LED Battle: Old school vs. New school ...

I just finished some custom work for a forum member and decided to take some indoor and outdoor shots to compare these lights, along with some of mine, but specially to compare the old school LED (Luxeon 5W) vs. the new school (Seoul 3W).

Lights:
- Custom Purple mini 1C: Seoul P4 U bin, running from a single 18650 cell on a Wizard2 @ 750mA

- Custom McG45 : W bin Lux 5 running from 2x18650 cells on a Bflex @ 1Amp

- Custom Turbo LED Module: W bin Lux 5 @ 750mA

- Custom Turbo LED Module: Seoul P4 U bin at 1Amp

NOTE: Both Turbo LED Modules running out of SF M6 running 6x Primary Cells on OEM battery holder.

All shots with Canon Rebel XT with Canon 24-105/F4 "L" lens. Manual exposure, automatic White balance, manual focus, on tripod. Aperture fixed for all shots at F5.5, lens set to 24mm. By the way, the indoor pictures show an "exaggerated" tint. In real life the tint is less noticeable.


Indoor shots (2 and 1 second exposures):
1C Mag (Seoul) - 2 second exposure:

1C Mag (Seoul) - 1 second exposure:


McG45 (Lux 5) - 2 second exposure:

McG45 (Lux 5) - 1 second exposure:


Turbo LED (Seoul) - 2 second exposure:

Turbo LED (Seoul) - 1 second exposure:


Turbo LED (Lux 5) - 2 second exposure:

Turbo LED (Lux 5) - 1 second exposure:




Outdoor shots. All done at 3.2 seconds. Pointing at two "targets" to compare spill and throw.
1C Mag (Seoul) - close target:

1C Mag (Seoul) - far target:


McG45 (Lux 5) - close target:

McG45 (Lux 5) - far target:


Turbo LED (Lux 5) - close target:

Turbo LED (Lux 5) - far target:


Turbo LED (Seoul) - close target:

Turbo LED (Seoul) - far target:



So, who wins? :naughty:

Will

ME!

Led_Blind said:

ME!

Click to expand...

Actually, ME

Will - nice beam shots. That McG45 can still hold its own with the new guys on the market. :goodjob: Thanks for everything. Kirk

Take that, Seoul. Luxeon 5 won't go without a fight.

Nice comparo!

Very nice pics! :goodjob: The LuxV's driven hard still can compete with the CREE's and Seoul's, but they do lack in the throw department. Your pics are a good illustration of that.

Lux V is awesome!

Nebula said:

Actually, ME

Will - nice beam shots. That McG45 can still hold its own with the new guys on the market. :goodjob: Thanks for everything.

Kirk

Click to expand...

Yes, "you" win - those are in fact your lights (McG45 and 1C M*g) before I packed them lastnight

Strauss said:

Very nice pics! :goodjob: The LuxV's driven hard still can compete with the CREE's and Seoul's, but they do lack in the throw department. Your pics are a good illustration of that.

Click to expand...

Yes, they do compete in output, but power-wise the Seoul LED is more efficient. The kick-*** combination is really the Lux 5 with the mighty 45mm McGizmo textured reflector. That reflector is just plain awesome !!!

Will

All very nice.

Now let's talk about runtimes .



Thanks for the work!

Why is the Seoul not being run at 1A also?
Would that not be a more fair comparison?

I think we're forgetting costs too...How much did that SSC led cost compared to those lux5? Half the price? Atleast? Good to see old lights still produce light I actually am suprised. Several of the shots, I actually prefer the lux5, because the SSC is too much of a pinpoint. Illuminating an object is fine, but it seems that if you don't have it in context (of its surroundings) it's not as useful?

I don't think the Luxeon 5 is old yet, considering that the mainstream is still 5mm Nichias, Luxeon 1's and 3's. It's still one of the brightest contenders in the market. It seems LED technology is beginning to move a little too far ahead of itself though. With brighter, more efficient LEDs popping up, once supplies become available, manufacturers might make the jump and skip the Luxeon 5 altogether. Who knows, maybe something even better will show itself before the latest LEDs make it into the general market. I'm starting to wonder if I should wait for those beamshots before I reach for my wallet.

LuxV's have poor efficency compared with their lux1 and III companions. What i would reeeeealy love to see is a the same luxV design but using the EZ1000 die used in XR-e and seul leds....

Now, drive that puppy at 5 watts (1.25 per die) and get 250+lumens.... Wait, lets try 10w heheheh

edit... its the end of a long work day and i am going nuts. Please join in

Calina said:

All very nice.
Now let's talk about runtimes

.
Thanks for the work!

Click to expand...

You are welcomed

Runtime-wise, the Lux 3 and Seoul's would win hands down :naughty:

r0b0r said:

Why is the Seoul not being run at 1A also?
Would that not be a more fair comparison?

Click to expand...

One of them was (in the Turbo LED Module). Basically I had:
- Two Lux 5's vs. two Seoul 3W's.
- One of each at 750mA and one at 1Amp.

Just not in the same/identical hosts/reflectors, so it is hard to do "exact" comparisons

havand said:

I think we're forgetting costs too...How much did that SSC led cost compared to those lux5? Half the price? Atleast? Good to see old lights still produce light I actually am suprised. Several of the shots, I actually prefer the lux5, because the SSC is too much of a pinpoint. Illuminating an object is fine, but it seems that if you don't have it in context (of its surroundings) it's not as useful?

Click to expand...

Absolutely, the Lux 5's were more expensive, but as you noted, they do cover the area well, specially with the 45mm reflector. For plain throw, the Seoul in the Turbo LED Module kicks butt!


Will

My brother is shipping back my WX1S LuxeonV Mag after using it for 8 months I think it is time to bump up the output to 1,000mA and let the LuxeonV Star burn brightly until it gets replaced this fall.

Alas, the days of the $45 LuxeonV are numbered... the king is dead, all hail the new king!