Polarion, Helios, Xeray 50 and Barn Burner

[Mr Ted Bear]

PART 1 - DISTANCE

Helios and Polarion side by side

... not a lot of difference

Helios, Polarion and Xeray 50...

and the winner is.... not sure....kinda of the same... now lets add the the Barn Burner..

Now that's what I call a noticable difference

PART 2 - INTERMEDIATE RANGE

This is where the differences is more noticable, albeit very subtle. In theory, we will see the differences in wattages. First, the Polarion and Helios sise by side

Yes, I believe we have found the extra 5 watts the Helios has over the originlal Polarion. It's quite noticable; one can "see more" with the Helios. Now. I know what you are thinking....the Xeray at 50 watts has a significant advantage.... guess again !

Seems the Polarion and Helios are under rated, or the Xeray is over rated. Hey, don't look at me... I just took the pictures.

Still have a few more pics, but that will have to wait till Tuesday

 

[goodspeed]

That is awesome. That BB sure is bright, did it burn any the leaves on the tree!?! lol-- Great job!!

 

[BVH]

As you say, Mr. TB, pretty much the same except for the BB. I, personally don't remember the BB being so dramatically brighter than the 50 Watt last time but it was immediately obvious this time. If I remember correctly, the tree is 146 Yards (438 ft) and the rock is 512 yards (1536 ft). The shed at the raveen was 527 yards (1581 ft), I think. Thank you Mr. TB and Daniel for making this happen!

The camera picked up the color temp difference btw the Helios and the Polarion but my eye didn't last night.

 

[NAW]

Now I want to get a Barnburner! :mecry:

I never realized how powerful it was. :rock:

 

[windstrings]

It was nice having the higher resolutions shots so the pics are bigger.
Its obvious you painstakingly cropped each one perfectly.

Nice to have have different ranges to look at too as well as distances.

I was wondering if the Xeray you used had the GE35 watt bulb or the DL-50... the reason I'm wondeing is I know the BB has the DL-50 and the color seems warmer... not as blue... unless thats just the added brightness giving that effect?

don't see much spill, but the prior shootout did a good job at that.

Thanks for going to all the trouble.. but I know it was fun!

I"m amazed that the Helios, polorion and Xeray 50 looks so identical.

With the Helios having 4000 lumens and the polarion 3500 and the Xeray 5600 what we are missing must be in the spill and remaining corona that we can't see due to the crop.

But the throw of the 3 look very close at those zoom shots.

But the Barn Burner with its 8500 lumens just does a nasty as it rapes and pillages!

 

[BVH]

The 50 Watt was using the DL50. Mtbkndad's shots will be up later in the week. His were taken behind the lights so you'll see the corona and spill characteristics of the lights.

 

[windstrings]

The 50 Watt was using the DL50. Mtbkndad's shots will be up later in the week. His were taken behind the lights so you'll see the corona and spill characteristics of the lights.

Nice.. this looks like the best shootout ever for varying challenging terrains... decent distances too... I know some would love to throw in a short arc of such "which would indeed be interesting" but we all know the results of that...
I just don't know how big around the beam is compared to the HID's, but I know its all beam.. no spill, no corona.

If I was trying to hide from a searchlight, I would rather the searchlight be a shart arc rather than one that has spill and corona... of course unless I was 4 miles away! But even if they saw me at that distance, they would never find me once they physically got to where I was!

Fun stuff!....

Nice job!

 

[cmacclel]

I agree windstrings, the XeRay looks ever so slightly not as bright in the zoom shots. I also was wondering what lamp was used. I have compared on a white wall all these lights and my XeRay hotspot seemed noticably brighter and larger.

I'm eager to see the wide view shots.

Good work as always Mr. Ted Bear and crew

Mac

 

[JimH]

If I was trying to hide from a searchlight, ...

Those wouldn't be police heliocopter searchlights would they

? . . .

 

[windstrings]

I agree windstrings, the XeRay looks ever so slightly not as bright in the zoom shots. I also was wondering what lamp was used. I have compared on a white wall all these lights and my XeRay hotspot seemed noticably brighter and larger.

I'm eager to see the wide view shots.

Good work as always Mr. Ted Bear and crew

Mac

When all the shootout shots get up maybe it will make more sense.
lumens are lumens.. they have to go somewhere.... unless the reflector burns them up in heat due to inefficiency.

The polarion and the Helios are definately dialed in at a certain distance for thier sweet spot...without focus ability, its really good to have varying distances to look at.

No light has it all.. focus helps, but most folks that have focus rarely use it.. they keep it on 'tight" mode for max distance when seaching.
But it nice to have if you need it... Flood is good to set up for a campsite or to do a project where several guys need light at the same time.

Certain applications like military, police may never have a need for flood mode, but the layperson may.

It would be nice since the Xeray focuses, if it could focus even tighter, but I realize the challenge and sophistication of focus with a long arc..
its alot of light to harness and keep looking clean throught the full range of throw with a small reflector.

Similiar to the sophistication needed for a telephoto camera lense with its multilenses and sometimes mirrors. Its cheaper to just not have focus and dial it in perfect just how you want it.. Just like a single distance lens or certain millimeter lens size on a camera.... but there will always be give and take with that approach.

 

[LEDcandle]

I agree windstrings, the XeRay looks ever so slightly not as bright in the zoom shots. I also was wondering what lamp was used. I have compared on a white wall all these lights and my XeRay hotspot seemed noticably brighter and larger.

I'm eager to see the wide view shots.

Good work as always Mr. Ted Bear and crew

Mac

I feel the XeRay is *slightly* less bright as well... but then again, it looks to be the bluest, so maybe its the color rendition issue that causes it to look dimmer. It doesn't have the rich reflection of yellow....

 

[windstrings]

Well my wife went to drive the grandkids home and that means she has to go down to the end of the block turn right and up to the next street and another right as they live the next street over.

I stood on my slide by the pool in the dark and hit her with my Xeray 50W beam as she took the second right.. she said it scared the crap out of her as it looked like a train was coming straight for her!

She said the trees all lit up and the houses like daylight and if she looked my way she could see nothing but light!

I estimate I was about 250 yards from her.

 

[XeRay]

Jeff, how many hours have you run that 50 watt XeRay since youve had it for 11 months? The bulb will loose some performance over time. I think we should look back at the original Polarion / XeRay 50 comparison for additional data.

I believe I gave you a 35 and a 50 watt ballast back then Jeff, are you sure the 50 watt is in it? Do a run time test from full charge, that should also help confirm which is installed. The ballast SHOULD also be marked.

Dan

 

[Trashman]

Good God! That Barn Burner is smokin'!

 

[Mr Ted Bear]

Dan,

Yes it is a 50watt ballast, yes full charge, and looking back at 3 shootouts, probably no more than 60 minutes of runtime on the DL-50 you sent. Current pics are consistent with past results

 

[mtbkndad]

Here are most of my pics. Mr Ted bear has a nice setup with two different cameras.
I needed to crop my pictures. I also think Mr Ted Bears photos were rather over exposed for some reason. I believe my darker pictures my are much closer to what we actually saw.
I am using my Canon S2 IS f3.5 - 6" - default white balance and ISO.

Pay close attention to the different corona's and spill and you will see where the difference is with these lights.

Polarion

If you look closely at the tree you will see that the Polarion has the tightest hotspot of the three contenders.
--------------

Helios

The Helios clearly has the most defined corona. It is also the widest of the three.
It has a wider hotspot then the Polarion but it's hotspot is still quite a bit narrower then the XeRay which is coming up. That is why the Polarion and Helios Rival the XeRay with a DL50 and a 50 watt ballast for throw.
---------------

XeRay DL50 50 watt.

The corona hits the ground faster then the Helios or Polarion . The corona is narrower then the Helios but the hotspot is much wider This will be even more noticeable in the crops.
-----------------

This is obviously the Barn Burner
----------------

Now my Cropped shots.

Look at the tree way in the background to the left of the center of the photo that has a very vertical and light trunk. It is 266 yards away.

Polarion
The tree is clearly visible though not real bright.
If you follow the light on the ground you will see that the area of the corona that transitions to hotspot just hits the tree in the background.
----------------

Helios
Notice how the corona is so bright and still evently defined at this distance.
Also notice how the wider hotspot and more even corona combination lights objets more evenly in a wider path on the field and farther up the hill
--------------------

XeRay DL50 50watt
Here the wider hotspot is better at lighting the tree in the background.
Also notice how while the center of the tree that the light is focused on is not appreciably brighter then the Polariion or Helios, the WHOLE tree is equally bright with the Xeray with a DL50.
To my eyes it seems the wider hotspot and narrower corona + 50 watts lights objects back and to the side at a longer distance better then the other two lights.
As I mentioned in the other thread that is where I see the advantage of this configuration.
Brighter yes, overwhelming no.
For that matter these lights are overall so close that when at the range in person, the difference way out in the distance cannot be accurately differentiated.
--------------------

Barn Burner Crop
-------------------

Now when we get to the 527 yard shots the real area to look at in the photos is the field not the shack as all three of the non BB lights were equally poor performers at this distance.
The field shows the different light characteristics of each of the lights.
Sorry folks my pics were definitely more realistic at this location and Mr Ted Bear even mentioned that his shots were overexposed. For good or bad we give you what we shoot, no retouching, just careful cropping in my case. I only mention this so you will not think anything in this comparison other then the Barn Burner will give good illumination of a shack at 527 yards.
Illumination yes good no.

Polarion
---------------

Helios
---------------

XeRay DL50 50watt
----------------

Barn Burner
----------------

There is no best light of the bunch. Different lights for different needs. I want a Helios because compact size, packability (in my Hydrastorm Cyclone pack) and the ability to work if I tumble down the side of a mountain and am still able to move, are most important to me.

Take Care,
mtbkndad :wave:

 

[larryk]

Thanks Mr. TB, and all involved taking these beamshots. I took some of my lights over to AWR's house a while back to do beamshots, and know what's all involved in doing this. I will have to admit it was fun though. CPF members should be grateful for members that go out of there way and donate their time taking these outdoor beamshots. I just wish I was better at it. Thanks again to all the participants.

 

[rufusdufus]

The 50 Watt was using the DL50.

I thought the 50 watt was supposed to use a 35 watt bulb overdriven?:huh2:

 

[Lips]

.

Very nice shots guys. Appreciate the work putting these together... Very helpful.


I've always been curious of who found the Tree spot where most of the shots are taken? That location, because of all the reference points, gives you one of the best variety of beam aspects you could wish for in a single location... The long-range shots really show the strength of the BB.


.

 

[karlthev]

:goodjob: :wow: A most incredible thread and series of testing sequences! Most impressive, most!!



Karl