Hello,
My first review in a looong time.
Here is a light I commissioned from Milkyspit with my favorite light - the L5 - and a custom firmware for his splendid Acorn driver designed by yours truly.
Specs:
- Seoul SSC P7 CSXOI emitter
- L5 host: bored out head to accomodate new reflector and driver, and also body bored to take 18650
- McR-38 reflector: cut down to fit head, and used with a write-right on the lens
- Acorn driver set up with custom firmware, and direct drive
- Output: ~3 lumens on low, 700 lumens on high at beginning of output curve, 550 lumens toward end of output curve (estimate based on my discussions with Milky, and my observation)
- Runtime: 1.5hr+ on high
Firmware:
Basically I wanted to be able to accomplish two things:
- Direct access to any level, from any level
- Use of 'manual strobe' (being able to tap the light quickly in succession, without changing modes on accident)
The way I got this to work was the following:
- 5 levels: 4 brightness levels, 1 regular strobe
- To access any level, tap (length < .25sec) X number of times, then press (length > .25sec) to reach X level (1 - high, 2 - med-high, 3 - med-low, 4 - low, 5 - strobe)
- If number of taps exceeds 5, nullify counter and do not change level on subsequent press - the 'manual' strobe
Milky coded the firmware just as I liked, and though I would have liked the top three levels to be spread out more (i.e. so that the gap between the top three levels and the lowest would be smaller), the three brightest levels are visually spaced equally from each other (taking into account the logarithmic nature of lumens output v/s visual brightness), and Milky also did a great job ekeing out the lowest possible low from the P7, so he did a great job on selecting the levels for this new firmware. Next time I might just ask him to add another level, between levels 3 (med-low) and 4 (low). Probably makes sense since the high is so high. Milky also set the strobe to a very nice and disorienting level.
I love this firmware, because for all intents and purposes, it makes the light behave as close to a single-stage light as you can get from a multi-stage light with single-button interface. I love the simplicity of a single-stage light, the fact that you can hand it to a non-flashaholic and it will behave as they would expect - click to turn on, click to turn off. No crazy mode-changing. Here, since the "tap" time length is relatively short (.25sec), if you click the clicky fully, it will always take longer than .25sec, so you never run the risk of their switching modes, as long as they click the light - which almost everyone will. And if needed, I can also strobe the light manually, should the situation for it (hopefully not!) arise.
Being able to access any level from any level, also means that I can hold the bezel to my body (so that no light escapes) and can tap-tap-tap-click to get level 3 (for example), each and every time - without having to look at what mode it's in, cycle through different brightness levels, etc.
I feel like this firmware setup has its merits and wanted to share that with everyone too =) Does anyone else out there find that this might fit your needs?
Beam:
Now, on to discussion about the beam and performance! I had the chance to take this on an outdoor camping trip, and I was BLOWN AWAY. It is so bright on high, that it illuminated an area 150' wide and 200' in front of me with no problem. I provided enough light for 40 people on a wide trail all by myself. Seriously. What a crazy light =)
As far as runtime, I ran it on that camping trip on a 17670 just out of curiosity, and it ran for over an hour on high with that battery, so the 1.5+ hr figure I got was a guesstimation for the 18650. Once I have a chance to run a real-world runtime with the 18650, I will update that figure - but I have a feeling it will run even longer than that.
Now, the beamshots - sorry, nothing adventurous, just indoor beamshots. The exposure was locked from shot to shot, and white balance was set for daylight.
Level 4 - Low
Level 3 - Med-low
Level 2 - Med-high
Level 1 - High
The beam is very wide, as you can see, and it has a brighter area in the middle - but in practical use the hotspot is not very defined, and it feels more like a very steroidal L4. I think the brighter middle area translates to further reach in the middle of the beam, when used outdoors - if that makes sense. Rather than having the narrow pencil-beam hotspot many Lux-based lights can have.
Here is a beamshot showing the color performance, again on daylight wb:
For comparison, here is the same shot but with my new U2by2 High-CRI SSC S2 light (review to come), with same exposure and white balance:
Finally, the Blokus box with the room's tungsten lightbulbs:
The L5's color is very neutral, and outdoors it does very well even with brown leaves and green grass. It is a great all-around tint.
So, there you have it. A fantastic, bright, bright mod, well-heatsinked with a custom sink by Milky, well put-together, useful levels, and just an amazing wide area flamethrower in your pocket. Milky does great, meticulous work that he stands by, and he is also a very nice fellow to get to know. Also, he does this full-time and I think he's one of the most innovative and painstakingly detailed modders around. Highly recommended!
My first review in a looong time.
Here is a light I commissioned from Milkyspit with my favorite light - the L5 - and a custom firmware for his splendid Acorn driver designed by yours truly.
Specs:
- Seoul SSC P7 CSXOI emitter
- L5 host: bored out head to accomodate new reflector and driver, and also body bored to take 18650
- McR-38 reflector: cut down to fit head, and used with a write-right on the lens
- Acorn driver set up with custom firmware, and direct drive
- Output: ~3 lumens on low, 700 lumens on high at beginning of output curve, 550 lumens toward end of output curve (estimate based on my discussions with Milky, and my observation)
- Runtime: 1.5hr+ on high
Firmware:
Basically I wanted to be able to accomplish two things:
- Direct access to any level, from any level
- Use of 'manual strobe' (being able to tap the light quickly in succession, without changing modes on accident)
The way I got this to work was the following:
- 5 levels: 4 brightness levels, 1 regular strobe
- To access any level, tap (length < .25sec) X number of times, then press (length > .25sec) to reach X level (1 - high, 2 - med-high, 3 - med-low, 4 - low, 5 - strobe)
- If number of taps exceeds 5, nullify counter and do not change level on subsequent press - the 'manual' strobe
Milky coded the firmware just as I liked, and though I would have liked the top three levels to be spread out more (i.e. so that the gap between the top three levels and the lowest would be smaller), the three brightest levels are visually spaced equally from each other (taking into account the logarithmic nature of lumens output v/s visual brightness), and Milky also did a great job ekeing out the lowest possible low from the P7, so he did a great job on selecting the levels for this new firmware. Next time I might just ask him to add another level, between levels 3 (med-low) and 4 (low). Probably makes sense since the high is so high. Milky also set the strobe to a very nice and disorienting level.
I love this firmware, because for all intents and purposes, it makes the light behave as close to a single-stage light as you can get from a multi-stage light with single-button interface. I love the simplicity of a single-stage light, the fact that you can hand it to a non-flashaholic and it will behave as they would expect - click to turn on, click to turn off. No crazy mode-changing. Here, since the "tap" time length is relatively short (.25sec), if you click the clicky fully, it will always take longer than .25sec, so you never run the risk of their switching modes, as long as they click the light - which almost everyone will. And if needed, I can also strobe the light manually, should the situation for it (hopefully not!) arise.
Being able to access any level from any level, also means that I can hold the bezel to my body (so that no light escapes) and can tap-tap-tap-click to get level 3 (for example), each and every time - without having to look at what mode it's in, cycle through different brightness levels, etc.
I feel like this firmware setup has its merits and wanted to share that with everyone too =) Does anyone else out there find that this might fit your needs?
Beam:
Now, on to discussion about the beam and performance! I had the chance to take this on an outdoor camping trip, and I was BLOWN AWAY. It is so bright on high, that it illuminated an area 150' wide and 200' in front of me with no problem. I provided enough light for 40 people on a wide trail all by myself. Seriously. What a crazy light =)
As far as runtime, I ran it on that camping trip on a 17670 just out of curiosity, and it ran for over an hour on high with that battery, so the 1.5+ hr figure I got was a guesstimation for the 18650. Once I have a chance to run a real-world runtime with the 18650, I will update that figure - but I have a feeling it will run even longer than that.
Now, the beamshots - sorry, nothing adventurous, just indoor beamshots. The exposure was locked from shot to shot, and white balance was set for daylight.
Level 4 - Low
Level 3 - Med-low
Level 2 - Med-high
Level 1 - High
The beam is very wide, as you can see, and it has a brighter area in the middle - but in practical use the hotspot is not very defined, and it feels more like a very steroidal L4. I think the brighter middle area translates to further reach in the middle of the beam, when used outdoors - if that makes sense. Rather than having the narrow pencil-beam hotspot many Lux-based lights can have.
Here is a beamshot showing the color performance, again on daylight wb:
For comparison, here is the same shot but with my new U2by2 High-CRI SSC S2 light (review to come), with same exposure and white balance:
Finally, the Blokus box with the room's tungsten lightbulbs:
The L5's color is very neutral, and outdoors it does very well even with brown leaves and green grass. It is a great all-around tint.
So, there you have it. A fantastic, bright, bright mod, well-heatsinked with a custom sink by Milky, well put-together, useful levels, and just an amazing wide area flamethrower in your pocket. Milky does great, meticulous work that he stands by, and he is also a very nice fellow to get to know. Also, he does this full-time and I think he's one of the most innovative and painstakingly detailed modders around. Highly recommended!
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