Just bought an X0, thought I won the LuxLottery, until.....BEAMSHOTS just added

(Just added some beamshots below (10/21/06)

Check this on out fellahs, I need opinions on what to do....

Just got back from Target with a new Innova X0 (hey, they were like 10% off, thats all i needed). At the store, there were about 4 on the rack....Checked all 4 for the tint and brightness....Holy %hit! one was bright as heck, a bit BRIGHTER than the X03 that was left on the rack below.

I thought I hit pay dirt...Tint was excellent too.

Soooo, i just got home, fired it up, and yes, it is beautiful. My EDC is a SureFire E2D, so i dragged it out of my messenger bag to do a side-by-side. Surefire has only about 10 minutes on a fresh set of energizers. Double Holy! It's gotta be about 10-20 percent brighter than the E2D!

Now for the BIG KICKER......

I'm holding them both, staring at the ceiling with the wife. Now, I'm used to the SureFire getting hot after a few mins....say, maybe 3-6.

Guys, I'm not kidding, the Innova got to that hotness in maybe 45 seconds. And it's the X0, not the X03.....I have an X5, which on paper should have about the same drain rates yadda yadda. It never gets warm. This thing got to where i was worried the batts were gonna thermal out! and that was about at the 2 minute mark. The whole light from end to end was over 110 degrees (and it's only 64 in the house atm.) only after about 2 mins.

Thoughts?

I obviously got a funky one. Do you think it's dangerous? It IS crazy bright, but at what price on battery safety? On such a fast drain, what's the danger to myself?

I'm thinking of just returning it and replaying the LuxLottery. I just wanted something for walks at night that I could use the half-deads from the Surefire in. The X5 was awesome at that until the wife decided to "own" it instead.

Re: Just bought an X0, thought I won the LuxLottery...UNTIL...

Have you seen this thread from earlier today?

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/137238&highlight=inova

Looks like you might have a similar issue...or not. :candle:

Re: Just bought an X0, thought I won the LuxLottery...UNTIL...

110 degrees?

um....since inovas waterproof, dunk it in a bucket of water
I dont know precisely whats the limit of lithiums but your hitting above the normal, and hotter and you'll be passing the red line.

sounds like someone forgot a current limiting resistor

Re: Just bought an X0, thought I won the LuxLottery...UNTIL...

Whoa... let us know how long it keeps working Vahalla.

It would be nice if Inova upped the output of their lights...

The main reason I don't buy an XO or XO3 is because of their lackluster output and dismal tint.

Otherwise they are great, wonderfully constructed USA made lights.

Re: Just bought an X0, thought I won the LuxLottery...UNTIL...

I don't know if I wanna risk holding onto it, vs exchanging it out for a dimmer but probably much more battery friendly one. That much heat being generated within, say 30 seconds is ludicrous for just two 123's.

Seriously, it's crazy how bright it is. I've got a nice rebelXT rig and a tripod, I'll try to do a beamshot tomorrow night on the wall vs. the SureFire E2D with spankin fresh cells. The perceptual brightness difference is about 10-20% brighter than the E2D, and that lil guy is no slouch, especially on freshies.

2 Minutes, and the whole body of the X0 was uncomfortable to hold. As someone said above, sounds like some current limiting resistor must be, um, not fulfilling its circuit-marital duties. If it was an Incan, i'd probably understand all the heat vs. brightness.

I just read the alternate post from earlier today referenced above....that's -exactly- how it went with me, being there and the wife saying, "wow, that one is much much brighter than the others, you could pick it up if you want". And we also had an X03 on the rack, TIROS, and it was still brighter than the TIROS spot was on the X03!

Oh, and i swapped out batts just in case for some strange reason defying logic and the regulation circuit that it was batts. It wasn't, still the same brightness and heat.

Re: Just bought an X0, thought I won the LuxLottery...UNTIL...

It does sound like the resistor shorted.

Re: Just bought an X0, thought I won the LuxLottery...UNTIL...

Hey guys, below are some beamshot I took tonite of the misbehaving XO. I'm sending it off tomorrow, because the good guys at Inova wanna check it out. First experience with customer service there, and those guys were definitely prompt, professional, and clear. Builds my confidence even more of them in the long run.

Read above for the explanation of this actin' crazy X0. Each shot I had to turn it off and let it cool for 30 secs before the next. I was afraid it would overheat.

Also, of note....The Surefire had fresh cells in it, with about 5 minutes on them from work earlier in the day. The Inova X0 has about 15 mins of its crazy burning on them. It was actually brighter when i first got a few days ago. Also, the distance to the wall from the lights was a little over 2.5 feet.

These are my very first beamshot-nerd shots ever, so feel free to leave me tips or pointers.




The spill is pretty bright on the XO; in this shot you can't even freakin' see the hotspot.



This one helps a bit more. Smaller but much brighter corona than my trusty E2D




HOT 3 WAY ACTION!!!! MiniMag with fresh alkies at it's tightest focus getting absolutely schooled.




Now this one i can't explain. Every time i pointed the unopened Merlot at the wall, a ghostly image of Paul Kim appeared. A little spooky, but maybe his ghostly corporeal self wants the E2D back. Not a chance, that thing's my defense against the crack afficionados that hassle me on the walk back from work every night.

Inova goes out tomorrow back to the engineers that birthed her. I would have kept it in a heartbeat, but the thing heats up about 5 times faster than the Surefire, and I honestly bought it so i'd have a longer-runtime light for use at work over the SF. With the E2D, I go through a set of batts every 2 weeks, but most of the time something smaller would do just fine...hence my X0 purchase.

Note: I had also bought an X5 for this exact purpose, but the wife fell in love with it too fast. sigh.

BTW all those shots are with Auto White Balance. I totally forgot to lock that before I shot the set. My bad.

Re: Just bought an X0, thought I won the LuxLottery...UNTIL...

ValhallaPrime said:

These are my very first beamshot-nerd shots ever, so feel free to leave me tips or pointers.

The spill is pretty bright on the XO; in this shot you can't even freakin' see the hotspot.

Click to expand...

After looking at this beamshot pic, I am now thinking of getting an Inova XO (reflector).

Just remember tho....this one is really really acting strange. At the store, it was brighter than an X03....and gets hella hot in the process. Actually, I really love the X5 that we have as well....Inova wants to check it out, and see what part of the light is misbehaving. Maybe it's the same as QuickBeam's first sample at flashlightreviews.

When the Surefire cuts out it's batteries, they're good from about 90 mins in the Inova X5 BEFORE they drop out of its regulation...we still get another few hrs of night walks before it gets to dim for unlit city parks.

The X0 was way tighter tho in its beam than the X5 is. I think it would be a perfect all-arounder....especially if your work supplies small quantities of the 123's from time to time.

I've commented around here before about my 'broken' t2 that is the BRIGHTEST light I own. I think i fried the circuitry. It draws 1.1A @ approx 6v from the batts...Going to what i assume is a lux1. Ridiculous. Probably fried to direct drive.

It's good that they want it back. Shows that they are on top of quality control, so to say.

On another note, I just fired her up before packing the box up, and she dimmed from full brightness to about 3 % brightness in about 1.5 seconds. Dropped a fresh set of SF OneTwinnyThrees in, and stayed about 2-3% bright. So......that's all she wrote on the crazy bright X0.

Man, that thing was nuts! I'd say it was almost the output of a 9P for its short life.

I dig the inova's tho....Gave one to my father-in-law who was visiting from Sweden a month back. He just used it all week last week in the north of SWE on a fishing trip and loved it.

Thats the strangest inova beamshot I have ever seen. All the halos are gone and its just a big fat beam of superwhiteness... how godly.

Inova is cool about stuff like this. Their customer service is excellent. I have spoken with some reps on many occasions.

I just shined my t2 on the wall to get some idea of a comparison... That is freaking wierd. Im glad you put up a beamshot though. Thx.


-pfmedic

It's a reflector model, not a TIROS, if that helps at all. Yeah, that little devil was crazy bright - the heat that it would put out thru the body of the light was a strong indicator that something wasn't kosher tho. It's on its way back to inova now.

My Inova XO (TIROS) gets pretty darn hot too, and it is almost as bright as the T3 (the runtime is a bit shorther than the regular XOs though). I have been intensely camping/caving/hiking with it for almost two years. Haven't had an issue yet.