Slightly disappointed - Lumens Factory P7 M-series turbo head

After recently realizing that my old SF M6 was just sitting around collecting dust (my light interests and needs have moved completely away from incans), I decided a facelift was in order.

I just received my Lumens Factory single level turbo head. Initial appearances were positive. The finish was nice, the threads and machining just as nice.

My disappointment stems from the fact that there is NO WAY that the P7 SSC D bin emitter is putting out anything even close to the advertised 950 lm. I realize this is initial emitter output, but even taking that into account, I would estimate that I am only seeing about 500 OTF lm. I tried new CR123 batteries. I tried my 3x17650 battery holder with freshly charged cells. No difference.

And the tint - while not the worst I have ever seen - is definitely on the green side of cool.

All in all, after what I hoped would inject new life and usage into my M6 - this "upgrade" has simply relegated the light to continue to collect dust. This was not the facelift I was hoping for at all. YMMV.

They might be over-exaggerating the claims a bit.
P7 D-bin is 800-900lms at the 2.8 max. You'll need an E-bin for more. And, LF doesn't state that they are over driving it for the mis-advertised extra 50 lumen.

http://www.lumensfactory.com/product_details.php?id=139&cid=11&sid=10&page=1
-High Output SSC P7 LED (Max Output 950 Lumens)
-Maximum Current Output at 2800mA

http://www.seoulsemicon.com/en/product/prd/zpowerLEDp7.asp
-Absolute Maximum 2800ma
-D bin 800-900lm
-E bin 900-1100lm I haven't seen an E-bin P7 for sale yet.

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...omeone-to-Mod-a-Seraph-P7-M-Series-Turbo-Head

Maybe an XM-L or SST50 pushing 3000-4000ma will do the trick!

The SSC P7 is a large quad die emitter. This makes a very floody beam. I've had a couple SSC P7 lights and they always seem less bright then they are because the beam is so floody from the large quad die emitter. Try a ceiling bounce test to judge the output compared to another light of known output. That is a great way to compare output (just shine the light at the ceiling in the dark and look at how bright the floor is compared to another light)

Tre,

Yep - been there, done that. Ceiling bounce test left me a bit underwhelmed as well.

I was expecting a relatively floody beam with the SSC, but the lack of lumens is still quite disheartening. They could have driven this thing a bit harder, IMO.

As you said, clearly they are not driving it very hard if all you see is about 500 lumens. Not very honest of them to advertise it at 950 lumens if it makes 1/2 of that. Then again Olight advertises the SR90 at 2200 lumens and it makes 1200 OTF (as measured by bigchelis) and they advertise the SR51 as throwing a beam 700 meters so I guess a lot of manufacturers like to exaggerate.

It might be a good idea to bench test the light measuring the current with you DMM to see if there is something not working right. Maybe you lucked out and have a underperforming driver. Warranty repair/swap?

Im glad I saw this. Ive been toying with the idea about buying that turbo head to help revive my old M3T. Perhaps i wont now...

I purchased the single mode version of the P7 and was very disappointed. I have a D36 dropin for my M3 that Nailbender made for me(Cree XM-L / U2 Flux !a Tint / 2.8-6v). It is rated at 600lm on 1x18650 and it blows the LF P7 on 2x18650 out of the water on both throw and spill. The only area that the P7 stands out is during a ceiling/wall bounce test. If any one is considering this light head for their M3; Pay half the price and get twice the product from Nailbender. Brighter/Better light + Half the size + Half the price = Nailbender.

Just my .02

This is helpful to me too. I was looking into how the P7 compares to the TNVC TX4. I am currently using the TX4 but I've just never warmed up to it. It has a hideous donut even in use (not white wall hunting) and its build quality is not up to SF standards in my opinion. It just feels cheap to me aside from all the guts coming out of it every time the head is removed (enter Locktite). Perhaps a Nailbender drop-in is the best choice utilizing the SF bezel.

Thanks for the insight.

I had the newer sst90 version and it was pretty weak until i ran 3 imr18650s with it.

Running 3 18650s just makes for a crazy sized light when you can get more throw and output from smaller lights like the Olight M21-X or M31T. Especially when the winter sales are out...

http://www.batteryjunction.com/olight-m-series.html