Mr Bulk Rules.. KO!

Well, my Inova T3 finally arrived and so I decided the time had come to do a careful comparison between my Surefire L6, the Inova T3 and my beloved Mr Bulk Lionheart. All three lights had new batteries (the Lionheart was freshly charged).

Both the L6 and the LH have very white LEDs with no noticeable tints. The T3 is a shade warmer, just a hint of yellow, but this is only noticeable when compared directly to the other two. When compared against a SF incan, it looks brilliant white of course.

The hot-spots of the three are remarkably similar in size. The T3 being the biggest by a very small margin, the L6 being the smallest and the LH somewhere between the two. In reality, I mean in real world use, you'd say there was no difference between the three. The only other difference is the now well documented darker spot in the middle of the L6's beam - not a hole of course, but against the other two, you could see a definite if only slightly dimmer area in the very centre of the spot caused by the 5 watt LED configuration.

Visually, the LH clearly looks the brightest followed by the L6 and then the T3, but the T3's slightly warmer shade of LED could easily be responsible for making it appear less bright, so on to the light meter to find out the truth...

Well, the light meter doesn't lie. I set it exactly one meter from the lights and set it to lock on to the maximum brightness each time. By moving the spot of each light over and back across the sensor I made sure that I recorded the brightest possible reading each time (helpful for the L6). The results were quite startling:

3rd - T3 at 1990 lux
2nd - L6 at 2020 lux
1st - The Lionheart at 3870 lux /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif

If the T3 really does run for 2 hours in regulation from its two CR123s, it is clearly much more efficient then the L6, which runs for 90 mins from 3 cells, with a very similar light output. Still, one reading really shines out amongst the others (sorry /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif )and so it's a straight KO for Mr Bulks Lionheart!

It has been my favourite light since I first got it, now I know why. I think I'll show my results to the missus as proof that sometimes smallest is best /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Picking up on the above, does anyone know why the Inova T3 is quoted at 85 lumens regulated for 120 minutes from 2 x 123s and yet the Surefire L6 only manages 65 lumens for 90 mins from 3 x 123s?

Can the T3 setup really be that much more efficient, or am I missing something ? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

Wiz, surefire is typically conservative and will quote actual lumens out the front end VS others that will quote output of luxeon before factoring loss due to transmission and heat loss.

this loss is typically at least 35%+ less luxeon's output. a plastic lens can lose 9% alone. 15% reflector loss is minimum probably more. depending upon how hard lux is driven, loss from die temp raising could be another 20%+

87 lumens is highest output for Tbins. have not seen too many Ubins 3watts. Not all 3watts are going to be putting out 85 lumens.

luxeon lottery will determind where you fall. My brightest 3watt is in a Jet22 blackbird. I suspect that one has Ubin output.

my lionheart has a way brighter hotspot than blackbird, but BB puts out way more light.

Thanks very much for the reply CY. Your explanation is entirely logical, but I'm still a little surprised that both visually and using the light meter, the T3 & L6 seem to put out similar amount of light (out the front) and yet the T3's runtime is so much longer from one less cell. Are the runtime claims from Inova realistic? Has anyone done a test? If not, I'll volunteer, in the interests of accuracy.