MacTech
Enlightened
On a whim tonight, I picked up a SF G3, as I've always been intrigued by the 3-cell SF's, but I couldn't rationalize a C3, after all, that's a good portion of my car payment per month, however, a G3 was within the realm of affordability....
turns out the G3 i got, the only one they had in the store (Kittery Trading Post) was a return, the previous customer's recipt was still in the packaging, and all three cells were *DEAD* (none voltage-tested above .3 volts), looks like the previous owner "rented" the light, and returned it with dead cells
luckilly, i have a fully loaded spares carrier in the car, so I dropped 3 new cells in, the P90 LA has a nice, wide hotspot, more ovalish than round, and it has a nice, white hotspot, the P90 is a nice LA
problem is, it has the common drawbacks of an unregulated incandescent, it eats up batteries, and grows yellower as the batteries drain, the A2 has *really* spoiled me on that part, I forgot how noticeable the dimming can be when you're used to a regulated incan, but it also has the advantages of incan, excellent color rendition and depth
I really want to see how an ultra-high-performance Lumens Factory bulb and rechargable cell(s) would perform in the G3 (reccomendations?)
I found out that my Lighthound Cree P60-style module works just fine in the G3, and it seems to be somewhat brighter than in the 6P, I'd imagine it'd have better runtime too, however, it has the expected warm tone deficiencies and the tendency to "flatten" the subject endemic to current LED emitters, it's also dimmer than the P90, but it balances that off with a much longer runtime and no tint shift as the batteries drain, it also fits fully inside the G3, wheras there is a small gap between the bezel and body in the 6P when fully tightened down, enough for an o-ring to fit securely in the gap
Hmm, what to do, what to do....
run it on the incan assembly, and deal with the short battery life and unregulated output and dimming to yellow as the batteries drain, but have that wonderfully bright beam, excellent color rendition and depth, and the ability to punch through rain, fog, and snow....
get a Lumensfactory bulb and rechargable(s), for guilt-free-lumens, but still have to deal with the yellowing as the batteries drain
drop in the Lighthound Cree module, and live with the "flattening" effect, essentially build myself a G3L, something not even *SureFire* has made yet...
if I go with option 3, I'll drop the P90 into my 6P and run it on RCR123a's for Guilt-Free Lumens, even if it requires a "double tap" to fire up the bulb (does double-tapping damage the bulb or reduce it's lifespan?)
hmm, what to do, what to do.....
I'm really liking the form factor of the G3, nice, hand-filling size, good balance, incredible durability, and not too weighty thanks to the Nitrolon, heck, if I throw the Lighthound Cree in it, I'll have a true "knock-around" beater light.....
turns out the G3 i got, the only one they had in the store (Kittery Trading Post) was a return, the previous customer's recipt was still in the packaging, and all three cells were *DEAD* (none voltage-tested above .3 volts), looks like the previous owner "rented" the light, and returned it with dead cells
luckilly, i have a fully loaded spares carrier in the car, so I dropped 3 new cells in, the P90 LA has a nice, wide hotspot, more ovalish than round, and it has a nice, white hotspot, the P90 is a nice LA
problem is, it has the common drawbacks of an unregulated incandescent, it eats up batteries, and grows yellower as the batteries drain, the A2 has *really* spoiled me on that part, I forgot how noticeable the dimming can be when you're used to a regulated incan, but it also has the advantages of incan, excellent color rendition and depth
I really want to see how an ultra-high-performance Lumens Factory bulb and rechargable cell(s) would perform in the G3 (reccomendations?)
I found out that my Lighthound Cree P60-style module works just fine in the G3, and it seems to be somewhat brighter than in the 6P, I'd imagine it'd have better runtime too, however, it has the expected warm tone deficiencies and the tendency to "flatten" the subject endemic to current LED emitters, it's also dimmer than the P90, but it balances that off with a much longer runtime and no tint shift as the batteries drain, it also fits fully inside the G3, wheras there is a small gap between the bezel and body in the 6P when fully tightened down, enough for an o-ring to fit securely in the gap
Hmm, what to do, what to do....
run it on the incan assembly, and deal with the short battery life and unregulated output and dimming to yellow as the batteries drain, but have that wonderfully bright beam, excellent color rendition and depth, and the ability to punch through rain, fog, and snow....
get a Lumensfactory bulb and rechargable(s), for guilt-free-lumens, but still have to deal with the yellowing as the batteries drain
drop in the Lighthound Cree module, and live with the "flattening" effect, essentially build myself a G3L, something not even *SureFire* has made yet...
if I go with option 3, I'll drop the P90 into my 6P and run it on RCR123a's for Guilt-Free Lumens, even if it requires a "double tap" to fire up the bulb (does double-tapping damage the bulb or reduce it's lifespan?)
hmm, what to do, what to do.....
I'm really liking the form factor of the G3, nice, hand-filling size, good balance, incredible durability, and not too weighty thanks to the Nitrolon, heck, if I throw the Lighthound Cree in it, I'll have a true "knock-around" beater light.....
