Review: ArcMania's new SMJLED2 PR2 SS review

fieldops said:

I didn't know that Lighthound had the new SMJLED2 PR. I didn't see it, I thought they only had the SMJLED PR. Thanks, I'll check it out as the Shoppe is on vacation until the 22nd.

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OOPS!. Sorry.
Typo. I meant the 4 die SMJLED from Lighthound.
Post corrected.

Now you see how easy to cause confusion among the models of the MJLED. Put the 2 in the wrong place.

NewBie said:

You will notice, This LED (SMJLED2 PR SS) does NOT use a CREE XLamp die

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I better go fix my post in the other thread.

Thanks for taking the bulb apart fo find out more.
...and all the king's horses and all the king's men...
Do you think you can put SS PR back together again?

LEDninja said:

Thanks for taking the bulb apart fo find out more.

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You are very welcome.

Newbie,

I am continually amazed at your autopsies. You are truly CPF's own mythbuster. You mention some temperature measurments. Can you comment on what they mean; is that a reasonable temperature, or is it hot enough to degrade performance?

Wow, great pics Doug

Geoff

Newbie, excellent dissection and great photos!

Paul

Hi all!

Long time lurker, first time poster.

After looking at comments on this thread, including LEDninja's in post 38, I wonder if the PR2 SS is a newer version of the WPR2 that was being sold by TrueBlue on this thread (see halfway down post #1): https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/120800&page=1&pp=30 Note these characteristics: single die, smaller hotspot and warmer colors.

I say newer version because the PR2 SS should have some kind of regulation as noted in posts 72 and 84 in this thread: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/127907&page=1&pp=40

NewBie, did you notice any signs of regulation in the build of the circuit while you were deconstructing the bulb? I know you show a close up of the circuit but I plead ignorance in this area.

Thanks to all for this wonderful website!!!

Don

This is the newer version, the bulb is even stamped SS, unlike the ones in that thread. You can see it in some of the pictures in the first post.

Haven't had a chance to do a regulation test. I'll do that on some of the next ones.

fieldops said:

I picked up a new smjled2 PR2 SS from the shoppe and an original smjled from Lighthound. It was no brighter than the smjled from Lighthound. Maybe I got a bad smjled2? Dunno. I have ordered 2 more to test.

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Fieldops, same experience for me. Posted over here with some photos.

Hi Newbie!

Very interesting thread!, I appreciate the hard hours you have put into this review, and all the findings you have made. :goodjob:


My bottom line for getting yet another one of this bulbs (I have a few already) would be a comparison pic against the old SMJLED PR. If it's brighter and with same or close enough runtime to the old SMJLED PR I might just give my old ones as gifts and order a new set of bulbs.

Maybe I missed the comparison pic against the old SMJLED PR, this thread is long! Any one saw the post number where I can find it? If not available yet, I understand, this things take time.

Keep up the good work!

AlexGT

milkyspit said:

Fieldops, same experience for me. Posted over here with some photos.

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Very interesting news milkyspit! Two folks have now confirmed they have the same output.

Were your's also clearly greenies, like others have mentioned to me? Mine was like a strong luxeon X1 color bin.

If you get a chance, I'd much appreciate it if you could put both of them in some comparision photos, and drop it right here in this thread.

Newbie, not sure if I'll have time to post side-by-side photos today, but if I have a spare moment I'll try.

In the meantime... and this comes with a HUGE disclaimer that I don't try to judge which color is "better" as my preference is no more authoritative than anyone else's... plus my estimate of tint bins is most definitely prone to error... really just an educated guess... here's what I see...

Original SMJ-PR gen1 bulb: looks noticeably dimmer than the other two bulbs... would call the tint YA... very cool with blue clearly evident.

Lighthound SMJ-PR gen2 bulb: looks to the eye about 50-100% brighter than the gen1 bulb and about equal to the Shoppe bulb... would call the tint XO... to my eye this one's closest to a neutral white of the three.

Shoppe SMJ-PR-SS bulb: looks to the eye to be about 50-100% brighter than the gen1 bulb and about equal to the Lighthound bulb, with a definite warm, faintly green tint... I would call the tint a V1, similar to Luxeon 1W SV1H.

Remember, anytime multiple tints of LEDs are compared there's the infamous mutual tint distortion effect! LEDs that might have looked white by themselves suddenly look blue, or green, or beige... they play off one another and reveal each others' imperfections. That's why it's difficult to do side-by-side LED comparisons! oo:

Ok, you got me to try it. I'm posting the beamshots between the SMJLED2 SS PR and the original SMJLED. Hope they came out ok, as they are my first ones. I think it clearly shows what Milkyspit and I have said on the beam description. I leave others to judge it.

I used 2 cheap Energizer lights using 2AA alkalines.







Not the best pics, but I hope you find them usefull

fieldops

:huh2:

hello fieldops

have you got the picture mixed up, because the SMJLED looks better than the SMJLED2.

regards.

Unfortunately, that's the point. The SMJLED was better, at least that I've tried. I was quite surprised. I wish it was a mixup

Think I may just stick with the previous SMJLED PR version.

The newer one looks whiter, but not necessarily brighter. And seems to have a smaller hotspot. And I already know the previous version gets insane runtimes.

fieldops said:

Unfortunately, that's the point. The SMJLED was better, at least that I've tried. I was quite surprised. I wish it was a mixup

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Great photos fieldops!!! Thanks alot, folks have been asking for exactly that.

It is unfortunate that ArcMania's new SMJLED2 PR SS didn't fare well against the older SMJLED PR. At least it matched the intensity of the old one, which is good.

I'm surprised at the tint difference between ArcMania's SMJLED2 PR SS and the old SMJLED PR.

Yours new SMJLED2 PR SS quite green, just like mine.

milkyspit, if you'd still like to contribute some beamshots, a second reference point would be much appreciated.

If you could, try and not saturate the hotspot as much, which washes out the true color.

Fieldops,

Can you kindly do a runtime test of both bulbs using those 2AA lights.

Thanks,

John

Yeah, I should be able to do that sometime this week John. It will be visual only, but that's how we use lights anyway. It will be done like I did with the Infinity Ultra/Inova X1 tests.

e.g. https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/125921

NewBie said:

Haven't had a chance to do a regulation test. I'll do that on some of the next ones.

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NewBie, that would be great if you could do some regulation tests. I'm really amazed and appreciative of your in-depth reviews, especially the Magled dropins!

NewBie said:

This is the newer version, the bulb is even stamped SS, unlike the ones in that thread. You can see it in some of the pictures in the first post.

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I should clarify my previous post. TrueBlue was selling 2 versions of the SMJLED PR(2) in this thread: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...00&page=1&pp=30

Post #1 of TrueBlue's thread shows a 4 die bulb (original SMJLED PR(2)) and a newer single die bulb (that TrueBlue calls WPR2) for sale.

Looking at the comments of people who bought the WPR2 it appears to be a single die led, with a warmer (greenish), smaller hotspot and similar brightness to the original 4 die bulb.

From comments here, the SMJLED2 SS PR appears to be a single die led, with a warmer (greenish), smaller hotspot and similar brightness to the original 4 die bulb.

My question is this: do the SMJLED2 SS PR and the WPR2 use the same (or similar) led?


Anybody have a WPR2 they would be willing to donate to NewBie to dissect for the sake of knowledge? Anybody?

I have no clue to the differences between the WPR2, and the ArcMania SMJLED2 PR SS that is sold at the Shoppe.

All I know, is the SMJLED2 PR SS is the new latest version, which only The Shoppe is supposed to have.

Milkyspit and Fieldops posted a few beam shots that show essentially the same output between the old one and the new one, just the new one looks to have a greener output, like a Luxeon X1 bin. They were supposed to be alot brighter.

According to TrueBlue, these were CREE XLamp LEDs, but then ArcMania clarified and specifically said they have the CREE XLamp 1W die in them. It is quite clear they do not. I've asked in TrueBlue's thread where this was discussed, and I have not heard anything to date on the problem. It is possible that they are trying to figure out what went wrong.

Maybe the manufacturer goofed up, who knows...