Nitecore d10 golden dragon not so bright

I bought the nitecore D10 cree model and I like it. BUT the guy that I work with was always borrowing it. SO, I bought him a Nitecore D10 golden dragon for Christmas.

The concern is that his golden dragon model is much dimmer than my cree model and the golden dragon light seems blue in compareison.

Is this normal? If so, I don't like the golden dragon model at all!

My opinion is that my Q5 has a brighter hotspot but the beam profile is just so much nicer on the GDP. I got both and keep the Q5 on my night stand on low and EDC my GDP (it's default is high). Yes, my GDP is a violet tint, but the Q5 is a more greenish tint (go figure). I prefer the slightly violet over the slightly greenish. I have the clip on my GDP now and carry it with me everywhere.

I am not so sure it is dimmer, or the warmer tint of the hot spot makes the GD seem dimmer than the colder Q5. Nitecore specs say it is the same. I would be sure your friend uses a 14500 battery in his and that it is fully charged. This will improve the brightness over a primary or over an Eneloop.

There does seems to be a tint lottery with the Osram GD LED. The spill area often appears slightlybluer than the hot spot. Personally, I didn't find the slightly blue tint of the spill area that objectionable, because it wasn't that bright in that part of the beam, anyway.

The GDP version is known to be a little dimmer on average.

Marduke said:

The GDP version is known to be a little dimmer on average.

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It also seems that the very first generation pushed the LED harder than the newer one? If you search under threads by member Beamhead you will find a thread about this.