Haiku W vs. C Hotspot debate

[SFfanman]

So I held off and resisted as long as I could stand it. But when the cards fell in place and the time was right, I broke down and picked up a WARM Haiku XP-G. Having owned for a short time both a Haiku XP-G original (non-warm) and a Haiku XR-E it is sure nice to have one back in my hands again. I don't have to mention it (but I will anyway) how awesome a light it is but I have run into a sort of dilemma. I remembered the original XP-G version having it seemed to me a big hotspot and plenty of spill. Well the new WARM one has plenty of spill but the hotspot seems much much smaller than I anticipated. I did some measurements and at 18 inches from a whitewall I picked up the hotspot at 2 inches. Thanks to ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond and some others, I reaffirmed his test of about a 1ft. hotspot relative to 10 feet from wall. Maybe others would like to run a similar test to compare results. I am also curious to see if the original "cool" version matches the size as well. :thinking:

 

[fyrstormer]

Your eyes can see the difference in brightness more accurately as the warm hotspot fades into the spill, so it's entirely possible they are the exact same size and the difference is only an optical illusion.

 

[maxspeeds]

If the warm XP-G is a lower bin than the cool XP-G, it will have lower output at the same current and this could result in a smaller hotspot.

 

[run4jc]

Your eyes can see the difference in brightness more accurately as the warm hotspot fades into the spill, so it's entirely possible they are the exact same size and the difference is only an optical illusion.

I agree with Fyrstormer - I took both of mine (XPG and XPGW) out this morning and it was much tougher to see any difference against 'normal' backdrops - trees, sidewalks, asphalt, etc. When I dropped them both to 'lo' it looked to me as if the spots were the same size. When I shined them both on asphalt on 'hi' it also looked like they were about the same size. IMHO, the 'intensity' of that XPG beam plus the tint makes it more difficult to see the defined spot - different wording than fyrstormer, but in total agreement.

If the warm XP-G is a lower bin than the cool XP-G, it will have lower output at the same current and this could result in a smaller hotspot.

Agreed again. I measured both of mine in my infamous o) home made integrating sphere, and the XPG measured 190 lumen on high while the XPGW was 150.

I took a few 'beige wall' (wall is a medium beige color) photos this morning - not great 'cause I was rushing around getting ready for work. Camera is a 10 year old Canon Digital Rebel, 28-135 lens at 28, 1/20 shutter, f/3.5. About 10 feet away. You can barely make out the two guitars as a size reference. SFfanman, I emailed a link to these photos directly to you...

Then, just for grins....

Here's the Haiku XRE

:wave:

 

[SFfanman]

Very interesting and new to me point about the same current and lower output resulting in smaller hotspot.



Thanks to Run4JC and the pics I can clearly see the size difference in hotspots and although the small visible spot in the Ra 170 picture more accurately reminds me of mine in the WARM XP-G Haiku, truthfully, at 10 feet I gather your beam (judging from the width of siding on wall) is roughly 1ft diameter as well. I guess I might have been taken aback by the small hotpot as it so resembled the Lunasol 20 on high with its old GD emitter and my late Jetbeam RRT-0. The most noteable difference here is that the Haiku has that most useable spill where IMHO the RRT-0 falls short.