The 188 charges more consistently and the batteries are easier to remove too thanks to the open bay design
I checked charge levels, one charged to 4.14v while the other was 4.18 so it terminates a little earlier than the 139 which is probably better than overcharging them a bit to 4.22v?
I also found out those laptop 18650s I salvaged, only 2 of those would charge, the rest refused to charge in either charger! Maybe they were dead for too long and the cells just died I don't know.
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The XM-L from manafont came today and let me tell you this, eff me it's bright! It's brighter than the C8 and that's got a massive reflector! I will test illumination distance when darkness falls but the centre spot is bigger than the C8 and brighter so I imagine it will illuminate as good as, if not better, than the C8.
I also prefer the smooth reflector with the XM-L as I found the OP reflector didn't have as nice a centre beam as I wanted and the spill is more uniform and clean on the smooth as well. Might have something to do with the OP that came with it being lighter OP than the other Op I had on the XP-G.
The colour is very nice too, as white as the XR-E in the C8 and also the outgoing XP-G from the L2. Not manky yellow like the DealExtreme XM-L I got before!
The XM-L also gets VERY hot! You can feel the heat transferring through the L2 though which is good I guess, better out than being left in.
Got some pics:
Emitter size difference:
Orange peel reflector differences, both smooth and op on the XM-L sort of cylinder in as the surface gets slower to the emitter:
Smooth reflector:
Compared to the C8:
Quick pattern check:
I don't know what the run time for Manafont's XM-L is but I will keep an eye on it. The XP-G from SolarForce was advertised as the Burntime King with 30 hours at the lowest setting and 3.5 at the highest (15hrs middle). The XM-L has 5 modes (strobe and SOS) and it appears the lowest setting is brighter than the XP-G lowest so I will use that mostly I reckon.