8LED 1AA \"Xnova\" New vs. Old
New style (from LightHound.com) vs.older style 8LED "Xnova" 1AA.
First a word of praise for LightHound.com. I have had really good, quick, informative and helpful responses from John of LightHound to all my (numerous) queries. When I ordered these items late on Thursday - I was notified promptly that they would be shipped on the following day Friday - which is the earliest that they could have been shipped. My package arrived today - Monday - that's fast service. See also this thread - praise for lighthound.com
I got interested in the newer 8LED 1AA "Xnova" from LightHound.com because of this thread - New 8LED/One AA light is twice as bright
The newer style Xnova 8 is a bit shorter than the older style (from Emilion). There is a distinguishing engraved silver ring, the head bezel lacks the lip on the older style and the 8 LEDs seem less recessed. The newer tail-cap is also flat so that the light can be stood on its tail - whereas the older style has a rounded/slightly domed end cap.
Internally the two have a distinct difference in the battery orientation. The older style is the expected +ve toward the head - whereas the newer style is the other way round - the tail-cap actually has a pcb (printed circuit board) contact with a large + to show the orientation.
The on-off switch is really just twisting/unscrewing of the tailcap - when untwisted to the off position the tailcap is quite loose feeling. There a tolerance of about 1/8-1/6 of a turn where play in the threads will allow the tail-cap to be pushed for momentary ON. My second sample seems to have a bit more range for this.
This momentary ON is not very precise or positive - as slight sideways knock can also turn on the light - so in-pocket carry with the light "momentary ON ready" is kind of dubious - as I can see easy accidental ONs and the tolerance in only an 1/8 of a turn, there is a real danger of the light being turned on full time thus draining the battery.
Of course one can easily carry the light with enough turn out to have the light locked-out off - but not only is the tail-cap then pretty loose, one loses the appeal of the momentary ON.
A mention should be made for the strap that's supplied - it is real short, that one might question its practcality. It really will only fit a couple of fingers or one's thumb, and that's how I use it either looped round the thumb or putting the middle and ring fingers through - just to give some confidence/safety in holding the light.
How bright?
As some posts have already stated the newer Xnova 8 are noticably brighter than the older style
The closest 1AA light I have is the Xnova 5 1AA from a group buy by TrueBlue (HaveBlue at that time)
It's pretty obvious the newer 8LED Xnova is brighter (as is the older style)
Compared to a classic 1AA light the Ultra-G
The Ultra-G has much better coverage/side-spill although it is obviouisly less bright than the new Xnova 8 - but in real life the Ultra-G is probably more useful for my usage, because of the coverage - although the larger more intense hot-spot of the Xnova 8 is a welcome.
There has been some talk that the brightness of the newer Xnova 8 was comparable to a 1watt Luxeon -
It is actually somewhat comparable - the 1watt Luxeon with the closest beam characteristics to the Xnova 8 - is the Costco 2AA 1watt Luxeon.
The Costco always seem to me to have a very intense hot-spot - partly due to the higher blue tint - although it does not seem blue to me. The Costco light is basically concentrated into a wide'ish hot-spot. The beamshots don't really reveal how much brighter in real-life the Costco is - but anything over about 10 feet away one can quite easily see the difference.
But for a $5.49 flashlight that runs on a single AA battery this is quite outstanding.......
New style (from LightHound.com) vs.older style 8LED "Xnova" 1AA.
First a word of praise for LightHound.com. I have had really good, quick, informative and helpful responses from John of LightHound to all my (numerous) queries. When I ordered these items late on Thursday - I was notified promptly that they would be shipped on the following day Friday - which is the earliest that they could have been shipped. My package arrived today - Monday - that's fast service. See also this thread - praise for lighthound.com
I got interested in the newer 8LED 1AA "Xnova" from LightHound.com because of this thread - New 8LED/One AA light is twice as bright
The newer style Xnova 8 is a bit shorter than the older style (from Emilion). There is a distinguishing engraved silver ring, the head bezel lacks the lip on the older style and the 8 LEDs seem less recessed. The newer tail-cap is also flat so that the light can be stood on its tail - whereas the older style has a rounded/slightly domed end cap.
Internally the two have a distinct difference in the battery orientation. The older style is the expected +ve toward the head - whereas the newer style is the other way round - the tail-cap actually has a pcb (printed circuit board) contact with a large + to show the orientation.
The on-off switch is really just twisting/unscrewing of the tailcap - when untwisted to the off position the tailcap is quite loose feeling. There a tolerance of about 1/8-1/6 of a turn where play in the threads will allow the tail-cap to be pushed for momentary ON. My second sample seems to have a bit more range for this.
This momentary ON is not very precise or positive - as slight sideways knock can also turn on the light - so in-pocket carry with the light "momentary ON ready" is kind of dubious - as I can see easy accidental ONs and the tolerance in only an 1/8 of a turn, there is a real danger of the light being turned on full time thus draining the battery.
Of course one can easily carry the light with enough turn out to have the light locked-out off - but not only is the tail-cap then pretty loose, one loses the appeal of the momentary ON.
A mention should be made for the strap that's supplied - it is real short, that one might question its practcality. It really will only fit a couple of fingers or one's thumb, and that's how I use it either looped round the thumb or putting the middle and ring fingers through - just to give some confidence/safety in holding the light.
How bright?
As some posts have already stated the newer Xnova 8 are noticably brighter than the older style
The closest 1AA light I have is the Xnova 5 1AA from a group buy by TrueBlue (HaveBlue at that time)
It's pretty obvious the newer 8LED Xnova is brighter (as is the older style)
Compared to a classic 1AA light the Ultra-G
The Ultra-G has much better coverage/side-spill although it is obviouisly less bright than the new Xnova 8 - but in real life the Ultra-G is probably more useful for my usage, because of the coverage - although the larger more intense hot-spot of the Xnova 8 is a welcome.
There has been some talk that the brightness of the newer Xnova 8 was comparable to a 1watt Luxeon -
It is actually somewhat comparable - the 1watt Luxeon with the closest beam characteristics to the Xnova 8 - is the Costco 2AA 1watt Luxeon.
The Costco always seem to me to have a very intense hot-spot - partly due to the higher blue tint - although it does not seem blue to me. The Costco light is basically concentrated into a wide'ish hot-spot. The beamshots don't really reveal how much brighter in real-life the Costco is - but anything over about 10 feet away one can quite easily see the difference.
But for a $5.49 flashlight that runs on a single AA battery this is quite outstanding.......
