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Ty_Bower said:
It looks to me like his Rev1 starts at level one, then drops to level two after 25 minutes or so. His #1 Rev2 drops to level two after 10 minutes, then drops to level three at the twenty minute mark. His #2 and #3 Rev2s drop to level three pretty early, maybe after 15 minutes or less.
Clearly, he's buying several lights, keeping the best one for himself, and reselling the others. I'd guess his Rev1 is one of the higher performing ones. It certainly outperforms all three of his Rev2s.
At level two, it does indeed look like the Rev2s are a hair brighter than the Rev1. This agrees with Peter's comment that they've been recalibrated to higher standards. I'm not sure you can see his Rev1 at level three for any length of time, so it's difficult to compare it to the other.
I'm a little surprised the profile isn't flat at level one. It almost seems to be the power supply is running wide open, and the current to the emitter is limited only by how much amperage you can pull from a single CR123. It is possible the differences in output you see at level one (Rev1 and Rev2 #1 slightly brighter than Rev2 #2 and #3) are due entirely to variations in the cells.
Obviously, the cream of this crop (ignoring the X) is the Rev1. It can run at level 2 seemingly forever without overheating (or at least until the cell gives out). Second up is the Rev2 #1, which is more efficient (less heat, longer runtime) at a given level than either of his other Rev2s.
Thanks to T_I_N for these helpful graphs. It helps one understand what one can expect to get if you buy one of these lights.
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You bring up a good point. I have a modded ARC-AAA Lux-III on the meter now. When that's down, I'll do a Level-3 test with both the REV1 and REV2.