Who has a P7 Rainier?

[Brasso]

Anyone have one of the DD P7 Rainiers? Can you describe the output? Do you find it useful? How does it compare to some other lights such as the El Cap or others? Any beamshots?

 

[Coyote302]

I have a SS Rainier. I don't know if it is a P7 but I can say that I purchased it just a few months ago. It is very bright with a fully charged RCR123 and much lower with a CR123. I would believe the ~350 lumen on RCR/~100 lumen on CR rating I read somewhere. This belief is only based on my eyes comparing it to a Malkoff MD2, a 1.4A Mac's EDC, and a High CRI HDS EDC and their ratings.

The beam pattern is very floody. I just flashed a white wall to remind myself and did notice a slightly yellowish center. A quick check in the back yard showed that it lit up the top of a ~40' tree @ ~150' but not as brightly as the more concentrated but lower total output MD2 (rated at 260 lumens). I hope to do a post with beamshots comparing these 3 lights plus a previous generation Surefire 6PL (80 lumen rating) but I probably will not get to this within the next few days though so I wouldn't hold my breath.

I can't say that I have actually used this light much. It is very bright with a rechargeable and I haven't had much use from something that high powered lately. Although many lights have precautions regarding heat, this light does actually get Hot when powered by an RCR. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad if you kept your hand on the head continuously to use your hand as a heat sink. I generally hold just the battery tube. After a few minutes (or maybe less), it gets hot enough that I don't want to "grab" the head but rather I twist it quickly to turn it off. I'll see if I can find a calibrated thermocouple at work to get real measurements but again no promises on a timeline.

I doubt this helped too much but I figured it was better than nothing. Feel free to ask questions and I'll answer as best as I can.

Regards,
Rich

 

[eyeeatingfish]

It is very bright and if I remember relatively smooth. No real hot spot but brighter the closer you go to center gradually. It does not really have throw but its brightness combined with its small reflector can still illuminate things relatively far away.

 

[Brasso]

Double Tap

 

[Brasso]

I tend to like "floodier" lights as I have relatively little use for throw beyond about 100ft. That said, I have two El Caps. A med and a narrow. The medium is pretty much a flood light past 15ft, so I'm wondering if the Rainier will be brighter. They both should be about the same lumen output. Just looking for opinions of people who have both.

Beamshots are worth 1000 words.

 

[eyeeatingfish]

I just ordered the P7 for my friend and do not have it, but got to play with it. I have a el capitan in narrow #8. It deffinately does not go as far but lights up the room much better. I do not think you will be dissapointed with the flood at all.

 

[yowzer]

If it's anything like the similiarly rated K2, it's a pretty dang bright light that works great for lighting up a room or the inside of a car or the like. Has some throw thanks to the sheer amount of light being produced, but definitely more of a floody wall of light light.

One reason I got the K2 over the Rainier was to use larger 18350s to better handle a relatively high current draw (I measured it at 1.3A). I don't know if direct drive versus regulation makes a difference there, but considering a typical li-ion 16340 is around 550 mah, I'd be more comfortable running either one on an IMR cell in that size.

Then there's the Everest... 550 lumens off of one RCR123/18350 cell? I'm betting it's direct drive. And I'm kind of wishing I'd gotten it instead of the K2.

 

[Brasso]

I've wondered about the Everest and the Rainier. They're both supposed to be direct drive, so I"m wondering about the lumen difference? I suppose it has to do with the battery. I'm not too interested in the Everest due to the larger head size and you can get a pocket body for the Rainier.

 

[Coyote302]

OK - I finally took some beam shots. I think my messy backyard with a few strategically place targets actually provided a pretty good setting to compare both beam shapes and colors.

The evening shot was pretty late and there was no direct light. I think the Daylight white balance (WB) was still more accurate than Shade. That also made it easier to compare as all shots were taken and processed with Daylight WB. All shots were taken at the equivalent of 27 mm focal length. For reference, the white wall in the back right is ~75 ft away. The width of the yard is 50 ft.

The beam shots are all ISO 400, f2.8 aperture, and 1 sec exposure

I can't get the image posting to work right now so I'll provide links to my brand new Flickr account.

Evening ISO 400 f4.5 1/20 sec:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyote302/5077108869/

Peak Kino Bay (AA):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyote302/5077648064/

HDS High CRI EDC without diffuser:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyote302/5077648086/

HDS High CRI EDC with F04 diffuser:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyote302/5077647972/

Surefire 6PL (80 Lumen rating):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyote302/5077052725/

Malkoff MD2 (High mode only):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyote302/5077052749/

and the guest of honor - Peak Rainier with IMR 16340:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/coyote302/5077650510/
Sorry I forgot to also put in a CR123 to show the difference in output - next time.

I would say these picture do actually match what my eyes saw - the Rainer is very bright and wide. I'll try to post a more detailed write-up on these lights and a couple others (I forgot to include the Mac's EDC 1.4A 4500K - another wonderful beam). I hope this helps.

Regards,
Rich

 

[Brasso]

Thank you. These may be the first useable beamshots of the Rainier ever posted. Very useful.

 

[RAGE CAGE]

Great beamshot....the IMR would be the way to go. I find it amazing that LED's have evolved so quickly...that AA Kilimanjaro presumably with the old Snow Nichia's in it seems like a dim candle compared to the P7.......the P7 does not seem to be as likely to suffer from the XPG tint lottery effect. The P4 Ti Rainier that that I have is a nice clean white flood. Your P7 seems to be producing much more throw. Nice work.:wave: