Dereelight P60 XP-G: Varying tints?

Wavelength

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Jan 12, 2010
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I tried waiting for some reviews to crop up on here before going for the Dereelight XP-G, but I've been surprised at the apparent disinterest in a 300 lumen single-die dropin!

My Dereelight 3SD XP-G R5 finally arrived today from Flashlight Connection, and I've gotta say, I was not impressed. I thought the XP-G at 1.2a would be a real torcher, and the integrating sphere sticky would indicate that it is (300 OTF @ turn-on), but my particular drop-in seems pretty lack-luster.
By comparison, I have a r2 driven at 1.4a, and a XP-G R5 @.900ma, both of which I would guess to be somewhere around 230 lumens OTF. The new XP-G seems absolutely no brighter than either of them. Honestly, I would say it's dimmer if I didn't think that sounds like crazy-talk.

I have confirmed that the drop-in is drawing right at 1.2a, so the only thing I can think of to account for the output is the color tint, which is quite warm. The Dereelight site says they're only shipping in 1B tint, however I don't believe for a second this particular drop-in is doing the 300 lumens seen by MrGman's sphere. Anybody else have reason to believe they got a different tint? Or did I just get a dud that should really have been binned an R3 or something?
 

Liteskr42

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Oct 12, 2009
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I think tint variation is a given on LEDS. Seems like it always has been. I think there is also variation in output/efficiency also. You may get a real winner in output/runtime or you may get the bottom of the scale in performance and it will still be considered within spec.

The differences between an R2 and an R5 dont seem that big to me . I think the Dereelight dropins were 300+ BULB lumens not OTF luemens which should be around 280?
 

bigchelis

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Oct 30, 2008
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Prunedale, CA
The current XP-G R4 or R5 tints are not as pure white as my R2 tints. I think the main reason you see the XP-G not being a ton brighter is because in a P60 design it is a bit floody with limited throw. Lights with more intense hotspots appear brighter to me, but when they test out less OTF lumens.???

It is the same reason some people are not impressed with P60 SST-50, P7, MC-E, or SST-90's. They are too floody to appear super bright, but rest assured truth is truth.


I have a TLS Q5 2.5in Turbo head and when I put my Nailbeder SST-50 and XP-G R4 drop-ins they somehow appear to have gained 30~40% more lumens. Tight hot spots will fool you like that.

bigC
 
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FlashCrazy

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Jan 7, 2007
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Hi Wavelength, :welcome:
Dereelight has used a couple different tints for the XP-G's. The first batch was 1C and 1B tint, and soon the will be using 1A tint. The 1C's and 1B's are fairly close to each other in tint, with the 1B being a bit cooler. Some of what you're seeing is likely tint difference, and the way human eyes perceiving warmer tints as not being as bright. The R2 you have is likely an XR-E, which will have a brighter hotspot... but the XP-G will have more overall output, it's just spread out a little more. If you haven't done so yet, take them outside when it's nice and dark, and compare not only the hotspot, but the overall beam and brightness off-center... these XP-G's put out quite a column of light! :twothumbs

In any case, if you'd like to send it back for me to check it, I'd be happy to do that. I can measure it to see if it's up to spec, and we can go from there. I can replace it with a 1B tint that's not so warm, or issue a refund. Either won't be any trouble at all. :)
 

Wavelength

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Jan 12, 2010
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Found the probem - bad chip

Thanks for the offer FlashCrazy, that's impressive customer service considering it's Dereelight's error, not yours.

I'm aware of the perception issues of the tint and hotspot vs spill; consider also that in addition to the R2, it's being compared to another XP-G R5 that has even more spill and is only running at .9a! So, I've examined the pill more closely and found that the dome is partially separated from the die (looks to have come up just on one side). I expect that's dropping overall output, and since seeing that I've noticed that on one side of the beam the spill light is blue-tinted, and the other side it's green-tinted. So whether the dome separation caused a local change in tint or some problem with the die shifted tint and caused dome separation I don't know, but something happened, and it wasn't good.

In any case, I sold the unit to a friend for cheap. It was brighter than anything else he had, he liked the overall hotspot tint, and wasn't bothered by the uneven spill tint or separation. So, thanks for the offer Flashcrazy, but this way's probably easier on everyone!

Now I just have to decide whether to try another Dereelight XP-G or an SST-50...
 
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