Scout24,
I don't want to ignore your question nor do I want to bring price discussion up in this thread. I will post the price ahead of the wave but I would like to keep this thread on the light itself even though I realize that price is certainly part of the equation! (loveit even takes the question a real step into Haiku)
Bernie,
You will know soon enough as your Haiku should be arriving any day now. I am concerned that you may have expectations that ultimately are beyond the reality but I trust you will be candid should that be the case. Your reviews have raised the bar for all of us and I wanted to make your task of adding this light to the FAQ a little easier for you. :nana: (I still expect your own take on this light both pro and con)
BruceC,
Yes, this is the brightest single cell light I have built by virtue of the LED itself as well as the drive current. I played with higher drive currents in the past and saw similar curves that were not flat as one would expect. Looking at the current demand on the battery, I am not surprised that the curve is not flat. I attribute some of the drop at least initially to heat but I expect that this curve is more representative of the power curve of the battery. It would be interesting to see what the curve would be with a R123 if it is capable of more power even if over a shorter period. I could have set the drive current even higher but I don't like the thermal ramifications nor do I like the idea of a curve that drops even more. It looks like the converter is capable of sucking most of the power out of the battery and I noticed that there was still light coming out when I ended the test which was after more time than the graph even shows. In real world use, these lights will see a whole bunch of stop and start and at different levels of output.
I am not so hot on run time tests any more because I think they can be as misleading as they are illuminating. On the other hand, they do provide a handle to grab provided one doesn't put too much weight on it!
And you guys I haven't singled out or specifically addressed, I do appreciate your comments and I have read them.