In praise of the X-Bin LED!

[donn_]

I just love this emitter!

I already had a few; a couple of HD45s with that amazing reflector, a light engine in an Aleph 1, and a KL6 with the X-Bin deep down in its throat.

Today's mail brought me the best one yet; an ArcMania TurboTower with the X-Bin driven at 1A. I ripped open the package, and stuffed the tower into a 3" Surefire TurboHead, powered by 3x AW C Li-Ions cells.

What a honker! It's the best beam from the X-Bin I've seen yet, and the best single-die emitter beam I've seen in a TurboHead.

I think in terms of overall beam strength and quality, this emitter is second only to the Diamond Dragon, and in some applications, even surpasses the DD.

If you haven't experienced the X-Bin, you owe it to yourself.

I hope I can stay awake until dark!

 

[TranquillityBase]

Love the X, but she's a quad, not a single.

 

[donn_]

You're right, of course, but the integration is so much better than today's quads (and more), the outcome is more like a single.

 

[Illum]

whats the specialty of X bins luxV again?
I've always wondered about it ever since Mr.X lights popped up on the forum but could never get a straight answer:candle:

 

[greenLED]

whats the specialty of X bins luxV again?

To this day, they are somewhat of an unobtanium item.

 

[Owen]

Love the X

Wow. That's a nice bin, right there.
I had a WXOT over a BB650 in an Aleph 3 that was nothing to complain about, and think my WWOS went in Robocop's KL4, but the only X bin I ever saw offered was the X3T.

 

[GarageBoy]

To this day, i want one in a KL4

 

[Illum]

To this day, they are somewhat of an unobtanium item.

and they are special because they are unobtainable? :thinking:

 

[greenLED]

and they are special because they are unobtainable? :thinking:

Yup. High bin, über bright when driven hard and properly heatsinked, etc.

Of course this was back when all we could get where P & R Lux bins...

I'm not sure how an X-bin driven at over 1A would compare against a newer Q5 emitter or something like that.

 

[donn_]

Eureka! I was prowling through my Aleph spreadsheet and found another X-Bin LE; XX1S/DownBoy750 in a Desert Sand Aleph 3.

I dug it out and threw some cells inside, and it's a beauty!

 

[daveman]

The X-bin leds from lumileds have long been rendered obsolete by newer generation of XR-Es and now XP-Gs and MCEs from Cree.

I don't even know why people still talk about it.

And that doughnut hole in the center...

 

[Illum]

I don't even know why people still talk about it.

memories from the past often doesn't fade easily

even with these 2K lumen bridgelux modules coming about, there's still alot of praise left in T1-3/4 LEDs

 

[270winchester]

To this day, i want one in a KL4

it's kinda wasted in the KL4. I have an XX1S in a KL4, while it's a bright sucker, the light spills too much.

they are best utilized in lights like the HD45

 

[LightJaguar]

I have never been much of a fan of Luxeon LEDs. Most of my Luxeon lights tend to have a pink tint to them (Inova, Surefire, Cabela's, cheapy ones). I have a Lux V and lets just say that I much prefer the ring around my Cree lights then that cop's favorite snack hole.

 

[Sgt. LED]

To this day, i want one in a KL4

Had one, way way too damn hot. Bright, clean beam profile, great tint but put a lot of juice into heat production.
I think it went to Milky, could of been another modder however as this was before I started doing smaller stuff myself.

 

[easilyled]

X-bin lux Vs are only a quarter as efficient as the current quad-die leds.

They run much hotter and can only produce a maximum 200 out the front lumens.

To do this the runtime is pathetic and the lifetime of the led is severely compromised.

They are only rated at a maximum of 500 hours because of their heating problems.

I'm sure the current generation of quad-dies are rated at 100 000 hours or more and can produce 700+ out the front lumens.

Sorry, but the X-Bin LED while champion in its day, is now a chump in this era.

 

[donn_]

None of mine have any sign of a donut hole, or any other artifact. I don't run them on high long enough to heat them up, and it would take me longer than I have to exceed 500 hours on one.

 

[easilyled]

None of mine have any sign of a donut hole, or any other artifact. I don't run them on high long enough to heat them up, and it would take me longer than I have to exceed 500 hours on one.

500 hours being a maximum rating.
Run them on high too long and it could be far less than this.
Therefore even 200 out the front lumens can only be maintained for a short time, before needing to turn off the light or throttle it down assuming that it has more than one level.
This is just not practical for anyone needing a consistent high output.
Worse still is that because of the high Vf and heat issues of lux Vs compared to the current generation of leds,
it necessitated a big light often with 3 or more cells to achieve the kind of output that can now be achieved in one-cell CR123 lights with an SSC-P4 led for the same runtime.

 

[donn_]

Efficiency and practicality were not mentioned in my opening post, and are two issues I frequently ignore in my flashlight choices.

I have comparable lights with Seoul P4s and X-bins, ranging from Aleph 1s to HD45s, and I prefer the beam produced by the X-bin to the SSC, by a wide margin.

I have 4 lights bearing KL6 heads on my desk right now. They are carrying a P7, a Diamond Dragon, a K2TFFC and an X-bin. All three of the other ones put out more light than the X-bin, but none can compare to its beam quality.

It's the same story with larger reflectors. I have turbo towers with Rebel, P4, K2T and now X-bin. I haven't tried the X-bin tower in every turbo head I own, but in the 3" SF, it's a long way better than the others.

This is a matter of taste, not efficiency and practicality. The reason I like the flashlight hobby so much is because there are so many options, even if it includes firing up a hotwire that measures runtimes in 2-digit numbers, and can ignite fires with its heat.:devil:

 

[easilyled]

Well, to each his own.

Lumens per watt is probably the single most important factor for me when choosing an emitter or led, providing that the tint is white and even in distribution.

I am of the opinion that all of the leds available can produce a nice beam pattern when the secondary optics around them are well designed.

McGizmo designed the HD45 to be compatible with lux Vs so it doesn't surprise me that the X-bin produces a nice beam in that.

Just like the Cree-XRE looks great in an Aleph-19 head or a Haiku because these were also designed specifically by McGizmo for Cree-XRE leds.

In less well-designed or incorrectly matched-up reflectors or optics, any emitter can look ugly, including the X-bin luxV :shrug: