Wiz
Newly Enlightened
The spec of the P1 Cree is very impressive, 135 lumens for an hour from 1 CR123 when the U2 only manages 80-100 on 2 of them, for the same length of time. I couldn't wait to try them side by side. To see the tiny P1 Cree blow the relatively huge U2 away would be quite something....
...errr no. On a white wall they look almost similar, but out in field at the back of my home, in the winter blackness looking along the hedgerows, the U2 throws out substantially more light. Don't get me wrong, the Cree is impressive for its size and the meters do seem to show it as being the brightest, but out in the field, there is no doubt whatsoever that the U2 is putting out more light. It lights a much bigger area and makes picking out detail much easier.
On the excellent flashlight reviews site, they do a pretty good measurement of total light output (see here ). The P1 Cree measures 7850 for total output on it's brightest setting, whereas the U2 only manages 5500. Given the manufacturer's quoted outputs, that seems about right, so can anyone tell me why the U2 actually seems so much brighter in the real world? They were both running brand new batteries of the same make.
...errr no. On a white wall they look almost similar, but out in field at the back of my home, in the winter blackness looking along the hedgerows, the U2 throws out substantially more light. Don't get me wrong, the Cree is impressive for its size and the meters do seem to show it as being the brightest, but out in the field, there is no doubt whatsoever that the U2 is putting out more light. It lights a much bigger area and makes picking out detail much easier.
On the excellent flashlight reviews site, they do a pretty good measurement of total light output (see here ). The P1 Cree measures 7850 for total output on it's brightest setting, whereas the U2 only manages 5500. Given the manufacturer's quoted outputs, that seems about right, so can anyone tell me why the U2 actually seems so much brighter in the real world? They were both running brand new batteries of the same make.