Inova X5

Any thoughts on this? I'm seeing it on sale (along with many other items) at Botachtactical and am intrigued!

best,

Arnold

I have had this light for a few days. First impressions are,

Pluses-

Very bright
Good mid size
Does seem well made
Comfortable weight
The grip is comfortable
Recessed leds


Minuses-

Can roll off the table
Not easy to turn on and off, yet

(More pluses, a buy)

I have not heard good things about Botach,

There are other good prices out there.

Thanks to the Forum members who have talked about it and reviewed it.

-Mark

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Any thoughts on this? I'm seeing it on sale (along with many other items) at Botachtactical and am intrigued!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have a review on my site, click the graphic below. Also, use the search at the top of the page to find more "x5" topics.

While you're at it, do a search for "botach". You may want to read other member's opinions before purchasing through them.

Thank you, guys! Nice site, Doug.

best,

Arnold

I took a multimeter test on my BLUE Inova X5 using the lithium 123 batteries. It showed 190 mA and 5.5 volts. Each L.E.D. is being driven at 42 mA. not too bad, but the voltage is.

Here is my review of the Inova 5x compared with three other lights

COMPARISON: INOVA X5, LEDDA, ATTITUDE, LW2000

FOUR BRIEF REVIEWS

In order of perceived brightness:
1) Inova X5
2) Nightbuster Ledda
3) Princeton Tec Attitude
4) LightWave 2000

*INOVA X5
SIZE: 4 5/8" x ¾",
WEIGHT: 3oz (with batteries)
LED'S: 5 (white)
POWER: 2 x 123
CONSTRUCTION: metal (aluminum?)
WATERPROOF? - YES
COLOR: Black or "aluminum"
PRO: Very bright and small
CON: Less peripheral beam spread than some other lights

Easily pocketable, waterproof, sleek and very sturdily built with a futuristic appearance. (See Kogatana – 10/19/01) Available in black or "aluminum" color. Definitely The brightest LED light for its size that I've tried. Gets very warm to the touch, but maintains excellent brightness for 4-5 hours. After 4 hours of steady burning it was still as bright as the Attitude or the LW 2000 with fresh batteries. It can easily be operated with one hand, and is the light I always carry on my belt, in preference to all other
LED's (until the LS comes out). (Note that the beam pattern has somewhat less peripheral spread than some other lights)


NIGHTBUSTER LEDDA
SIZE: 7 5/8" x 11/16 (barrel), 1" (bezel)
WEIGHT: 4.9oz (with batteries)
LEDS: 4 (white)
POWER: 2 x AA
CONSTRUCTION: Metal
WATERPROOF? – "WATER RESISTANT"
COLOR: Black
PRO: Very bright
CON: Awkward size/shape

Probably the brightest and physically the longest 3AA light. Finely and apparently strongly built (though mine had an intermittent on/off problem that I partly solved by crimping and raising the positive terminal of the battery in contact with the LED board). The LEDs appear to be permanently attached to the head. This light is just about as bright as the Inova 5X at first, but becomes dimmer within approximately ½ hr. At the end of 4 hours it is still noticeably dimmer than the Inova. The light is impressive, but I have found it unwieldly for everyday carry, and I much prefer the Inova.

*PRINCETON TEC ATTITUDE
SIZE: 4 ¾" x 1" (Bezel and body width) x ½" (Body "thickness"
WEIGHT: 2.5oz (with batteries)
LEDS: 3 (white)
POWER: 4 x AAA
CONSTRUCTION: Plastic
WATERPROOF? - YES
COLOR: Translucent black, etc.
PRO: Bright and small
CON: Light spill-back through translucent head


The attitude is probably the best and brightest small all round everyday carry alkaline-driven light. I would be wearing it on my belt right now if there were no Inova 5X. It's at least as bright as the LW 2000 (though it won't burn bright as long) and it is very light. There is one design flaw: The translucent body permits annoying light spill-back where the body flares to meet the bezel. This can be cured by wrapping it with black plastic tape. Princeton Tec really needs to attend to this issue. If you also happen to have a Princeton Tec Rage, another solution is to transfer the Attitude's LED assembly into the Rage which is physically identical but is solid black.

LIGHTWAVE 2000:
SIZE: 7 1/4" x 1 1/4" (Head) x 7/8" (barrel)
WEIGHT: 4.5 oz. (With Batteries)
LEDS: 4 (white)
POWER: 3 x AA
CONSTRUCTION: Plastic
WATERPROOF? - YES
COLOR: Black
PRO: Quite bright, acceptable body size/shape
CON: Not an everyday carry light.

A decent, reasonably priced basic light, with brightness approximately equal to the Attitude, though the LW2000 is considerably larger and heavier. Some folks turn up their noses at this light for its non-exotic build and its heavy and sometimes misleading promotion to the general public. In fact this is a good light, and brighter than much of its competition, including the Eternalights.

These four, brief subjective revues are not intended to be definitive, but rather are my own impressions of lights that I own. For "real" revues turn to Stingmon, Brock and others who have firmly established
and earned their credentials.

* signifies a "favorite" light

Brightnorm

Well I just got my Inova X5 today and I am quite impressed. I took it in the pool and it didn't leak at all. I played with it for quite some time. I will have to take some measurement and post some info on it soon, but it is a nice light, very bright for the size.

I've had my light for some time and was impressed with it. Nice to see that Brock thought it was pretty good since I'm a newbie to lights.

As far as Botach, I've dealt with them twice with no problems, but some folks haven't been so lucky. I hope they have improved their service since their prices are hard to beat now and then.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Big Tex:
As far as Botach, I've dealt with them twice with no problems, but some folks haven't been so lucky. I hope they have improved their service since their prices are hard to beat now and then.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've had no problem with Botach, but the talk here influenced me to order my last order from BrightGuy instead. It's not my first time with BrightGuy, and I've always got good service from them. This time though, it seems that my BrightGuy order is taking an extraordinary period of time to arrive, and I fear the order has been misplaced or lost. Now, I'm wishing I'd ordered from Botach.

I guess good service depends on each individuals circumstances. I'm still waiting on my BrightGuy order of a PT Rage, A TEC40, and a couple of bulbs.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
I guess good service depends on each individuals circumstances. I'm still waiting on my BrightGuy order of a PT Rage, A TEC40, and a couple of bulbs.
[/QB]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Odds are, one of the bulbs, or lights is out of stock. Strange they didn't E-mail you. Contact Greg Atwell at brightguy:
[email protected] They take customer service and satisfaction *very* seriously at brightguy, but I'm sure they are very busy with Christmas purchases; and unfortunately, your order may have been lost. Greg is a very nice fellow to deal with; he'll find out what's up with your order, and expedite it if it's been lost.

My first experience with Brightguy was when I ordered a new Underwater Kinetics 2L light, and spare lamp. From literally years of being carried in my pants pocket, the lens on my older UK 2L had gotten badly scratched. When I got the new one, I noticed a big difference in light output between the two lights. Swapping the lens/bezel between the two lights let me know what the problem was. I called brightguy, to ask about getting a new lens/bezel for my old UK 2L. Brightguy stocks them, and he sent one to me, *no charge*. It's a pretty inexpensive part, but it certainly made an impression on me. You'll *never* get treatment like that from Botach, believe me.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gandalf:
They take customer service and satisfaction *very* seriously at brightguy, but I'm sure they are very busy with Christmas purchases; and unfortunately, your order may have been lost<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It was one of those situations that, immediately after you say something about it, it works out. The UPS man arrived first thing Monday morning. BrightGuy's good record is intact. It was probably just delayed by the Christmas rush.

Someone a while back asked about the brightness of the X5 vs. the EteranLight. Well, I got my Lux meter! Check out the charts I made at: http://thelightsite.tripod.com/reviews/lux_charts.htm

This is just preliminary data, and it isn't the most scientific methods used, but it shows actual numbers to use for comparison.

Thanks Doug. Gotta get some Li's for my Eternalight.

Thanks Quickbeam.

I'm actually amazed, because based on your original beam shots, I thought the Inova was 50% brighter than the alkaline Eternalight, and about 25% brighter than the lithium Eternalight. Pretty darned close, I must say...

Those charts are great. I'm intrigued by the DoubleBarrel LM LS mod...I assume that's a Luxeon Star. Does that mean that the ARC LS is likely to be less bright than the Inova X5?

I haven't bought an X5 because I've been waiting for the ARC LS. But if the X5 is brighter...it gets more interesting.

Anyone have any guesses?

Am I right in thinking that the X5 is unregulated but the Arc LS is regulated? If so, even with lithium batteries, we might be talking about the X5 being brighter for the first half hour, and the LS being brighter for the remainder of the battery life, right?

'course, without knowing the voltage of the double-barrel LS mod, we don't know how hard the DB-LS is being driven.

Well I got the X5 at a local hardware store here in Hawaii and it was going for $34.95. I just could not pass this up! This is a dam bright light, as it must be overdriving the LEDs to a degree. It is slightly dimmer than my LW4000 with fresh batteries. To answer someone's question here, yes it is far brighter than the ARC-AAA and it is no comparison here. I hope the comments here that the X5 may be about the same brighness as the ARC-LS, is not true. I though that the ARC-LS should be much brighter. I have run the X5 for over 4 hours and have not noticed it dimming. This is a very nice light and looks like something that Sharper Image would carry. Some fine craftmanship and designing went into this light. I really enjoy the motion of the head to turn the light on and off. You turn all the way in for off and turn outwards for on. You would have a far less chance in losing the head while the light is in the off position.

Based on the mA and voltage readings I took, I would come to the conclusion the x5 has no resistors or circuitry in the head of the light and is driving the LEDs directly off the 6V supplied by the batteries. I can't remember exactly, but I believe the voltage drop was around 5.75v and it was drawing over 50 mA per LED. Yup, that's overdriven.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Those charts are great. I'm intrigued by the DoubleBarrel LM LS mod...I assume that's a Luxeon Star. Does that mean that the ARC LS is likely to be less bright than the Inova X5? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The LM LS mod is shown on the Mod pages on my site. I'm using a LM2621 regulator board and a Luxeon Star LED. However, I'm only driving the LS at 2.9v due to overheating problems.... So, the ARC LS should be brighter since Peter can drive it harder by heatsinking the LS LED to the aluminum body of the light.

The Doublebarrel has a plastic head - so therefore, no heatsinking and the LS LED has to be driven at a low level.

hey quickbeam: I took a test on my BLUE inova x5 using the Lithium 123's and it says 200 mA, 40 mA per LED.......is this bad?