Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHOTS!

[Stereodude]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Thanks for the fantastic comparison thread! :candle:

I'm glad I grabbed a used Tiablo A8 Q2 for a good deal! Although I think I will have to drop a Q5 or better in there. :devil:

 

[jufam44]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Very Informative Post-Thanks for it!

-Max

 

[selfbuilt]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

I'm glad I grabbed a used Tiablo A8 Q2 for a good deal! Although I think I will have to drop a Q5 or better in there. :devil:

I'm sure you'll enjoy it - it's a nice light (and surprisingly small).

With our mad rush for the latest and greatest emitters, I think there's a lot of good deals on these Q2-generation throwers to be had.

 

[Mighty Hd]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

WOW! What a great thread.

Looks like I'm off to buy a few goodies.

 

[primox1]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Sick review/comparison....I like how you threw in the WT1, T1, and the DXs for comparison. I have the WT1, and it lets me put your tests in perspective.

If you were to go hiking/camping, and which would be your go-to light:candle:?

Thanks!

 

[selfbuilt]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

If you were to go hiking/camping, and which would be your go-to light:candle:?

Good question. Since all my overnight outdoor excursions lately have involved airline travel first, I've generally been sticking with small handhelds to save on space (e.g. 1AA general use light and my D-mini for throw). I like to travel light (typically carry-on only, if I can manage it).

Honestly, I've alway found my D-mini's throw sufficient (and it's less than any of these dedicated throwers). But if I were to go up in size, my next choice would be the Regal WT1 for its excellent throw and relatively small build (i.e. more easily pocketable). I've been tempted to bring that one along a few times.

Of course, for outdoor activities close to home (when size isn't a concern), I usually grab the DBS or Spear.

[EDIT: I should mention that I EDC a NiteCore DI, so up-close work is covered. I like to go for a light with maximum throw to complement it, and in my case that means DBS or Spear).

 

[Omega Man]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Thanks to you and bessiebenny, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a WF-600 Aurora multi-cell light. I don't have any 18650s, but have a couple spare RCRs to use in it. I figure I can always get some 18650s later to try in it if the runtime is too short. Thanks for your review and measurement!!

 

[primox1]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Thanks. The Nitecore DI is growing on me more and more now, seeing how many pple EDC it and all.

I read on Mev's review site that the Spear has a 200hr run time on low. Thats crazy long, considering the low mode is still decently strong.

 

[Stereodude]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

I'm sure you'll enjoy it - it's a nice light (and surprisingly small).

With our mad rush for the latest and greatest emitters, I think there's a lot of good deals on these Q2-generation throwers to be had.

Agreed! Unfortunately (I guess that depends how you look at it) the Q2 emitter in the Tiablo didn't last very long. My Tiablo A8 now has a Q5 WG in it and it's focused better too. Before it seemed only marginally better than the Regalight WT1 v2 in terms of brightness (as your tests show). Now the Tiablo A8 just smokes the WT1 v2. :devil:

 

[sims2k]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Thanks selfbuilt for an excellent review of lights that I have or plan to buy in the future. This is just great...

 

[selfbuilt]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Now the Tiablo A8 just smokes the WT1 v2. :devil:

Yeah, I must say the A8 is the one light I'm tempted to mod to Q5 with the stock driver. It seems to reach pretty close to DBS performance, judging from other reports. I just haven't gotten around to it yet ...

Thanks. The Nitecore DI is growing on me more and more now, seeing how many pple EDC it and all. I read on Mev's review site that the Spear has a 200hr run time on low.

Both lights are very impressive, and I'm looking forward to what EDGETAC does next.

I'm off for the next couple of weeks, so see you all at the end of the month. :wave:

 

[Stereodude]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Yeah, I must say the A8 is the one light I'm tempted to mod to Q5 with the stock driver. It seems to reach pretty close to DBS performance, judging from other reports. I just haven't gotten around to it yet ...

:tsk:

Do it!!! :naughty: You know you want to.

 

[Stereodude]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

I’ve also compared UCL anti-reflective lens to the stock MRV and V-68C lenses at the end of the review in the section on “UCL Lenses”.

:thinking: Is there any chance you can compare the UCL AR coated lens to the stock one in the Tiablo A8 Q2? :naughty: It reportedly uses a 41.8mm diameter lens also. The stock one is listed as being AR coated, but it doesn't really look like it in the reflections. I'd be curious to see if there is any gain in output.

 

[JNewell]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

I think there was a post by Stefan? in another thread reporting the results of a test he ran - I think found a ~9% improvement.

 

[Stereodude]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

I think there was a post by Stefan? in another thread reporting the results of a test he ran - I think found a ~9% improvement.

He did a comparison in the MRV, but not the Tiablo A8. link

 

[JNewell]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Here's the post from StefanFS I was thinking of.

On my 2 MRV lights it's actually a ~10-12% increase in output. On other lights with better lenses it would be smaller, eg. on my Tiablo A9 & A8 the gain is about 5-7%.
Stefan

 

[StefanFS]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Here's the post from StefanFS I was thinking of.

There was a wide range of improvement on the various lights I ended up replacing the lenses on. The most substantial gain were in my 2 D-minis (locally made 6 layer lens), my first Tiablo A9 and my oldest MRV. Both the Tiablo A9 and the
oldest black D-mini had degraded AR coating in a spiderweb pattern on the not so clear original lenses, ~10% improvment. The newer green hard anodized D-mini had no AR coating at all, ~12% improvment. My first MRV was one of the first ever produced with a cloudy lens. I think these lights have components from a variety of manufacturers and parts like lenses etc. might come from varying sources for different batches of the lights.

I did the measurements in my lightbox and also checked throw. Results are not absolute since there are so many possible error factors. Focus-height to sensor-battery level in lightmeter-contacts in the light etc. etc. etc.. I found that in my lights there seemed to be a minimum improvement of ~5% and up to ~10 % in a few cases. I messed around with this quite a few times, first with UCL lenses for Maglites, then with 42 mm multicoat lenses from my local glazier shop and then with the actual 41.8 mm UCL-lenses.
Stefan

 

[fasuto]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Do you think the xenon WF-500 can throw in the same way that the other lights of this thread?
And the conqueror MX-600 ?

Both have textured reflectors.

I need a throw light but prefer an incan since my other lights are leds.

 

[Darien]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

Thanks for the great review. I ordered a DBS light today and can't wait to get it in my hands.

Darien

 

[selfbuilt]

Re: Thrower review: DBS, Spear, MRV, Tiablo, Regal & clones: THROW, RUNTIMES, BEAMSHO

There was a wide range of improvement on the various lights I ended up replacing the lenses on. ... I found that in my lights there seemed to be a minimum improvement of ~5% and up to ~10 % in a few cases.

Thanks for jumping in while I was away Stefan

I agree with Stefan's assessment. I've only played briefly with the UCL lenses on some of the other lights, and the difference is typically within that ~5% range for both throw and overall output. In a few cases a bit more, in others a bit less.

It all comes down to how good the stock lens is to start with, and as Stefan pointed out there seems to be a lot of variability there. Since we are all working from typically only one "representative" example of each light in our own collections, it is hard to be more precise. But I have noticed that newer higher end lights (e.g. DBS V2, RaidFire, etc.) are typically coming with very nice coated lenses.