P90 vs G90

I was wanting to know which is brighter, and which has the smoothest most useful beam the P90 or G90?

I've never used a P90, just the original and high-pressure G90s. The high-pressure G90 (sold by Digilight and by TradeDigit's eBay store) provides much more light than a P90. I'd say it delivers about 80 percent the light of a P91 at 45 percent of the current.

All high-pressure G&P lamps I've used (3.6V, 9V, and 12V) have delivered a WHITE beam that's fairly smooth.

The main drawback of the old and new G90 is that you must screw the lamp into the reflector's exact focal point--the "sweet spot." If you're so little as a quarter-turn off, the beam becomes defocused and ugly. What I do is focus the G90 perfectly, then secure the lamp to the reflector with a ring or two of electrical tape.

If you prefer a beam that's nearly as wide as the P91's but draws less than half the current, you might also consider the 130-lumen 9V xenon tactical lamp assemblies from Wolf Eyes and Pila. They should fit a Surefire C/P head.

Hi Paul and jrplane :wave:,

is this the G90 you both mean?
If so, that's my favorite, and I have both P90 and P91 globes to compare it to.
The G&P G90 has a smoother transition between hot-spot and surrounding spill, AND it's just a tad whiter.
Ofcourse the P91 High Output Lamp Assembly is the most powerful, (close to SF M3 powerful on two Li-Ions), but I still prefer the beam of the G90.
Perhaps they are just the samples I have, but altogether I'm pretty confident that the G90 is a worthy alternative.

That's the ordinary G90. The "High Pressure" G90 looks identical but they fill the glass bulb with a greater quantity of xenon gas, hence it's higher pressure. The increased gas pressure in the bulb allows the lamp to produce more light for a given amount of current.

The regular G90 gives a rated 105 lumens while the improved "High Pressure" G90 gives a rated 175 lumens.

I wouldn't be surprised if LightHound begins to stock the HP G90 soon.

I'm not convinced the G90 TradeDigit sells is actually the high pressure model. I contacted them twice requesting a bit more info about it and never got an answer back from them.
They are well aware of the interest some of the people here at CPF have in this lamp.

Has anyone actually got a confirmation from TradeDigit that they are selling the 175 lumen lamp and not the 105 lumen lamp?

The descriptions of some of their auction items tend to be somewhat vague and jump around alot for slightly different items. They list 2 different items but use the same fuzzy pictures for each item.

Has anyone bought Tradedigit's 175 lumen lamp module?

I haven't used G&P lamps but it sounds like the G90 is like the Surefire P90 and the high-pressure G90 is like the Surefire P91.

Also, doesn't G&P make a lamp that has a xenon bulb and 3 LED's in the reflector?

Here's a link to G&P's lamp assembly page

edit: fixed faulty link

rikvee said:

Here's a link to G&P's website

Click to expand...

link doesn't seem to go to anything related to flashlights...?

i'm also very interested in the HP G90... Sounds like it would run on AWs protected cells, making it possible to get a decent rechargable light for much cheaper.

I am interested in running a G&P G90 105 Lumen L.A. in a 2x Protected RCR 123 flashlight, for about 35 mins.

I know some protected cells ( not sure if all) will run the G&P G90, so I assume they might drive other slightly more demanding L.A. as well.

What I would like to know is if I can run any other, higher output, L.A. like the wolf eyes or pila, and specificaly, If I could run the G&P G90 175 lumen L.A. as it uses less current than the P91.


If I can run the G&P G90 105 Lumen L.A. In this 2 cell Protected RCR123 set up, what Lamp assembley should I try next as a Lumen upgrade ( forget runtime )

The high pressure G90 will draw less than 1.0 amps on a pair of rechargeables that are hot off the charger. The regular G90 on a pair of rechargeables will draw about the same current but give much less output.

I'd skip the 105 lumen bulb and go straight to the high pressure version G90. It's as good as it gets for now if you want to run a pair of protected RCR123 sized cells.

LumenHound said:

Has anyone actually got a confirmation from TradeDigit that they are selling the 175 lumen lamp and not the 105 lumen lamp?

Click to expand...

Yes, I have. There's no difference in markings (there never is, unless you buy a Diglight USA version, which will say "HP", but I'm sure TradeDigit sent me the brighter lamp.

Also, I think that the high-pressure bulb is a bit longer, less stubby, though I can't be sure anymore since I've mixed and match my lamps and reflectors so much that I've lost track of which is which. If true, then of course it must be positioned a bit differently in the reflector.

LumenHound said:

The high pressure G90 will draw less than 1.0 amps on a pair of rechargeables that are hot off the charger.

Click to expand...

Are you sure it's that low? Not 1.1 or 1.2A? I don't think I'm getting more than an hour from my 1400mAh cells.

Raoul_Duke said:

What I would like to know is if I can run any other, higher output, L.A. like the wolf eyes or pila, and specificaly, If I could run the G&P G90 175 lumen L.A. as it uses less current than the P91.

If I can run the G&P G90 105 Lumen L.A. In this 2 cell Protected RCR123 set up, what Lamp assembley should I try next as a Lumen upgrade ( forget runtime )

Click to expand...

The Wolf Eyes 9V lamp can't be powered up by two protected 123A cells. I've tried.

RICO Alpha 9 is the only other high-output lamp assembly; it's roughly comparable to the HP G90, but less white; it's also less bright because it casts a broader beam. Unfortunately, the flange of its lamp is too wide to thread into a G&P reflector. I can get about 56 minutes from an Alpha 9 on a pair of 1.4 mAh AW protected 18500 cells.

Just this week, Emilion began listing a $10 P90-compatible xenon lamp assembly that I've never heard of. The brand begins with a P. According to his listing, it has characteristics similar to a Surefire P90 but the beam is a bit wider.

Really, the high-pressure G90 is as good as it gets. And for more throw, you can use it in a 43mm miniturbo head by Digilight, LEDWave, G&P, and Camillus.

mdocod said:

link doesn't seem to go to anything related to flashlights...?

Click to expand...

Here's the correct link to G&P flashlights and lamp assemblies. Incredibly, they list only one "level" of xenon lamp, almost cetainly the low pressure.

Usually, when a company makes a premium and a budget version of a product, they save the premium version for their own brand. Not G&P! You can't buy the 175-lumen G90 in a G&P-branded light except possibly their rechargeable. Their website doesn't even acknowledge that it exists...or, for that matter, the high-pressure G120 (12V) and G5R (3.6V).

NotRegulated said:

I haven't used G&P lamps but it sounds like the G90 is like the Surefire P90 and the high-pressure G90 is like the Surefire P91.

Also, doesn't G&P make a lamp that has a xenon bulb and 3 LED's in the reflector?

Click to expand...

The P91 put out a wall of light, even wider than the wide beam of a Wolf Eyes / Pila; the HP G90 is more concentrated.


As seen in the above link, G&P makes a xenon lamp assembly with 8 LEDs. Similar lamp assemblies are sold by Microfire. I tried the Microfire and found that the LEDs got in the way of the reflector, causing major artifacts in the xenon beam.

On my Digilight DRB-9VHP lamp the current draw is actually less than 900 milliamps.
I get a draw of 855ma on rested protected RCR123 sized cells, 850ma on unprotected 18650's, 840ma on unprotected rechargeable 123A sized cells, and finally, 820ma on three fresh Battery Station CR123A primary cells after 60 seconds of ON time.

I checked with 2 different digital multimeters and the numbers were the same.

These numbers are astonishing. We're looking at an efficiency on the order of 26 lumens per watt. That's about 2.6 times as efficient (corrected from 1.6) as G&P's 3.6V lamp, the G5R, calculated as follows (using voltage figures representative of a 1400 mAh cell under load):

G90 = 0.85A x 7.8V = 6.6W
175 lumens / 6.6W = 26 lumens per watt

G5R = 1.8A x 3.9V = 7.0W
70 lumens / 7W = 10 lumens per watt

Is this possible? How can the same technology yield such different efficiencies?

Let's try it for G&P's high-pressure G120. I think it draws about 1.8A:

G120 = 1.8A x 11.5V = 20.7W
227 lumens / 20.7 = 11 lumens per watt

The only way around the G90's extraordinary efficiency is to assume that currrent is higher when using higher-capacity cells (1000 to 1500 mAh, vs. 750mAh for RCR123A).

Paul_in_Maryland said:

The only way around the G90's extraordinary efficiency is to assume that currrent is higher when using higher-capacity cells (1000 to 1500 mAh, vs. 750mAh for RCR123A).

Click to expand...

I got a draw of 850 milliamps on a new set of AW's unprotected 18650 2200mah cells.

Whoa, whoa! Back up! Theres' a lamp assembly for my 9P that will but out 175 lumens for an hour?!?!? When did this happen? I guess I've been out of the loop. Where can I get this HP G90??

Now I'm confused!!

Where can I get the HP G90? Cost?

Bill

I'm still stunned. If this thing has decent shock resistance, it will make a 9P more powerful than an M3 for half the cost! Muhahahaha!