# turboBB's 2012 Memorial Day Weekend Camping Report (24 XM-L lights, beamshots, vids)



## turboBB (May 30, 2012)

It's been almost a year since I published my Sunwayman T20C review (with pics and testing conducted mostly at the camp grounds off of Ft. Getty Rd. in Jamestown, RI). At the time, Cree's XM-L was just beginning to be widely adopted in the industry. Since then, they have not only become widespread but are pretty much the de facto LED used by the majority of lights being released (especially in multiple formation). 

It will eventually be replaced by the next brighter LED but until then, here's a quick summary of my experiences while conducting beamshots and usage of 24 lights.

The chaos the night before setting off:






All lights and their batteries were packed into these 3 bags:




We ended up going to the same location this year. This time, given the outputs and capability of the lights I brought along, I decided to do long distance beamshots. Unfortunately time and weather didn't allow me to conduct mini vid reviews of all the lights so I'll be supplanting ones without vids with text summaries.

Here are the lights in alphabetical order by mfg:





*LONG DISTANCE BEACH SHOTS*
Given there was heavy misting both nights, I limited the long distance shots @ 500ft (152.4m) that were done at the nearby beach:




The upper-right arrow indicates location the camera was setup and the oval in bottom-left was the target at 500ft away.

Here is the control shot and close up of the target (doesn't match the beamshots exactly since I didn't have the tripod at the time):








Here is a control shot at night, there was some ambient light plus the moon was out (waxing crescent phase) but didn't contribute to any of the lighting in these shots (at least in the path of the beams) as far as I could tell:




All shots were taken w/Panny FZ150 on M mode, ISO400 and AWB. Exposure was locked at 1" @ f/2.8. At these distances and especially for lights w/a broad hotspot, my aim may not always be perfect (e.g. EYE25 vs. EYE30) but in some shots, it looks like I'm aiming lower but it's actually centered.

As mentioned, there was heavy misting both nights but it should still give you a good idea of the beam profile and throw capability of these lights (plus how many mist beamshots have you seen ). Without further ado, here are the beamshots! 


*Elektro Lumens Big Bruiser (review)





FoxFury Rook CheckMate (review)





Klarus XT20 (review)





Lighten7 Elite M1A





Lighten7 Elite M1B





Lighten7 Max L2A





NITECORE TM11 (v1.12)





Niteye EYE25 (review)






Niteye EYE30 (review)





Prometheus Lights Alpha Series XM18-B (review)





Shadow JM07-PRO





Sunwayman M11R Mr. Elfin (review)





Sunwayman T20C (review)





Sunwayman T40CS (review)





Sunwayman V11R Mr. révolution (review)





Sunwayman V60C (review)





SureFire M3LT (400lms) (review) 





ThruNite TN10 (1x18650) (review)




ThruNite TN11 (2x18500) (review)





ThruNite TN30 (review)





ThruNite TN31 (review)





XENO G10v2 (review)
*


*

XENO S3A (review)
*


*

XTAR S1 Production (review)
*



After these shots were done, I drove my wife and daughter back to the inn so I could also charge up for the next night's shots and vids:


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## turboBB (May 30, 2012)

*CAMPING GROUND SHOTS*
The next night, I stayed right by the campsite and did even closer range beam shots since the misting was pretty bad. Unfortunately there is a bit of feedback (reflection from the mist) so I took four shots of each light; two aimed at the small tree about 40ft. away and two at the tip of the taller trees in the background that are approx. 100ft. away:



When I got back, I deleted the shots that had too much feedback so as not to create a false sense of brightness, however. Overall, the shots look just slightly overexposed as compared to what I my eyes saw but not too bad.

I also managed to squeeze in a video of a few lights (full playlist here) based on use around the tent and then a quick walk around the campsite. I had to keep it low since it was pretty late and there were others already sleeping. Given I was focusing on low light conditons, I bumped the ISO to 6400 so quality isn't the greatest and the vids will be pretty grainy but hopefully it tells the appropriate story on usage. Here is a pic indicating roughly the path taken: 




(image courtesy of Google maps - red arrow indicates distance to small tree)

Here's a quick vid of a walkthru of the campsite and the path I took to test the lights:


This pic provides size perspective as you can see the location where I took the beach shots:




(image courtesy of maps.live.com - campsite in rectangle and the large oval in bottom right indicates target from beach shots and small circle in upper right where the camera was)

And here is a control video w/LedLenser H7 at night in the tent:


All shots were taken w/Panny FZ150 on M mode, ISO100 and AWB. Exposure was locked at 1.6" @ f/2.8. Again, given the heavy misting, my aim may not have been perfect for each shot so they may be slightly off but shots on left are always centered on the small tree and the shots on right at the tip of the trees in the background.

OK, with that all said, let's start off with a control shot using a Led Lenser H7 (intentionally overexposed given it's lower output):





*Elektro Lumens Big Bruiser (review)*
It was tucked away in the back pouch of the Maxpedition so I missed its shots for this round. 


*FoxFury Rook CheckMate (**review**)*









*Klarus XT20 **(**review**)*









*Lighten7 Elite M1A*









*Lighten7 Elite M1B



*





*Lighten7 Max L2A
*








*NITECORE TM11 (v1.12)*









*Niteye EYE25 (**review**)*









*Niteye EYE30 (review)*









*Prometheus Lights Alpha Series XM18-B (review)*








*Mini Review/Summary*



*Shadow JM07-PRO*









*Sunwayman M11R Mr. Elfin (review)*









*Sunwayman T20C (review)*









*Sunwayman T40CS (**review**)*









*Sunwayman V11R Mr. révolution (review)*









*Sunwayman V60C (**review**)*









*SureFire M3LT (400lms) (**review**) *









*ThruNite TN10 (1x18650) (review)*









*ThruNite TN11 (2x18500) (review)*









*ThruNite TN30 (review)*








*Mini Review/Summary
*


*ThruNite TN31 (review)*








*Mini Review/Summary
*


*XENO G10v2 (review)*









*XENO S3A (review)


*





*Mini Review/Summary*



*XTAR S1 Production (review)*









*Mini Review/Summary*


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## skyfire (May 30, 2012)

great shots! much appreciated.

looks like you had a fun holiday weekend!


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## Patriot (May 30, 2012)

Wow, really fun comparisons. I'm slightly surprised with how well the little Eye30 did but it does have 3 fully shaped reflectors vs the TM11's merged hybrid. The TN30 was another astonishing performer.

After seeing these beam shots and reading your review of the TN31 it makes me wonder how much better the planned SR95UT will perform, if at all. The planned output is about the same but in a much larger package. I would definitely want to see a comparison of the TN31 and SR95UT before I pulled the trigger on the larger, more expensive light. 

Great stuff here! Thanks for giving your time to put this together for us.


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## LilKevin715 (May 30, 2012)

Was this your primary excuse for going camping?:devil:


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## The_Driver (May 30, 2012)

Very nice shots :thumbsup:


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## RCLumens (May 30, 2012)

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome! And thank you from the other post! Excellent shots and comparisons!


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## shelm (May 30, 2012)

thanks! some coronas or hotspots look greenish on the photos, for example the Xeno's, Xtar S1, the ThruNite's, most SWM's, and others.


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## BLUE LED (May 30, 2012)

Thank you for the beam shots. I like the way the TN31 and S1 performed, as I have purchased both. I am hoping to see the Olight 95UT in the future.


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## FoxFury (May 30, 2012)

Tremendous job...as always!!!


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## rdrfronty (May 30, 2012)

Cool shots. Lots of fun!


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## turboBB (May 31, 2012)

Thx guys!

@LK715 - no, but it was one of the reasons I was really looking forward to the trip. We went with a bunch of friends so that allowed me some opportunities to "escape" to grab these shots.

@shelm - I waited for a while for the mist to subside a little and given I wasn't sure if it was going to rain or not, I didn't bother w/custom white-balacing so yes, the colors will not be truly accurate although they aren't too far off either based on what I can recall (just not THAT green in certain shots).

I finally got my PC restored yet again so I should have part two up tonight along w/a few vids.

Cheers,
Tim


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## cccpull (May 31, 2012)

Great set of beam shots and a lot of work! After looking at the great group of lights in your lineup, the TM11 seams to me as the most practical light of the bunch, it lights up the whole beach. :thanks:


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## turboBB (May 31, 2012)

Thx!

Qustion for you guys watching this thread, before I go posting the second set of shots, since I took two for each light (left-pic centered on small tree @ 40ft, right pic at tip of trees in background approx. 100ft) would you prefer smaller 400x400 side-by-side shots like :
[PIC][PIC]

Or larger 700x525, stacked shots:
[PIC]
[PIC]


Either set of shots will have links to full-size pics @ 1280x960 but just wanted to know what was best for your comparo purposes. I'll see if I can set up a poll.

I'll give it til noon tomorrow and then post the shots in the format based on the votes.

Thx,
Tim


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## TEEJ (Jun 1, 2012)

I like the larger format as its easier to see what level of detail each light is enabling.

So, larger stacked is better for me at least.




And, Tim, as always GREAT JOB!

:goodjob:


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## BLUE LED (Jun 1, 2012)

TEEJ said:


> I like the larger format as its easier to see what level of detail each light is enabling.
> 
> So, larger stacked is better for me at least.
> 
> ...



I too like the larger 700x525, stacked shots.


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## Capewrath (Jun 1, 2012)

Great review yet again. Keep the work up


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## turboBB (Jun 1, 2012)

Stacked it is! The pics (and where available a mini video review) are now up. I'll flesh out the text summaries as time allows. 

Enjoy!,
Tim


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## Kevinkw1 (Jun 1, 2012)

Wow man! Really nice shots! Nice touch with the above ground map shot with annotation. It gives a really good perspective of the distance. Great stuff! The sunwayman v60 surprised me as to the throw and general power!


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## tobrien (Jun 2, 2012)

simply amazing


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## run4jc (Jun 2, 2012)

Wow. Just WOW. GREAT job - thanks for all the hard work.


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## turboBB (Jun 3, 2012)

Thx guys!! It was great fun for me too and regardless of all the runtime testing or shining it around the house, nothing beats getting them outdoors for some nice long distance comparo's.

Please provide feedback on what could've been done better or what you'd like to see in a future redo as I aim on going back in the fall. I know, the videos could definitely stand improvement; there were many points I didn't get to cover in them but given time constrainst and weather, I had to cut them very short. As mentioned, I'll try to flesh out the text summaries as time allows.

Cheers,
Tim


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## KartRacer31 (Jun 3, 2012)

Man I can't even imagine how much time it took just to do the testing, never mind all the time it must have taken to put together and post this review. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into reviewing/posting. You let so many of us who can't afford all of these lights get a real feel for the one which best suits our needs. Thanks again for another great review! 

PS - this post really got me in the mood for camping! I'm really looking forward to the FCW-9 camping get together in September, I hope you can make it... and bring all of these lights!


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## Machete God (Jun 3, 2012)

Thank you, TurboBB, great shots and nice work! A lot of impressive performers there...


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## turboBB (Jun 5, 2012)

Thx guys. Here's a bonus shot from the pics I didn't use since "something" flew into the shot. Interesting what you can catch with just a 1 second exposure. 



(this was for the TM11)


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## TEEJ (Jun 7, 2012)

turboBB said:


> Thx guys. Here's a bonus shot from the pics I didn't use since "something" flew into the shot. Interesting what you can catch with just a 1 second exposure.
> 
> 
> 
> (this was for the TM11)



LOL - Looks like a bat!

Its great how the time exposure showed the flow of the wings and the beat cycle....very interesting shot.


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## turboBB (Jul 27, 2012)

Hey guys, there's just a little over a month before I head back to this campsite again so I figured I'd bump this thread to solicit feedback on how this can be improved upon. I plan on taking most of the newer acquisitions since this thread but in terms of the content, are there specifics that would be helpful in terms of beamshots, angles, vids etc? 

Obviously I might not get to all suggestions (especially in consideration of time constraints and potentail weather impact) but will do my best to accomodate them as much as is possible.

Cheers,
Tim


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## HighlanderNorth (Jul 28, 2012)

I'm almost tempted to believe that is a lake, not the ocean, because I've never seen ocean water anywhere in the Northeastern US that is blue-ish and I certainly have not seen clear ocean water in the northeastern US. I've been to beaches from Va, north from Md, De, NJ, and up to to Long Island, and the water in all those places, especially further north, is always brown and murky! Thats the whole reason we decided to stop going to Nj, Md, De beaches, and bought a place down in SE Florida in 2003 where the water is usually blue or blue/green and clear(and especially not cold!). So where is that? Is the water there usually that clear, or is that uncommon?

Seems like the SWM T40CS did almost as good a job of lighting up that rocky outcrop as did the Thrunite TN-31. The TN-30 sure puts out a lot of light! 

Of all the lights you tested there, which did YOU like best?


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## turboBB (Jul 28, 2012)

That is beautiful Jamestown, RI:
http://www.jamestown-ri.info/

The most vivid recollection of ocean water I recall while growing up was the murky waters off Coney Island where I could barely see my hand three inches underneath the water. This experience was accompanied by witnessing miscellaneous garbage being washed ashore so I can totally empathize with your feelings. Had I not visited Jamestown, RI myself (this is the link to the campgrounds we stayed at: http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qx..., RI___a_~adr.&mode=D&rtop=0~0~0~&form=LMLTCC) I'd also be skeptical that one can see crystal blue waters anywhere in the NE US but I suppose the satellite pic is exaggerating the color slightly.

Here is what it looks more like at the shore:


 

 

 
As you can see, the water is crystal clear even if not that nice deep aqua blue.

This is the light house at the sourthern most tip of Beavertail Rd:





http://goo.gl/maps/sZ0GQ

And here's the lighthouse out in the middle of the waters just north of the Jamestown Bridge:



http://binged.it/Ouz18i

This is the historic Jamestown Windmill:



http://goo.gl/maps/HbNG

If you ever have the opportunity, I'd highly recommend you visit!

As for the light I liked using the best, it'd be a combo of:
- TN30 (for its floody beam profile w/useful low for general use and wide illumination)
- TN31 for its ultra-throw in which case I was contemplating lighting up the Dutch Island Lighthouse (http://www.lighthouse.cc/DILS/):



http://binged.it/OuC1By


from the boat dock across the Narragansett Bay:



However, there was heavy misting and also given I wasn't sure about any laws against doing so, I decided not to. According to Bing Maps, it's about 650m away so I doubt it would've been noticeable from my POV but it sure would've been interesting to try. 

Cheers,
Tim


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## LED_Thrift (Jul 29, 2012)

Thanks so much for the great beamshots. The distances chosen and the selection of lights is fantastic. The only way I can think of improving on what you did last year would be to use a lower exposure setting for some of the brighter lights so the hotspot isn't washed out in the shorter range pictures. 

I'll bet there were times long ago that the light house keeper would have loved to have the TN-31 when he was having trouble with the light house equipment. Or he could put the TN-30 behind a Frensel lens. 

Thrifty


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## turboBB (Aug 12, 2012)

Thx Thrifty, I'll do my best to strike a good realistic balance between the high-powered lights and the lesser ones. I'd love to see what one of these would do behind a fresnel lens as well. =o)

All,
Given time constraints (not to mention batteries), I can't possibly bring everything thing I did last time so here is the current lineup planned so far (all XM-L's with exception of BT2):

APEX: 5T6
Crelant: 7G9, V9-T6
FoxFury: BreakThrough series (BT2 & BT3)
NITECORE: TM11, SENS series (maybe and if so, only on LiIon's)
SPARK: SP6
Stanley FatMax SpotLight
Sunwayman: T60CS
ThruNite: TN11S, TN30, TN31
XTAR: S1 Prod, TZ20

For a total of 17 lights (31 x 18650's (33 including the sealed ones in the FatMax), 8 x AA's, 1 x 14500, 1x16340, 1xCR2). I'll likely be borrowing a few lights as well.

Cheers,
Tim


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## guiri (Sep 13, 2012)

Awesome job!


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## turboBB (Sep 13, 2012)

Thx! I have a follow up thread done in same format here in case you're interested:
2012-Labor-Day-weekend-camping-shots-(18-lights-1-vid-comparo)


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## guiri (Sep 13, 2012)

Thanks


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## Husker (Feb 9, 2013)

Would the TN31 be better suited than the TN30, for trying to scare away geese before landing(still in flight) on our Lake...Yes, I'm a Newb..been reading as much as possible but it's starting to become even more confusing??

Here is a link to the thread I'm trying to gather information-->http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...eese-off-community-lake&p=4135471#post4135471


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## turboBB (Feb 9, 2013)

Sorry, I have absolutely no idea but if you need distance then the TN31 is the better thrower of the two, although both can easily reach a range of 500ft as per my OP. However, it sounds like there has already been a lot of great advice offered up in that thread that may be more practical. I'll defer to those with more knowledge on geese control. 

Cheers,
Tim


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## TEEJ (Feb 10, 2013)

I would think that the much higher cd of the TN31 would do whatever a bright light at the geese does better than the lower cd of the TN30.


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