Shootout D26 (1794) vs. MagMods

[LuxLuthor]

Based upon higher than expected Lux readings in my destructive testing of the small D26 custom made for FiveMega, Carley 1794 bulb, I had revised the reported default lumen rating at 7V (3A) of 628L up to around 1,000L. However, as sami_voodoo pointed out that would push my boosted ratings above 50L/W which is questionable in and of itself.

I was hoping that people who had this light could have compared it to some other known Mag Mods, but I ended up getting a setup and did my own shootout, resulting in a more practical "guestimate" default lumen rating of 800L.

It is hard to do a shootout between a 1" MOP reflector in the D26, and more typical 2" Mag reflectors, but I did use MOP for those, and the stock SF-M6 reflector, MN21 (500L) bulb, and 6 x new SF-123a cells. There are some things that are only captured in beam shots, which are somewhat more representative of what your eyes see than any objective test (i.e. my destructive tests).

There are light bulbs and reflectors that have different colors, different concentrations of hotspots, corona, and spill that would not be taken into account with measurements like my destructive testing does. I have always tried to emphasize that the destructive tables, while useful, should not be used as absolute Lux/Lumen ratings, but rather are good comparisons of how a bulb output compares to another with that platform.

I have labeled these shots, and took them at both 1.3sec & 4 sec., in addition to which there are the AW multi-level driver Low/Med/High images for the lights using that. I will post gifs in the next post which will make it easier to appreciate the comparisons.

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SF-M6 MN21 (500L), default reflector, & 6 x new SF123a cells 1.3 sec & 4 sec

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WA-1166 in FM Mag 1.5D with 4 x 14670 & AWR Hotdriver regulation 12.37V 1.3 sec & 4 sec

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WA-1166 in FM Mag 1.5D with 4x14670 & AWR Hotdriver regulation 12.96V 1.3 sec & 4 sec

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WA-1185 in FM Mag 3D with 3s3p 17500 1.3 sec & 4 sec

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WA-1331 in FM "700L" 1.5 MagD with 3 x 17670 @ 1.3 sec.......................................... @ 4 sec

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...... Carley 1794 Bulb with 2 x 18650 @ 1.3 sec.................................................... @ 4 sec​

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...... Carley 1499 Bulb with 2 x 18650 @ 1.3 sec.................................................... @ 4 sec​

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[LuxLuthor]

First two gifs show the 1794 alternating between all lights tested at 1.3 sec & 4 sec

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This third gif shows the four closest to each other at 1.3 sec.

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This final gif shows why I believe the 1794 is between the Mag66 (12.37V) & 1331

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As far as I am concerned, this is a pretty amazing performance for such a tiny light, and only using 2 x Li-Ion's, and it impressed me enough to stick it on my "Most Powerful Mag Mods" list in my sig, even though it's not a MagMod.

Bottom line here...time to stock up on the CL-1794, by joining Nite's proposed group buy for these small bulbs here. Many thanks to FiveMega for making these lights, reflectors, and getting the custom Carley bulbs for us. I used the 2 x 18650 setup from Nite in this thread.

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[LuxLuthor]

:mecry:[Waaah] Boy I was so proud of the quality of this shootout, and my layout formatting in this thread, labeling pictures real pretty, making gifs, etc. I'm crushed that no one has any comments. [/Waaah]:mecry:

 

[QtrHorse]

Great work as usual.

Were just so used to your attention to detail and great reviews that it's just expected now.

 

[BSBG]

Great work indeed Lux! Must be the holiday weekend keeping the traffic low :wave:.

The 1794 is quite impressive, especially with the small reflector. I will have to get on Nite's list and run this in my FM 2C in place of the WA 1111 that currently resides there.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

How is the heat with this lightweight beast?

Bill

 

[cernobila]

Great work indeed Lux! Must be the holiday weekend keeping the traffic low :wave:.

The 1794 is quite impressive, especially with the small reflector. I will have to get on Nite's list and run this in my FM 2C in place of the WA 1111 that currently resides there.

Oddly enough the 1794 performs better than the 1111 in the D26 size reflector, considering that the 1111 is rated at 3.8A on 2x 18650 cells and the 1794 only 3.1A, yep one impressive bulb for sure.

Sorry Lux, some people are just taken for granted around here and as in this case,......great detailed work as always, always read your contributions and learn.

 

[RichS]

:twothumbs:twothumbs:twothumbs

Excellent shootout Lux, thanks for taking the time to compare these!! My biggest surprise from these shots is how well the Carley 1499 did compared to the 1794. If you look, it's pointed just slightly more to the left so it lights up less of the house, but to my eyes it puts out only about 20% less than the 1794. The great thing about the 1499 is that it's only pulling 1.85amps!

The 1499 is a bulb that one can easily run on 2x18500s in a smaller host if desired, and still gives decent runtime. Also, I know people talk about the "batwing" shape in the beam, but it sure isn't evident in these pics.

Great info, thanks again!

 

[LuxLuthor]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

I went back out after I was done, realizing I forgot to include the 1499 (because I have not yet done the destructive Lux tests on it), and didn't position or aim it in quite the same position. Part of the practical evaluation is using a series of lights testing and ranking their performance at various objects, then compare the next set.

It is hard to capture in photos the "live look" of lights with different reflectors, filament beam patterns & color, higher starting voltage with direct drive setups, etc. It is true that the 1499 has a more oval/batwing shape, but so do a number of WA bulbs.

The heat is minimal on medium, but begins to get warm (not hot or uncomfortable to the touch) on high after a few minutes. There is certainly nothing wrong with using the 1499 if the feeler for 1794 falls through.

 

[RichS]

I went back out after I was done, realizing I forgot to include the 1499 (because I have not yet done the destructive Lux tests on it), and didn't position or aim it in quite the same position...

That makes sense Lux - I wanted to make sure you know I was not meaning to be critical of the shootout, it was very well done as always. I was just pointing it out so folks didn't think the output was much less from the 1499 because the house was much less lit up.

IMHO, when looking at bulbs in this range that are used in more compact hosts, practicality and not the "wow" factor becomes a bigger issue to me. I definitely want the brightest option I can get in a compact size (especially when I have the flexibility of levels), but not at the expense of over-driving batteries or getting extremely low runtime. The 1499 seems like a great alternative because of it's very close running with the 1794 in terms of output and much lower draw. I'll still keep my 1794s around for fun, but I will probably keep the 1499s loaded as my default.

 

[LuxLuthor]

I decided to reshoot the two CL-1794 & CL-1499 bulbs, making sure the light and camera positions are the same, and a set of whitewalls for what that's worth to try and show minor differences. You can tell a lot in the peripheral and hottest spot between these two. Same reflector. Note the close grass on the 1.3 second exposure picking up the brighter 1794, and the batwing effect of 1499 on white fence.

CL1794 vs. CL1499 (Reshoot)
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[Patriot]

Just now saw this Lux. Awesome work as usual! The D26s have been very popular lately so this thread ought to make a splash as people become aware of it.

I'm still studying it myself...so I'll comment on the set-up later.


Again, fantastic stuff. You're truly the "all formats" guy whether incan, led or hid. I think it's cool.

 

[RichS]

I decided to reshoot the two CL-1794 & CL-1499 bulbs, making sure the light and camera positions are the same, and a set of whitewalls for what that's worth to try and show minor differences. You can tell a lot in the peripheral and hottest spot between these two. Same reflector. Note the close grass on the 1.3 second exposure picking up the brighter 1794, and the batwing effect of 1499 on white fence.

CL1794 vs. CL1499 (Reshoot)
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Wow - based on these new beamshots I can tell my earlier statement that there was only about a 20% difference between the lamps was off. Looking at these shots, I would say that the 1794 is easily 50-60% brighter than the 1499. So, the 1794 truly jumps into a different class than the 1499, which is still a great bulb for the size and draw.

Lux - thanks so much for taking the time to re-do these shots!! It makes it much easier to compare these two bulbs which I previously thought were much closer competitors. Now I must find a nice 2x18650 host configuration for this bulb. Someone mentioned he bored out his M3 head to take the FM MN bi-pin adapter, but I didn't think the 1794 fit into that adapter (it's a smaller bi-pin bulb). Maybe I'll just use the C2 head on a Leef body.

Thanks again Lux! :thumbsup:

 

[Nite]

wow nice thread..

sweet shots Lux

glad to see my two donated bulbs confirmed what I suspected when I compared it to WA 1111 and WA 1185 in FMs G4 D26 Sunlight kit.

 

[Patriot]

Bump, I wonder if people are seeing this thread?

 

[nfetterly]

Nice work. It does depress me a little though - as the 1794 was my first real incan away from either the Surefire offerings, or what comes with Streamlight, etc..

I've been spoiled. Great bulb.

 

[leukos]

Nice find. I should have bought a few of these back when FM had them available. I just wasn't convinced it could out perform the P91. I guess it outperforms it by 100%!

 

[Patriot]

Nice find. I should have bought a few of these back when FM had them available. I just wasn't convinced it could out perform the P91. I guess it outperforms it by 100%!

That's the same reason that I never purchased one but looking at it in retrospect it seems obvious that it would....oh, well.

 

[LuxLuthor]

This represents a case of poor marketing. LOL!

 

[Jay T]

For those of you who feel bad about missing the 1794, well it gets worse. Did any of you notice the 22 watt axial bulb he was also selling, the one that first appeared in the FM super TL-3s? Did you wonder how this bulb would perform in a D26?

I ordered another reflector and some bulbs and they came today so I just loaded up a 6P with 2 fresh charged IMRs and a 9P with 3 fresh charged IMRs. The axial bulb draws 2 amps vs the 1794's 3 amp draw giving it a little longer run time. The axial bulb also doesn't seem to be driven as hard, it can't match the whiteness of the 1794.

For the bathroom ceiling bounce the light meter showed.
1794 56 lux
Axial 61 lux

Some simple indoor beam shots.
The camera was set to full manual and everything was locked. F8 1/4 sec ISO400, underexposed to show the difference without blowing out the highlights.

1794

Axial

Now for the bad news. I ordered 5 to do some testing and see if they were a good replacement for the 1794. The 5 I ordered must have been the last 5 because the thread now says "no more left"