WOW! Thanks guys for all the input!

[generic808]

So, I just received my CREE drop-in from DX, SKU 6090 http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6090 and I have to say, it is amazing! I put it in my Brinkmann and this thing is scary bright! I just wanted to thank everyone for all the suggestions and help on selecting it. This site is great, and I've learned a lot in the past 3 weeks from reading the threads.

I'm about to place an order for 2 more of these drop-ins for my 6P and G2 unless you guys can suggest a better one for under $15. I'd really like one of those much talked about Malkoff's, but I really can't afford that much at this time. So, any leads on other great P60's? Thanks in advance!

BTW...Does anyone happen to know how many lumens this drop-in in a Brinkmann MF is putting out?

 

[Yapo]

I think that droppin should be about 100 lumens...i think all the droppins from DX would be bout the same brightness but correct me if i'm wrong. I recently bought a Q4 5mode cree droppin from supertactical.com for $18 shipped which seemed decent for the price but it's not anywhere near the 200 lumens its stated to be. If you want anything near/over 200 lumens i think you'd need to pay $50+

 

[generic808]

Yapo, thanks for the quick reply. Is this the Q4 that you have: http://www.supertactical.com/unlimitshop/product_info.php?cPath=26&products_id=68

And would you happen to know if this http://www.supertactical.com/unlimitshop/product_info.php?cPath=26&products_id=129 drop-in is any good? It's a Q5 WC CREE. How is this one compared to your Q4?

I'm new to all this jargon so any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Yapo]

yep thats the 1...the droppin you got from DX probably has a P4 bin cree in it. The bin is like a brightness rating for LEDs Q4 being brighter then P4 and Q5 being even brighter...but the difference in brightness between Q4 n Q5 is only marginal n probably not noticeable to our eyes... And also the Q5 WC CREE from supertactical has a smooth reflector so the hotspot in the middle is generally more focused than orange peel reflector which ur droppin from DX has but also there maybe some "ringiness" in the beam as orange peel reflectors generally smooth out the beam.
So generally:
Smooth reflector = more focused/tighter hotspot and possible artifacts/rings in beam but in practical use its not really an issue
Orange peel = smoother beam

and also the Q4 droppin i got from supertactical had Q5 labeled on the ziplock bag it came in so i'm not so sure wat bin i got...and also it doesnt seem that much brighter than a P4 droppin i have from DX so it's probably driven at a lower current so it should probably run for longer at the same brightness.

I dont think the supertactical droppins will be much better then the DX 1 youve got but if ur wantin to get some more droppins anyway it couldnt hurt to try 1! oh and it took nearly a month from ordering to get to me. they didnt ship it till after a week

This is a table of the theoretical brightness of different bins:
http://www.cutter.com.au/prodimages/xrerdmap.gif

 

[Gunner12]

The drop-in you received uses this driver from my knowledge, so using the specs, I'm guessing about 150 lumen at the emitter and around 100 something out the front. With a Q5 that would be around 190 lumen at the emitter and around 130 lumen out the front.

I'd recommend reading the Welcome Mat to clarify some of the jargon and thing you will see on this site.

I'm glad you like the drop-in.

 

[generic808]

The drop-in you received uses this driver from my knowledge, so using the specs, I'm guessing about 150 lumen at the emitter and around 100 something out the front. With a Q5 that would be around 190 lumen at the emitter and around 130 lumen out the front.

I'd recommend reading the Welcome Mat to clarify some of the jargon and thing you will see on this site.

I'm glad you like the drop-in.

150 at the emitter and 100 out the front? Wow, I didn't know that much was lost going from the emitter to the front of the light. What causes this anyway? So how would SF light ratings match up to this? If they state 80 lumens, is it actually 80 at the emitter or out the front?

 

[Gunner12]

That was approximation(presuming 30% loss, average for incans is 35% loss and the best I've seen is around 10% loss for LEDs). It will depend on the reflecting material and the glass.

Some light is loss when it hits the reflector and another portion is reflected back because of the window.

Surefire states minimal out the front lumen.

 

[Justin Case]

Are you sure that the driver board is a Kennan (Kaidomain SKU 2982)?

I haven't removed the driver board from a DX6090 that I recently received to examine the circuit side. But the contact side shows a green circuit board with no writing on it, in contrast to the blue Kennan board with "NANJG" and "21" written on it.

I am also interested in the current draw for the DX6090. Some folks on CPF have measured 550-600 ma at the tailcap, which is far off the 755 ma for the Kennan driver. But if we assume that the DX6090 uses a P4 bin Cree, the output at the emitter seems low for 600 ma (perhaps about 120 emitter lumens).

When I compare my old 6P/DX6090 combo (with Lexan lens) to a freshly charged SureFire 8NX (rated at 110 lumens, Pyrex lens), the DX6090 output is clearly brighter in hot spot and spill. It's hard to believe that the DX6090 output would be less than the 110 lumens of the 8NX (i.e., 120 lumens at the emitter minus losses of at least 15%-20% just from the Lexan lens, or about 100 lumens at most). The DX6090 output is also clearly brighter than my 90 lumen Gladius.

But if the emitter lumens is closer to 150 lumens, as suggested above, that would mean a forward current of about 750ma-800ma, based on the Cree data sheets for luminous flux at 350 ma and the relative flux vs forward current (which interestingly is also consistent with the 755 ma rating of the Kennan driver).

So, maybe the emitter is more like a Q3, to give the perceived brightness at 600 ma?

 

[Gunner12]

The driver is around 755 mA to the LED. Current at the battery would depend on the voltage. It's around 3.6v to the LED and the battery is around 6v(presuming a 2 cell light) so the higher battery voltage would mean the driver would have to take less current to deliver the same power.

They might have changed the driver but it was the Kennen driver(I am probably wrong).

The whiter LED could also seem brighter then a yellower Incan despite it's lower actual output. The color temperature could make one light seem brighter then another despite it's slightly lower actual output.

 

[LukeA]

The 6090's driver is not a Kennan. The 6090's driver does not have an inductor, the Kennan does. The 6090 driver supplies the emitter with approximately 800mA.

From 6.2V, the 6090 driver draws 590mA. That draw will vary inversely as cell voltage.

 

[kosPap]

Guys the DX 6090 driver is shown in the very DX page in the cluster of a buyers photos...

GENERIC808,
there ahve been issues with the supertactical modules. Mainly that they drive the LED so soft....See this post of mine

What they advertise is the maximum lumens able to get by the LEd, not actual lumens achieved..

 

[Justin Case]

It is my understanding that lumen measurements account for the sensitivity of the human eye to different visible light wavelengths. Thus, the lumen ratings should already factor in the whiter beam color of the LED lamps vs incandescent. My Mk 1 Mod 1 eyeball measurement seems consistent with those advertised lumen figures for a 60 lumen incandescent 6P, 65 lumen L4, 90 lumen LED Gladius, 110 lumen incandescent 8NX, 118 (emitter?) lumen KD2363, and ~150 emitter lumen DX6090 (assuming ~81 lumen luminous flux at 350 ma, and ~800 ma forward current).

Using my analog Simpson 260 meter, I measured the following current draws at the tail cap:

DX6090 in a 6Z, driven by two AW CRC123A cells: 0.75A

DX6090 in a 6P, 2 SureFire primary 123A cells: just above 1A (est 1.02A)

L4, driven by two SureFire primary 123A cells: 1.1A

6P, P60 lamp, two SureFires: 1.35A

6P, P61 lamp, two SureFires: 2.5A

KD2363 in a 3P, driven by one AW CRC123A cell: 0.6A/0.4A/0.2A/0.3A-0.4A (High/MediumLow/Strobe settings)

KD2363 in a 6P, driven by two SureFires: same as above for the 3P/AW combination

Meter accuracy is given as 0.2% at full scale (which is 10 A). Thus, accuracy is +/-0.2A for the above current measurements.

LED Museum measured 1.1A for a G2 and 1.0A for a KL4 in an E2, so my measurements look in the ballpark.