comparison question Terralux vs. Nitecore D10

I have a AA minimag with a TerraLUX drop-in, with reflector. I believe the model was a TLE-5EX or something similar sounding. It was rated at over 100 lumens (possibly as much as 140 lumens, but I don't remember).

I'm looking to get an EDC light and the D10 looks to be a nice unit.

I'm curious as to what to expect the differences to be between the two lights regarding beam pattern, brightness, color, spill and throw.

Obviously the D10 is much smaller (only 1 battery), and is adjustable as to brighness, but what about run times on similar types of batteries? Is the regulation circuit any stingier than that of the TerraLUX? Will I get longer or shorter runtimes? Is the Cree or GD+ of the D10 going to give me any real benefits compared to the TLE-5?

andygold said:

I have a AA minimag with a TerraLUX drop-in, with reflector. I believe the model was a TLE-5EX or something similar sounding. It was rated at over 100 lumens (possibly as much as 140 lumens, but I don't remember).

I'm looking to get an EDC light and the D10 looks to be a nice unit.

I'm curious as to what to expect the differences to be between the two lights regarding beam pattern, brightness, color, spill and throw.

Obviously the D10 is much smaller (only 1 battery), and is adjustable as to brighness, but what about run times on similar types of batteries? Is the regulation circuit any stingier than that of the TerraLUX? Will I get longer or shorter runtimes? Is the Cree or GD+ of the D10 going to give me any real benefits compared to the TLE-5?

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Not sure about the TerraLUX in the maglite, but if it is around 100-130 lumens it will be roughly as bright as the D10. However, you can use a 14500 cell in the D10 and that will give it close to 150 lumens. Runtime on Eneloops are about 50 minutes to 50%, with a 14500 it is about 1hr. 15min. to 50% on MAX. On low you can get up to 3 days (72hrs.) of continuous light to 50%. Regulation is very good with Eneloops and 14500 batteries, personally I prefer the Cree as it is more efficient and brighter, although it has the typical "cree ring." If you don't mind the ring, then that would be a good choice.

As far as benefits, the D10 will be smaller, you can get a pocket clip, much longer runtimes (lower than max), and have the ability to go as low as about 1 lumen on minimum. The low is very useful to prevent from ruining night vision, whereas the Maglite will ruin it with a blast of light. Hope this helps. Check this link out also.

The MagLites are designed for throw, and the LED versions too.

The Nitecore D10 is designed for spill, so as the Fenix LxD series. I personally don't like too much spill and no throw.
On the other hand the LxT (tactical) series are designed for more throw than spill, so the L1T v2.0 might be for you, although the D10 has more technology and the piston/power output selection is better.

AFAIK most modern 1AA LED lights outperform even the best Maglite dropins. I remember a deamshot somewhere of a nice beam of a Fenix L1D (I think) and a barely visible beam of a terralux dropin. Bad reflector, bad lense, bad heatsinking, bad regulation, not very efficient.

So I would say the D10 will outperform the maglite+dropin, but I'm not sure.

It WILL outperform, but the beam pattern is different.