I have bought quite a few Skyray Kings for family and friends over a long period of time and kept six for my own use around the farm, some Gold some Black, some older XM-L ones and some XM-L U2 ones as well as the cheap and nasty lookalikes that I have thrown into the bin quite a while back.
When you get the good ones they are just fantastic and the best ones I have had so far are the ones from Ric at CNQ. I was wondering if the King will ever go to the U3 LED. The XM-L U2 updated models have a noticable increase in the lumen output and it is a bit better in throw without loosing any real spill. More lumens and throw for the same old low price are always welcome in my collection. Another mode so that the light levels could be spread out a bit more would be handy to have. Has anyone tried modding the King with U3 LEDs?
Long live the King is right! But actually, the T6 models in my experience are driven a bit harder than some of the U2s and thus a teeny-tiny bit brighter. I think soon there will be a jump to XML2 U2 in the coming months since it only makes sense now.
But as always, the key is in how hard an emitter is driven, not necessarily that it is a later model. My gold King is driven so hard that I can’t hold it after 8 or 9 minutes of running. Just can’t. Each emitter is getting tons of current. Love it!
Have to agree with this too. My early version King from CNQ is also driven hard. You really can’t use it for long periods on high mode. Running off my desk top power supply, it pulls about 6.8a-6.9a on high mode.
The XM-L U2 Kings that I have are brighter and have more throw.
My Black Skyray Kings use XM-L U2 LEDs and are just as bright as the T6 fitted Kings and have a bit more throw as the inner circle of the beam is more definined than my XM-L Gold ones that are a bit older using T6 LEDs.
The beam tint is a pleasure to use as it is pure white with absolutely no sign of yellow or green anywhere and not a bluish color in sight either.
The CNQ website states “SKY RAY KING Black Color 3xCREE XML U2 1B/T6 3C 2500-Lumen Flashlight”.
Ric has the next batch of Kings on order now for delivery to him later this month. There was only one neutral King left today when I looked. Ric at CNQ does the right thing by me always! I trust his supply of Skyray Kings and he only has the best batches of them nowadays.
I am going to order some more Black Kings as soon as they are available. I still would like to see a King using XM-L U3 LEDs as it should be brighter than the U2 fitted ones as they are more efficient similar to going from an XP-G to the later XP-G2 LEDs in other flashlights. I am surprised that nobody has modded a King to use the U3 LEDs yet. The driver board should be the same as the U2 fitted lights and would not draw any more current but produce more lumens because of being more efficient.