Dereelight DBS-T XR-E R2 EZ900 Aspheric First Impressions

36\01RSAW

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Apr 18, 2010
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Hi yall,

I recently received a new Dereelight DBS-T XR-E EZ 900 2MT-M aspheric and thought I'd share my impression of this light.
Upon first unboxing the torch and throwing in a couple AW RCR123's I thought, "This is kinda cool and kinda bright, but I can't see how this is gonna throw that far"... more on this later.
As far as build quality goes, it feels feels solid and the anodizing seems good. The threads were gritty on the tail cap. It has already survived a fall from waist height onto asphalt with no ill affects, other than ruining the aesthetics.
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But then I decided to take it to the park and stretch out its legs. My mind was blown. I could not believe how far this little light could throw that beam; there are no photons wasted to spill with the aspherical lens. This is truly THE pocket thrower. I'm impressed.

Here are some beamshots (my first ever) with a crappy nikon l20 point and shoot (aided by my abominable photography skills)
Iso set at -2.0
100 ft to the playhouse
1st pic: control
2nd pic:Fenix E21 XP-E R2
3rd pic: DBS-T XR-E R2 Aspheric

DSCN2117.jpg


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This light far exceeded my expectations in terms of performance. The UI is very sensible as well. I didn't pay much attention to the fact that I was getting a light that had a "tactical" lockout, but it makes sense in a light like this where you often want the light to turn on high, and only high. There is ample knurling on each piece for you to loosen the head to enter and exit the lockout mode. In general mode, the three brightness levels are easily accessible by half presses of the tail cap (i haven't really used the lower modes, but its nice to have the capability) The knurling at the base of the head is intentional, and effective at allowing you to hold the base of the head stationary while focusing the lens. All in all, I highly recommend this light as a pocket thrower. I cant wait to go to the park again tonight:naughty:
 

varmint

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Aug 9, 2011
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Cash, Texas
Glad you like it, I really like mine also, get the battery extenders for it and expermint with different cells, you will like it more. I have 2 Derrelights, the Asperic and a xml, they are my favorite lights of all. Please keep posting on what you have done with it and tried in it. 2x18500's are my favorite.
 

fnsooner

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Nov 5, 2009
Messages
755
Thanks for the pictures and impressions 36\01RSAW. Here's some of my impressions and general thoughts about Dereelight.

I recieved the exact same light about a week ago. Like you, I am blown away by this light. I have never really had much interest in optic enhanced lights, but I finally broke down and bought this one and I am glad I did.

This lights narrow beam, long throw, forward clickie and negligible spill makes me feel somewhat stealthy while using it in a congested urban environment. I didn't realize how much I would like this beam profile.

As impressed as I am with the beam, I am equally or more impressed with the UI. For those not familiar with Dereelight's tactical user interface; with the head tightened, you have a single high mode with forward clickie configuration and with the head loosened a half turn, you have low/med/high with mode memory and forward clickie configuration.



I am going to ramble some on my search for the perfect general purpose light.

My EDC set-up is pretty much set in stone; Preon 2 in my work shirt pocket and a ZL SC600 in my pants pocket, but the search for the ultimate general purpose light has been a continuous process.

For a couple of years my king of the general purpose light was the 4Sevens 2AA Quark Turbo with the tactical UI. The number of flashlights that it kicked to the curb surprised me. The abilty to use the momentary forward clickie as I pleased without changing modes was my favorite thing about it. It eventually lost out to lights with more powerful LEDs and superior battery chemistry(18650), even at the expense of an inferior UI.

I think the "Tactical" UI for the Dereelight has improved on the 4Sevens' light.

I have also found that I like neutral tints better than cool white, but like warm tints even better. When I saw that Dereelight had cool, neutral, and warm white options on their lights, I took a real hard look at the other lights they offered.

So now I am awaiting the arrival of a CL1H-T XM-L T3 (warm white)and a DBS-T XM-L T3(warm white) flashlight, both without the aspheric head. I also have a 18650 extender and a 18500 extender coming to play around with different battery configurations.
 

cummins4x4

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Mar 10, 2011
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Near Lethbridge Alberta
I have a couple, same as varmint, aspheric running 2x18650 and the xml in a SMO running 2x16340 IMR. Good build quality and UI. The aspheric gets used a lot for scanning the fields around my place, I can light up coyotes easily at several hundred yards. I have a custom Mag with a 2 lens aspheric that will out throw the Deree but it is 4 times the size. Looking at your pics it looks like you are in a rural area as well, your neighbours might wonder what is lighting up the countryside.
 

yifu

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Australia
The Deerelight may only do around 90 000 lux at 1m, which is worse than some of the top LED throwers and absolutely pales in comparision to HIDs of all kinds (heck, even a 10W HID has higher lux) but is a good pocket thrower at a reasonable price. Thanks for the review!
 

fnsooner

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Messages
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Interesting comments, yifu.
The Deerelight may only do around 90 000 lux at 1m
Only? Isn't that really good?


which is worse than some of the top LED throwers
How much worse? Could you list a few of these top LED throwers? I would like to check them out. Throwers are the least researched lights by me, I am mainly a flood guy.


and absolutely pales in comparision to HIDs of all kinds (heck, even a 10W HID has higher lux)
i know very little about HIDs. Isn't comparing the Dereelight aspheric to them like comparing apples to oranges? HIDs look fun, but a little impractical as a flashlight from what I have read.


but is a good pocket thrower at a reasonable price.
Although a fair assesment, isn't it a bit of an understatement? Wouldn't calling it an excellent thrower also be a good description of the Dereelight DBS-T XR-E R2 EZ900?



I think it may be time for me to wade through the "Dedicated throwers" thread and see if this Dereelight is as good as I think it is.:)
 
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yifu

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Well, among the reflectored lights, it is very good and comes very close to the lux of the Olight SR90 at 100 000 lux. I have seen Deerelights measured between the range of 60 000-90 000 lux so yes, it does throw to about 300m if you take 1 lux as the endpoint. However, among the aspherics, its performance is quite average, about the same lux as a normal Mag aspheric, which have being around for 5 years. The top LED throwers tend to be mods, i have seen de-domed overdriven XM-Ls do 250 000+ lux, which is about 3 times as bright as the Deerelight at any point in the beam. In terms of production thrower, the DEFT series does between 150-200k lux, which would be about twice as bright as the Deerelight. Those are pretty hard to find and much more expensive when you do find them, which is why i say this is a good value light.
And once you get into the HID world, it's performance becomes poor in comparision. Yes, HIDs may be impractical as a EDC light as i haven't seen a 6P sized HID yet but as a spotlight they are absolutely amazing. Just to put things into perspective, a "little" 35W HID sitting behind a 4 inch reflector does around 250 000 lux at 1m and that's just a long arc. Short-arcs like the Maxabeam/Supernova does around 4 000 000 lux at 1m while cpf short arc mods do quite a bit more, Ra's maxablaster does around 52 000 000 lux measured by himself, which is about 500 times as bright as the Deerelight. Helicopters normally use a Nightsun, which is a 1600W short-arc and that does around 160 000 000 lux, giving a 12 km throw.
 

fnsooner

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Thanks yifu. That's a lot of information to digest. Just about the time I think I have covered my bases in this hobby, more things appear. I think I will save the HID for a later date.

From reading your post, it appears that the Dereelight aspheric is the leanest and meanest these days without modding or going big and/or expensive. With the exception of maybe the Deft EDC LR.
 
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gcbryan

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The leanest, meanest, most economical would be the Smallsun ZY-C10-S at $14 and around 50k cd therefore resulting in 1 lux at 223 meters.
 

mohanjude

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The leanest, meanest, most economical would be the Smallsun ZY-C10-S at $14 and around 50k cd therefore resulting in 1 lux at 223 meters.

I have actually purchased all the Smallsun asperic flashlights. While I agree with the fact that the size is a bit smaller and price is really cheap (that is shipped as well) I am not so sure on the output. It maybe putting out 50K Cd but in reality it doesn't do what I want it do as well. The size is not that much smaller compared to the DBS V3.

I actually prefer and like the size of the Small Sun ZY-C84 asperic (it fits confortably around a belt) and is a nice pocket size (Zebralight Sc600 size). Output is similar and not really fit for my purpose. The search goes on for a ultra compact asperic thrower.
 

yifu

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Thanks yifu. That's a lot of information to digest. Just about the time I think I have covered my bases in this hobby, more things appear. I think I will save the HID for a later date.

From reading your post, it appears that the Dereelight aspheric is the leanest and meanest these days without modding or going big and/or expensive. With the exception of maybe the Deft EDC LR.
Yes, if ultimate throw is your top priority with none given to size and weight, then HIDs (of any kind) is the way to go. They have come down in price a lot recently, HIDs used to cost in excess of 500 a couple of years ago and now there are many options under that price range.
BTW, i wouldn't call the DEFT EDC LR an upgrade in throw, just in size as it does around 60-64k lux, within the range of the Deerelight. And at 299 dollars it certainly is much more expensive. Just keep it and enjoy it! Until you get something bigger and brighter that it. Probably won't be long in this hobby at least!
 

2100

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Well, among the reflectored lights, it is very good and comes very close to the lux of the Olight SR90 at 100 000 lux. I have seen Deerelights measured between the range of 60 000-90 000 lux so yes, it does throw to about 300m if you take 1 lux as the endpoint. However, among the aspherics, its performance is quite average, about the same lux as a normal Mag aspheric, which have being around for 5 years. The top LED throwers tend to be mods, i have seen de-domed overdriven XM-Ls do 250 000+ lux, which is about 3 times as bright as the Deerelight at any point in the beam. In terms of production thrower, the DEFT series does between 150-200k lux, which would be about twice as bright as the Deerelight. Those are pretty hard to find and much more expensive when you do find them, which is why i say this is a good value light.
And once you get into the HID world, it's performance becomes poor in comparision. Yes, HIDs may be impractical as a EDC light as i haven't seen a 6P sized HID yet but as a spotlight they are absolutely amazing. Just to put things into perspective, a "little" 35W HID sitting behind a 4 inch reflector does around 250 000 lux at 1m and that's just a long arc. Short-arcs like the Maxabeam/Supernova does around 4 000 000 lux at 1m while cpf short arc mods do quite a bit more, Ra's maxablaster does around 52 000 000 lux measured by himself, which is about 500 times as bright as the Deerelight. Helicopters normally use a Nightsun, which is a 1600W short-arc and that does around 160 000 000 lux, giving a 12 km throw.

Since you brought up mods, the brighest XM-L aspheric I have seen (not verified but it definitely looks like it) is 750k cd. Even with measurement errors factored in, it is way up there. Big lens though.... :)

If you are talking about HIDs then that's but of course. But the longer HID arcs actually have a lower surface intensity than a XR-E. I guess an overdriven long arc is just below an overdriven XR-E directly bonded to copper. HIDs do this due to the larger reflector sizes.

Eg You mentioned 225k cd for the Titanium Innovations L35 with 4" reflector. I wonder how much would a XR-E in a 4-inch reflector and asperich do. I'd think it's around the ballpark as well....
 

2100

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Well to contribute more to the topic, at least what you get for 86 bucks shipped now (last time was $79) is a HA flashlight which is "an upgradable system". I had the EZ1000 and just changed to to the EZ900 for 23 bucks shipped (60k -> 93k cd in an instant and worry-free).

NExt time you can change to another LED if you want, and that does not mean you have to stay with aspherics (you can do reflectors as well). And I think a lot of folks forget that it is a nice HA flashlight, not that different from my other stuff. It's not the best, but it's within 90% of say my SWMs. It is not a budget light.
 
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Chicken Drumstick

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Glad you like it, I really like mine also, get the battery extenders for it and expermint with different cells, you will like it more. I have 2 Derrelights, the Asperic and a xml, they are my favorite lights of all. Please keep posting on what you have done with it and tried in it. 2x18500's are my favorite.
forgive my ignorance, but what affect do the different batteries have on the flashlight? Do they affect brightness as well as run time? Thanks. :)
 

yifu

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forgive my ignorance, but what affect do the different batteries have on the flashlight? Do they affect brightness as well as run time? Thanks. :)
It's sort of off topic but..
With a direct drive light, an IMR cell (LiMn chemistry) will cause the light to be brighter due to it's lower resistance than standay LiCo cells. It also allows for much higher discharge rate (10C) vs the 2C max of LiCo chemistry. This sort of happens also with a linear regulated light, where the lower modes are simply a percentage of the max output. 2 times 18500 is the same length as 3 CR123 cells but only have around 3000 mah, so it doesn't offer any increase runtime as compared to a 3100mah 18650 but it will have twice the voltage. I don't have a Deerelight so i am not sure if it uses PWM, current or linear regulation so i can't tell you if it is going to be brighter.
 

TEEJ

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I just looked at the Dereelight homepage, and its like trying to read a Chinese menu, in Chinese for me (I don't speak Chinese...) :shrug:

Its in plain English, the problem is that the options are overwhelming...I don't know what any of it means. If I knew what any of it meant, it has an enormous wealth of customization options I could choose....but I have zero BASIS for making any of the choices.

:duh2:

Pills and drivers and emitters, Oh My!

I know what they ARE, but I DON'T know the differences...so CHOOSING one over another is where I have nowhere to go.
 
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LEDninja

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How much does this cost and where can I buy it?
Its in plain English, the problem is that the options are overwhelming...I don't know what any of it means. If I knew what any of it meant, it has an enormous wealth of customization options I could choose....but I have zero BASIS for making any of the choices.
Links not allowed but you do know how to add a dot com to dereelight and hit return I hope. Also see post after this one.

Price depends on the configuration you select.

From the DBS-T page:
Aspherical lens flashlight-T -$96
(UI (user interface) same as DBS-T or CL1H-T
emitter: Cree XR-E R2 EZ900, WD tint
drive current, 2MT-S at 1.2A, 2MT-M at 1.5A)
- 2MT-S 2.8-4.2V single 18650 only.
- 2MT-M 2xCR123A, 2x protected RCR123, 2xprotected 18650 or 4xCR123A with EXT650 extension tube. single 18650 not recommended.
- there are two modes:
The general mode and the tactical mode.
Switching to general mode is easy: Just loose the battery tube a little bit. You are able to chose between three brightness modes (5%, 30% and 100%).
Switching back to tactical mode with 100% brightness is very fast: Just seize the battery tube again.
From review
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?327065-Review-Dereelight-DBS-T-(tactical-thrower)
- Most LED flashlights use cool blue WC tint. The WD tint is less blue but not yellow like neutral or warm. See chart at end of post.

From the DBS V3 page:
DBS V3/CL1H Aspherical lens flashlight series-$86
(This flashlight with CL1H V4 or DBS V3 body and tailcap; 1SM and 3SM drive at 1.5A; 1S and 3SD drive at 1.2A.)
- No tactical mode, pushing the button changes brightness level (except with the 1S & 1SM pill)
- 1S 1 brightness level 2.8-4.2V single 18650 only.
- 3SD 3 brightness levels 2.8-4.2V single 18650 only.
- 1SM 1 brightness level 2xCR123A, 2x protected RCR123A
- 3SM 3 brightness levels 2xCR123A, 2x protected RCR123A

CreeXR-ECoolWhite.jpg
 
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