Xeno E03 isn't bad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

I've had my NW Xeno E03 (ver 3) for about a week now, and overall I really like this light. For those of you who are only using Sanyo Eneloops in your E03 you are really missing out. This light really loves the 14500.

I was actually really surprised at the difference in output after changing the battery. With a standard AA, my LD10 and ThruNite 1A blow this thing away as far as output goes. I almost find this E03 not very usable with the Eneloop. Do other E03 owners feel the same way? I do have the neutral white version which does have a slightly lower output than the cool white... But honestly the color of this NW is so nice I'd never consider getting the cool or warm versions.. Especially with the 14500... the very nice color and output make this light a joy to use.

The only issues I've seen so far are very brief flickering while on the 14500.. it only lasts a second or two, and I've only seen it twice now I think. The other issue it seems that the light isn't regulated.. I know it is, but I feel like I see a pretty noticeable drop in output after maybe 10 minutes or so from a fully charged AW 14500 (not continuous use.. I never ran it for 10 minutes straight yet)... Does anyone else notice that with their E03?

here are two videos I did comparing the two battery types in these 3 lights:



------------UPDATE / EDIT------------
Before you get too far into this thread, I wanted to update this first post letting you know I had a bad clicky in my Xeno E03. I replaced it with the spare and the output is much better. The Xeno really isn't a bad light with a standard AA. A 14500 sure makes it scream though!

Here are new/updated videos after I replaced the clicky:

New Part 3 with Eneloop: http://youtu.be/s-DZHPdk_GQ
New Part 4 with 14500: http://youtu.be/t5WMbRppkCg

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

i dont use 14500 in mine cause its TOO bright.... hehe

i like lights with good low modes, and the Xeno even with a lithium primary is too bright on low mode.
but sometimes i throw in a 14500 for kicks. hehe

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

The low using a NiMH is just right, but I use a 14500 exclusively for that 500+ lumen high. The modes are in the wrong order for EDC anyway.

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

StarHalo said:

The modes are in the wrong order for EDC anyway.

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Yep, but I like the light quite a bit otherwise.

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

energythoughts said:

I almost find this E03 not very usable with the Eneloop. Do other E03 owners feel the same way?

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For just an all-around usable light, it's perfect with Eneloops. I do say WOW though when trying it with a 14500. An Eneloop stays in it though 99.9% of the time.

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

Vesper said:

For just an all-around usable light, it's perfect with Eneloops. I do say WOW though when trying it with a 14500. An Eneloop stays in it though 99.9% of the time.

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+1!

Vesper said:

For just an all-around usable light, it's perfect with Eneloops. I do say WOW though when trying it with a 14500. An Eneloop stays in it though 99.9% of the time.

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Agreed. The low could even be a bit lower but otherwise I will really like the modes. Also the runtime on eneloops are far better than the 18500's. That said I have some 14500 batteries on the way in any case

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

That Xeno looks pretty poor on Eneloops! I was going to get one but I think I will give it a miss now. Unless I take the plunge and enter the scary world of 14500's...

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

Sweet video I've always wondered how the Thrunite compared with my Neutral Xeno. Now I know, Thanks!

lol @ "anyloops":nana:

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

I like my E03 a lot, and I do run it with a 14500 in it.

That said, I don't use it as anything other than a secondary light.

1) It's too bright on 14500 to be a primary EDC light.

2) It's unregulated which I don't like in a main EDC light.

3) I don't like the mode sequence for EDC.

4) It doesn't have a low enough low for EDC.

But, I do like it for when I need a lot of light RIGHT NOW. And, I LOVE the tint on my neutral version.

So, I carry it in a Quark AA holster on the strap of my cycling bag as a backup/alternative to my SC50w+ which I carry clipped in my pocket as my main EDC light.

On 14500, a pocket rocket, verily, it is!

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

Something seems amiss.
Low of the E03 should match the low of the Fenix, medium should match medium, high should match the Fenix' turbo.

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

MichaelW said:

Something seems amiss.
Low of the E03 should match the low of the Fenix, medium should match medium, high should match the Fenix' turbo.

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No. The Xeno uses an XML which is a newer and more efficient emitter. It puts out more lumens per amp supplied to it, and also has a higher theoretical maximum drive rate than older emitters, so it's capable of getting much brighter than the older generation emitters in the LD10 series, which are XPG if I remember correctly.

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

That's why I nearly bought one. Looked like a really bright light (even on AA) with a choice of neutral and WW emitters for a really good price. But looking at the OP's video, the Fenix easily beats it for output and the Thrunite blows it away. Maybe it is a faulty light.

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

davecroft said:

That's why I nearly bought one. Looked like a really bright light (even on AA) with a choice of neutral and WW emitters for a really good price. But looking at the OP's video, the Fenix easily beats it for output and the Thrunite blows it away. Maybe it is a faulty light.

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One reason you see a difference is because it's not really an apples to apples comparison. Both the Thrunite and the Fenix are cool tints, while the Xeno is a neutral-warm. They are necessarily slightly dimmer because of the phosphor coatings used on them to produce the different tint.

Another issue is that the XML is a larger die than the XPG so the LD10 concentrates more of its light into the hotspot making it look brighter. Also, cameras have to balance their exposure over the whole frame, unlike the human eye which doesn't need to do that, and so you see a bigger difference between the spot and the spill with the LD10 because of the greater difference between the spot and the spill. The LD10 also has an inherent flaw on 14500 in that the driver isn't designed to handle that much voltage, so the light goes into direct drive and loses all its modes and regulation on 14500. It basically becomes a single mode light that steadily dims as the cell depletes; once the cell gets to a level where the light will regain its modes, a 14500 is basically out of energy anyway, so it's no help.

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

energythoughts said:

I've had my NW Xeno E03 (ver 3) for about a week now, and overall I really like this light. For those of you who are only using Sanyo Eneloops in your E03 you are really missing out. This light really loves the 14500.

I was actually really surprised at the difference in output after changing the battery. With a standard AA, my LD10 and ThruNite 1A blow this thing away as far as output goes. I almost find this E03 not very usable with the Eneloop. Do other E03 owners feel the same way? I do have the neutral white version which does have a slightly lower output than the cool white... But honestly the color of this NW is so nice I'd never consider getting the cool or warm versions.. Especially with the 14500... the very nice color and output make this light a joy to use.

The only issues I've seen so far are very brief flickering while on the 14500.. it only lasts a second or two, and I've only seen it twice now I think. The other issue it seems that the light isn't regulated.. I know it is, but I feel like I see a pretty noticeable drop in output after maybe 10 minutes or so from a fully charged AW 14500 (not continuous use.. I never ran it for 10 minutes straight yet)... Does anyone else notice that with their E03?

Click to expand...

I have two Xeno E03, both in warm white tint but one blue and one red. These are the warmest LEDs I had ever experienced, I would describe the tint like "fire-tint". Very nice for some purposes. Actually I like these lights so much I will get also the neutral white option. Using normal AA:s (alkaline, Eneloop and lithium) I find the brightness pretty good for a one AA light even if there are brighter 1xAA lights. But I plan to get a few 14500s and a charger just for fun, understand E03 will then be something like a "pocket rocket".

Regards, Patric

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

How is the E03 when powered by a 3V 14505 primary lithium AA? Does a 14505 give you the best of both worlds: great brightness and 3 modes?

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

Paul_in_Maryland said:

How is the E03 when powered by a 3V 14505 primary lithium AA? Does a 14505 give you the best of both worlds: great brightness and 3 modes?

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I think you will not have the low mode, and the runtime with the higher brightnesses will be strongly shortened. High mode with 300-400lm will make the light burning hot within some minute because of the lack of heatsinking with such a small head. If I got it right. But yes; for a short time such a brightness with the small light is fun!

Your voltage my vary

B0wz3r said:

No. The Xeno uses an XML which is a newer and more efficient emitter. It puts out more lumens per amp supplied to it, and also has a higher theoretical maximum drive rate than older emitters, so it's capable of getting much brighter than the older generation emitters in the LD10 series, which are XPG if I remember correctly.

Click to expand...

I wasn't speaking in general terms. From selfbuilt's review, with Eneloops the E03 matches the Fexix LD10 pretty darn well. Medium should be identical, and low should be actually lower with the E03. An LD10 R5 should be marginally brighter than the T6 xm-l E03 (cool/neutral). So any difference should be due to the distribution, assuming fully charged Eneloops & a fully performing E03.

on 14505+xm-l, low should still be 50 lumens (which is modern day medium), medium should be over 100-even in warm-white, and high should be at least 300-350 warm-to-cool.

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

Thanks for the comments everyone! Just to follow up on a few of them:

I agree with almost all of the comments with the E03 not really suited for EDC. Everyone is different, but for me the low isn't low enough, and the mode sequence doesn't work for me with EDC. Example: the other night my son was crying in his crib late at night.. I went in and he couldn't find his pacifier.. I couldn't either.. I only had the E03 on me.. clicking that on partially covering the head pointing it in a corner was still like the sun was up... and made the crying worse.. and getting it into low didn't help either (yes there was a 14500 in there.. so duh!) but realistically even with my ThruNite 1A with an ultra low of .09 Lumens.. THAT is even too bright in that situation! Size, & Build quality are the 2 key things preventing the 1A as my EDC.. the LD10 wtih Ni-MH is still my EDC.

I think this E03 with a 14500 is the perfect kitchen drawer kind of light... grab it, easy to use.. wife can figure it out, initial mode has plenty of output, nice color and beam patern... it will get the job done

So... about the output comparison to the LD10:
I've been really studying the two lights using a fresh Eneloop in each light (LD10 R5 XP-G & E03 XM-L. Looking at the hot spot can skew the comparison since one is more spot and the other more flood.. so I've been doing the ceiling bounce and trying to read small fonts on a desk, lighting the same area on a wall and looking on the other side of the room to compare what's visible, total illumination in a complete dark room... etc..trying to do tests that will really compare lumen output vs. intensity (cd).

My non scientific results:
LD10 on high (rated 45 lms) is almost the exact same output as E03 on High (rated 120 lms CW)
E03 on ultra low (rated 20 lms), is just a very very tiny bit brighter than the LD10 on low (rated 3 lms)

So... is mine defective? maybe. Is the NW output really that much less than the CW rated output? Well just reading selfbuilt's review of the E03, he compared a v2 XM-L E03 NW to an LD10 R4 and his chart shows both lights having the exact same Est. max Lightbox Lumens of 150:

selfbuilt's table from his E03 review thread



and since I have this odd flickering thing going on with my E03 I figured I would replace the clicky to see if that fixes anything (it comes with a spare switch/clicky)... well I'm still working on that.. getting the clicky out of a Fenix is like a 12 second job... with this E03 I've been fighting with it for some time now.. just can't get a grip on the two points.. think this was threaded in too tight! (plus it's plastic which doesn't help!).

I'll keep fooling with it tonight

Re: Xeno E03 is sad with AA vs. ThruNite 1A & Fenix LD10 - BUT w/14500 it's GREAT!

Woah!! I can't believe this! I finally got the clicky replaced.. after about 5 different tools I finally got it... Also it's good to note the Xeno E03 has standard threads for removing the clicky/tail cap.. where the Fenix is reversed threads!


Anyway... I replaced the clicky with the spare that came in the box with the extra 0-rings.. and BAM! this light is all of the sudden nice with an Eneloop! I've only played with it for a few minutes now, but I haven't seen any of my previous flickering issues... and the output is definitely on par with my LD10 on turbo! Where before the high on the E03 was about the same as high on the LD10.

So what happened?? just a bad clicky? (honestly the plastic does seem a little low quality comparing it to a Fenix clicky)... did the 14500 burn up the clicky?? It shouldn't have since it's rated for it, and specifically says so in the manual!

Ugh.. now I need to redo my videos! I'm not sure that's accurate anymore... the 14500 even seems brighter now too! might be brighter than my 1A.

hmm a little concerned about quality on this clicky though.. even so.. this light still has a lot of value for the money.. you can't forget this thing is half the price of the Thrunite 1A and Fenix LD10!!