FRONTGATE flashlights...5000lm LED???

[stallion2]

http://www.frontgate.com/jump.jsp?itemID=7897&itemType=CATEGORY&path=1,2,113,7897

this would appear to be the work of Wavien. they did a press release about testing the first 5000lm LED setup back in May....i've not read the details yet. i'm not really sure how you would make more lumens by "recycling" light as opposed to increasing power input or using more and more efficient emitters...but its been awhile since i've read any of their available literature about the Wavien setup.

just consider this a big FYI...its now available, albeit from an unlikely source

 

[richpalm]

Oh, geez... watch out for Frontgate. I bought something from them in 2006 and got spammed and junk mailed by them for 3 years.

Rich

 

[CarpentryHero]

There are 100watt LED's out there that can dish out 7000 lumens but it takes 30+volts to run them and the heatsinc required may not have been invented yet?

I wonder what the frontgate build quality is like?
I think I'd go HID instead cheaper for now for big lumen output.
WickedLasers The Torch is 4100 lumens at $299 dollars. Cook an egg, 5 minutes of runtime

 

[tre]

They sure don't like to give details. the only specs on the light are:

• Brightness: 5,000+ Lumens:rolleyes:
• Grip: Knurled grip surface
• Light Modes: High
• Switch:Multi-function front switch
• Batteries:Rechargeable ni-mh battery (included)
• Dimensions: 18-1/2"L x 3-1/2" dia.
• Weight:3-1/2 lbs..

I would love to know more of the specs of this light. I am a sceptic.

 

[B0wz3r]

I would love to know more of the specs of this light. I am a sceptic.

Indeed.

There was an excellent article in New Scientist recently about the physics of LED's and how they produce light. One thing that was specifically in the article is that even with the newest generation of emitters, the harder you drive them, the less efficient they become.

Unless these people have come up with a Nobel Prize winning breakthrough or have otherwise figured out how to alter the laws of physics, I don't believe their claims for a nanosecond.

 

[tre]

The only LED I know of that can produce that many lumens is the Luminus CSM-360. I am pretty sure it is too big to fit in a head that size. I guess they never claim it to be an LED flashlight though. Perhaps it is an HID light?

 

[alpg88]

sounds familiar
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=269598

 

[stallion2]

sounds familiar
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=269598

oh its definitely the same company
http://www.wavien.com/ ie http://www.premienled.com/

there is an image when you open that second link i've listed showing the optic, or at least a part of it. that same exact image is on Frontgate's site.

the two smaller lights seem pretty reasonably priced.

 

[tre]

sounds familiar
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=269598

Ahh. It is the exact same light as the Wavien light in that thread. According to the guy at Wavien, that light uses a CBT-90 LED. The CBT-90 emitter puts out 2200 MAX emitter lumens when maximally driven on fresh batteries with no heat. OTF lumes will be nowhere near that thanks to heat and we have no idea how hard this is driven. How can they get away with advertising this as 5000 lumens?

 

[John_Galt]

Ahh. It is the exact same light as the Wavien light in that thread. According to the guy at Wavien, that light uses a CBT-90 LED. The CBT-90 emitter puts out 2200 MAX emitter lumens when maximally driven on fresh batteries with no heat. OTF lumes will be nowhere near that thanks to heat and we have no idea how hard this is driven. How can they get away with advertising this as 5000 lumens?

the same way this guy can.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=296107&page=2

 

[joe1512]

Watch the flashlight be like 3 feet tall or something.

 

[phantom23]

Who said it's LED flashlight? It's 5000lm and single mode...

 

[csshih]

5k lumens, 3.5lbs, and running on nimh..

uh, with the energy density of nihm, what sorta runtime are we shooting at? :crackup:

 

[tre]

Who said it's LED flashlight? It's 5000lm and single mode...

In the threads linked above, the guy from wavian was spamming the forum claiming the brightest LED flashlight in the world. I think the wavian guy duped frontgate into selling this "5000 lumen" flashlight. Notice anything familiar in his pics below? Compare these to the pictures of the frontgate "5000 lumen" flashlight.

 

[Th232]

From Wavien's press release in May:

Wavien’s 5,000-lumen system combines seven independent LEDs.

So the 5000 lumens isn't that hard for me to believe. Having that brightness for more than 10-30 seconds though...

Oh, and runtime...

Edit: Forgot to finish this. Perhaps someone mixed up the press releases they were working off.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

Click for a graphic

Looks like a 50-watt aspheric. I'm guessing that "Light Recycling" means a primary optic or reflector, then the lens? They very carefully don't show it in anyone's hand.

 

[tre]

From Wavien's press release in May:

So the 5000 lumens isn't that hard for me to believe. Having that brightness for more than 10-30 seconds though...

Oh, and runtime...

I think that is something different from this flashlight. They claim this light has a CBT-90 LED in the thread linked at the top of the page. The CBT-90 emitter puts out 2200 MAX emitter lumens when maximally driven on fresh batteries with no heat.

 

[Th232]

The recycling collar in the upper left is a reflector used in conjunction with an aspheric. The light that doesn't go through the aspheric (and is thus normally lost) is instead reflected back onto the LED, absorbed by the phosphor and re-emitted. Saabluster has one, and he said that surface brightness improved by 58% in his sample. You get more light OTF with the collar + aspheric than an aspheric alone, but still less than if you used a reflector or TIR.

I think that is something different from this flashlight. They claim this light has a CBT-90 LED in the thread linked at the top of the page. The CBT-90 emitter puts out 2200 MAX emitter lumens when maximally driven on fresh batteries with no heat.

My apologies, I didn't finish my post. I think that someone from marketing has mixed up the press releases they were working off.

 

[bullettproof]

sounds familiar
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=269598

Thats the first thing I thought when I saw the pic of the said light.:huh:

 

[LEDninja]

My objection is to the name:
Special Ops Rechargable Military-grade Flashlight
How is Special Ops going to Recharge that flashlight on an hilltop in Afghanistan?
-
Special Ops Rechargable Military-grade Flashlight
Military-grade means nothing unless accompanied by the spec. No NSN number means the military does not actually buy that flashlight.
Surefires have NSN numbers;
Fultons have NSN numbers;
Even Maglites have NSN numbers.