These newer Nightwatchs, A54U and LW55, appear to use similar drivers, resulting in excellent flat-line runtime (consistent the presence of a regulated driver).
Test was done with the powerful tabless EVE 40PL battery. I did it manually (vs automatic program, what a pain) and measured actual outputs with Texas Ace lumen tube. I did the test twice and am certain of the accuracy.
The steady state output is 1200 lm. Stable and straight line across. As with all lights without active cooling, Turbo should be used in 10-15 second burst only. Considering the tremendous output and drag racer nature of this light, I like the result a lot.
SUMMARY:
I took out the LW55 for an early morning walk today. With stunning 8200 lm output and 870 m throw, regulated driver, nice sustained output, green reflection AR glass, tight thermal regulation, large hotspot with great spill, it has a laundry list of goodies. Indeed a formidable competitor in my arbitrary class of “walk light.” Highest output, furthest throw.
Even though I would prefer a warmer CCT with a nice rosy tint (my Fireflies EO4 and X1 with those beautiful rosy LEDs), having that would mean this LW55 would NOT throw as far and would not have the mind boggling 8200 lm output, from a single 7070 LED. So with that caveat, I would give LW55 my highest recommendation, first time for Nightwatch, or second, after A54U.
At $30 with ND40F 40% coupon (if this doesn’t work then try “Christmas” 35% coupon, Christmas is the best time to buy from Nealsgadgets), IMHO this LW55 is an absolute no brainer of a purchase. (Check first if it’s still in stock.)
It looks like I will have a chance to test my theory soon. M21K with LHP71B 4000k ordered last night.
I had planned on M21E, but could not resist trying out the 50mm TIR lens of M21K. In general I don’t like singe-emitter TIR beam (prefer the bright spill of reflector), but cannot turn this big-boy down.
BTW, the LED in that Nightwatch LW55 above is also 7070 LED, a mystery LED called N7-170HP that is supposedly proprietary to Nightwatch. I suspect the driver is regulate CC Buck + FET Turbo. That would explain the 8000 lm output.
Can’t wait to get this battle royal lol of three 7070 LEDs going but my Convoy M21K tracking unfortunately keeps saying “shipping information received” and nothing else for the last 2-3 days.
I ordered one in 5000K LHB73B just to see what all the excitement with this LED is all about. I got it and a 3X21D SBT90.2 both with the new (to me) Tenpower INR21700-50XG. Just to compare with the Eve 50PLs that I recently got. I wonder if I am going to melt something or fry up some emitters?
The Eagle has landed - in LA. I’m excited that this big boy LED matched with the big boy 50mm TIR will be here soon, but still unsure about testing Turbo with my tabless batteries. Weerapat’s review sample using 50PL had its LED damaged. So maybe I will ease in with Molicel P45B until the coast is clear.
Mine is in the States too… I wasn’t sure when watching the review whether the defect in his LED was there to begin with or if it happened after turbo testing. Also, did I read that the light only has a momentary “turbo”?? I thought that I did… If so maybe jut turn on levels could be tested… I don’t know.
In any case, I don’t think a stock retail light should be delivered that will destroy itself when used with any of it’s stock settings!
Lol welcome to our beloved Convoy (still my most favorite brand, just have to be carefull I guess). But true, we don’t know the exact circumstance of why/how Weerapat’s LED died. We did see that he had tabless 50PL in the light.
The M21K with LHP73B 4000k finally arrived, an impressively short one week trip from China to LA.
Ever the nerdy tint snob, the first thing checked was the tint. Happily I could confirm that @Simon_Mao has clearly aimed to please with the tint of this LED. Multiple measurements reveal a dead flat neutral tint 0.0000 @ turbo level, beautiful beam color, no nasty green tint.
Turbo output of 5840 lm nearly doubles that of my M21E with XHP70.3 HI 4000k, another fantastic LED. And the beam shows this baby is a thrower. That 50mm TIR is a big bad boy. Very nice to look at and alone worth buying the light .
Yes that’s the 20a momentary Turbo. Battery is EVE 50PL pre production. My one 50PL sample has lower output than my other tabless, why I used it (to lower the chance of burning the LED).
Using the koef3’s curve of LHP73B, albeit the 5000k version, output measurement is close to prediction. No surprise here.
As you could see from the graph, as powerful as LHP73B is (nearly double that of XHP70.3 HI R70), the crazy Nightwatch LW55 with its N7-170HP could do more, with I suspect Direct Drive all-out FET Turbo .
What’s unique about LHP73B 4000k is its beautiful tint and low warm CCT. That’s where lights like LW55 or the 6500lm Mateminco D3 + SFN60 are no match. Beamshots to come.
Sounds nice. Is that at turn on, or did you risk 30 second ANSI measurements?
Mine is in New York… He used Ontrack as the last mile carrier. No clue why NY. Almost everything I get from China comes in through the west coast. Maybe I will see it this week.
Output is at turn on, but throw was indeed at 30 seconds. Once I realized Simon had chickened out (JK) and limited the current to 20A, I felt more confident with maintaining Turbo that long. Not confident enough to use the Tenpower though. Burned LED is such a pain.
M21K is nicely short, actually a tad shorter than M21E. The flare head however makes it more cumbersome. I could carry M21E in my (loose) pants’ pocket, but M21K is more of a jacket-pocket type.
The big boy 50mm clear, non-frosted TIR makes this a throwy light, ANSI throw 151 Kcd, 780 m is fantastic, near enough to super thrower territory (my arbitrary 1km). More critically, for me anyway, the hotspot is large. Much larger than both M21E with XHP70.3 and Nightwatch LW55.
So in short we have a $30 light with 6000 lumen, throws like crazy, and has a warm CCT with super nice tint. This sounds like a big winner and a tough light to compete against doesn’t it?
welcome to our beloved Convoy (still my most favorite brand, just have to be carefull I guess). But true, we don’t know the exact circumstance of why/how Weerapat’s LED died. We did see that he had tabless 50PL in the light.
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