Arif
Newly Enlightened
[Later that afternoon...!]
So - from left to right, we have the X9R, SR95, SR96, X7R
As you can see from my signature (will update) - I've always tried to keep up with the larger Olights.
I've always been extremely impressed with the execution of these lights by Olight - almost as though no expense spared - perfection for its own sake, within reason. And - much as with lasers - you get ones which win the wattage war, but fail in terms of duty cycle, etc - i.e. cheaper stuff can sometimes be executed 'for the required headline' - rather than necessarily in order to create something worth having, owning, ogling.
I come from film cameras, and I use the EOS 1V - it's the same part of me that appreciates that as a feat of perfection and engineering, as which allows these Olights into my life. Not to sound too off my rocker - but they are objects of beauty in a way.
So on to actual comparisons!!
One lesson I learned quickly - was the difference between flood and throw! The SR90 before all this fed into this epiphany for me too.
I have woods and forest nearby to walk in, but also which open up into large tracts of land, and large bodies of water. So one walk can literally take me from needing a flooder for the walk, to thrower to spot things in the distance.
One major lesson overall - is even where a flooder can achieve the intensity/candela of a thrower - it's much less useful for when you are indeed trying to see something in the distance. The inevitable wall of light/atmospheric scattering will degrade too badly any view of the thing that has been lit in the distance. So throwers to my mind really have their place - spotting things of interest in the distance. So as far as this comparison-piece goes - the only thrower is the SR95, and it's fantastic at that. A narrow beam which lands with very decent intensity at the other end. Also, for where you don't want to broadcast yourself, or wish to be a bit subtle about what you're doing - the SR95 will make an defined tunnel of light, leaving all else around essentially still dark.
So now on to the other three - I'm classifying them all as flooders - 'walking' torches.
We immediately now come up against the factor where too many lumens for a flooder, means that with your immediate surroundings and ground over-lit - all you've got is an excess of foreground brightness, and with the background/surroundings made even more dark as your pupils contract. One really important thing here to my mind - is colour temperature. The X7R is great, but turned up it gets less useful quite quickly - just blinds you. The SR96 is actually decidedly warm, almost to the point of my thinking i'd ordered a 'warm/neutral' light. So said warmth allows for the light to be and go brighter, but still be useful - it lights more before it blinds. I'm aware that the X7R goes up to 12000 Lumens - but I'm comparing when they're both putting out about 4800 Lumens (top for the SR96, mid for the X7R).
So there I am with an excellent pair of walking torches - and the 'just for fun' super-thrower. I didn't see a need or justification for another torch - especially as let's say all the X9R did was more of the same of the X7R - it'd just be more pointless floody wall-of-light'ness going on - lumens for the sake of them. For a thrower - one can possibly see never-ending advantages of increased lumens/intensity - but for a flooder, you reach the useful limits pretty quickly.
Now bear in mind all of this is because I've used the SR96 maxed-out (never quite seemed like 'too much' light - not at 4800 Lumens) - and it's the X7R causing me to dismiss a flooder which goes beyond 12000 Lumens.
On to the revelation - the X9R just, somehow, stupendously mixes all the prowess and practicality of the SR96 - with a heck of a lot more light put out than the X7R!! This is definitely because the light is relatively warm - basically cool flooders beyond 10000 Lumens are pointless, to my mind - unless you have an exceptionally clear atmosphere. Its beam profile is just perfect ('soft') and difficult to describe (will try to take photos at some point). The SR96 beam was quite 'torchy' - hot spot, spill - distinguishable. The X7R is close, but the spill is still less - and for walking at night spill is king.
Put another way - the X9R has just made redundant my X7R and SR96!! It's everything the SR96 is and more/better - and because of colour temperature (punching through the night, but maintaining clarity) - has definitely made the X7R redundant. Of course - the X7R wins on compactness and form-factor - but take that away and the X9R is just the dog's danglies!!!
I'd gotten the X9R for the sake of having it - I fully expected it to be 'neat' but pointless, given it was a flooder.
I am blown away and don't feel at all silly or guilty now for the purchase!!
That's my two pennies on the matter - and I know my post puts a lot of credit cards and bank accounts at risk!!
Arif
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