XP-G...what to expect

Brief flashbio:
5 years ago...notice LED flashlights...buy a few...they're blue, weak, and run forever.

11 months ago...discover this demented forum...three months later have a boatload of lights like Fenix LD20, Olight T25, Nitecore D20, etc. WHAT A REVOLUTION! These lights spankarse. Move on to other things.

2 weeks ago...check back into this demented forum...all my lights are about to become saggyarsed???:scowl:

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For the less technically fecund among us, what can we expect from this new LED? For ex, if Fenix puts this in an LD20 (I know, I know, don't hold my breath, they're just getting around to R2???), what is an educated guess as to lumens, and runtime??

I was about to buy a Quark 2AA, Nitecore D20-R2 and EZ AA; should I shelve those plans and wait the 3 or so months?

Thx in advance, sorry if this question has been asked already.:duh2:

Reflux said:

I was about to buy a Quark 2AA, Nitecore D20-R2 and EZ AA; should I shelve those plans and wait the 3 or so months?

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If you have the need for more lights right now, then there is no reason to wait. Cree XR-E's should have good enough performance to illuminate your way in most tasks.
Personally I have enough lights right now to fill my needs, so I'm waiting to see the XP-G lights to get excuse to buy a new one :huh:

Welcome to CPF, Reflux.

There's a loooooong thread about the XP-G here:
The new XP-G: another big announcement from CREE

Some 9 years ago I came across my 1st LED flashlight a Radio Shack branded Turtle light. Really smooth beam, no artifacts. Maybe 3 lumens.
The big blackout of 2003 make me realize the Solitaire is useless. Found this "demented forum" in my search for a pocketable LED torch. Got the Dorcy AAA. Maybe 4 lumens. There is a picture of a modified one in my Avatar.

A few years later I came across a 1 watt 3AAA flashlight. Maybe 30 lumens. Then Fenix started to sell the L1P. 1AA, much more pocketable than the multi-cell lights I have. Maybe 30 lumens.
The increase in brightness is 10X.

Cree came out with the XR-E. The increase in brightness is 2X for the P bins.
Cree continue to improve the XR-E. The Q5/R2s are about 35-40% better than the early P2/P3 bins. So a 1AA flashlight can reach 90 lumens. The increase in brightness is 3X over the Luxeons.
But the XR-E can be driven much harder than the old 1 watt, up to 1400 mA (not supported by Cree). Lumens are now >200. The increase in brightness is 7X over the 1 watt, and 66X over the single 5 mm LED.

The XP-G is R5 for the highest bin at the moment. That is only 15% more than an XR-E R2 or 1.15X. Note this increase is much smaller than the big jumps I described earlier.

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Meanwhile flashlight manufacturers have been trying to get brighter lights simply by using more LEDs and reflectors. With 3 or 4 LEDs the torch is 3X instead of 1.2X of the XP-G compared to a Q5 bin (R2 bins are still relatively hard to get).
The biggest hand hold-able multi-LED is probably the DataBank 70 with you guessed it 70 XR-Es.

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SSC decided to put 4 XR-E dies into a single LED case, the SSC-P7. This allows a single reflector to be used. Less wiring as well. Cree followed with the 4 die MC-E.
Other companies have been making bigger arrays such as 7*7 dies, but I do not think any of them were used in flashlights.

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Multiple P7 or MC-E lights are next with Elektrolumens' Kong having 12 of them. About 8000 lumens.
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=196135
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=198758

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Meanwhile a new company is making bigger chip dies: SST-50 2mm*2mm and SST-90 3mm*3mm.
The SST-90 can reach 2250 lumens though Elektrolumens' 1st attempt is expected to be less.
http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=199637

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In summary:
Single 5mm LED 2-4 lumens,
1 watt 30 lumens,
3 watt 75 lumens,
XR-E up to 225-275 lumens,
XP-G 345 lumens,
3 or 4 XRE/SSC-P7/MC-E 600-900 lumens,
SST-90 1400-2250 lumens.

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If you get a CPF modder to put a XP-G R5 into your LD20 (I assume it is a Q5) the max brightness will go from 94 to 113 lumens.
Changing from an AA light to lithium batteries powered one will get you a much much bigger increase.

You have been buying a boatload of very similar lights. You do not need more than 2 of any one kind. So you are wasting money on buying essentially the same thing over and over again.
If you want to stay with AA lights I would suggest your next 2 purchases be as follows.
1) For brightness get a TK40. 630 lumens over 94 lumens in much more impressive than 113 lumens over 94.
2) For a tint change buy a neutral warm white torch like the Nitecore EZAAw. Then go for a walk in the woods to see the advantages of the warm tints over the cool tints outdoors.

i started carrying the maglite solitaire. i thought it was cool to have a flashlight that size and that took only one battery, a single AAA. but it just seemed so dim. i had heard about LED flashlights. i took the time to write maglite a nice email asking if they were going to make a LED version of the solitaire and that i'd be all over it. i told them i like their products and an LED solitaire would be great. i wrote them twice. never any response. so i started looking on ebay and found the Fenix E1. i soon discovered fenix-store (and later 7777) and so started my flashaholism.

i've since bought many LED lights. i was amazed at how bright lights like the P1D were. first i just wanted brighter and brighter in the smallest package; i really liked the single CR123 lights because of the power and size. then i started becoming more interested in single AA lights and about the same time became more interested in lower lows and runtimes as opposed to simply brightness. it seems now i've come full circle back to a single AAA light and at the same time have fallen in love with neutral white lights.

the liteflux LF2XT (with trit button) is now my main flashlight (perfect EDC). i recently sold my quark AA, D10 R2, Tiablo TL-1 and EX10 Q5 so i could buy a LF2XT Titanium. this little liteflux is my first neutral and the cool white lights look so pathetic next to it. i have my TK40 for super brightness, but i've discovered how important LED tints are to me.

you can see things much better with warmer tints. it's closer to our naturally provided sunlight which are eyes are so accustomed to. do yourself a favor and get a neutral tint LED flashlight and see how they compare. i'm thinking about picking up a TK20 myself here in a minute.

EDIT: hey LEDninja, i guess great minds think alike, huh?

burntoshine said:

the liteflux LF2XT (with trit button) is now my main flashlight (perfect EDC). i recently sold my quark AA, D10 R2, Tiablo TL-1 and EX10 Q5 so i could buy a LF2XT Titanium. this little liteflux is my first neutral and the cool white lights look so pathetic next to it.

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burntoshine and others,

What battery works best for the LF2XT?

Do you recommend Energerizer lithiums?

To give you an idea of what can be achieved, here is what I would expect for brightness:
1AAA lights above 100 lumens w/o using a li-ion cell
1AA lights above 150 lumens
2AA lights above 200 lumens
2123A/ 1 18650 lights above 300 lumens

Reflux said:

2 weeks ago...check back into this demented forum...all my lights are about to become saggyarsed???:scowl:

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"Re-Flux" by selling your current lights on BST when the new ones come out, or scatter them around your house/car.