XP-G2 into Lumapower DminiVX with beamshots and comparison pics

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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I bought this Lumapower Dmini-VX a couple years ago.


mainly for the curiosity of the SST-50 emitter in nice pocketable form.
Well, the quality of the flashlight speak for itself, it's not a budget light really. And has a wonderfull UI, 4 well spaced levels, no strobo, and a feature which if in any level you quickly tap 4 times the switch, it locks in the current mode. Coupled with a forward switch, makes for a very handy setup.
But...
I wasn't impressed with the SST-50. I discovered that (probably to keep temperatures under control) the emitter was definitely underdriven, at 2A. Moreover, with the shallow OP reflector, it was aimed at flood.
After a while I got tired of its performance, and asked Ricky at Lumapower to suggest me some options.
Did not like the bulky hyper-large thrower head, so choosen instead a new XM-L pill and a Teleforce head, with deep SMO reflector (33x33mm). This gave new life to the flashlight, output was higher (even if the driver still provided only 2,5A to the emitter, but did not want to loose the nice UI so settled for it) and the beamshot was much throwier than before, but very ringy.
After some mumbling and experimenting, found that most of the rings were due to the flatportion of reflector just near the emitter. Carefully reamed the emitter hole, basically removing most of the flat portion, and painted flat black the remaining edge. Voilà, no more rings in the beamshot!

This was like six months ago.

Now I received from Hank at I.O. two new EDC lights with the brand new XP-G2 emitter.
was very curious about this new emitter, with performance close to XM-L but in a much smaller die size.
The EDC were very floody. Well with such a small OP reflector, it was to be expected. But still managed to squeeze a 1mm thick nylon washer between reflector and emitter and the beam is now better (for my taste) the hotspot now is about 2/3 than before and more intense.
But the EDC drives the XP-G2 at a mere 1,4A high, 0,44A med, 0,07A low. I wanted more.

Was re-reading Match testing results, when the idea started. XP-G2 needs 2,5A to really stretch its legs. Do I have something that puts out 2,5A? Oh yeah, the Lumapower!
The same evening both the second EDC and the Lumapower were disassembled. The emitter transplant wasn't really difficult. What was difficult was carefully opening the Lumapower pill. Threaded ring below, pressed in plastic emitter holder from above, no gaps. Ended up marring a little the plastic holder, but still fits snug, so not a problem.
I was curious about the driver, its a double decker circuit with also a bulky coil toroid (filter?) but not similar to anything seen before.

Had to fiddle a bit to find the proper focus with the reflector, the emitter needs to stay way low, completely below the reflector opening, so had to ream the hole a little more to avoid the edge to cut a shadow.

The result now makes me very happy. This third incarnation of the Dmini-VX is the best one to date!
The XP-G2 is driven at a fully 2,5A at high, with 0,50A med, 0,12A low and 0,02 very low (good to walk inside home at night)
The beam is throwy, with a small tight hotspot, very bright.
I took some pics indoor, at 4meter distance in my room, just for comparison.
I'll have to take some pics outdoor at night, but its well promising!

This is the I.O. EDC with XPG2, note the step of the washer I added:

This is the Lumapower D-mini VX with the tele-force head and 18650 tube:

And this is the reflector with the reamed hole and the new XPG2 fitted

Now all the indoor comparison pics. On every pic there's the name of the flashlight.

Note that all were taken in manual with same WB. All flashlights on HIGH. The F2.8 pics reflect the eye-perceived brightness, the F8 ones (darker) shows better the size of the hotspot. Oh, the wall on the left is blue painted, not an optical effect, LOL!

The Crelant is overkill here for the light output, and clearly the XPG2 has less lumens than XML, but it's interesting to note the size of the hotspot

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Uh? 89 views and not a single comment?

Not interesting subject or boring presentation?

I'm not english language native, so sorry if my writing is not the best...

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Hey, Rock, just saw your post :smiley:
Very interesting comparison, thanks :beer: Clearly seen on those low expo shots. Will try to make mouse over comparison :stuck_out_tongue:

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Nice job on the Lumapower and really nice comparison pics. Thanks for sharing! :)

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Very nicely done. I want to do the same, but with the giant turbo head !

There is something perversely funny about the single 16340 body/turbo head combo.

Your setup, however, looks eminently useable...great job.

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I’m really liking the xp-g2, thanks for the comparisons, I just hope that your edc’s arriving means my host is not far off, I’m getting itchy…… :bigsmile:

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Thanks for the mousover SashiX!

@ kevinjohnson
" You chose the XPG2 because the XML was fairly ringy in this setup? "
Not really. The XM-L in the Lumapower was not ringy anymore after reaming the reflector, but the stock driver only pushes 2,5A and the XM-L seemed low on output compared to all the Nanjg105 driven lights out there. But did not want to swap out the Lumapower driver 'cause the UI is really nice. The XP-G2 just happened to be the perfect swap, maxing out its performance at 2,5A.
And it throws better now!
XP-G2 has more output than XP-G


Thanks JohnnyMac


Chicago X, the short body with the turbo head is a vision I cannot suffer... Plain ugly. But admit has some potential
This one remains pocketable, and that's a big plus for me.


I'm sure we will see increasing number of flashlights with this XP-G2, decent output and throw in a small package.
Just noticed Fenix has came out with their upgraded version of TK15 with XP-G S2, rated at 400 lm. Wonder why they didn't go straight to the XP-G2, better in any way.

Gords, did you buy the host only? No XP-G2? What plans do you have for it?

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Yeah, host only, I have an Xm-l u2 and an ld25 driver to go in it. The xm-l light is driven at 2.6a, same output as the ld25, but the ld25 is current controlled in all modes - no pwm. 8)