Bucket
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2003
- Messages
- 77
I've posted that I like this M@g drop in on a couple of other threads, but thought that it deserved a thread of it's own.
First, I need to address the fact that Wayne (Elektrolumens) sells this drop in for 3D M@g bodies. I measured the current and found it to be pretty low. So I did some measurements and math and figured that driving the parallel LED's with 4 alkaline D cells would still be pretty safe. Then I tried it.
Measured current at the tail cap with four brand new Energized D cells is 2.77a. If you do the math figuring on Vf of 3.6 or 3.7 for the LED's (in parallel) with a voltage of 6v it won't work out. Turns out the M@g body and switch plus the internal resistance of the batteries is quite high, thus allowing me to use 4 D cells.
On to the review...
Others have reviewed the installation and appearance. I'll just say that it is a five minute job to install. Four of those minutes were spent looking for some sand paper so that the insert could have a good electrical connection to the body.
Beam quality is very nice. It is very white in tint. It has TONS of spill, yet still throws very well. It is truly the best of both worlds. I would not say that it is the best "thrower" out there, but I would give it a 9 out of 10.
In the following pics, the MT-4 is on the left and the Fenix T1 is on the right. All pics were taken in manual at f5.6. Only the shutter speeds were changed between shots. The wall is painted some sort of cream color that my wife wanted...just so you know. Distance is 3ft from lens to wall.
1/30 sec exposure
1/50 sec exposure...if you look to the right of the hot spot of the T1, you can see that there is less light than to it's left. The spill from the MT-4 overlaps the hot spot of the T1. You can also see this effect in the 1/80 and 1/125 exposures as well.
1/80 sec exposure
1/125 sec exposure
1/250 sec exposure
1/400 sec exposure
1/640 sec exposure
I also did a run time test at 10 minute intervals for 90 minutes. This set of batteries started off at 2.72a and more or less discharged linearly to 1.77a at 60 minutes. They started to fall off a bit faster then and ended at 1.39a at 90 minutes. At that point, the light output was still quite good. I didn't do a direct comparison, but I think that I'm pretty safe in saying that it was still putting out more light than a filament Mag 4D at that point.
So there you have it! I'm sure that I've left some stuff out, but I'll answer any questions as best I can. I'm also going to try and get some outdoor shots and post them at a later date.
Buck
First, I need to address the fact that Wayne (Elektrolumens) sells this drop in for 3D M@g bodies. I measured the current and found it to be pretty low. So I did some measurements and math and figured that driving the parallel LED's with 4 alkaline D cells would still be pretty safe. Then I tried it.
Measured current at the tail cap with four brand new Energized D cells is 2.77a. If you do the math figuring on Vf of 3.6 or 3.7 for the LED's (in parallel) with a voltage of 6v it won't work out. Turns out the M@g body and switch plus the internal resistance of the batteries is quite high, thus allowing me to use 4 D cells.
On to the review...
Others have reviewed the installation and appearance. I'll just say that it is a five minute job to install. Four of those minutes were spent looking for some sand paper so that the insert could have a good electrical connection to the body.
Beam quality is very nice. It is very white in tint. It has TONS of spill, yet still throws very well. It is truly the best of both worlds. I would not say that it is the best "thrower" out there, but I would give it a 9 out of 10.
In the following pics, the MT-4 is on the left and the Fenix T1 is on the right. All pics were taken in manual at f5.6. Only the shutter speeds were changed between shots. The wall is painted some sort of cream color that my wife wanted...just so you know. Distance is 3ft from lens to wall.
1/30 sec exposure
1/50 sec exposure...if you look to the right of the hot spot of the T1, you can see that there is less light than to it's left. The spill from the MT-4 overlaps the hot spot of the T1. You can also see this effect in the 1/80 and 1/125 exposures as well.
1/80 sec exposure
1/125 sec exposure
1/250 sec exposure
1/400 sec exposure
1/640 sec exposure
I also did a run time test at 10 minute intervals for 90 minutes. This set of batteries started off at 2.72a and more or less discharged linearly to 1.77a at 60 minutes. They started to fall off a bit faster then and ended at 1.39a at 90 minutes. At that point, the light output was still quite good. I didn't do a direct comparison, but I think that I'm pretty safe in saying that it was still putting out more light than a filament Mag 4D at that point.
So there you have it! I'm sure that I've left some stuff out, but I'll answer any questions as best I can. I'm also going to try and get some outdoor shots and post them at a later date.
Buck
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