inova lights
- Thread starter eric1975
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gunga
Flashaholic
Short answer: No
Long answer, I will let someone else speak...
Long answer, I will let someone else speak...
Fenris
Enlightened
Not yet, and maybe never.
Illum
Flashaholic
inovas went from luxeon to K2....
sticking to K2 AFAIK.......so no
the old or new XO3?
sticking to K2 AFAIK.......so no
the old or new XO3?
Illum
Flashaholic
What the Hell is a Cree bulb?? :huh2:
Okay, sorry. Just a bit of harmless fun.
Current Inova LED lights are K2 based.
Nothing wrong with that. But if you want the brightest LED lights on the market, you'll have to look elsewhere. As far as quality goes, tough to beat Inova in overall quality; with the exception of Surefire of course. But Inovas cost less.
Dances with Flashlight
Flashlight Enthusiast
The new XO3 is a very nice light. I like everything about it, but the lens on mine cracked after what I thought was a pretty minor fall..
PhantomPhoton
Flashlight Enthusiast
:wave:
I'll speak! I'll start out with an apology about my raving and promise not to rant about Inova 2007 for the rest of the year.
My Inova editorial:
Inova, innovating American flashlight manufacturer of flashlights circa 2004 does not use newer LEDs in their current flashlight line. Much to the dismay of some like myself they chose the LumiLED Luxeon K2 emitter. Why were some so enraged by this selection? I can only speak for myself but I would say brand loyalty: superb build quality, American pride, and a general Cree craze.
I first saw Inova in the form of an X5. It was a beautiful 5 x 5mm LED flashlight that was built like a tank. Back in those days white LEDs were still pretty new and this light rocked hard. A couple years later Inova expanded their line of lights. Inova made one of my all time favorite flashlights the Inova X1 (version 1). The LumiLED heyday was also upon us. My first real power LED flashlight was an Inova X03 purchased from Brightguy. These were also built well, so well in fact I have only recently taken that old X03 out of my manpurse. That Trios optic, though some hated the rings could throw a decent punch of light. I loved it. I loved Inova. Everything was peachy.
Then comes the year 2007. Cheap Chinese lights were washing upon the market. Wave after wave came upon our shores and with each wave quality seemed to increase. The new Cree emitters were showing up and gaggles of CPFers were flocking to buy them. Inova announces its 2007 Lineup, sadly they removed the infamous TRIOS optic from all their lights. But even worse it was found the new emitters would be K2s.
K2 emitters were not so popular around these parts. Quality binned Luxeon III and Luxeon V were superior in most ways. And of course let us not forget Crees and the new kid on the block Seoul Semiconductor P4 U bins. Now those beautifully crafted American made lights from Inova wouldn't be the brightest. Nor the longest running. Inova had delays in their 2007 line, a terrible website riddled with errors and mixed up information, and unpopular, inefficient LEDs.
I can only speculate why it was so. Perhaps for some reason they just didn't get the low down on what Cree based products were doing in time. They were a growing company and redoing everything would have delayed product releases. Perhaps Inova figured that the average Joe who wouldn't know the difference would rather buy a light a few bucks cheaper and so took cheaper emitters. Inova was in fact getting into retail stores like Target. They were making money, so what if their products could be shamed by a chinese light of half the price? Perhaps they had some sort of unholy contract with LumiLEDs where they had no choice but to use an inferior product. We will likely never know.
But in the end Inova could have made their superbly constructed lights with either great runtime or great output. They ended up with neither. The Inova fans were let down. We've all seen what happens when fans of a sports team loose, this wasn't much different.
Anyway that is my take on things, hopefully I am accurate in my opinions. I'm almost settled down; I've had 9 months or so to cool off. The big question for me now is, Am I displeased enough with 2007 that I will boycott Inova? I guess it depends upon their next lineup. If they continue to promote their products based upon watts while continuing to use inefficient emitters then probably. If they upgrade to a nice Seoul, or premium binned new K2, or Cree in an Optic all while keeping that hefty American build quality then I think the past can be forgiven.
Finally what do I think about the X03, new version. Built well like its predecessors. Great quality reflector. K2 LED... test them all out in the store. Some will make greenish light, some will be purpleish light. You might get lucky and find a white looking one.
This light is no runtime champ, it burns through batteries. It puts out enough of light but is completely outclassed by its competition if you're looking for a lot of light.
If you're planning on just having it as a light tucked away for a time of need it will serve decently. It is a dependable light that you can bet will work, it will light up when you need it as long as long as the batteries are good.
Which company am I describing?....
Quality, tough, American-Made lights that use proven technology which can be counted on to work; no matter what. Unlike newer technology that has no long-term track record for reliability.
Okay, which company did I just describe?
I guess I described two companies.... Surefire & Inova.
Russianesq
Enlightened
Can Inova's use rechargeable batteries?
Some cheap Chinese lights sure can. :candle::candle::candle:
PhantomPhoton
Flashlight Enthusiast
Surefire uses this "newer unproven technology with no track record."
Surefire uses this "newer unproven technology with no track record."
You mean their very recent use of Cree technology in a couple of lights, and their use of Seoul P4s in the 6PL and G2L?
Difference is, unlike everyone else; Surefire doesn't overdrive those Cree and Seoul LEDs. Far less likely that those LEDs will go
TacticalGrilling
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2006
- Messages
- 105
Monocrom is right: both companies have favored durability and proven reliability over the "latest, greatest." Not to say I don't enjoy my Q5's from overseas, but when I need a light I can 100% rely on, it's Inova and Surefire, hands down.
Be Safe, Grill Tactical.
-Nick
TacticalGrilling.com
Be Safe, Grill Tactical.
-Nick
TacticalGrilling.com
jzmtl
Flashlight Enthusiast
Maglite?
Nope!
Had a 3D Mag that literally fell apart in my hands. Had a 2AA Mini-Mag that did the same thing. Had another 2AA Mini-mag that never should have made it through Q.C.
All my Surefires and Inovas are rock-solid, tough-as-Hell, dependable lights. :rock:
Marduke
Flashaholic
Sounds more like you're buying "Moglights" from China....
I have MiniMags with NiteIze dropins that are 20 years old that are now faithfully serving in my car gloveboxes.
Oh, I still have Maglites.... I just don't trust any of them for use as my main light under any circumstances. I make sure to have back-ups when reaching for a Maglite.
But yeah, next to my house-phone is a 2AA Mini-mag with the 3-LED Nite-Ize drop-in and tailcap switch. It works well for putting out a useable amount of light when walking through my apartment at night without disturbing others.
