SMJLED with circuit for Minimag upgrade - first impressions

Gatsby

Enlightened
Joined
Jul 20, 2006
Messages
978
Location
Charlotte, NC
I picked up one of Arcmania's SMJLED upgrades - the version with the small boost circuit - from Lighthound on special. At $6.99 it seemed worth a shot since I was ordering some other items as well to see how it works. The small kit includes the bi pin circuit disc with SMJLED and a new reflector to accomodate the larger LED. I dropped in some Radio Shack LSD AA's I also picked up on closeout to make what I hope will be a decent backup light out of an otherwise unused Minimag I had lying around.

There was and remains a fair amount of confusion it seems about the second generation SMJLED and the SMJLED2 - this upgrade in particular. AFAIK the version Lighthound sells and the version the Shoppe sells look the same but there is some discussion that they may or may not include the same dies - apparently at one point the SMJLED2 included an upgraded die that didn't handle heat well and they went back to the 4 die SMJLED model. To be honest, I'm not sure which version I have - if someone can give me some insight into how to tell the difference I'll gladly check it out and let folks know.

Installation is straightforward as you'd expect. The kit is nicely packaged and self explanatory, it is a direct drop in. Everything fits back together as it should. The beam is really quite bright - it is a good deal brighter than my CR2 Ion on low (no surprise there) and a slight bit dimmer than the CR2 Ion on high - comparisons are of course a bit difficult with the Ion (and I neglected to bring my Novatac to the office today which would be a better comparison tool). Compared to my LF2 (on lithiums) which I have set to roughtly 5% and 60% it is brighter than the low and not quite as bright on high, but pretty close. Again, compared to the floodier LF2 it is difficult to compare total output (hence the milk carton apparatus some use, etc... and the overall difficulty of brightness comparisons between different beam shapes). I had one of the old SMJLED cut units which I used in a 2xAAA minimag and from my memory this upgrade is a good deal brighter than that one was - which you'd expect from the boost circuit.

Tint has a distinct blueish tone particularly compared to the creamy warm LF2 and even the bluer CR2 Ion - but it seems to my eye far from "angry" blue. Not bad at all really and better than I was anticipating. I'll compare it to some other 5mm lights, specifically the NiteIze drop in and a few Peaks tonight. It retains the focusing, such as it is, and when narrowly focused the beam is pretty nice, but as it typical of reflectored Mags it deteriorates rather quickly. It would be interesting to apply some Write Rite (which I may do) to the lense, or even better a light stipple to the reflector would make it probably a more usable beam, but that is my preference to slighly less throw oriented beam shapes these days.

We'll see how runtime goes - I don't expect the bare SMJLED type numbers but am hopeful that based upon the brightness it should make a pretty good backup, power outage, let my kids or family use type light and for the price is a very nice upgrade. I'd definitely say it is worth the closeout price and small extra cost over the NiteIze - it is a real step up from the 5mm version but perhaps not the 1w upgrade (although it should have more runtime than the 1w version).
 

etc

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 19, 2004
Messages
5,777
Location
Northern Virginia
There was and remains a fair amount of confusion it seems about the second generation SMJLED and the SMJLED2 - this upgrade in particular. AFAIK the version Lighthound sells and the version the Shoppe sells look the same but there is some discussion that they may or may not include the same dies

If someone could explain the difference...

Nice review. Pictures?
 

orcinus

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
1,002
Location
Croatia
Bought one too from SS recently.
Works great and is a great deal brighter than i expected. That, the new reflector it comes with and domed mineral lens made my old, beaten up mini-m@g actually useful again.

I've measured the current draw some days ago, but forgot the exact figure. I think it was around 100-ish mA. If anyone's interested, i can do it again.
 
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