Four Davids and a Goliath

[MR Bulk]

Got a new Arc LSH-P recently, and also someone kindly sent me an ElektroLumens 1W Blaster II to put up against several benchmark lights, since he does not own the appropriate mods to do a comparison on his own.

So being the industrious-yet-amateurish mod shootout poster that I can be at times, I threw together these five lights, four relatively "little" ones (the Davids) vs. the one big Blaster II (Goliath), to see what was what (from left to right, they are the Blaster II, LGI, New Version Lambda Illuminator, McLux w/BB750 and select Q4H Batwing, and my new Arc LSH-P):

And here are the beamshots in the same order:

And here come the light meter readings. To be fair, it must be said that the Blaster II had the 30mm optic, while the other four lights all used the standard Lumileds NX-05 optical collimator, not exactly known for its tight focus or spotbeam which would normally yield higher readings:


Blaster II - 849 lux

LGI - 824 lux

New Lambda Illuminator - 458 lux

McLux - 408 lux

Arc LSH-P - 303 lux


Also it was kind of interesting to note the apparent correlation between flashlight length and brightness...heh heh.

 

[FalconFX]

Ah, yep. The 30mm does some pretty eye-poping effects in turning the 1Watters into something totally different.

You should try putting the 30mm collimator on top of the other lights and then do a quick measure...

 

[MR Bulk]

Yes Choua, now if I could only find a way to mount such a large optic steadily on the smaller lights without permanent alterations...

 

[FalconFX]

For the LGI and Lambda Illuminator, you can always take a piece of paper and use it like an optics holder, wrapping it around the body of the light and cupping the optics in place on top of the LS...

Obviously, the Arc and McLux may require some wrangling, as these guys can't lose the bezel top to expose the LS (or at least I've never tried it)...

 

[IsaacHayes]

thats not a blaster II+ is it? I don't notice a deep grooved tailcap. BlasterII+ with a HD would be even more eyepoping.

 

[MR Bulk]

Isaac,

"even more eyepopping"...?

The comparison result I was highlighting was that despite the Blaster II's three fresh D batteries, the much larger and heavier size, the very good 30mm collimator, etc., some of the much littler lights with their smaller and weaker batteries nearly matched the big light's output, and if you look at the beamshots, to the unaided eye a couple of the small lights seemed brighter, and certainly whiter.

Perhaps this light was built and sold using a poorly binned Luxeon installed (although I cannot imagine ElektroLumens would deliberately do that), but it was the one sent to me for testing -- and it was far from "eyepopping"...

 

[treek13]

I am really impressed by the Illuminator and McLux beamshots and meter readings.

Charlie, is your new version Illuminator one of the even newer/brighter Adrenaline series? Because if it isn't, I would really like to see how one of those would compare.

Pat

 

[MR Bulk]

Pat, actually mine is the "regular" new Illuminator -- the Adrenalin should be Killer compared to mine...

 

[Icebreak]

I carry my LGI and my BadBoy in my briefcase every day. If I send a tech on a trouble ticket and go with him I can put the LGI in my Khakis and use it if the tech has to desk dive. I love my LGI.

Recently a systems engineer asked me about lights. I described several and he decided on the Blaster I but recieved a Blaster II. We did a little shoot out with my LGI, BadBoy 500 and his Blaster II. No the Blaster II was not "eye popping" but it was surprising to me that a 1W LS could be that bright, It had nice white light with perfect corona. It over took the badboy and the LGI with authority. Nothing at all like this beamshot.

Again, my LGI and BadBoy are with me every day but my friends Blaster II is significantly brighter. I just can't reasonably pocket it.

If you want to talk about impressive try the Blaster VI but that is a 5W. If you want to talk about rediculously bright, try the Space Needle II registering over 7,000 lux...I missed out on that puppy.

I like predictions and I have a couple for you. I predict that Mr. Bulk will have a SureFire LS mod by mid summer and will recieve offers of imported cigars and and vintage single malt scotch for this one. Another prediction is that long before the end of the year, Mr. Bulk will build an LS that achieves 10,000 lux.

 

[IsaacHayes]

Well what I was saying is the Blaster II+ has a HD LS which the 30mm optics really do best with. I'm not sure of the bin qualtiy of Elektrolumens lights. I think they are luck of the draw on brightness but none terribly off white. As far as size though the BII obviously has larger batteries for longer/extended use, and the others are brighter/smaller for handyness. Wish I could afford some of these "toys" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I guess I'll have to stick with good ole simple mag mods.