Crelant 7G5 V2 (XM-L U2, 1x/2x18650) Thrower Review: RUNTIMES, VIDEO, BEAMSHOTS+

[selfbuilt]

Before long I was swarmed with bugs so I went back in.

One of the hazzards of using high-output lights outdoors in the summer.

You can start to notice the blury bug trails in some of my outdoor beamshots lately. I typically take 2-3 successive shots of every beam, so that I can select the most pristine/clear shot for presentation. But I am finding it hard lately - because I typically wait for nights with low wind (to minimze motion blur in the trees), the bugs tend to be out in full force. Also, long pants and long sleeves aren't too comfortable in high heat/humidity, but it's better than getting eaten alive.

[zenbeam]

I have a few large shrubs out front that attract 100's of "potato bugs" this time of year. When I shine a light at them, you see 100's of little pairs of glowing eyes staring at you - and then slowly closing in on you! It gets creepy!

[TEEJ]

I tried using a fixed exposure/shutter speed for the below shots, so they might look a little different than prior shots...generally, to the eye they were brighter than in the pics here, but, you can still compare them.




Deerelight Aspheric




DEFT edc LR+




Crelant 7G5 V2 Aspheric


By eye, the Crelant was brighter than the Deerelight, and, lit up a wider area to boot. This has a very useful beam, unlike most aspherics which tend to be one trick ponies.

I'm super happy with it.

[SCEMan]

Very impressive!
If all the exposure settings are identical, why is the DBS shot the darkest?

[Tatjanamagic]

I have Crenlant aspheric on its way... So Teej hope your review is right ...

But either way even if it beats deere in throw(I doubt in that but it really has nicer and wider beam profile)....

It will still not serve well for hunting purposes because it is to big, non practical, and not gun mountable, and plenty of other stuff that deerelight as a modular flashlight has(so it is upgradeable + reflector + aspherical lenses+ interchangeable emitters + better aluminum body with anodized threads + better parts support and probably much better heatsink than tiablos Crelant but I will judge that when I receive it)

That are pure fact I am not lying here... Try to buy Tiablo A9 Crelants older brother so U will see what I am talking about... Same thing will be with this one...

I hope that will throw that far as on your pictures although your picture with DBS shot is the darkest? And maybe I say just maybe you have deere with slightly blurrier lenses that throws only about 80 kilo?

TEEJ I don't want to offend you but please look at your older picture of Deerelight aspheric here... On this picture everyone can see that it throws further than Crelant... ??? Or maybe just I see so?


And now please look newest picture in this thread:

[jmpaul320]

i have both the aspherical deerelight and the aspheric crelant

i have found there is really no "observable" difference in beam intensity, however the crelant hot spot is about 4x bigger

also, be sure you remove the "second" lens in front of the aspheric lens

[zenbeam]

The real winner is the light that enables its master to read the following chart through and including the bottom line at 400 meters:

[Tatjanamagic]

Actually you can read this with a little help of high magnification scope...

Yes I will take that front lenses off... Really don't know what they have meant by putting them on?... Putting glass that unnecessarily diffuses beam is not bright idea.

It really does have nicer and wider beam... I don't even have to receive it to see that...

It will find use however... From 2009 till now I spend so much $ on flashlight that I could actually buy very good used car

[jmpaul320]

Actually you can read this with a little help of high magnification scope...

Yes I will take that front lenses off... Really don't know what they have meant by putting them on?... Putting glass that unnecessarily diffuses beam is not bright idea.

It really does have nicer and wider beam... I don't even have to receive it to see that...

It will find use however... From 2009 till now I spend so much $ on flashlight that I could actually buy very good used car

just keep telling yourself that there are a lot more expensive hobbies... even though ive spent 2k in 4 months... that is still less than maintenance would be on my sunday car if i hadnt sold it in the winter... at least thats how i justify it

[BWX]

I tried using a fixed exposure/shutter speed for the below shots, so they might look a little different than prior shots...generally, to the eye they were brighter than in the pics here, but, you can still compare them.




Deerelight Aspheric




DEFT edc LR+




Crelant 7G5 V2 Aspheric


By eye, the Crelant was brighter than the Deerelight, and, lit up a wider area to boot. This has a very useful beam, unlike most aspherics which tend to be one trick ponies.

I'm super happy with it.

I think something is different with white balance or exposure or something.. look at the sky and power line pole.. the last pic is a lot brighter than first pic. Somehow the camera changed settings on you I think.

[TEEJ]

My earlier pics were taken on auto...the above set on set aperture and shutter speed, etc....hence the beams looking a bit darker than on auto.

The background does change due to the large complex on the other side of the tree line...so the sky glow does vary as you are watching it...which is why I took most pics of targets below the tree line/in the shadow of the sky glow.

As for the pole, the wider beam of the Crelant simply hits more stuff on its way downrange...and the air around the beams tends to glow due to the ton of airborne shmutz...which of course disperses light as well, and so forth.




To truly tell the ultimate range of the Deerelight and Crelant, I'd need a target far enough away that it was barely visible. I'm pretty sure the ultimate ranges will be similar...but that the size of the illuminated area for the Crelant will be larger, at least based upon what I'm seeing at intermediate distances. I HAVE found, with other lights, that this can be deceptive...so, until I have actually found a good comparison target set and had a fair throw down...I don't know for sure which has the ultimate range.

When I tried to zoom too much more than I did in the above pics...the camera shows NOTHING due to the increased focal length's f stop increase....and I'd need to find a crazy long exposure time (The above's a 0.5 second exposure at F 2.0 IIRC) to be able to capture the target lux at the projected 600+ meter ranges.

My problem is the CAMERA screen is blank....and I am writing on a note pad to describe what I see....and then going home on the computer and adjusting the pic until I see what was in my notes.

[BWX]

''and then going home on the computer and adjusting the pic until I see what was in my notes.''
Just wondering, did you adjust anything in above pics?

BTW, what I meant about pole is that very large structure to the right of the tree. Don't know what to call it.. It's more than a pole. Look how it is almost totally blends in with dark sky in first pic, ''Deerelight Aspheric'', and how you can't hardly see power lines at all and overall picture is smooth and dark and not grainy.


Now look at bottom pic- ''Crelant 7G5 V2 Aspheric''. Look how big power line structure totally stands out from much brighter sky. Look how individual power lines are all completely visible against much brighter sky. Look how overall pic is much grainier and brighter.

I'm far from a photography expert but it looks to me like a higher ISO setting or something else got past you. I'd bet my left nut something in the camera settings changed between those shots.. My first guess would be shutter speed, but you said you fixed those settings. Something is different, not just sky brightness.

I'm viewing these on my PS3 browser on a $3,600 52'' 1080p Sharp Aquos- with fixed settings. On a computer monitor I'm sure it looks different.. what I mean is everyone is seeing something slightly different no matter what, but I have a very high end display.

[Tatjanamagic]

TEEJ brings us nice pictures...

Everybody said that I buy generic camera tripod and I bought it but I still can not take good night pictures... I can but not on distances that are greater than 50 meters...

Probably because I have generic camera Olympus VR-320, and I really don't know how to set up camera...

So my hat down to TEEJ...

Please bring us more nice pictures...

[BWX]

I love those comparison shots too! Don't get me wrong.

[Tatjanamagic]

Hmmm...


Deerelight is developing new XML flashlight so probably Crelant(Tiablo) won't be on throne for a long time in XML aspheric category...

I know that it will be bigger like Crelant..., and I hope it will be modular so for example U could just swap aspheric heads between new XML and old XRE...


And my wallet goes thinner every day...

[TEEJ]

LOL

Yeah, my wallet seems to have anorexia too....its so skinny, yet throws up anything I put into it.





As for the pics, yeah, its hard to show what I SAW.

I set the camera to manual, but when I saw the pics, it was waaaay darker than what I saw that night....as in some you could not even see the light on the target...the pic was all black.

I took notes, and if the tree looked brighter in a shot, or dimmer, or less covered, the sky was brighter or darker, etc...I wrote it down.

You can't tell in the pics, but there's traffic...and the headlights, etc, are changing the background lighting the entire time....hence my focus on that shadowed area where its consistently dark.

Its a good control location for me because of that dark area, and because by EYE, I can't SEE the target at all, I can't even see the fence or telephone poles down the left side of the path...even night adapted...w/o the flashlights.

That means that I KNOW whatever I CAN see is because of the flashlight.

So, I took the black or dark pics and adjusted it on the computer until the TARGET looked right according to how I remembered it/noted it.

As the light of the sky and towers and so forth are not stabilized/consistent....(Big metal things on right are transmission towers, smaller wooden poles on the left are telephone poles) due to headlights and the facility on the other side of the tree lines to the right and striaght ahead, I did not attempt to make them look "right", as its beyond my limited iphoto capabilities.

The target itself is "right", at least for the night of any given shoot though. Some nights, there's so much stuff in the air its crazy, and, sometimes its more clear. The shmutzy nights really make the beam itself glow...and the light saber effect is extremely pronounced. The more stuff in the air, the less light gets to the target though...and the more dispersed the beam gets on the way there, etc.


I'm still looking for a nearby target site that has the range I need to really test the beams. I was thinking a graveyard would be at least perfect in that it has fairly regularly spaced markers spread out over a large tract of land...so that there would be a large number of reference points to compare the beams in both spread/scope and strength....but worried that it might be either too macabre to too likely to get me in trouble, etc.

[Tatjanamagic]

You could really get in trouble... I think police officers would not have sense for night shots at graveyard...

But however I support you... Very nice to have someone who can take nice pictures for our forum.

And of course Selfbuilt reviews are planetary popular. Sometimes I disagree with him but that is life

[JudasD]

Has anyone experienced any hissing or audible noise from their 7G5? I can hear some pretty loud noise on all of the modes.

Thanks,
JD

[BWX]

Has anyone experienced any hissing or audible noise from their 7G5? I can hear some pretty loud noise on all of the modes.

Thanks,
JD

Yeah my 7G5 is super loud - on high and strobe with 2x 18650 especially loud. It's inductor whine. Some have it some don't.

Another thing - apparently my example didn't come with AR coated glass either. Was looking the other day and it looks like regular glass.


-----------
About the pics:

So, I took the black or dark pics and adjusted it on the computer until the TARGET looked right according to how I remembered it/noted it.

So are you saying with the pics above labeled ''Deerelight Aspheric'' and ''Crelant 7G5 V2 Aspheric'', That you adjusted them in photoshop to match what you saw? Or some other pics?

If you did do that, but you're first words in post are : ''I tried using a fixed exposure/shutter speed for the below shots,...'' - and then showed picswithout saying you adjusted brigtness or whatever.. well, that's not cool at all.

I hope I'm reading your post wrong.

[Tatjanamagic]

I think this would be good DBS vs Crelant comparative shot from TEEJ for deerelight because beam at night looks just like on this pictures on about 300-400 meters distance. I guarantee that DBS looks like on this picture belov... Not shure for Crelant on picture because it looks dimmer than DBS...

DBS
vs
Crelant

[selfbuilt]

Has anyone experienced any hissing or audible noise from their 7G5? I can hear some pretty loud noise on all of the modes.

The original 7G5 V2 sample I received from Crelant had noticeable whine on all levels. This circuit was damaged by 4xCR123A use (before Crelant changed the listed specs), and the replacement sample was much quieter. Although you can still hear it if you listen carefully (as on many lights).

As BWX points out, inductor whine (the presumed source of the hum/hiss) is highly variable, although it is possible that some brands/batches may suffer from it more than others. I discuss it a fair amount at the end of my video primer #4 on circuits, as shown here.

[JudasD]

The original 7G5 V2 sample I received from Crelant had noticeable whine on all levels. This circuit was damaged by 4xCR123A use (before Crelant changed the listed specs), and the replacement sample was much quieter. Although you can still hear it if you listen carefully (as on many lights).

As BWX points out, inductor whine (the presumed source of the hum/hiss) is highly variable, although it is possible that some brands/batches may suffer from it more than others. I discuss it a fair amount at the end of my video primer #4 on circuits, as shown here.

Thanks selfbuilt. I do have some other lights that whine but they are known to do so. I hadn't seen anyone mention whine on the 7G5 so i was just curious if it was mine. As long as someone elses whines as well then i am ok with it.

JD

[BLUE LED]

Thanks selfbuilt. I do have some other lights that whine but they are known to do so. I hadn't seen anyone mention whine on the 7G5 so i was just curious if it was mine. As long as someone elses whines as well then i am ok with it.

JD

See post #18
I hope it helps.

[selfbuilt]

Thanks selfbuilt. I do have some other lights that whine but they are known to do so. I hadn't seen anyone mention whine on the 7G5 so i was just curious if it was mine. As long as someone elses whines as well then i am ok with it.
JD

I did mention it in the review, under the "Potential issues" section. This is where I present any findings related to functioning on my samples. If I don't mention anything related to hum, it is because my sample was within a typical range. If I find audible hum (as I did on the 7G5 V2), this is where it goes.


Sent from my handheld device

[JudasD]

I had searched for "hiss" and "screech" but never for "whine" or "hum". Funny thing is i also read selfbuilt's review a good 3-4 times and just never saw the mention of the whine
Thanks for all the help guys and pointing me to the correct information.

JD

[david1235102]

wow selfbuilt, another amazing review. I just ordered one with the aspherical lens because of this review: can't wait for it to arrive!

[Sintro]

Ever since I saw your review on it Selfbuilt, I knew I had to have one as my first xml light. It's been like 4 months but my birthday party from my dad was finally today, so I got it charged it up for 3 hours and ran it. Boy is it bright, the memory is nice too! And the strobe is really fast also. My dad got tenergy 2600's instead of the orbtronic 3100's i wanted but it's fine. When I took it on a quick ride to behind an old picknsave it would switch modes with the flat top tenergy's every 10 seconds or so from the bumps. But that's no biggie, can always put some more metal in between. I hope these flashlight companies let you keep the lights, because you really are a great advertiser for them!

I also expected it to be way longer and thicker! This is a good thing though, it'd fit great in a pocket if I took out the extender too!

Am I right in saying the light is driven at 3.4 amps? Or is some lost in the switch or somewhere and it goes down to 3 amps? Because I'm already thinking about getting a new driver with a nice low of say 50 lumens lol. But, I still have a small flashlight for that, so I'm fine for now.

[selfbuilt]

Am I right in saying the light is driven at 3.4 amps? Or is some lost in the switch or somewhere and it goes down to 3 amps? Because I'm already thinking about getting a new driver with a nice low of say 50 lumens lol. But, I still have a small flashlight for that, so I'm fine for now.

I'm not aware of anyone measuring it, but that would sound about right given the apparent drive level. Note that you can only accurately measure the circuit drive currents with proper equipment (i.e., a bench-top power supply, as HKJ does). Tailcap current draws with a DMM don't actually tell you what it directly happening with the circuit (and resistance can modify circuit functioning).

[BWX]

I showed my 7G5 V2 and XTAR S1 to a few people, they all loved the 7G5.. but were amazed by both obviously.

One guy - my much younger cousin actually (mid twenties), wants to buy one, but doesn't understand these lithium batteries and the dangers.. even if small, he's not the type who would spend much time caring or reading about such things. He is a mechanic though and smart, just a little wreckless in my judgement.

I'm going to recommend the XTAR 2 bay recharger and Xtar 3100 Panasonic batteries and just warn him they could explode or pop if miss-handled... I'm still woried though, LOL.

I wonder if there are pages or websites with very simple short warnings about how to handle these cells he can refer to. I know of long drawn out explinations on websites, not a very simple short guide though. Something I can give him in a link, that covers basic safety and charging / discharging precaution. Something his girlfriend could easily read quickly and refer back to if she was charging the batteries.

Is there such a page somewhere?

[selfbuilt]

Is there such a page somewhere?

A little off topic, but I recall Redilast typically provides a decent safety sheet with their cells. Looking at their webiste (www.redilast.com), there is a good, simple "FAQ" page (and a slightly more technical "Li-ion tips" page). Of course, they apply equally to all brands - it sums things up well.

Maybe the folks in the batteries sub forum could recommend something further ...