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

[Stereodude]

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

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.

The "stock" lens in my lightly used A8 that I mod'd to a Q5 appeared to have no AR plus it had some light scratches on it, so I went ahead and swapped it out for a UCL that I bought along with some other UCL lenses. I don't have a Lux meter, but I feel better about it. :nana:

 

[selfbuilt]

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

: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.

A bit late, but I just updated the main post with my Tiablo A8 lens swap results.

Basically, with the UCL lens throw increased by about 900 lux (14,000 lux vs. 14,900 lux), which amounts to a 3.2% "Throw" difference (using my standard measure of squareroot lux for "throw"). If you want to compare my numbers to those who just do a straight % difference of raw lux (which I think is misleading), you would typically wind up roughly doubling my "throw" % difference numbers.

In any case, that's a bit more than I saw with my MRV swap (500 lux on ~10,000 lux output, or 2.4% "throw" difference). Didn't see any obvious deficits on my stock A8 lens, but the AR coating definitely doesn't seem as pronounced as the UCL lens.

 

[Stereodude]

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

Thanks for adding it!

 

[adnj]

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

This review was excellent. Thanks!

 

[selfbuilt]

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

Glad you are enjoying the comparison.

FYI, I picked up a Tiablo A9 Q5 a few weeks ago. I've been planning on updating this review, but I've been a bit backlogged with new lights. Should have it up in the next few days ...

 

[selfbuilt]

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

Main thread just updated with my Tiablo A9-Q5 results.

Nice light - particularly good choice if you plan to run on primaries (you may need to hit your browser refresh on the first page to see the new runtime graphs).

Enjoy!
:wave:

 

[HoopleHead]

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

thanks to this thread, i decided on a Tiablo A9 since i want to use primaries. nice one, thanks!

 

[jabe1]

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

great review,it's been very helpful. I'm about to pull the trigger andget a thrower. How about including some m@g dop-ins? just curious.
thanks again.

 

[MrFunk]

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

I bought both DBS - Spear - A9 and I prefer Spear, I hadn't problem with led or others and it throws great.
With the DBS I had a little noise with the led that freeze, the A9 is a great flashlight but not at the level of the spear for me.
I hope Dereelight put on the market a P7 upgrade :naughty:

 

[7Freeman]

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

As I know the a9 has on high(with two aw 16340) a good regulation for about 1 hour.
But what is with the regulation and run time in low(with two aw 16340)?
I can`t believe that it should be only 1.5 hours on low (light-reviews.com)..!

 

[brett174]

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

I'd really like to get the DBS V2 but I wont be using 18650's. In this case, will it be able to match the Tiablo A9 in terms of throw and brightness. I've tried reading through as many threads as possible, but haven't found a definitive answer. From my understanding (a lot of this goes way over my head!) the DBS V2 with the 1SM-M pill draws 1.0amps compared to 1.2amps for the 18650 pills. Users on here have reported anywhere between 26,000-30,000 lux for the DBS V2 (18650 pills) compared to 21,000 lux for the A9. If the 1SM-M pill is 20% less efficient (I'm basing that on the difference between 1.2amps and 1.0amps), it should still provide the same lux output as the A9? I'm basing this on 26,000- 20% = 20,800, which is almost the same as the 21,000lux for the Tiablo A9

I hope this makes sense to everyone, cause I'm well confused

 

[selfbuilt]

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

As I know the a9 has on high(with two aw 16340) a good regulation for about 1 hour.
But what is with the regulation and run time in low(with two aw 16340)?
I can`t believe that it should be only 1.5 hours on low (light-reviews.com)..!

That could be, since the output is only reduced by half on 16340, and a resistored low is not going to be the most efficient. But I haven't tested it personally.

I hope this makes sense to everyone, cause I'm well confused

Your reasoning is generally sound, but the fact is it's hard to know how driven each version of each DBS pill really is. For example, the "1.2 amp" DI doesn't seem to be driven as hard as the 2SD (although that may reflect other circuitry issues).

In any the case, I'd expect a 1SM-Q5 on CR123A to throw at least as well or a bit better than the Tiablo A9. My old 2SM-Q2 almost reached 20,000 lux, after all.

 

[selfbuilt]

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

Just added the JetBeam Jet-III IBS to the review.

Although comparison pics and beamshots of the light will have to come later, info on the light has been added to all the analysis and description sections.

:wave:

 

[gilly]

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

Thanks SB - much appreciated!!:twothumbs

 

[Crenshaw]

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

Ive got a quesion,anyone..:thinking:

I already have a Tiablo A9, if i get the Spear,will i be very impressed with the 4000 extra lux?

also, SB, my Tiablo A9 says Limited Edition WCQ5 on the other side of the body. Is it the same as yours? cos my box is different.


Crenshaw

 

[BMF]

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

I believe there are only 2 types of boxes: black and newer blue/white. I have 3 A9 and 2 are with old black and 1 with new blue/white. Pics are at the same post #1 on top of each other and they're not like yours?

 

[Crenshaw]

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

mines the black and white, like SB's A8....

just, SLIGHTLY worried, due to all this nonsense (i think it is) flying around about fake Tiablos and what not.

Crenshaw

 

[jirik_cz]

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

Ive got a quesion,anyone..:thinking:

I already have a Tiablo A9, if i get the Spear,will i be very impressed with the 4000 extra lux?

It is not a big difference in a real world usage. You can see some of mine comparison beamshots on the bottom of this page.

also, SB, my Tiablo A9 says Limited Edition WCQ5 on the other side of the body. Is it the same as yours? cos my box is different.
Crenshaw

Come on, don't start with this fake hysteria again . Limited Edition WCQ5 is normal on A9.

 

[Crenshaw]

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

Come on, don't start with this fake hysteria again . Limited Edition WCQ5 is normal on A9.

no yeah i know, i was just wondering about my box...lol...but it see seems to be fine

thanks for the link! youre right, not much diff in real use, and the Tiablo has a wider spill...

Crenshaw

 

[selfbuilt]

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

I already have a Tiablo A9, if i get the Spear,will i be very impressed with the 4000 extra lux?

In terms of throw, I would say no - you are not likely to notice a difference. What you are more likely to notice is the narrower spillbeam and brigther spill at close range. But at a long range, there's not such a big difference.

Come on, don't start with this fake hysteria again . Limited Edition WCQ5 is normal on A9.

Yeah, "limited edition WCQ5" is normal (and written on my A9). The box change from black to blue/white is also normal (and confirmed in the pics on Tiablo's sales thread).

I know the recently discounted A9s for sale have hyped up worries of late, but there's a world of difference between "fake" and "unauthorized distributor". And at least one authorized distributor (AFAIK) is selling them at this discounted price.