Review: Brinyte B158 XML2 LED Flashlight

mhanlen

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Review: Brinyte B158 Zooming Flashlight.


Hi, Candle Power Forums! Just dropping buy to post my newest review. This is for the XML2 based Brinyte Zooming Aspheric LED Flashlight. In this review you'll find: real world night use-shots, tested lumen and candela ratings, waterproof and shock tests, and more. Also it's got a big beamshot section, with a special appearance by the Noctigon Meteor. It features a brass pill, and and IPX-8 rating- two things you don't normally find in a zooming light. Hope you like it!


This light was provided by review from Brinyte.




 
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Short_Circuit

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Great review, I got an email from You tube that included your video because I've watched several flashlight reviews on there I suppose. That's pretty impressive stuff for a zoomie so naturally I came here to see if anyone had mentioned it. The light must be really new because I can't find it yet on amazon or the bay. I was interested in the price because I've been wanting a really quality zoom for my collection and this one ticks all the boxes for me.
 

mhanlen

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I like it a lot. I put an order in to mtn electronics, and plan on throwing in an XPL HI with a 17mm FET driver. I'd be curious to see how it performs then. Yeah, no vendors have it yet. It is available directly from brinyte if you contact them. Although I can't say what they'll charge shipped. I might see if I can get a vendor to do a group buy on it. I'd roughly estimate it between $25-$30, but don't hold me to it.
 

KeepingItLight

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Thanks!

I am interested to see whether Fireclaw18 has anything to say. :popcorn:

Everything I know about zoomies, I learned from him. That includes this:

Zoomies from Coast and LED Lenser mount the emitter on a post, and use a hybrid optic that wraps around the emitter. There is a hollow section in the optic that fits over the post and emitter. The part of the optic that wraps around the sides of the emitter is a TIR lens that captures the light exiting sideways out of the emitter, and sends it forward. The part of the optic that is above the emitter is an aspheric.

The advantage to this system comes when you focus for spot.

A flashlight such as the SiPiK SK68 or the Brinyte B158 uses only an aspheric. When you pull the aspheric away from the emitter in order to focus for spot, the light coming out of the side of the emitter is lost. That is why flashlights like the SK68 lose as much as half their lumens when focused.

The hybrid optics used by Coast and LED Lenser do not lose nearly as much of their output. As described above, most of the light which exits sideways from the emitter is captured by the TIR, and sent forward.

I must say, however, the internals of the B158 make it sound pretty good. I heard your statement that PWM was unnoticed in actual use of the B158. It was horrendous, of course, on camera.

Edit:
Sorry. The PWM is horrible, but only on the low mode of the red emitter. Like mhanlen, I did not see any flicker when the white drop-in was installed.
 
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mhanlen

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It is only noticed on the red low mode- which you can see on camera. It's not visible on any other mode on camera. My rule of thumb usually is... If my camera can see it, so can I. I can detect it on the low red with my eye too.

I can sometimes adjust my shutter to compensate for some, but for most flashlights or headlamps I've encountered the scrolling lines of PWM- you can't adjust it out. I generally stopped trying to eliminate it, because I feel it's important to mention and see.
 

KeepingItLight

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It is only noticed on the red low mode- which you can see on camera. It's not visible on any other mode on camera. My rule of thumb usually is... If my camera can see it, so can I. I can detect it on the low red with my eye too.

I can sometimes adjust my shutter to compensate for some, but for most flashlights or headlamps I've encountered the scrolling lines of PWM- you can't adjust it out. I generally stopped trying to eliminate it, because I feel it's important to mention and see.

Thanks. I edited my post above to say the PWM shows up only with the red emitter.
 

KeepingItLight

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Thanks for the great review. I just ordered one.

The Brinyte B158 is a zoomie with a 50mm aspheric lens. Two testers report getting 650-700 lumens, which is a bit below the 900 lumens claimed by its manufacturer. Maker Brinyte advertises IPX-8, something CPF member hanspvik tested by leaving his in the bathtub for 30 minutes. Another CPF member, mhanlen, gave his a good dunking as well. Waterproof zoomies are a rarity, so that tells you something about the quality. Mhanlen also tossed his B158 around pretty good in testing you can see on YouTube.

A consensus is forming that this may be the best budget zoomie out there, dethroning the UniqueFire UF-T20, which first shipped in 2012.

The B158 uses screw-in modules (i.e., pills) that can be easily swapped. The B158 comes with a one that features a cool-white Cree XM-L2 U2 emitter. Brinyte offers a couple of optional colored ones that come in red and green. One of the things that makes the B158 attractive is that it is easy to mod.

Mhanlen has put together a group buy over at BLF for the B158 and its optional modules. A bare brass module is also being offered, so that you can install an emitter and driver of your choice to create a custom module. Flashlight with cool-white emitter is $22.99. Bare brass module is $6.59. Tracking number and insurance, respectively, add $1.99 and $1.59. My total was $33.16. The group buy went live today, 2015-Dec-01.

CPF review by mhanlen.

CPF review by hanspvik.
 
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