HDS 200 90 CRI XP-L mod

I picked up this HDS 200 clicky a few months back with the intention of doing an emitter swap, I've finally gotten around to it. I also opened it up to accept an 18350 cell, way more work than I expected. I went with an XP-L because it would be a direct swap on to the existing pad and because it would be more efficient because of the lower Vf across the larger die. The beam pattern also got a little larger since the die is bigger than the XP-G, which I feel was a good change. I chose a 3000K 90 CRI chip because the stock emitter was a very cool 7445K at 68.8 CRI. The stock output was 234lm because the initial step down. After the swap the initial output was 268lm and after the initial drop it was 199lm. All measurements were taken on a 12" sphere.

I went a little over board with the laser engraving...

amazing work!

edit: this is the same HDS light you opened up to 18350 right? or was that a different unit?

tobrien said:

amazing work!

edit: this is the same HDS light you opened up to 18350 right? or was that a different unit?

Click to expand...

Thanks, this is the same unit, it's my EDC of EDCs

Did the XPL give any more throw over the stock XPG or did it just give the light more flood? Tint aside, did the emitter upgrade improve the beam greatly or would you consider it a minor improvement?

P_A_S_1 said:

Did the XPL give any more throw over the stock XPG or did it just give the light more flood? Tint aside, did the emitter upgrade improve the beam greatly or would you consider it a minor improvement?

Click to expand...

I prefer the wider beam of the XP-L die, I am not sure about the difference in throw since I didn't do any testing there. Overall I would consider it a great improvement because you get more lumens and greater coverage at a better color.

I have a 200 Rotary, the tint is OK. Much preferred the 170T I had before for both the beam profile and tint. Nice job though, post a beam shot if you can.