TOTC
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2004
- Messages
- 161
I now have two different Cree XR-E drop-ins that are meant for 6P and similarly sized lights, so I thought I would provide a short comparison writeup.
The first is the Solatek unit being sold by LITEmania for $50 shipped in this thread. He quotes the specifications as such:
When installed as they came, a slight gap was visible on some lights. My personal setup is a Z44 bezel on a Lighthound E2C adapter.
LITEmania is now starting to ship the Solatek drop-ins with a slightly shorter reflector to fix the gap issue, but some people have voiced a preference for alternative means of fitting since this will result in a slightly wider hotspot. Namely, the 'shoulder' of these units can be beveled further, which allows the unit to sit deeper into the light, fixing the gap problem.
Personally, I haven't taken any measures to modify my units as the waterproof seal is not compromised by the gap (inner o-rings are still adequately covered) and the aesthetics don't really concern me. Rather, I have just inserted a GITD o-ring into the gap. The result is pretty clean looking and I like using these o-rings anyway.
I have, however, requested one of the new, shorter reflectors from LITEmania. I'm actually most interested in getting it to compare the change in beam profile, rather than fixing the gap. I will post comparison beamshots when I get it.
Fit and finish between the two gives a slight edge to the Solatek, with the unmarked unit having more solder buildup and some tool marks.
The business end looks just the same however, to the point where I actually had to retake photos because once I loaded the first batch on the computer I couldn't tell which was which:
Some electrical contact problems have been noted with both units, particularly in SureFire G2's. I have found that a small bit of aluminum foil to aid in solid body contact really goes a long way, and makes these both run perfectly. I can even run them easily in a G2 without any outer spring just by using some aluminum foil.
LITEmania and calvinmo28's calculations are the same, approximating 2.08 hours run-time on 2x123 for the units, and Quantile provided a test graph showing the Solatek with a little over 2.5 hr runtime to 50% brightness running on AW18650 Li-ion.
Both units are very bright and very white, with a lot of light in the spill, and a tight, bright hotspot. In fact, they are easily the whitest, brightest LED's I have owned, and I am very pleased with performance. I don't have any equipment to test lumens, lux, etc, but hopefully the below beamshots will give you an idea. All assemblies were used on the same set of fresh batteries, in the exact same body, with the same camera settings (as noted on the image).
Also, here are histograms from the images. Not sure if they are really helpful for comparison, but I'm offering them up just in case.
To my eye, the unmarked unit seems slightly brighter than the Solatek, which appears to be confirmed by the histogram. But the unmarked unit also seems to be just the tiniest bit bluer. Either way, I have seen two 'identical' lights from a single manufacturer vary in brightness/hue more than these two units against each other, so I must call their performance equal.
You're almost buying the same thing whether you get LITEmania's Solatek unit or Calvinmo28's unit. The biggest difference is cost, followed by the fact that the Solatek will now be shipping with a shorter reflector to correct for gap. The final difference is fit and finish, but that doesn't matter to me since the actual reflector and performance level is equal.
I really don't think you can go wrong with either unit. I love both of mine and am going to order a couple more from calvinmo28. With great brightness, tint, and run-time, I think these are great drop-ins.
The first is the Solatek unit being sold by LITEmania for $50 shipped in this thread. He quotes the specifications as such:
And the second is the unmarked unit being sold for $20 by calvinmo28 in this thread. It should be noted that the $20 price was promotional, however, and his next batch will run a few dollars more (I don't think exact price has been decided). He quotes the specifications as such:
The first thing to note about these is the size. As seen in the first picture, they are longer than a regular P60 lamp assembly, and both units are identical in dimensional size (note, however, that this is the old Solatek size: they are now shipping slightly shorter).
When installed as they came, a slight gap was visible on some lights. My personal setup is a Z44 bezel on a Lighthound E2C adapter.
LITEmania is now starting to ship the Solatek drop-ins with a slightly shorter reflector to fix the gap issue, but some people have voiced a preference for alternative means of fitting since this will result in a slightly wider hotspot. Namely, the 'shoulder' of these units can be beveled further, which allows the unit to sit deeper into the light, fixing the gap problem.
Personally, I haven't taken any measures to modify my units as the waterproof seal is not compromised by the gap (inner o-rings are still adequately covered) and the aesthetics don't really concern me. Rather, I have just inserted a GITD o-ring into the gap. The result is pretty clean looking and I like using these o-rings anyway.
I have, however, requested one of the new, shorter reflectors from LITEmania. I'm actually most interested in getting it to compare the change in beam profile, rather than fixing the gap. I will post comparison beamshots when I get it.
Fit and finish between the two gives a slight edge to the Solatek, with the unmarked unit having more solder buildup and some tool marks.
The business end looks just the same however, to the point where I actually had to retake photos because once I loaded the first batch on the computer I couldn't tell which was which:
Some electrical contact problems have been noted with both units, particularly in SureFire G2's. I have found that a small bit of aluminum foil to aid in solid body contact really goes a long way, and makes these both run perfectly. I can even run them easily in a G2 without any outer spring just by using some aluminum foil.
LITEmania and calvinmo28's calculations are the same, approximating 2.08 hours run-time on 2x123 for the units, and Quantile provided a test graph showing the Solatek with a little over 2.5 hr runtime to 50% brightness running on AW18650 Li-ion.
Both units are very bright and very white, with a lot of light in the spill, and a tight, bright hotspot. In fact, they are easily the whitest, brightest LED's I have owned, and I am very pleased with performance. I don't have any equipment to test lumens, lux, etc, but hopefully the below beamshots will give you an idea. All assemblies were used on the same set of fresh batteries, in the exact same body, with the same camera settings (as noted on the image).
Also, here are histograms from the images. Not sure if they are really helpful for comparison, but I'm offering them up just in case.
To my eye, the unmarked unit seems slightly brighter than the Solatek, which appears to be confirmed by the histogram. But the unmarked unit also seems to be just the tiniest bit bluer. Either way, I have seen two 'identical' lights from a single manufacturer vary in brightness/hue more than these two units against each other, so I must call their performance equal.
You're almost buying the same thing whether you get LITEmania's Solatek unit or Calvinmo28's unit. The biggest difference is cost, followed by the fact that the Solatek will now be shipping with a shorter reflector to correct for gap. The final difference is fit and finish, but that doesn't matter to me since the actual reflector and performance level is equal.
I really don't think you can go wrong with either unit. I love both of mine and am going to order a couple more from calvinmo28. With great brightness, tint, and run-time, I think these are great drop-ins.
