Re: Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **Beamshots!!**
Great to see all these "HID newbies" seeing the "Real Light". All others pale in comparison!
Great to see all these "HID newbies" seeing the "Real Light". All others pale in comparison!
Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **NEW BEAMSHOTS ADDED**
- Thread starter RichS
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jimmyt1977
Newly Enlightened
Re: Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **Beamshots!!**
Yeah I bought one as my first HID and its fair to say it puts all my LED lights to shame including my 'heavy hitters' Fenix TK70 and Thrunite TN30. So much power for something so small. Now I just want something even more powerful haha
Yeah I bought one as my first HID and its fair to say it puts all my LED lights to shame including my 'heavy hitters' Fenix TK70 and Thrunite TN30. So much power for something so small. Now I just want something even more powerful haha
cchurchi
Enlightened
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- Aug 21, 2006
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Thanks for the great review. I think I may get this light, but I might wait a while to see if they offer a SMO reflector and change to battery mag to allow for the larger 3400mah protected cells.
No way I would want to run unprotected cells in a light like this.
No way I would want to run unprotected cells in a light like this.
hahoo
Enlightened
Re: Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **Beamshots!!**
bet it wont outthrow my tn 31
bet it wont outthrow my tn 31
I would never run unprotected cells in this light either. Not sure if you saw in my first post, but I am running AW 3100mah protected cells. Are there protected 18650's that are significantly longer than these?
Re: Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **Beamshots!!**
You're kidding, right??....(not putting down the TN 31 of course, it's just hard to compete with a high powered HID)bet it wont outthrow my tn 31
Last edited:
cchurchi
Enlightened
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- Aug 21, 2006
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Re: Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **Beamshots!!**
The modded TN31 has 240K lux. I should know in a week or two how well they work.:naughty:
The modded TN31 has 240K lux. I should know in a week or two how well they work.:naughty:
hahoo
Enlightened
Doberman
Newly Enlightened
Re: Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **Beamshots!!**
Would also be very interested in a SMO reflector for the FF3.
Hm, 240KLux sounds enormous for the TN31; is there something to read about this mod around here in a thread
Would also be very interested in a SMO reflector for the FF3.
Hm, 240KLux sounds enormous for the TN31; is there something to read about this mod around here in a thread
The_Driver
Flashlight Enthusiast
Doberman
Newly Enlightened
Re: Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **Beamshots!!**
Ah,
thanks. Will read tha during my lunch break
Ah,
thanks. Will read tha during my lunch break
Re: Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **Beamshots!!**
Wow....240K lux for an XM-L reflector-based light is indeed impressive. I'd love to know more about this mod....
Wow....240K lux for an XM-L reflector-based light is indeed impressive. I'd love to know more about this mod....
I love my FF3!. China to Illinois in 3 days. I ordered 4 Panasonic 3400mah NCR18650B from Texas, told 5 days later that they don't even have them. Tried it out with some 18650's that have been salvaged from laptops and Milwaukee battery packs. Got about 4-5 minutes before the low voltage light flashed and shut off. There is no step down that I've read about earlier in the thread. just on then off. I immediately checked the voltages on the cells after shutdown, 4.01v on each cell. Not sure what this is about, figured it would drain them a little lower.
. Tried it out with some 18650's that have been salvaged from laptops and Milwaukee battery packs. Got about 4-5 minutes before the low voltage light flashed and shut off. There is no step down that I've read about earlier in the thread. just on then off. I immediately checked the voltages on the cells after shutdown, 4.01v on each cell. Not sure what this is about, figured it would drain them a little lower.I love my FF3!. China to Illinois in 3 days. I ordered 4 Panasonic 3400mah NCR18650B from Texas, told 5 days later that they don't even have them
Step-down is when the light overheats.
The reson for your switch-off is most likely that your cells have too much inner resistance. The light draws >3.5A from the cells, and with older cells that might have caused the voltage to drop below 3.5V or whatever the cutoff voltage is.
After switching off, the battery voltage recovers according to its discharge level.
cchurchi
Enlightened
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- Aug 21, 2006
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- 256
OK, I received mine yesterday and I am very happy with it and can highly recommend it. I went hiking in the mountains and the output was awesome and clearly bested my TN30 that I brought along to compare. It was about 45 degrees out, so I never did see the light drop down to 24 watts and it didn't get very hot, unlike when I ran it earlier indoors.
I'm using AW 3100mah after trimming the battery mag springs and the runtime was great.
Thanks RichS for the great and detailed review.
I'm using AW 3100mah after trimming the battery mag springs and the runtime was great.
Thanks RichS for the great and detailed review.
Doberman
Newly Enlightened
I order the TN30, should be here on Wednesday, Its that Fire Fox FF3 blow away the TN30? Where can I get one of those FF3? and where can I get a replacement bulb?
Thanks.
Re: Fire Foxes FF3 -- I Am Blown Away!! **Beamshots!!**
It almost looks like a draw to me. Looks like both lights are very close in total output. The MF65 has a tighter and brighter hotspot because of the SMO reflector, but the FF3 with its OP isn't lagging in any way. In fact overall it seems to be putting out just as much light considering it's dispersed more widely. As a guess I'd say the MF65 would only be a slightly better thrower, again, because of its SMO Reflector. Based on your current draw and wattage tests, the ballast pulling around 59 watts, at 80 percent efficiency we can assume that around 47 watts are getting to the bulb. F-T.com had them earlier listed at 5500 Lumens but that figured had been reduced to 5000 Lumens. But I would suspect the true output is going to be somewhere between 4400-4600. Mohan could you run the same test while stopping down the camera a couple stops, or do some longer beamshots? I'm sure it would be much more telling. Also Toppe said he would do a LabSphere test when he gets his MF65. Based on LabSphere his FF3 is putting out 4100 Lumens so it should prove to be an interesting test. I will (hopefully) have my MF65 tomorrow and will start doing some tests, shots etc.
It is raining cats and dogs here so inspite of my best intentions it was not possible to go out on the street to take beam shots. So I used my back graden and shone the lights from my living room. My Garden is not very big so the lights look very bright against the back fence.
Control shot - exposure time and aperture kept constant
Magicscorpion 65w
FF3
Magic Scorpion 65w on the left and FF3 on the right
Magic Scorpion 65w on the left and FF3 on the right against the trees
another shot of the same from slightly different angle
I cant really make a conclusion. Perhaps the FF3 renders colours better as it is more natural / neutral light. I think both the lights are excellent. However the FF3 is nearly half the size of the MS 65W so perhaps that should give it my thumbs up. If it doesnt rain during darkness over the next day or so I will try and take beam shots outside on the street
It almost looks like a draw to me. Looks like both lights are very close in total output. The MF65 has a tighter and brighter hotspot because of the SMO reflector, but the FF3 with its OP isn't lagging in any way. In fact overall it seems to be putting out just as much light considering it's dispersed more widely. As a guess I'd say the MF65 would only be a slightly better thrower, again, because of its SMO Reflector. Based on your current draw and wattage tests, the ballast pulling around 59 watts, at 80 percent efficiency we can assume that around 47 watts are getting to the bulb. F-T.com had them earlier listed at 5500 Lumens but that figured had been reduced to 5000 Lumens. But I would suspect the true output is going to be somewhere between 4400-4600. Mohan could you run the same test while stopping down the camera a couple stops, or do some longer beamshots? I'm sure it would be much more telling. Also Toppe said he would do a LabSphere test when he gets his MF65. Based on LabSphere his FF3 is putting out 4100 Lumens so it should prove to be an interesting test. I will (hopefully) have my MF65 tomorrow and will start doing some tests, shots etc.
I don't know about replacement bulbs, but the ff3 can be bought for $270 from China. It's the first hit when you google "fire foxes ff3", and everyone seems to have had a good experience buying from them (including me). There are two left in stock right now.
