lw3000 vs. Inova X5

coolguy

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Nov 28, 2001
Messages
74
Location
Hawaii, U.S.
Everybody raves about the brightness of the Inova X5. At a recent fishing trip I was impressed by my friends X5. I am a competitive person and owning a princeton tec attitude is no longer adequate. I recently ordered a lightwave 3000 and I'm waiting for it to come.

Can anybody give me insight on whether or not it's brighter than the Inova X5. Keep in mind, if the Arc LS were immediately available I'd get that right now. In fact I should've gotten the lw-4000 but, it's too late for that now.

well your opinions will be welcome.

thanks!!
 
Well, I bet the LW is slightly brighter and a LOT cheaper to run...smart buy.
 
I have the lw 4000 and its quite a bit brighter than the innova so I'm guessing the 3000 would be just a little brighter. I didn't realise the lightwaves were made in china until I got mine
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still a very nice light and lasts forever on cheap d batteries. The Inova is my new favorite. it and the arc aaa are the coolest looking lights I have. compared to the e2 running the innova is nothing. with the e2 your replacing batteries at 75 minutes and also 10 dollars bulbs if they break or burn out. you will get a good bright 5 hours from your batteries and up to 20 I think at reduced brightness.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ken B:
Wow Doug, I really like the way you did those picks...thanks!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, thank you! It took a lot of fiddling with the exposure values, but I'm happy with the result. With any luck, a lot more will be there fairly soon. I received word that CMG and LEDtronics are sending me products for review.

Now we just have to hope that UPS (or whomever) can find my new place! The development is brand new and the street isn't even on the maps yet!
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Getting a LW3000 or an X5 should do you no wrong. I own a LW4000 and an X5. With visual obsevation, the LW4000 seems to be the same brightness as the X5. The big difference is not the center brightness, but the side spill of light. The LW4000 has a huge bright side light, which the X5 does not. This gives the impression that the X5 is brighter, as it does not have the side spill to compare. The bright center of the LW4000 is played down by the bright side spill. I did get a chance to use a LW3000, as I gave away several for X-mas. The LW3000 has only slightly less light than the LW4000, but in a much smaller package.

In my opinion, I would pick the following based on this:

X5 = if you need to carry the light in your pocket, will be used around the yard or house, don't need more than 5-10 hours of bright light before needing battery changes, will to carry spare 123s, looks are everything (that Sharper Image look).

LW3000 = if you can handle the slightly larger size, will be used for outdoor activities (hiking, camping, fishing), need to light up the entire area in front of you (while still retaining a bright center beam), need more than 50 hours of bright light before needing battery changes, need to limit batteries to readly available C cells, can take a beating without looking like it did (for a light that is made in China, this is a tuff one).

The best things I like about these lights, they are bright and they don't flicker at all. My LW4000 has passed the 90 hours of run time, and I have changed only 1 of 3 D cells. It fell from a 6 and 4 foot ladder onto the concrete floor (while being lighted). No damage could be found and it still works perfectly. I expect the LW3000 to be the same. This is why I had no shame in giving these out for X-mas. If you are going to turn others on to LED lights, give them something good.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by WarrenI:
Getting a LW3000 or an X5 should do you no wrong.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I own the LW 4000, 3000, TREK 1400 and Inova x5. The X5 is EDC and unique, but I agree that for hiking, trekking the broader beam field of the bigger lights is ideal.

I have found that the two Lightwaves will outlast the Trk 1400, but that for the first few hours the Trek is brighter. It also has a more "natural" looking beam, not as blue as the Lightwaves.

Because the Trek 1400 is brighter, more natural-hued, lighter and smaller than the Lightwaves, it is my first pick for any activties under 7 or 8 hours. Beyond that the Lightwaves start to assert themselves and become superior.

BTW, if you use Surefire lithiums post-dated 8 or 9 years in the Inova you can pretty much count on 6 hours plus of bright light. Most people don't know that Surefire lithiums are continually updated on a 2 month basis; I believe this is very rare, perhaps unique.

Brightnorm
 
thanks everybody for replying. Cool pictures! Hey Warren I, I tried to contact you via email a while back regarding where you got your x-5 at. I live in Hawaii too and I was wondering which local hardware store carries it.

Thanks for all the info I'm even more excited to recieve it now! I just have to wait... Mail takes a little while to get here
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coolguy167; I'll send you an e-mail too, but if you live on Oahu, you can find the X5 at City Mill as they have a sale on this at $39.95.

Sorry, but I don't remember getting an e-mail from you, but please try again. I got spammed big time about six weeks ago, which lasted for about 2 weeks. It seemed that some people got this mailing list which had lots of people listed dozens of times. I was getting about 200 e-mails per day, and yours may have gotten mixed with them.
 
Thanks WarrenI. I appreciate the info!

Btw, I just got lw-3000. Just checked the mail and it was in there!!!! My first impressions...

It's pretty bright and the light has a kind of bluish violet tinge to it. I wish I had more lights to compare it to. Running the attitude next to it... I would say the lw is about well... It's definitely brighter and the beam area is substantially bigger. I don't have an x-5 with me right now so I can't do a comparison but, the previous posts have done an excellent job at that
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I like the feel of it. It feels solidly built and I especially like the rubber grip. As for the run time. I realize that non-regulated led lights such as the lw dim immediately after running it. But, about how long can you run the lw-3000 until there is a noticeable difference? Being as that I just got the light, I'm probably not as capable as those who had the light a while to do this observation. I read in one post, the x-5 is about as bright as an attitude after 4 hours.
 
Your beloved LX is also made in China. Many life saving maintaineering products like $500 gore-tex jackets from North Face or Marmot and $700 sleeping bags are also made in China. Your IBM or many of your daily wear Levis Jeans are also made in China. Again, your $1.99 flashlight from Walmart is made in China.

Quality of the product is NOT controlled by the manufacturers in China or anywhere else. It's controlled by the price willing to be paid by your beloved importers. Why these importers doing that? Simple, because the general public in the U.S. doesn't want to pay reasonable price for quality they expected. They complain the price when the quality is good but complain the quality when they are only willing to pay $4.99 ($0.50 to manufacturers).

Interestingly, while the general U.S. public complain about the cheap quality of China-made product, Chinese manufacturers in general complain U.S. importers are cheap and they only want cheap products.

I apologize for such off topic post. However, this is caused by many off topic comments on *oops.. this is made in China*.

Alan
 
Anything made Stateside costs a bundle over here - most of you guys get stuff very inexpensively (the way I see it).

Sometimes I wonder about the quality people overseas percieve in UK-made products.

lightlover
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Alan, no need to apologize, that was well said.

I do like my X5, just cannot find it for weeks now... so I am not sure where it is made.

Mark
 
I never meant anything about the quality of stuff that comes from china. I just like buying American made because I believe it makes more jobs here. my 20 dollar work boots that are made in china out lasted my hundred dollar work boots. the quality varies with anything. the x5 says its made in usa.

I had some questions on the innova x5. another user reported using diaelectric grease would help preserve the connection. is this a good choice and where can I get it from? would this be good for the arc and infinity also?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Quickbeam:
You can also check this page for comparison pictures of the X5 right next to a LW 3000. 4th picture down.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Doug, very nice pics. Did you intend to have the led arrays show up as a reflection in your ruler? That's really cool!
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Makes it even easier to tel which beam is for which light.
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Doug, very nice pics. Did you intend to have the led arrays show up as a reflection in your ruler? That's really cool!
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Makes it even easier to tel which beam is for which light. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks, Gadget! The reflection was purely coincidence, but I liked it too, so I decided not to retake the pic. Only downside is that the reflecion is so bright it causes problems with the exposure values, so I needed to compensate manually. Glad you like it!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I don't think the LW4000 kills its LED's as bad as the Inova too?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Quite right, ColdLight! The LightWaves have resistors to help protect the LEDs from being overdriven too much. The X5 - based on my meter readings - allows the LEDs to draw directly off the 6 volts the batteries supply, driving the LEDs at over 52 mA each. Overdriven pretty badly, but not the worst we've seen.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Quickbeam:
...The X5 - based on my meter readings - allows the LEDs to draw directly off the 6 volts the batteries supply, driving the LEDs at over 52 mA each. Overdriven pretty badly, but not the worst we've seen.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


This is interesting because if you only apply 4.5v to the head of the X5 then it is only as bright as a Streamlight Stylus or a little brighter than a Photon II. Yet if you apply 4.5v to the head of the CC Expedition (it's normal voltage) you get very good brightness. So you must run the X5 at 6v or it doesn't light properly. The only way to explain this is if there is some internal resistance applied to prevent the LEDs from being overdriven.

I wish someone would take their X5 apart to find out for sure.
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