wbp
Enlightened
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2008
- Messages
- 251
I have been doing some preliminary testing of NeoFab's new Legion II flashlight. This is not intended to be a full review.
The Legion II uses an MC-E LED, is powered by 3 18650 cells, and uses a new very efficient driver circuit. It is a fairly large flashlight, about 180 mm long and 53mm in diameter at the head. It weighs about 1.2 pounds with 3 18650 cells installed.
The light has a unique rotary switch, similar to the one on the Spartanian 2, but much improved. It has 5 preset levels, which I measured at 98, 157, 264, 456, and 742 lumens. The regulation is the best I have ever seen in any flashlight I have tested so far. The run time at level 5 on new AW 18650's is over 2 hours before the light shuts itself down:
The run time on AW IMR 18650's is somewhat shorter:
Lastly, I took the Legion II out to a local sports field for some beamshots. The target trash can (55 gallon drum) is roughly 100 meters away. Camera (Canon XSI) was set to the same fixed exposure and white balance for all 3 shots.
A lot of good engineering has gone into the design of this light. Many lights are overdriven to get high output, causing damage to the LED phosphor and/or damage to the cells. This light, with reasonable cooling, will run for a solid 2 hours putting out over 700 lumens, without any damage to either the LED or the cells. Then you can put 3 fresh cells in it and do it again. I took measurements of the spectra and output of the LED before and after my run time tests - there was no change.
During the run time tests the light was cooled only by a 100mm PC fan. I took IR temperature readings several times during the test. The highest reading was 84 F (28.8 C) at the LED end of the heatsink.
I like the switch and the choice of output levels. The UI on the test light is a preliminary version which is similar to the Spartanian 2; the final version of the UI has not been revealed yet...
/wbp
The Legion II uses an MC-E LED, is powered by 3 18650 cells, and uses a new very efficient driver circuit. It is a fairly large flashlight, about 180 mm long and 53mm in diameter at the head. It weighs about 1.2 pounds with 3 18650 cells installed.
The light has a unique rotary switch, similar to the one on the Spartanian 2, but much improved. It has 5 preset levels, which I measured at 98, 157, 264, 456, and 742 lumens. The regulation is the best I have ever seen in any flashlight I have tested so far. The run time at level 5 on new AW 18650's is over 2 hours before the light shuts itself down:
The run time on AW IMR 18650's is somewhat shorter:
Lastly, I took the Legion II out to a local sports field for some beamshots. The target trash can (55 gallon drum) is roughly 100 meters away. Camera (Canon XSI) was set to the same fixed exposure and white balance for all 3 shots.
A lot of good engineering has gone into the design of this light. Many lights are overdriven to get high output, causing damage to the LED phosphor and/or damage to the cells. This light, with reasonable cooling, will run for a solid 2 hours putting out over 700 lumens, without any damage to either the LED or the cells. Then you can put 3 fresh cells in it and do it again. I took measurements of the spectra and output of the LED before and after my run time tests - there was no change.
During the run time tests the light was cooled only by a 100mm PC fan. I took IR temperature readings several times during the test. The highest reading was 84 F (28.8 C) at the LED end of the heatsink.
I like the switch and the choice of output levels. The UI on the test light is a preliminary version which is similar to the Spartanian 2; the final version of the UI has not been revealed yet...
/wbp
:twothumbs
