Spec me an LED Torch

[Aod]

Ta AoD, that clears up some confusion on the official model branding - I thought the Q5 was just that across the board, a Q5

the R5 XP-G looks great linked above. I will look at that I think as the runtimes quoted in the spec are just what I (we) need!

So an L2R and XP-G = The business

The C8 I have will still be used of course as its pretty powerful but I'm very interested in seeing how much more powerful something like the XP-G is so will post back when the combo arrive

Edit*
Ah maybe not the L2R as that's AA batteries only.

Edit2*
Ordered the XP-G and L2 tailstand body @ £20 - bargain!

Now we're talking! you'll probably get less throw with your P60 XP-G dropin than with the C8 because the light-emitting-surface on the XP-G is quite a bit larger than the one in the XR-E, and the reflector itself is also smaller.

either way, the prodigious amount of light it produces should make up for all of that

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Anyone got the S-Mini from Shining Beam?

Mine dropped through the letter box on sat and I't now my favourite light - perfect partner to my 4sevens Maelstorm when I go out walking (and I got it in the lovely neutral tint).

Only trouble is the clocks have now gone forward! Roll on October!

 

[mrk]

Now we're talking! you'll probably get less throw with your P60 XP-G dropin than with the C8 because the light-emitting-surface on the XP-G is quite a bit larger than the one in the XR-E, and the reflector itself is also smaller.

either way, the prodigious amount of light it produces should make up for all of that

I'm not too fussed about the throw really as long as it's decent enough The C8 has impressive throw aye but light power is most important as you've mentioned!

I already got the shipping confirmation email too from solarforce so I imagine it will be here within 2 weeks \m/

 

[Aod]

I'm not too fussed about the throw really as long as it's decent enough The C8 has impressive throw aye but light power is most important as you've mentioned!

I already got the shipping confirmation email too from solarforce so I imagine it will be here within 2 weeks \m/

did you buy it from Solarforce-Sales?

the problem with shipping from Hong Kong (with regular airmail packages) is that they're very low priority and there's a tremendous volume of them.

while less of an issue now compared to about four months ago due to Christmas and the like, it might take more than two weeks for your package to even leave Hong Kong as HK-post work their way through the packages.

hopefully it won't though!

sometimes, i can't bare to wait and just splurge to have the stuff shipped by HK EMS Speedpost (you have to email solarforce-sales for EMS though)

 

[mrk]

Damn!

Yes it was from Solarforce Sales

Well I suppose I can wait a bit!

 

[2StepSteve]

Anyone got the S-Mini from Shining Beam?

Mine dropped through the letter box on sat and I't now my favourite light - perfect partner to my 4sevens Maelstorm when I go out walking (and I got it in the lovely neutral tint).

Only trouble is the clocks have now gone forward! Roll on October!

The S-Mini caught me eye the other week, was looking at small and compact 18650 lights. What do you run yours on? I see it has quite a wide input voltage. How is the brightness on a 18650?

Damn right about the BST getting in the way, feels like the sun never goes down now!

 

[Aod]

I'm considering making a bulk purchase of CR123A primary-batteries (single use) from America.
The cells are American-made Rayovac-Brand, apparently manufactured by Panasonic, with a nominal capacity of 1400mAh and a shelf-life of ten years (to 75% capacity)

These are very-high-quality cells, far better than the cheap chinese ones, and as a bonus, are considerably less likely to explode.

The shop sells 'em in boxes of 100 for $115. price per cell, after Shipping, Duty and VAT is £1.14 if I buy 200, and £1.30 if i only buy 100.

Would anyone be interested in partaking in a group-buy? if enough people want some then i'll be able to buy the 200 (or possibly even more) for a lower-price all round.

I already have a friend who's looking to get £20-worth, any other takers?

 

[Mark A]

I bought my sisters boyfriend an ITP LIGHT SA2 Eluma for christmas. He took it to work with him and everybody was impressed and now the company he works for (Rolls Royce) has bought all his workmates one .

 

[Deleted member 66701]

The S-Mini caught me eye the other week, was looking at small and compact 18650 lights. What do you run yours on? I see it has quite a wide input voltage. How is the brightness on a 18650?

Damn right about the BST getting in the way, feels like the sun never goes down now!

When it's in the drawer it has 2xCR123's in it but when I actually go out with it I put an 18650 in it. i use either unprotected Panasonic NC18650 (2900mah) or Redilast 18650 (based on same Panasoninc NCR18650 2900mah cell).

Brightness is the same on both cell types but it gets warmer with 2xCR123's as it bleeds the extra voltage off as heat (as do most 7135 driver based lights).

 

[Kona*]

I didn't know we had so many torch nerds here - it's like a mini CPF in this thread

Anyone got the S-Mini from Shining Beam?

Mine dropped through the letter box on sat and I't now my favourite light - perfect partner to my 4sevens Maelstorm when I go out walking (and I got it in the lovely neutral tint).

Only trouble is the clocks have now gone forward! Roll on October!

I ordered one yesterday in the Neutral White tint - how do you find yours, any beam shots you can post?

I've also got an XM-L T6 Pill on the way from Hong Kong for my Dereelight CL1H V4, it should be bloody bright!

 

[mrk]

*shakes fist at HK post* It's been a week!

 

[Mark A]

Mine (either the body or drop-in) turned up on sat and I was still in bed. Got to wait till wedensday now .

 

[mrk]

Just checked HK Post tracking and my bits left HK on the 1st April so i should get them this week!

 

[rG-tom]

What's the best torch for an even but wide spread? I want to do light painting,need to produce say a 4 foot wide beam from 10 feet away? Or is a normal bright torch with some method of diffusion (lightbox perhaps?) the way forward?

It's for light painting (photography) but i want to be able to get a nice even finish. Also, brighter the better.

 

[mrk]

What's the best torch for an even but wide spread? I want to do light painting,need to produce say a 4 foot wide beam from 10 feet away? Or is a normal bright torch with some method of diffusion (lightbox perhaps?) the way forward?

It's for light painting (photography) but i want to be able to get a nice even finish. Also, brighter the better.

One of the Cree powered Zoomable torches is what you want then. I don't know the exact dimensions of the beam pattern from 10feet away from the few posted above but I can test if you like but if it's just for light painting then the zoomables will give you the pattern width you want and the beam you want too.

And they're <£8

 

[Aod]

I'm considering making a bulk purchase of CR123A primary-batteries (single use) from America.
The cells are American-made Rayovac-Brand, apparently manufactured by Panasonic, with a nominal capacity of 1400mAh and a shelf-life of ten years (to 75% capacity)

These are very-high-quality cells, far better than the cheap chinese ones, and as a bonus, are considerably less likely to explode.

The shop sells 'em in boxes of 100 for $115. price per cell, after Shipping, Duty and VAT is £1.14 if I buy 200, and £1.30 if i only buy 100.

Would anyone be interested in partaking in a group-buy? if enough people want some then i'll be able to buy the 200 (or possibly even more) for a lower-price all round.

I already have a friend who's looking to get £20-worth, any other takers?

Anyone? Any Takers?

 

[Mark A]

If it was a group buy of AW 18650 cells I'd be interested in a few but I dont have any use for CR123As, sorry mate.

 

[mrk]

18650 interest here too

Anyway, Aod, I have a bone to pick with you!

The duo turned up today, superb! But my bone picking is in relation to the claim you made that I would be blown away by the prodigious amount of light of the XP-G and having played around all evening so far I can confirm it is brighter than the C8 with Q5 but only a bit brighter in general.

What I am finding is the XP-G's pattern has no centre spot beam and instead spreads the otherwise centre beam through the whole pattern which is great for normal torch boshing around but I was hoping it would have had a centre beam as well as the throw like on the C8 but as you say, the reflector is smaller so this is why it isn't possible.

I am 100% confident that if I were to put the C8's emitter in the L2 with the same reflector then the power of light output would be exactly the same.



As it stands, the C8 has excellent throw and a tighter centre beam for spotlighting, you will get the idea from the pics below. The XP-G has a "void" in the middle when lighting stuff up close. From all the reviews I was expecting it to be considerably better than the C8 but I can live with both so this isn't a bother

I've ditched the zoomable one now as the output is laughable compared to the XP-G and C8

The SolarForce L2 HAIII build quality is excellent too. I find it as good as the C8 while the grooves on the grip grip are a bit in the hand. The tail tip is of a different build material than the rest of the body.

The tail button on the L2 is different to what I'm used to. Where on the C8 you turn it on then depress lightly to switch power modes, on the L2/XP-G you depress lightly to switch modes then press fully to turn on, you cannot depress and adjust mode while it is on, this could be an issue in a tight bag where something presses against the tail and accidentally activates the torch in the bag and you'd never know until you went to use it and the battery was dead!

Weight and length wise they're both about the same while the C8 is quite a big wider at the head (obvious ).

Pics:

(XP-G above, C8 below).


Now that I have the L2, is there another Drop in that would give a similar result (or better) than the C8 pattern? I prefer the cleaner pattern and beam of the C8 emitter compared to the XP-G.

Edit*
Scratch the above question, I will keep both as is, they both serve different uses

The lowest power setting on the L2/XP-G gives a rated 45 hours and it's bright enough so that will come in very handy.

 

[Mark A]

Looks nice and floody, just what I was after. I find my Fenix TK12 and LD20 a bit too focused for some of the jobs I need them for. And not too keen on the diffusers either.

Its a shame about the void in the centre of the beam though.

 

[mrk]

The void closes up the further away you light up (having played some more) but the pattern isn't as clean, but yup, if you want a not as focused centre beam then it's great so I will use it just for that kind of purpose, when the C8 is just too intense in the middle

Also, you can Lightsabre battle with the C8