The Mule

[jch79]

BTW - Don, I like the photos a lot - I've been messing around with photographing my lights on marble - it really gives a cool "glowing" look.

 

[McGizmo]

Hi guys,
I forgot that I had taken a shot partially showing the business end:

In the fixed light parts I am having made that use the XR-E by itself, I have called out for a shallow "mask" in white that will cover the solder points and possibly catch some of the light otherwise lost. I may try to come up with something similar here. :shrug: A small dish of the material used in Integrating Spheres would be ideal and even teflon would be good. I will do some experiments once I have a first article and will see what is what using my IS to evaluate losses.

 

[fnmag]

Interesting idea. Bring it on!

 

[UKSFighter]

+1 for whatever you decide

 

[rscanady]

Don,

You make them and we will buy them. I dont have any of your new series other than a standard T bin PD that continues to work very well for me to this day. I do see a place in the lighting world for this and like it a lot. Often times I use my modded mags in candle mod without the reflector to get the same effect and this would be great to use as such.

Bring it on


Ryan

 

[chellyc]

Let's see... Diminutive size? Yup. Cree LE? Uh huh. Flood light? Check. Good looks? Yesiree. Don designed/built? Yes again. Totally irresistible!

Chelly

 

[starfiretoo]

:goodjob:
The flood works so well in indoor settings. I EDC my Ion for such senior moments as reading the menu in dark resturants and finding tiny items dropped under the desk. A spot beam would burn my eyes at such close distances.

A PD-S eco is EDC'd for outdoor use. The spot used to identify detail at a distance. It's tritium cap also gives it night stand duty.

In our march toward lux maybe the Cree was used in a wrong manner trying to get a pin spot instead of its strength as an even flood. I feel (flame me if i'm off base;-) that the pure emitter has the least amount of artifacts that distract from subject being viewed. Guess, what i'm saying is that sometimes we focus too much on the light than seeing the subject as best as possible.

 

[Sigman]

Will you be offering them in something other than Ti?

 

[AndyTiedye]

flood! :twothumbs

 

[AndyTiedye]

I think my camera is going to like this light!
A nice even bright flood with no hotspot at all!

 

[London Lad]

Well as the one who was doing the 'hounding' I had better stand up and be counted!

The Mule looks great Don, I will be up for 2 in Ti please!

I mentioned to you in email that I liked the look of the exposed wires in the head of your 'bed stand' light but having read your explanations above I would retract that view and go for the mask or whatever.

I agree with others who have posted that the PD system is not necessary with this light and going with a 123 twist only body would make the light smaller overall and save on the parts count. However you may of course already have PD bodies 'coming of the line' in which case 'three cheers for the PD Mule'

 

[VerbalK]

for one PD Mule (the McluxIII-PD fit perfectly in my hand)

 

[Frenchyled]

Waoow Don, another nice inovation for the McLux Collectors

Frankly, I have one flood McLux head you made some years ago and I like the beam to replace a ceiling lamp !!!

I will start saving again or selling again some other nice shelves queen, to acquire one of these MULE ....

Can't wait to see one in my hand

Great idea and nice work !!!

 

[PhantomPhoton]

All I have to say is WOW that is a beautiful looking light. I LOVE the body design there. While I'm not so thrilled about having to shell out big bucks for Ti, I would likely shell out for that one!
Having a flood in the LED collection would be great, especially while sitting around in my tent waiting for the end of the world.

 

[lightrod]

WOW - do I get this right Don? A very wide beam pattern that basically matches the raw output of the XRE (little or no reflection / re-direction of spill light to the beam center). Up to this point I've imagined the CR2 Ion to be the ultimate in flood with limited spot/throw. But here's what I come up with for a beam pattern based on Cree data for the XRE (for comparison, data normalized to 30 lumens total output for each):

If the Mule basically maintains the XRE pattern, this light would make the Ion look like a throw monster! What a unique and useful light this would be for indoor/general close-up use!!! Especially with a low/high setting.

My numbers show that if the beam angle of 140 degrees can be attained by keeping the LED close to the window, with no reflection of the beam outside that angle, about 90% of the LED output will be maintained (i.e. only 10% of the total LED output is "lost" by not reflecting/using the light outside of the 140 degree beam angle).

Do I get it?
If so then I've got to get it!!!

 

[nmiller]

I want to second the twisty idea. 123a cells and an optional tube for the 18650! The perfect light. I don't want to start begging, but I may have to on this one. Who am I kidding though. As long as its PD sized or smaller this is my dream EDC. Bring on what ever you want.

 

[dimebag]

I really like the looks of this. I'm in if they become available in any configuration.

 

[Codeman]

 

[paulr]

I'd really like a version that uses 1AA instead of any type of lithium cell (rechargeable or otherwise). Fenix has shown that lithium is now only needed for high powered lights.

 

[bmstrong]

Interesting. I'd be in for a Titanium one...