Ranking the popular emitters by surface brightness

Bronco

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Dec 3, 2003
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Los Angeles
Given the somewhat recent introduction of new and updated emitters like the MT-G2, SBT-70 and the second generation of the XP-G and XM-L, I was wondering if someone could rank the top five or ten most popular emitters in terms of their surface brightness when run at their max recommended drive level. No lab numbers are necessary, I'm just looking to keep it simple with the relative rankings.

I'd also be curious to know if any jump significantly out of their place in line when all are reasonably overdriven.
 

AnAppleSnail

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Aug 21, 2009
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South Hill, VA
I would do this by putting the apparent die size and lumen output in a spreadsheet, then dividing. Without overdriving, there are also options like de-doming to decrease apparent die size. However, I don't have time to do the first step!

Overdriving might be more linear than you expect, except that some LEDs tolerate more ridiculous overdrive than others.
 

rickypanecatyl

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Nov 2, 2009
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913
That would probably make the best throwing, single AA size flashlight. I'm wondering if you could get 200 lumens/10,000 lux OTF from a 7/8" diameter body reflector?
 

HarryN

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Jan 22, 2004
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Pleasanton (Bay Area), CA, USA
Surface brightness is critical for throw, but usually there is a trade off between LED surface brightness and color rendering. The importance of color rendering in night vision is complicated, but significant.
 
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