OMBU X-33 or X-55 mod'ble?

CroMAGnet

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Sep 4, 2004
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OMBU X-33 or X-55 mod\'ble?

Newbie flashaholic here just starting my collection. My 5th light is the OMBU X-33. It has a 3 watt Luxeon LED instead of the 5 watt (X-55) but with TWO light levels. Low, 18 lumen light level or click the switch once more for 45 lumens of LED output. The lower light level will give up to 30 hours or more burn time. 2-8 hours on high or more hours if used intermittently. Weighing 3.7oz with Two CR123 batteries and measuring 5 inches by 1 inch at the head. It's water-tight, o-ring sealed throughout.

I took my wife and dog out for a walk this evening and had a good long test with the X-33. I lit up trees and houses with a bright white light that really surprised me. The throw was decent too but I lost viewing detail after about 50-feet, rough estimate. Lit-up the street VERY well upto about 4or5 houses down with a nice bright wide flood. (edit: actually more like 2 houses) We have no street lights and live in a country-ish suburb. The reflector looks relatively on the deep side and is stippled producing an absolutely georgous flood with a hot center spot that smoothly spills to a wide flood. I had my wife shine the light at me and it seemed that I could look at it from a distance of about 40ft away or more and I was not able to see her. Just white light. I didn't want to try closer than about 20ft as it was pretty bright. I tried this with my SL xp-3C Halogen which has a hotter (though yellow) peircing beam when compared to the X-33 and a much farther throw. Definately cant look into that one at 40ft and forget even mentioning the Tigerlight. That thing hurts even way down the street.

I was told the X-33 has a tighter beam and appears brighter than the X-55 when looking at bulb. The X-55 is said to have a wide flood type beam although I have not seen the X-55 myself. The X-55 is rated at 65 lumens output it also has two CR123's which provide an hour of 5 watt light with 4 hour extended burn time.

I really like the two light level choices but it seems the low level is a bit too low for what I had hoped. It was nice for the walking but another 30% would be just about right. I started wondering if the X-55 could be modified to have the two light level switch of the X-33 or drop the X-55 bulb into the X-33. Would be nice to have the extra output of the X-55 with the lo level ability to save battery. Any input from the senior flashaholics out there?

I bought it from GlowBug and they have a 30day return policy.
X-33 http://www.glowbug.com/product.php?sku=303
X-55 http://www.glowbug.com/product.php?sku=235
X-55 Intense Review http://www.imagometrics.com/FLReviews/OmbuX55.htm
 

CroMAGnet

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Sep 4, 2004
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Re: OMBU X-33 or X-55 mod\'ble?

<shrug> Either this light is so new that nobody knows what to do or maybe I should have posted this in the MOD section?
 

Paul_in_Maryland

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Mar 27, 2005
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Maryland, USA
Re: OMBU X-33 or X-55 mod\'ble?

I'm just now studying up on the X-55. From what I can tell, the X-33 - Nuwai TM301X, and the X-55 has no Nuwai equivalent but appears to use the same body as the TM301X. Keep in mind that someone is selling a 2-stage switch for the TM303X (Nuwai QIII). I've been wondering myself how universal that switch is. Would it work on the 2CR123A Nuwai 3W brother and 3W/5W OMBU cousins?

Of course, the 3W lights already have a 2-stage switch. But it might be better-rated, so you could move the QIII 2-stage switch to your Ombu X-33, and move the X-33's switch to an X-55.
 

NetMage

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Jan 15, 2005
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306
Location
VA
Re: OMBU X-33 or X-55 mod\'ble?

If the X-33 is identical to the TM-301X-3 (q3 "mother"), which I believe it is, then it just uses DD with a resistor in the head to a LuxIII. The tail switch has another resistor to produce the high/low.

Any q3 modder could mod the tailswitch to have different resistor levels or (as I am having done) replace the head electronics for much more power (UX1L/DB1400).

The X-55 does have a TM series equivalent, but I don't think Nuwai carries it. I haven't found anyone else that sells it, but the manufacturer (of the q3/mother/etc) lists the model.
Since it is using a 5 Watt LED, I don't think it is DD from the two batteries. It may have a small boost circuit similar to the q3. In any case, swapping heads won't gain you anything, and the LEDs can't be swapped alone - they need the driver circuits as well.
 
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