Lambda\'s Tuxedo Illuminator
With nothing to do, no LGIs to build, no more 5-watts to play with (plus I destroyed one), I finally had time to set about putting together a light mod using a bare Pill Lambda kindly provded.
It went into a pewter-colored Brinkmann Legend 2AA body tube, capped on either end by the head and tailcap from a black Legend 3AA. Accented by the contrasting black rubber grip in the middle, it makes for one striking little light.
Onto the top copper plate of the pill I Arctic Silver'd a white batwing LS that did not quite make the cut in the recent LGI build, and voila! The Tuxedo Illuminator was born:
I put it up against a couple of other lights similar in size, and left to right here are the Tuxedo Illuminator, Arc-SLS, and MiniMag souped up with a NexStar lamp; both the Arc and MiniMag are sporting Kroll tailcap switches:
But the surprising thing about the spiffy little Tuxedo was that it handily outshone the Arc, and both out-whited and out-hotspotted the incandescent MiniMag:
But appearances can be deceiving, especially with a subpar (by LGI standards) Luxeon, so naturally I had to see for myself and light metered the Tuxedo vs. the Arc:
Arc-SL 244 lux
Tuxedo 349 lux
This Tuxedo Illuminator outperforms every other 2AA Luxeon light I have ever tested. Keeping in mind the first LGIs I ever built were only making 450-500 lux, it kinda gives you an idea of just how good the Luxeons are that made it into the latest LGIs...and how efficient Lambda's circuit really is.
With nothing to do, no LGIs to build, no more 5-watts to play with (plus I destroyed one), I finally had time to set about putting together a light mod using a bare Pill Lambda kindly provded.
It went into a pewter-colored Brinkmann Legend 2AA body tube, capped on either end by the head and tailcap from a black Legend 3AA. Accented by the contrasting black rubber grip in the middle, it makes for one striking little light.
Onto the top copper plate of the pill I Arctic Silver'd a white batwing LS that did not quite make the cut in the recent LGI build, and voila! The Tuxedo Illuminator was born:
I put it up against a couple of other lights similar in size, and left to right here are the Tuxedo Illuminator, Arc-SLS, and MiniMag souped up with a NexStar lamp; both the Arc and MiniMag are sporting Kroll tailcap switches:
But the surprising thing about the spiffy little Tuxedo was that it handily outshone the Arc, and both out-whited and out-hotspotted the incandescent MiniMag:
But appearances can be deceiving, especially with a subpar (by LGI standards) Luxeon, so naturally I had to see for myself and light metered the Tuxedo vs. the Arc:
Arc-SL 244 lux
Tuxedo 349 lux
This Tuxedo Illuminator outperforms every other 2AA Luxeon light I have ever tested. Keeping in mind the first LGIs I ever built were only making 450-500 lux, it kinda gives you an idea of just how good the Luxeons are that made it into the latest LGIs...and how efficient Lambda's circuit really is.
