My reactor is junk

[Spork]

Tonight I went to my grandparents house since they have a good yard for testing flashlights. I took along my opalec to compare against the reactor. My eyes weren't all the way adjusted to the dark but the opalec and reactor with lithiums look equal in over all brightness. I used them to see how visible trees and other things in the yard were. Its nothing technical but to me this is a much better test than shining them on the wall next to each other. If you had to guess the light by looking at the beam you would only be able to tell by the snot green luxeon. I thought I was buying a "white light"? It has the improved switch so you know cmg still isn't doing qc on their luxeons. I also prefer the smoother on of the opalec and arc ls. To be fair under normal use its not green enough to make a difference. It appears to be a sturdy light but being a flashaholic I've come to expect better quality in my led flashlights. If your looking for a cheaper yet still fairly bright and good quality flashlight you may want to consider the opalec instead. I will probably sell my reactor on ebay for a fair price and hopefully someone will be happy with it.

MrChri5

 

[Darell]

Few things have bugged me more in advertising than the Reactor's "True white" output that was claimed. We all knew it couldn't be true, but when we saw that it wasn't ANY better than all the other pea-greenies out there... well that just ticked me off.

 

[MR Bulk]

Can you just return it?

 

[BuddTX]

I am going to wait a while, then send in my reactor, maybe early next year for a replacement, when hopefuly things have improved with the product.

I agree, that they go out of their way to say on the package "TRUE WHITE LIGHT", and on the back they say "True White Light" two more times, so I think it is right to EXPECT a "True White Light"!

However, CMG seems to be a serious flashlight company, and I would bet that they are just as disappointed in the color as we are, and I would bet that the color inconsistency will soon change.

 

[Eric S]

Put 2Ns and a AAA in it. Much better light output and cheaper than lithiums.
Eric

 

[Big Tex]

Mine is going back soon. Pretty much a disappointment even with lithiums.

 

[Charles Bradshaw]

I guess I got lucky with my 2 Reactors from pocketlights.com. They are more than white enough for me. Only a slight greenish side tint at very close range on a white target. In real usage, white, not as bright as The Arc LS, but much longer runtime. Different design philosophies between the 2 companies. CMG goes for longer runtime, rather than brightest. I like my Reactors enough, that I can say 'only over my dead body!' Mine have the new switch.

My Pro Series LS bulb, is my benchmark for truly sick! The spot nearly gets lost in the new blacktop of the driveway, and that's bad.

I do the same sort of testing as mrchri5, except that I use trash night (tuesday night). Gives me the chance to test it on various natural objects, the darkest is the driveway itself.

 

[brightnorm]

Originally posted by Eric S:
Put 2Ns and a AAA in it. Much better light output and cheaper than lithiums.
Eric

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">It is indeed bright, but the "no free lunch" principle asserts it self in the form of a very short bright runtime. Too bad, it looked pretty impressive for a while.
Brightnorm

 

[Grummond]

mrchri5
I have the Opelac Newbeam (I love it) and I have a replacement Reactor from CMG.
If your Newbeam and Reactor looked to be about the same brightness and the Reactor was using Lithiums I would suspect there is something wrong with your Reactor.

My Reactor is closer to my Lightwave 4000 than my Opalec in terms of brightness although the Lightwave has a wider beam.

I would send it back to CMG, I’m sure they will replace it for you they were very helpful to me and very fast in getting me a replacement.
I have to admit I was disappointed with my first one, it flickered and the LS was green (way too green) not that bright either.
My new one however is on of my favourite lights at the moment, walking at night in the woods it gives more light than my girlfriends Inova X5 and is a lot cheaper to run.

As for your advice on buying a fairly cheap good light with the Opalec, I could not agree more I use my Opalec more than any other light.

I hope you get the Reactor changed and get a good one, there’s a huge difference.

Grummond.

 

[vcal]

I'll sure be glad when Lumaleds finally gets their QC under control.