stinger HP upgrade ...

I purchased an HP upgrade kit for my two year old stinger XT a few months ago. After changing out the bulb and the head, I tried it out, and was... extremely underwhelmed. Light output was barely brighter than the original XT was, although beam quality was better and more focusable with the new HP head. In fact, the light output from my 15kcp polystinger was brighter (eyeball comparison) than the new 40kcp(advertised)HP!

Having read glowing reviews of the HP from cpf readers concerning the "fantastic" light output of their HP's, I am wondering if this is some fluke with my particular kit, or if I am going to have to plunk down some change and buy the complete HP light.

I am particularly interested in hearing from cpf members who have the HP upgrade kit, as opposed to the complete HP light.

p.s. I did change out the batteries on the XT HP with my polystinger, as well as a spare new battery I have, with no change in light output. I am fresh out of ideas. Any info would be appreciated.

The HP head just focuses the beam tighter, increasing the intensity of the spot, not the total overall output (Lumens) which remains the same. Think of it as a Turbo-Head you would use on a Surefire. The CP ratings seem a bit decieving. If you feel you don't get a higher intensity beam, or there is less light, I would contact Streamlight for a replacement.

I was very disappointed with the HP upgrade on my light also. I even contacted Streamlight and they basically said that it was brighter and I was mistaken. They also would not replace it, as they said it was fine.(This is with them not even seeing it). All they would do was refund my money.I posted about this a while back. I'll try to dig up the thread. Overall, disappointed with the upgrade and the company, although I am happy with my other streamlight products.
Alphamaniv's post on the same thing There is the link to my topic on the same thing. It really doesn't help anything, but at least we aren't alone in our disappointment

I am very pleased with the HP upgrade on my 2 8 year old Stingers. The beam looks much brighter and whiter, when I compare it to an unmodified Stinger. The slightly textured reflector gives a better beam, IMHO. The small head on the original Stinger would focus to a tighter spot, but the HP, even though the spot is larger, has more reach to it. Also, when set to flood, rings are greatly reduced, compared to the original Stinger head. My only complaint is that the Stinger with the HP head doesn't fit into pockets as well

The claim of tripling the output, in candlepower, is of course, pretty outrageous on the face of it.

If you really don't like it, I'm sure Streamlight will refund your money. I know the upgrade isn't cheap, and you should be happy with it.

ratso;

I own a SF6P w/turbo head, as well as a first gen SL ultrastinger(the HP upgrade for the SL superstinger), and so when I first got the posting from Brightguy announcing the stinger/XT HP upgrade, I was excited, as I was extremely pleased with both the 6P and the US.

Unlike the stinger HP, the SF turbohead ads never made declarations of "tripling" cp, even though there was a noticeably sharper,brighter spot with the turbohead on than off.

With the ultrastinger, although the ads did declare nearly 5x the cp of the the superstinger(inflated IMHO), the apparent light output of the US did seem to be significantly greater than that of the superstinger, which I had on loan at the time.

That was the source of my disappointment with the HP upgrade for my stinger XT; it did not come close to matching the differences I saw with the 6P or US. The upgrade output was barely the same as the original output. In addition, although the HP head allowed for better focus ability than the original head, I didn't think HP's 'tight' focus was on par with the 6P turbohead.

I am unhappy with the apparent discrepancy between the "measured light output"(objective) and the visible light output(subjective).

In any case, I appreciate the feedback from cpf members who have experienced the same problem I had. Hopefully, Streamlight, which has a pretty good record of designing things flashaholics tend to want to buy, does better next time.

My new HP (about three weeks now) doesn't seem as white as I think it should, but it does throw a pretty bright beam out there pretty good!

It just may be that the HP isn't quite what it's hyped up to be...

Still, I'm happy enough with mine!