Limit of led lights and throw/best throw

From what I can gather here from my membership, most led lights are and almost going to be dimmer than their counterparts and if they get close to the brightness of one, the run time is about the same. Second, they lack in the throw department, I am unsure if this is just the nature of the beast, design of a reflector or lens.

So? Is there an led light with the throw that would give a regular light a good run for ts money or is this something to come in the next few years?

Have you tried a new SureFire KL1 or the Inova XO3/T3? I would say both would give a 'regular' light a good run.

The best throwing LED light I've seen so far is the Aleph3 with a Lux-III (DB917). It can easily outperform many incandescent lights and is the proof that at least with a Lux-III, you can get lots of throw. The T3 is not bad either, but the Aleph is better.

edited posting..

Hello Cobb,

I have to agree with Mark. The A3 will out throw my 8NX and gives the turbo head version a good run for the money. The turbo head will beat it, but just barely.

Tom

Thanks. I will look those up. I have not tried any of those lights, just the two in my sig string and a few walmart off the shelf lights. The 6 chip and xpg do put them all to shame, but the xpg is about equal to a 3d mag light. Kind of a let down. Ive often ignored the other lights since they seem to use less than a 5 watt led and the few that do put out a donut not a spot of light.

Can a light with a lower wattage led put out more light? Sure Ive seen the multi luxeon lights, but I want something pocketable that you can hold with one hand to read with regardless of battery type use.

Incandescents can scale far greater than LEDs right now, so for any given volume, you can get more light with an incadescent than a LED.

Throw is a combination of brute force (lumens) and collimation (reflecotrs/optics).

LEDs are typically closer to being true point-sources than incandescent filamenats, so they're easier to focus with parabolic or even CAD-designed reflectors optimized for a given filament type. Net result is that you can throw far more photons into a tightly-focused beam with LED than incan. For lower-wattage applications, this results in better throw with LEDs.

...up to the point that brute force takes over again with higher-wattage filaments.

cobb, try out an Aleph3 and compare it to the E2e and witness the E2e being stomped hands down.
Even the Aleph1 (27mm) can throw like hell.

Some pics with lux readings to illustrate the point ... all taken at the exact same exposure settings:







bernhard

You want best throwing LED? Hmm. LuxIII in a mag reflector. Others that are close would be Aleph's reflecors, or Pelican Reflectors, the pelican one where the led is on the lens fireing backwards. (name?)

Also 50 or 42mm mirror lens. The throw king would have to be NewBie's asphyrical lens he had, lux @ 1m was ~ 32k!!! I sure wish I had that lens for a cyan luxIII I have... LED LASER!! heh.

LED's can throw and beat filament bulbs. ALso they never burn out and runtimes can be better or simalar. But even if runtime is the same, the LED runtime will in all fairness always be higher, as they stay white and don't turn dim orange. So no matter what life is left on the batteries, you still have useable light, but at a shorter distance!

Just a thought but a side-emitter with a properly tuned reflector should provide the best. HD and LD's are not up to throw. Too much waste. The collector can't catch the light going forward. But the reflector/side-emitter can catch almost 100% of the light.

I'm surprised to see that not many are using this technique.

Another note would be the color being used. white really can't go far. but a red or red-orange or amber really goes the distance.

Lux3 HD TW0L in Mag reflector - 330 yards (limited by max range distance)
McGizmo PR-T DB917 Lux3 HD TW0L with 27mm reflector - 330 yards
Surefire KT1 Turbohead with MN15 lamp - 330 yards

All of the above are about equally bright. Even the smaller 20mm SO20XA reflector can be seen at 330 yards, though not as bright. There are others who have gotten even greater ranges (450-550 yards) than I have, I believe most of us are using the Global Positioning System to verify range as well.

The more important thing is, 330 yards is more than enough for me - I have difficulties even finding places to conduct tests of this sort, much less envision needing to use a light at that range on an ongoing basis. (Besides, I always have my Mag85 - same 52mm reflector - if I really do need all the power and none of the compromises)

Try the right reflector sometime, you'd be impressed. The Aleph 3 head is truly massive (38mm) compared to the 27mm of the PR-T and Aleph 1, I would expect even more from that. They can throw all right, just give them a chance and try it. You might be surprised, just as I definitely was.

Bernard, GREAT JOB!!!

very nice beam shots. it apears your U2 has amost identical output as X3T mclux. In side by side ceiling bounce tests, are both putting out same lumens?

Kevin, have you done any distance tests using 5watt in m*g host?

thanx cy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

The X3T puts out more light than the U2, it just isn't as focussed. This one X3T is a real killer, the brightest one I have ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif

bernhard

[ QUOTE ]
n_den said:
Just a thought but a side-emitter with a properly tuned reflector should provide the best. HD and LD's are not up to throw. Too much waste. The collector can't catch the light going forward. But the reflector/side-emitter can catch almost 100% of the light.

I'm surprised to see that not many are using this technique.

Another note would be the color being used. white really can't go far. but a red or red-orange or amber really goes the distance.

[/ QUOTE ]

A side emitter makes the spot bigger, but not brighter (theoretically results in the same lux reading).

just the difference between a 3D Maglite and an Elektrolumens Blaster 3 is quite impressive, in my opinion.

maybe you could talk to 3rd Shift about getting ahold of a nice binned luxeon for one of his Mag mods.

Bernhard could you do an outdoor shootout comparing a luxIII with a luxV both at 917 in a aelph 3 showing both throw and spill. With any luck Don will bring both to the shot show so that I can compare first hand.