Microfire HID vs. CREE XR-E

[Esthan]

Newbie,

A lot of people will pay a lot of money to be able to do the same thing You did. Aren't You feeling guilty ? :]

 

[paxxus]

The Microfire HID beamshot appears overexposed on all pictures in post #1. Is it possible to lower the exposure time even more in order to get a better head to head comparison?

 

[Kiessling]

Exciting times indeed !!
What a freaky beamshot there!!
bernie

 

[leukos]

Nice shots, Newbie, though the effect may be that many of us will be underwhelmed when we get our first CREE light with a normal reflector.

 

[easilyled]

Hmmm!

So would a 27mm aspherical lens from Edmunds fit in an Aleph1-head
with a Cree XR-E light-engine?

Aleph-1s have always been renowned for their throw - this would put
a different complexion on things completely.

Wouldn't that be nice for all the owners of a Ti-Aleph1 light?

Someone - do this mod for me.
:bow: (begging)

 

[taiji]

Good job .
CREE XR-E ,great !! I pledged must use them on mine flashlight!!

well , how about it? I have ordered a DX-1 but I can wait for a CREE powered version.

Thank you Newbie for sharing.

 

[Spordin]

What do y'all think this will do for the 1-cell market, and (just curious) how would a single alkaline AA or AAA handle the cree?

 

[Chronos]

OK, this has to be one of the most exciting posts I've read in a long, long time. To see the cree put out such an incredible amount of light via a reflector and via the lens... I'm speechless.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Time for me to sell the HID and get someone to start installing crees in my lights!

 

[havand]

Goodjob Newbie, thanks for those shots. Not the prettiest beam i've ever seen, but I think forgiveable considering you were doing a juggling act Nice work. Pretty ridiculous. I'm just a little sad that my new favorite lights won't be able to use these. I like those lights. I like this. Why can't i have both things i like together in harmony? Maybe i should get them both accounts on e-harmony and see if they meet up.

 

[metalhed]

Ok, I gotta ask.

How is the Cree putting out the 300 lumens (approximately) that the HID should be generating?

Or, to put it another way:

How does/would the Microfire beam look when the aspherical lens is used on it?

 

[Freedom1955]

 

[boomboots]

Hmmm!

So would a 27mm aspherical lens from Edmunds fit in an Aleph1-head
with a Cree XR-E light-engine?

Aleph-1s have always been renowned for their throw - this would put
a different complexion on things completely.

Wouldn't that be nice for all the owners of a Ti-Aleph1 light?

Someone - do this mod for me.
:bow: (begging)

Me also want to know exactly that

 

[LEDninja]

What do y'all think this will do for the 1-cell market, and (just curious) how would a single alkaline AA or AAA handle the cree?

Let us guess.
L1P/L1T/L1S/Civictor produce roughly 30 lumens out the front driving the LED at 350mA.
At 350mA the Cree produces 80 lumens according to Newbie's chart.
I have seen posts on CPF claiming light transmission from 54% to 85% for various torches.
At 60% light transmission we get 48 lumens out the front
At 70% light transmission we get 56 lumens out the front
At 80% light transmission we get 64 lumens out the front
As Fenix uses AR coated lenses I expect light transmission to tend toward the high end. I'd guess 50-60 lumens, almost double the current brightness. Due to reflector size limitation I expect most of the extra light to show up in the spill light not the hotspot.

Fenix is getting 4 lumens for the E0 probably at Nichia's 'normal' rating of 20mA for the CS. At 20mA the Cree produces 6 lumens.
Arc is getting 7 lumens for the -P probably at Nichia's 'max continuous' rating of 30mA for the CS. At 30mA the Cree produces 8 lumens.
The improvement is not that great when one consider that the CS is 85 cent vs. many dollars for the Cree. It would be a lot cheaper for Fenix to feed the CS with 30 mA than to replace the CS with a Cree to go from 4 to 6 lumens.

There are many assumptions made so the results are still guesses. We will see when the new lights are introduced.

EDIT
Spordin check out this thread:
UltraFire with XR-E
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=138996

BTW, this little LED is bright
Driven on 350mA and equal to my TXOJ on 700mA

 

[:)>]

I would love to see the Cree behind a Kroma's lens or better yet a purpose built reflector for the Kroma and the Cree.

Whew!

-Goatee

 

[Chronos]

Great minds think alike Goatee!

 

[Nitroz]

Newbie,
The shot of the storage shed looks like the Cree is going to burn a whole thru it.

Does it look like that in person?

 

[Mike Painter]

Holy fishiasrasmfdslath, that's pretty bright!

Darn kids. In my day we knew how to spell fishai... fishiaras....fiz...

big words.

 

[havand]

I hope they get warmer....Yes, it is a lot of light, but its so cool, it looks like a lot of the detail is lost to my eyes. Cool tints wash things out and i loose what i'm looking at for some reason.

 

[Mike Painter]

I'd like to see that agaisnt a 24W or bigger HID. I don't think an LED will ever beat a HID light when it comes to throw. Not even high powered incans can...

The only advantage an HID has is that it is more of a point source than an incan or a LED.
A kerosine lantern flame is even less of a point source but with a reflector behind it and a fresnel lens in front of it can shine 20 miles.

LED technology is just starting and we are just seeing commercial results which are starting to get efficent. "Nanohole" technology will allow far brighter lights at the same wattage and it looks like there is a *lot* of work going into developing a way to form these holes.

Today's LEDs are still Z-80's (That's for the old guys, a hot Z-80 CPU ran at 6 or 7 Mhz)

 

[x2x3x2]

Someone should make an XR-E torch with a "turbohead" style bezel with that 2" lens!
not pocketable, but it gonna kick *** for "tactical" puposes, it'll probably blind people in daylight and imagine what output u get if overdriving at 1.5A! hell u could even use it as a fully functional spot light!