2008 inova t series specs

new page on inova s website with updated specs on lights: www.inovalight.com
T1= 100 lumens
T2= 125 lumens
T3= 150 lumens
T4= 175 lumens
T5= 200 lumens


not as bright as expected BUT still better than the were
Has anyone seen these lights at the show yet?

According to Inova's website, the T5 will have 2 levels of brightness plus strobe and momentary functions. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Griz

Keep in mind that some lights rated 150 lumens are not as bright as others rated 120 lumens. Manufacturers 'lumen' claims vary widely. I would bet Inova's claims aren't as exagerated as most others.

I wish it would be the industry standard to rate lights on their actual "out the front" lumens. Who cares what the emitter is spec'ed at for a certain current drive level - what people need to know is the actual performance of the combination of the emitter, reflector and lens.

The T3 and T5 most likely run on the same 3 123a batteries. Is the T5 driven harder...or a higher T# so of course lumens should be higher...

woodrow said:

The T3 and T5 most likely run on the same 3 123a batteries. Is the T5 driven harder...or a higher T# so of course lumens should be higher...

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I have the Inova T1 and T3 (2007 versions), and my T1 puts out a little more light based on the ceiling bounce test. The T4 that I used to have (before I disposed of it in disgust, due to the flaky side switch design) was the same, maybe a little less. My experience is that the T1 is accurately advertised with about 85 lumens out the front, with the higher T series lights having claims that are increasingly inaccurate as you go up the scale.

I know that advertised lumens don't always equal reality, but it seems particularly lame to have a series of flashlights with the same output but different claimed outputs. :shrug:

That being said, I like both the T1 and T3 for what they are. The T1 is one of the shortest 2-cell lights that you can buy; while the T3 has additional runtime due to having 3 cells, and also more throw due to the larger reflector.

Nice to see Inova bring a 200 lumen LED light to market! I wonder if this will be the new K2.

I wonder if the X1 is being upgraded.

I haven't heard anything about the X series being upgraded, I hope.

I think the jump to a DS led in the X5 would be a smart move.

The X1 could definitely use a more efficient led.
And I would love to see an update to the X03. I really like the feel of that light. Big but not unwieldy.

I have a T3 that I bought in... 2007 i think, the 3 battery one with the reflector. When I looked at the reflector it has a matte finish, not polished much at all. Does anyone have any logic to such a design.
Its a good light, very heavy duty, nice flood. It does get warm after a while.
I just wish it could use a rechargable.
The T2 with 125 lumens for 4 hours would be a nice design if you could fit a 17650 inside. Though the 4 hours with 180 lumens or so from a cree would be nicer.
But then again there are times when you may need the durability over the extra 50 lumens or so.

What emitter is inside now? Cree or Luxeon K2 TFFC?

Lightingguy321 said:

What emitter is inside now? Cree or Luxeon K2 TFFC?

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It's the luxeon K2 TFFC I believe.

Not to bash inova, but how are they going to get a production run of these new lights started until after March 2008? This is due to the Luxeon K2 TFFC/ Rebel recall. I wonder if they had already had a small batch of these made pre SHOT SHOW and have them ready for sale already.

And what about Bolt 2A... it is one of the best 2 x AA lights. I hope they will upgrade it before summer.

This thread was on the verge of death, but I feel the need to bring it back to life to discuss comparisons between the new T series lights. I have experience with the new 2008 T1, which was very impressive. I have a T2 on the way which I hope will be as impressive as the T1. Does anybody here have experience with the 2008 T3, T4 and T5 lights yet? I would be interested in knowing if the lumen ratings are more reliable now. I'm fairly certain that the T1 I used was indeed puting out close to 100 lumens, but I don't have any way to measure it. I read somewhere that Inova is stating out-the-front lumen ratings for the 2008 series, but we definitely need some proof or disproof to help fellow CPFers decide whether these lights are worth their weight in aluminum. So whats up CPF?

I dont get all Your fascination. :thinking:

Sure they are very nicely made, as is the best feature of Inova,
but still single level and the higher output (which in fact is less than any better Cree/Seoul light) is bought with the much higher current the still less efficient new K2s need.

simply a no-go in a battery powered application, imho

yellow said:

I dont get all Your fascination. :thinking:

Sure they are very nicely made, as is the best feature of Inova,
but still single level and the higher output (which in fact is less than any better Cree/Seoul light) is bought with the much higher current the still less efficient new K2s need.

simply a no-go in a battery powered application, imho

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Some of us evaluate the performance of the entire flashlight, rather than chasing the specs of just one part.

Well the X03 was my first flashlight, and I really liked it a lot when I got it, so it will always have a special place. I still admire because I've used it A LOT for 3 years and it's in near perfect shape, with near perfect anodizing, and it has never once given a problem (for reference, my L0D looked like freddy cruger got a hold of it after one week on my keys). For a lot of us, one simple mode does it all. If I have a close up application, I will usually reach for my cell phone as it stands perfectly in it's "V" shape and provides plenty of light. I know this may be contrary to what a lot of flashaholics feel, but multiple mode lights just don't do it for me, unless they are the Gladius Night-Ops..then it's a whole different story.

I like the tint on these new Inovas, and though the emitter may be less efficient than SSC and Cree, it is still a far cry from the luxeons of yesterday. Remember: 70 lumens on 2 x CR123 for ~ 2 hours? I can almost guarantee that two years from now the Q4 and Q5 cree and P4 SSC will be archaic as well. There WILL come a time when the amount of lumens coming from one di will be simply too much for practical use. Honestly, how many of us are goin to use our Raidfire Spear and our Tiablo A8 for anything practical? They're showpieces. And that is where Inova succeeds--in making useable lights that will probably still look brand new long after their user retires.

yellow said:

I dont get all Your fascination. :thinking:
but still single level and the higher output (which in fact is less than any better Cree/Seoul light) is bought with the much higher current the still less efficient new K2s need.

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The T4 and T5 are multi level lights. The output on the single level lights is well balanced with runtime; these lights are made to be used at that level for several hours if necessary. The new K2 is not the most efficient, but have you seen the beamshots? Warmest tint of any emitter I've ever seen and a perfect beam coming from a nearly smooth reflector. The fascination is caused by Inova, for once, making lights were the output, runtime, beam pattern, and tint live up to the build quality.

Some of us evaluate the performance of the entire flashlight, rather than chasing the specs of just one part.

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did You notice I evaluated general machining (good), electronics/diversity (not at actual level) and power consumption (bad)?
What except output characteristics did You have in mind?

PS: I did not mention the crappy switch.
(I own 1 old T1, 2 new T1s and a T3 and 2 replacement tailcaps and all of them had to be modded with a Scorpion switch within very short use - because the original one is just bad. Luckily the Scorpion's fit in with just very few modding)

The output on the single level lights is well balanced with runtime; these lights are made to be used at that level for several hours if necessary.

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and how long do they run with their 2 CR123 batts?
1.5 hours? my new T1 draws 750 mA at start


I hope You are right on tint and beam of the 2008s. Out of the 2 T1 (2007s) I bought a few months ago for modding, one was good, the other one extremely crappy - luxeon lottery at its best.
At least I did not have a big problem, wich one to choose 1st to be modded.

I haven't had any problems from my T-series tailcap switches. The T4 side switch is another matter. (If this feature of the T4 is not improved with the 2008 version, then it will not be worth buying, period--regardless of the new emitter or multi-level output.)

For an example of why even the output/runtime performance cannot be evaluated simply from emitter specs, consider this graph that I created a few weeks ago:


(data is mostly from chevrofreak's runtime plots)

Here the emitters are all Cree and Seoul, but the efficiency can vary a lot even at a given lumen output. The Surefire P60L lights appear to be performing more poorly than they could.

This review verifies that the new T1 begins to dim significantly at 4 hours, a runtime that is consistent with Inova's advertised graph. I estimate mine at 85 lumens, so the battery efficiency is 4*85/2 = 170 lumen-hours per cell. The point (85, 170) on the graph above is consistent with the performance curve of the Fenix P3D.

If the new Inova T3 can produce 150 lumens for 2.5 hours (and my comparison of the T3 with other lights indicates that 150 lumens out the front is definitely reasonable), then the battery efficiency is 2.5*150/3 = 125 lumen-hours per cell. The point (150, 125) on the graph above has about the same efficiency as the Surefire P60L lights, maybe better considering that efficiency usually drops significantly with higher LED output.