LF EO-6 Input needed

[PinarelloOnly]

I bought a 200 lumen EO-6 lamp last week and quickly received another
one after complaining to the vendor that the first one had way too much
of a yellowish beam and could not pull ahead in throw compared to a SF
P60 lamp.

After putting the second EO-6 lamp in my Surefire C2 again with fresh
batts. it was immediately clear that the first one was definitely
defective but the light output in distances over 50ft and 80ft were only
marginally more lit-up vs. my P60 lamp.

Standing on my deck outside and shining the C2/EO-6 at my storage shed
(70ft) there was more light on the shed vs. the P60 lamp but this was only
the case for a max of 5 minutes. The EO-6 then had only a wider hot
spot attributed I would guess to the frosted bulb (which I did not know
about this lamp).

-Is the LF HO-6 160 lumen bulb non-frosted and a better way to go?

-Am I the only one not feeling the love on this EO-6 lamp?

 

[nzgunnie]

You need to bear in mind that Lumens Factory do not rate their lamps in the same manner as Surefire. Your expectations might be a bit off.

Lumens factory lumens are what the bulb will produce on fresh batteries, not what comes out the front of the light.

Surefire lumens are closer to an average of what actually comes out the front of the light over the useful life of the cells.

'200' lumens from Lumens factory will not be anywhere as bright as '200' lumens from surefire. So expecting to have a lamp that's in excess of three times as bright as you P60 is unrealistic.

The general guide is to multiply the LF rating by .6 to approximate the equivelent SF rating, so you might expect 120 'SF' lumens out of this lamp on fresh batteries. Remember that 2x the brightness rating will not look twice as bright to your eyes, so what you are seeing is probably about right.

The EO-6 draws 1.9 amps, so after 5 minutes I'd certainly expect to see a noticeable drop in light.

If you want to get more light from your C2, you could either run a SF P90 on two good quality RCR123s (AW sells very good ones), or if you want it really bright, you might want to try the new chemistry IMR16340 cells running a P91 or LF EO-9.

 

[PinarelloOnly]

You need to bear in mind that Lumens Factory do not rate their lamps in the same manner as Surefire. Your expectations might be a bit off.

.......that's in excess of three times as bright as you P60 is unrealistic.

Actually I am not unrealistic at all...I just thought with all of the hype of
previous post on here about 6 volt LF EO and HO lamps I was expecting a
"little" more in performance, my only mention of the lumen rating is
because of what is advertised of the product not that I was expecting
it. I know that SF ratings are conservative but I didn't expect anything
called "Extreme Output" to pretty much just only match a P60 lamp
overall.

 

[nzgunnie]

Perhaps you have a particularly good P60.

 

[Timothybil]

I just received my HO-6 last weekend (see 'How fast is airmail') It is probably close to twice as bright as my P60 (G2 host [with UCL lens]). The spill is about the same, and the hot spot might be just a little bit smaller. Haven't taken it outside and tested throw yet. Yes, the HO-6 is frosted (just checked - looks like something layered on over the end of the bulb.) Fit is great in my G2 - no problems with screwing down all the way or intermittent contact!

 

[mdocod]

In theory, based on power consumption, the EO-6 should be about 50% brighter than a P60, with that in mind, it would be just enough brighter to notice that it is in fact a brighter light, but it's not going to be like moving up to an M6 or anything...

Many people generate huge expectations from small differences in lumens. Keep in mind that you have to more than double the output for something to really look brighter by a noteworthy amount.

In terms of SureFire Lumens, an EO-6 would be rated at ~95 lumen (+/- 10L).

Another important point to make: Within the same size reflector, moving up to higher wattage bulbs tends to cause the beam to get wider. It's a pretty natural occurrence and there isn't a lot anyone can do about it. I have personally noticed that overall, the LF lamps produce more throw watt for watt than some of the alternatives due to particular differences in bulb design, but the rule of thumb still stands.

Eric

 

[PinarelloOnly]

In terms of SureFire Lumens, an EO-6 would be rated at ~95 lumen (+/- 10L).

Eric

[FONT=&quot]Yes, this I agree with and it concludes my own findings about these 6 volt lamps.

I still do not get others who say they see such a huge difference with the EO-6
lamps. Even in this very thread it is stated that the EO-6 is twice as bright as their
own P60. From what I have seen with my own 6P and C2 using both EO-6 and
P60 lamps I have to very much disagree. Both lamps are more or less evenly
matched with fresh batteries.

I will say that I put an LF E2A lamp in my E-Defender and that did make a very
noticeable difference in both brightness and throw!!! So, it surprised me not to get
the same bit of boost over the P60 lamp with the EO-6 lamp taking in to
consideration the current draw.

Now is it very much possible that the 2 EO-6 lamps I received with their poor
performance against my P60 and yellowish tint (one worse than the other) have
fallen through the cracks and not be xenon filled??????????

The xenon gas does help in these halogens burning whiter, correct?

It would seem that this could be my problem with these EO-6 lamps seeing that my
P60 puts out a much whiter light.[/FONT]

 

[mdocod]

Fill gas allows the bulb maker to fine tune the bulbs ability to resist the evaporation of tungsten for a certain drive level. The xenon itself does not make the output any whiter, it just helps allow the bulb operate through it's rated life without as much tungsten deposit on the envelope.

I think some of LFs bulb designs could use some tweaking, I have personally noticed that some of the voltage requirements to achieve the claimed lumen figures seem rather optimistic after factoring in for voltage sag from cells and resistance that could be expected in a flashlight...

I've never really payed much attention to the "6" line of bulbs... but just took a closer look...
The EO-6 is rated 4.8V, 200 lumen, 3300K. Realistically speaking, getting 4.8V to this bulb from a pair of primary cells to achieve this output is not something I would expect to see happen in most systems. A 4.8V, 220 lumen, 3375K design would have resulted in a more useful difference in output. It still would not achieve the full 4.8V very often, but the higher CCT/efficiency would equate to better performance across the expected drive range.

 

[nzgunnie]

[FONT=&quot]it is stated that the EO-6 is twice as bright as their
own P60

[/FONT]No it's not. It's stated that it's considered a general guide to multiply the SF rating by about .6, and that you might expect 120 lumens on fresh batteries.