Hello everyone. It's me, your favorite winner of this week's FlashlightsNGear.com drawing! Actually I'm the only winner of the drawing this week. 
Anyone who wants to can check out their thread on CPFMP. The prize I received was a choice of one of the budget lights they carry. I chose the Super Defender Q5 because it looks a lot like a Nitecore Extreme and I'm a fan of the Nitecore Extreme. The Super Defender Q5 is approximately a $30 light.
I figured I'd do a side-by-side comparison of the two lights, since I didn't even know there WAS another flashlight like the Nitecore Extreme.
Okay, here we go. For the entirety of this thread, the Nitecore model will be on the left and the Super model will be on the right.
I am comparing the elusive Nitecore Extreme Neutral that I got from Pro-Light Japan. The only box I had lying around was for my Nitecore Extreme R2. The beamshots are the R2 version (that I modded with a R2 WH from Cutter... they put a very large and thick star on their combo's and it took some sanding and it isn't as pretty on the inside)
I'm going to nickname the Super Defender SD and the Nitecore Extreme NEX to make it easier on myself, they are long names.
1. These are the two boxes, they seem pretty similar.
2. The SD's manual is bent a little bit from being pushed by the foam onto the light.
3. Here are the contenders, they appear to be well matched.
4. The top of this picture is the left side, so the SD is on the top and the NEX is on the bottom. They look almost identical, but the SD does not have any mark whatsoever on the outside of the light. I think you can see that the X is running off the edge of the light. There is a somewhat sharp edge where it runs off, but I rubbed pretty good with my thumb and it only scratched the surface of my skin.
5. The fins on the head of the SD are slightly closer together than the NEX. I don't think this would affect the performance.
6. Here is the clip side of the lights. The SD's clip is about twice as thick as the NEX's clip. It is pretty tough! I'm not sure what kind of coating is on the SD's clip, it has a slight texture to it when I brush my fingernail across it. It didn't give any when I scratched it with my fingernail.
7. Here are the business ends. There's a lot of dust in this picture. =\
8. I tried to focus on the LED's, but they are both XR-E's, so there isn't too much to see, the depth of the reflectors is very similar.
9. Here are the battery tubes, focused on the front.
10. Focused on the back end.
11. Here is the positive battery contact on the back of the head.
12. Now we're getting interesting. I pulled them apart for a closer inspection. :candle:
13. Here are the Lenses, the NEX lens is a bit thicker than the SD's.
14. The bezels are almost identical.
15. The O-Ring on the NEX is round and approximately twice as thick as the SD's, I'm sure you could change the O-Ring if it bothered you. The SD's O-Ring is somewhat flat.
16. Here are the positive and negative contacts to the pill. When the lights are assembled, they are not visible because of the brass colored cover in the next picture.
17. These are the brass colored covers.
18. This picture is showing the threads on the head. Maybe the NEX has a little heftier threads.
19. Reflectors: the SD has a blemish on the end of the reflector. It might affect the water proofing, but the rest of the reflector has no marks on it.
20. When I was unscrewing the light engine from the reflector, I noticed there is an extra O-Ring on the NEX, I'll show you where it goes in a later picture.
21. Here are the two light engines, they are somewhat different. Aluminum vs Brass, I don't know that there is much of a difference in ability to transfer heat. The SD's emitter is a little scuffed up, but I doubt it will affect the performance.
22. The NEX's spring is held on by force, it sits between the brass button and the outside of the pill where the reflector meets it. The SD's spring is held on with solder.
23. Both lights use a plastic "washer" to protect the power wires to the LED from shorting out on the metal reflector. The NEX's is thicker and more opaque than the SD's "washer".
24. This is where the extra O-Ring sits on the NEX. It goes between the reflector and the head. It is likely that the SD's water resistance is less than the NEX.
25. The SD can tailstand a bit by standing on the flat switch cover. The SD uses a reverse clickie and the NEX uses a forward clickie. Maybe one of these days I'll put one of my spare NEX clickies in the SD.
26. The NEX comes with some extra goodies.
27. The only thing that comes with the SD is the manual.
28. The NEX R2 is brighter than the SD Q5. The SD Q5 seems to have less Cree Rings.
29. This is with reduced exposure. The hotspot of the SD is smaller than the NEX, but they seem to be approximately the same intensity even with the lower output of the SD. I guess that the SD has an honest lumen rating.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks again to Daniel and FlashlightsNGear.com!
Anyone who wants to can check out their thread on CPFMP. The prize I received was a choice of one of the budget lights they carry. I chose the Super Defender Q5 because it looks a lot like a Nitecore Extreme and I'm a fan of the Nitecore Extreme. The Super Defender Q5 is approximately a $30 light.I figured I'd do a side-by-side comparison of the two lights, since I didn't even know there WAS another flashlight like the Nitecore Extreme.
Okay, here we go. For the entirety of this thread, the Nitecore model will be on the left and the Super model will be on the right.
I am comparing the elusive Nitecore Extreme Neutral that I got from Pro-Light Japan. The only box I had lying around was for my Nitecore Extreme R2. The beamshots are the R2 version (that I modded with a R2 WH from Cutter... they put a very large and thick star on their combo's and it took some sanding and it isn't as pretty on the inside
)I'm going to nickname the Super Defender SD and the Nitecore Extreme NEX to make it easier on myself, they are long names.
1. These are the two boxes, they seem pretty similar.
2. The SD's manual is bent a little bit from being pushed by the foam onto the light.
3. Here are the contenders, they appear to be well matched.
4. The top of this picture is the left side, so the SD is on the top and the NEX is on the bottom. They look almost identical, but the SD does not have any mark whatsoever on the outside of the light. I think you can see that the X is running off the edge of the light. There is a somewhat sharp edge where it runs off, but I rubbed pretty good with my thumb and it only scratched the surface of my skin.
5. The fins on the head of the SD are slightly closer together than the NEX. I don't think this would affect the performance.
6. Here is the clip side of the lights. The SD's clip is about twice as thick as the NEX's clip. It is pretty tough! I'm not sure what kind of coating is on the SD's clip, it has a slight texture to it when I brush my fingernail across it. It didn't give any when I scratched it with my fingernail.
7. Here are the business ends. There's a lot of dust in this picture. =\
8. I tried to focus on the LED's, but they are both XR-E's, so there isn't too much to see, the depth of the reflectors is very similar.
9. Here are the battery tubes, focused on the front.
10. Focused on the back end.
11. Here is the positive battery contact on the back of the head.
12. Now we're getting interesting. I pulled them apart for a closer inspection. :candle:
13. Here are the Lenses, the NEX lens is a bit thicker than the SD's.
14. The bezels are almost identical.
15. The O-Ring on the NEX is round and approximately twice as thick as the SD's, I'm sure you could change the O-Ring if it bothered you. The SD's O-Ring is somewhat flat.
16. Here are the positive and negative contacts to the pill. When the lights are assembled, they are not visible because of the brass colored cover in the next picture.
17. These are the brass colored covers.
18. This picture is showing the threads on the head. Maybe the NEX has a little heftier threads.
19. Reflectors: the SD has a blemish on the end of the reflector. It might affect the water proofing, but the rest of the reflector has no marks on it.
20. When I was unscrewing the light engine from the reflector, I noticed there is an extra O-Ring on the NEX, I'll show you where it goes in a later picture.
21. Here are the two light engines, they are somewhat different. Aluminum vs Brass, I don't know that there is much of a difference in ability to transfer heat. The SD's emitter is a little scuffed up, but I doubt it will affect the performance.
22. The NEX's spring is held on by force, it sits between the brass button and the outside of the pill where the reflector meets it. The SD's spring is held on with solder.
23. Both lights use a plastic "washer" to protect the power wires to the LED from shorting out on the metal reflector. The NEX's is thicker and more opaque than the SD's "washer".
24. This is where the extra O-Ring sits on the NEX. It goes between the reflector and the head. It is likely that the SD's water resistance is less than the NEX.
25. The SD can tailstand a bit by standing on the flat switch cover. The SD uses a reverse clickie and the NEX uses a forward clickie. Maybe one of these days I'll put one of my spare NEX clickies in the SD.
26. The NEX comes with some extra goodies.
27. The only thing that comes with the SD is the manual.
28. The NEX R2 is brighter than the SD Q5. The SD Q5 seems to have less Cree Rings.
29. This is with reduced exposure. The hotspot of the SD is smaller than the NEX, but they seem to be approximately the same intensity even with the lower output of the SD. I guess that the SD has an honest lumen rating.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks again to Daniel and FlashlightsNGear.com!
