Inova X03

I was at the store tonight and was looking at the Inova X03 and noticed that there were two different X03's? One carton was plastic and said 5.8 watts and the other carton was cardboard and said 135 Lumens on it. One had a smooth reflector and the other was orange peeled reflector. The 5.8 watt had a hexagon looking led and was on center. The 135 Lumen had a round led and was noticeably off center. Which is the new version? Which is best??

Someone has to know something about these lights??? They are $51.00 at Target. I purchased the one with the smooth reflector just hope I got the best one!

The one with 135 lumens is the newest model. Inova use to rate their models using watts and have recently changed to using lumens. For example the newest X1 model is rated at 25 lumens but the older X1 versions i believe were rated at 2 watts.

The round led you are referring to is a Seoul P4 led. The hexagonal led is the K2 led.

davidt said:

The one with 135 lumens is the newest model. Inova use to rate their models using watts and have recently changed to using lumens. For example the newest X1 model is rated at 25 lumens but the older X1 versions i believe were rated at 2 watts.

The round led you are referring to is a Seoul P4 led. The hexagonal led is the K2 led.

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Which is the better of the two? Seoul P4 or K2.

sport69 said:

Which is the better of the two? Seoul P4 or K2.

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By better do you mean which model has more output? This I am not sure of. But the K2 leds tend to have better light quality than P4s if that is what you are interested in.

All I can tell you is the model that has the lumens rating on the package is the newest version versus the model with wattage rating. I would pick up the model with the lumens rating. This is because you would know the actual lumen output instead of only knowing the led power rating which is almost useless.

Inova has a long history of sticking with old model names way beyond the point where there is any similarity left beyond the name itself. They come up with some great products but often seem unconcerned about letting their customers know what's going on. As an example, a newbee reading an old review of an Inova X1 would get less than helpful information on available X1 lights. It sounds as though the XO3 is heading down that same unmarked road. It wouldn't take too much imagination to add a letter to the end of the model name to indicate an upgrade or a design change -- XO3B...C...D...

Jeeze, it's not like they'd have to change their stationary...

Yes I know what you mean about the reviews! That is the reason I decided to just ask on here! Well I did pick up the watt rated model because they only had one left, I guess I will have to take it back and trade it on the one with the lumen rating!! Thanks

I, too, recommend you get the latest model which is rated in lumens. Some of the older generation Inova lights which use K2 LEDs have shorter runtimes than the lights which employ more modern LEDs.

The smooth reflector version is the old one.

davidt said:

The one with 135 lumens is the newest model. Inova use to rate their models using watts and have recently changed to using lumens. For example the newest X1 model is rated at 25 lumens but the older X1 versions i believe were rated at 2 watts.

The round led you are referring to is a Seoul P4 led. The hexagonal led is the K2 led.

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So the the new XO3 is using SSC P4 emitters ?
Why didn't they put Q5s or R2s in their lights ? Why do they always have to be beyond the other brands as far as it's about the emitters ? Would they have designed a new reflectors for those L.E.D.s ?
Aaargh...I wish they kept the TIROS while using the SSC P4s....what a pity !

AFAIK the latest lights use K2 TFFC emitters. I never heard of Seoul powered Inovas.

I thought the latest Inovas used rebel led's.

qwertyydude said:

I thought the latest Inovas used rebel led's.

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Mag has adopted Rebels but I have never heard of a Revel Inova. My recent production T3 features a K2 TFFC.

Has anyone owned both versions? reflector SM or OP? Which did you like best?? I cant exchange until day after Christmas so I have a few days to hear pros and cons...so far I gather that the one I have with the watt rating has a nicer tint? but battery life may not be the best.

sport69 said:

so far I gather that the one I have with the watt rating has a nicer tint?

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Unless the tint bin is specified (as with the Fenix TK20), LED tint is always a characteristic of an individual flashlight, not of the brand or version.

The nice thing about the Inova X-series lights is that you can test the light and look at the tint before buying it.

I saw one of the new ones tonight...actually seemed pretty bright...and emitter was well centered....long for a 2 cell light though..but the led did look centered.

I wonder if these could take AW 17670's? I have long ago stopped being an inova fan...but for $51 this light looked pretty nice.

I have one of the older X03's. One of my friends bought it and then left it at my house and moved to england.....
It's got a pretty nice beam profile and its pretty bright, about equal to my E20 I'd say.

I'd be willing to sell it for pretty cheap if you want it?