd though, in that you don't find out the freight cost until after you place the order. You can request a freight quote prior to ordering if you like.
You receive an initial invoice by email immediately after placing the order for the goods and then a few hours later, another invoice arrives with an updated total showing the goods, plus the frieght cost. Anyway, we will see what happens.
Now just waiting for China Mail do deliver the goods. Will be interesting to compare transit time from the mainland with the free HK mail from DX and KD.
Sparktastic, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and impressions on this light once you get it. Possibly a review?
Will see what I can do. I don't have a Light meter so can't give lumens OTF etc, but hopefully I can post some beamshots and current readings.
Will be interesting to see which emitter they have used in the recoil section in particular.
Anyway, I don't expect it to arrive for another week at the earliest so you will have to be patient, unless someone can review it earlier.
Incidentally, I have just received a nice 3 mode (H,M,L) XM-L P60 drop-in (same as the ones being sold at Manafont). I paid $19 on Ebay though. Pulls 2.8A on high at the tailcap and produces as much light output as my 3A driven P7 in a dual 18650 host with a 50mm reflector! Nice beam pattern from the mirror finish reflector too (no ugly P7 donut artifacts). The XM-L has some serious potential and I am looking forward to the other XM-L lights with 40-50mm reflectors that are also due to arrive in the mail soon.
Well, it arrived eventually from Shenzen-Wholesale.
Basic data:
Recoil Emitter: R2 (supposedly)
Flood Emitter: Appears to be 100 lumen XP-C (not listed in specs but drive current matches)
Modes (4) -: High recoil, Low Recoil, Flash recoil, High flood.
Forward clicky (not ideal in multi-mode lights IMHO)
Battery - 1x 18650 only.
Now some details you've been waiting for.. The tailcap readings
| Battery Voltage | @ 3.7 Volt | @ 4.2 Volt |
| High Recoil | 0.5A (~1.85w) | 0.8A (3.36w) |
| Low Recoil | 0.1A (0.37w) | .16A (0.67w) |
| Flash Recoil | 0.5A (1.85w) | 0.8A (3.36w) |
| Flood | 0.5A (1.85w) | 0.4 (1.68w) |
Driver conclusions:
As you can see from the above table, the power draw and presumably the lumen output, drops to roughly half when the battery voltage drops to 3.7v. Unfortunately, most 18650 cells drop to 3.7v relatively quickly under load.
Interestingly, the front/flood emitter seems to be regulated to less than 2w and actually draws less power from a 4.2v battery than a 3.7v battery....
Not sure why this is, as this emitter appears to be bonded to the heatsink better than the recoil emitter. The front/flood emitter appears to be an XP-C, so maybe this explians the lower power.
Beam pattern:
The recoil pattern is typical of a recoil arrangement. Virtually no spill although there are faint 'cree' rings around the emitter outline when white walling at close range. The emitter does seem to be slightly out of focus on my unit as the edges of the emitter outline are slightly fuzzy. This may be intentional though, to provide a slightly more appealing beam. My first recoil flashlight (UF-007 I think) had a very focussed beam and you could clearly see every line and a razor sharp image. It didn't look at all pretty when shining on a wall.
The flood pattern is really just the raw output from an unfocussed, non-reflectored emitter. The output from this emitter is a pretty even amount of light spread over a very wide angle. To give an idea of how wide this is, when the flashlight is only 1ft away from a wall, the flood beam has a diameter of 3ft!
Initial impression:
The UF-009 supreme does throw very, very well. But it requires a freshly charged 18650 and 4.2v to really drive the R2 to it's full potential of over 3 watts. As the battery voltage drops to around 3.7v, you really start to loose this flashlights throw appeal. In fact, at 3.7v the UF-009's hotspot is actually dimmer than my 1A, well regulated Q5 MRV.
The other issue with this flashlight, is that it is virtually impossible to modify. The Recoil driver could be replaced with a more efficient one to drive the R2 a little better at lower battery voltages, but you would loose the flood emitter capabilities. The main problem with most of these XR-E style lights is the relatively high VF of the emitter. Once battery voltage drops below 3.8v, it is really hard to drive these emitters hard (and efficiently) no matter what driver you use. What we need is an XR-E style emitter, with a VF of 3.3v or less
. Anyway one can only dream..
Sorry but...XP-C? Are you sure?
I'd be curious to see if it would do any better on 2xCR123's. I know it doesn't specifically state that it can run on those, but the drive characteristics look familiar to others that do.
Thanks for the review!
Strange that they choose a XP-C as flood emmitter. Can't you modify it to lets say a XP-G?
Dunno, the front emitter is so small it is hard to see. The dome is only about 2.5mm in diameter and the die looks smaller than an XPG, but it does appear to have four lines, so that rules out the XPC.