# P91... how bright?... THIS BRIGHT.. (beamshot comparisons)[enjoy]



## mdocod (Apr 16, 2006)

So.... Many times we get questions about how "bright" a light is in "comparison" to something more well known... So I decided to take some shots that compare the P91, to something more familiar- headlights of a car....

all shots taken with 1 second exposure time on a Kodak Easyshare DX6340....

the shots are in the following order...
1. A Taskforce 3W 2C LED light (used to make sure the camera was focusing and aimed correctly.)
2. Headlights of my isuzu rodeo on low beam, (GE Nighthalk bulbs)... battery powered, engine not running.
3. Surefire P91 lamp driven by 2 freshly charged 17670 cells from AW.
4. Pathfinder P90 lamp driven by 2 freshly charged 17670 cells from AW.
5. A "1MCP" Corded(cig lighter) Vector brand spotlight from wallmart with stock H3 lamp. (again, engine not running)...
























I really enjoy taking beamshots for fun and comparison.... 

Really goes to show, how bright a P91 lamp is... it's seriously, in the same "ballpark" as a set of headlights, or a spotlight...... It also goes to show, how much more light is coming out of a P91, than a Pathfinder P90 (which, in my experience, is in the ballpark with most G90 type lamps) 

Obviously, the Vector is more focused than the headlights or the tactical lights, so it is litterally washing out and appearing to be much more "intense" than the others, but in actual overall lumens, I would say it "isn't much brighter" than a P91..


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## CLHC (Apr 16, 2006)

Well, there it is! Way to go on the beam shots photo! :wave:


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## Jamrock (Apr 16, 2006)

Sweet beamshots!! How far was that anyways?


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## mdocod (Apr 16, 2006)

i'm going to take a guess at 50-75ft distance.... I could go out and measure distance if you would like...

I should point out, that, the P91 is what I use to find house addresses when delivernig pizzas- And I'd say I seems even more impressive in use than in these shots. Easily illuminates a "garage" sized portion of a house, with the intensity to pick out the location of an addess, as well as read it, even the tough ones- like black-on-brown addresses.. very cool.


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## LEDcandle (Apr 16, 2006)

Nice comparo and useful information for the masses, mdocd. 

Nvm, post edited. The P91 in its appropriate hosts is a great personal sized bright light!! Although I still prefer the perfectly round hotspot in the P60. The P90 tends to be slightly oval and the P91 seems to be the most obviously oval.


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## mdocod (Apr 16, 2006)

My P91 is also VERY oval... however... I've found that in actual use, I hardly notice it, nore care about it.. I only notice it when pointing it at white walls. The 2 G90s we have here, and my pathfinder lamp, are much rounder- but compared, the P91 is lighting up a larger area brighter, so I like the P91 better.


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## rikvee (Apr 16, 2006)

Nice informative post mdocod! :thumbsup:

How many P91 flashlights do you need to have on one night of Pizza delivery? It appears these only last 20 min or so on most batteries....


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## DreamScape (Apr 16, 2006)

mdocod,

Nice comparisons and thanks for sharing.
How long you getting on them Li-Ions with the P91?
What host you using with the P91?

Thanks


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## firefly99 (Apr 16, 2006)

Thank you for your efforts. I love the P91 too.


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## DUQ (Apr 16, 2006)

Ooooo nice! Now everyone can really "see" how bright the really are. Nice work .


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## Allnew2me (Apr 16, 2006)

Nice job MDOCod, thanks for sharing. Somebody here on CPF showed me this site a while ago and I have used it a lot to compare beamshots at different distances. it show the p60, p61, p90, p91 and many others also. 
http://www.knivesandtools.com/de/he...ght1=20msfm6high.jpg&flashlight2=20msfp90.jpg


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## NotRegulated (Apr 16, 2006)

Great topic. My P91 setup is one of my favorite lights. 
The P91 on li-on's is a great setup. I am using a Surefire 9P with an A19 adaptor, two Pila 168s batteries with the P91. Lights up on one click. I have 17670 cells on order now to use.


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## HighLight (Apr 16, 2006)

mdocod said:


> My P91 is also VERY oval... however... I've found that in actual use, I hardly notice it, nore care about it.. I only notice it when pointing it at white walls. The 2 G90s we have here, and my pathfinder lamp, are much rounder- but compared, the P91 is lighting up a larger area brighter, so I like the P91 better.



Whats the runtime of the P91 with the rechargable cells from AW?


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## Omega Man (Apr 16, 2006)

Great post! I will be getting my 17670's shipped after the Easter holidays die down, and I've got a gracious extender offer, so I'll have the same setup as #3 by May!


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## carrot (Apr 16, 2006)

You really should label your pictures. I saw the headlights one and thought that was the P91, and my jaw dropped... then I scrolled back up to check if that's what I was looking at.


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## mdocod (Apr 17, 2006)

to answer a few Qs... (not in any particular order)

I suppose I should probably make an effort to put the label in the photo when I already have it open to resize it anyways.... I'll try to remember to do it next time...

I haven't done a full out run time test of this light. Mainly because it gets hot so fast, I would worry it would become uncomfortable to shut off, and I wonder if the heat would damage the cells... I am estimating ~30 minuts runtime. Possibly less.... With those high current drain rates, the cells don't hold up to the full 1.6AH rating... But I have a hunch they hold up better than 3 primaries for runtime...

It's in a 4 cell Ultrafire body.... It's not the nicest body around, has a lot of scuffs and scratches on it already (mostly from using it while working on the car in the garage, because the body is cheapo, I don't mind letting it roll around on the dirty concrete floor)

during winter- when the sun goes down ~5pm... I would generally use the light for ~10-15 deliveries before I am done for the day... finding addresses only takes a moment of on-time, so I use the light in short bursts, a few seconds here, 20 seconds there... A single charge can easily get me through 2 nights like this, but I try to remember to top it off nightly... Now since the clocks have been changed, I only use it for a few deliveries a night, so if I were only using it for delivery, it would probably last 2 weeks worth or more... But I use the light for many other things, I find my self pulling it out many times a day for other tasks, the ~30 minuts runtime is gone in a few days usually... I always have spares in the car, usually my LEDBeam as backup (which is good enough to light up addresses, just not anywhere near as well as an incandecent monster)

I can see where this light, would definetally be an AWSOM tool for room clearing, tactical operation swat type stuff. It lights up a room like a lamp, and has a large enough hotspot at short range, to brilliantly illuminate a human subject, revealing anything they might be doing or carrying. To dark adjusted eyes, looking into this beam at short range would be devistating to the vision. I still can't believe that a light of this power can fit in my pocket... Makes ordinary flashlights look like childs play.


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## 2dim (Apr 17, 2006)

Bright for sure, but will it reveal the sex of my unborn child?


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## pathalogical (Apr 17, 2006)

Nice pics ! I've been eyeing a 9P with P91, and I think you've helped me decide. But first I'll likely get a second G2 but with P61. I have 2 Brinkmanns in the car (1 & 3 mcp) and they really light up the roadway.


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## Phaserburn (Apr 17, 2006)

Where did you get the Ultrafire 4 cell, how much and did you have to mod it in anyway to run the P91? Are Ultrafire and Superfire the same thing?


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## mdocod (Apr 17, 2006)

The ultrafire came from tradedigit.... I would recomend the ebay seller Ioak instead however... his shipping time and communication is better (bought a 3 cell from him)...

The difference seems to be that some of the ultrafires come with a glass lense, and some don't, where the superfires probably all contain plastic lenses.... But before buying eithor of them I would definetally get confirmation from someone or the seller that it contains the glass lense- (unless you are going to run lower powered bulbs and don't mind it being plastic)..

I didn't have to mod the ultrafire at all to run it... but it's of cource, running 2 17670 cells instead of 4 primaries.



I should point out, that I dropped my flashlight in the hallway last night, and it blew the lamp- probably only had about 40 minuts of runtime on it at that point, making it the most expensive lumen/$/minut I think I've ever owned... Has me second guessing the ruggedness of tactical lamps. (also had a G90 go out prematurly on me a few weeks ago)...


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## glennser (Apr 17, 2006)

How do I run the p91 in a 9P using rechargeables? Seems like 3 rechargeables will blow it, anyone know?
Glennser

Please ignore this question, I see it was asked already twice below, sorry...


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## pbs357 (Apr 17, 2006)

Hey Glennser, 

Since rechargeable cells are rated at 3.7v, and 4.2v when they're fully charged, you're right that 3 rechargeables = 12.6v hot off the charger, which would kill a P91 - a 9v bulb. But, you can use (2) 17500's which are each 1.5 times the length of a cr123 so the total length of these 2 cells equals the same length of (3) cr123's. This voltage is 7.4v nominal, 8.4v hot off the charger which is ok for a 9v lamp. Hope this helps!


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## mdocod (Apr 17, 2006)

using 2 17500s to drive a P91 would be bad for the cells, they should be driven any higher than 2.2amps (but unprotected cells would allow it)... For short bursts of use it would be ok, But i'd suggest an A19 extender on the 9P, with 2 17670 sized cells... Or a 2x18650 compatable light that takes surefire P series lamps.


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## pbs357 (Apr 18, 2006)

Really? Sorry, I'm using a Wolf-Eyes 9v D26 lamp with 2xrcr123's in my Surefire 6p with no problems, so I thought my suggestion would work. :thinking: I didn't know there would be an amperage issue with the P91 lamp.


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## mdocod (Apr 18, 2006)

well. on a pair of li-ions, the P91 draws a massive 2.7 amps.... generally speaking- ion cells should be used within 2C of their total capacity... (so, for a 1.1AH cell, 2.2amps is as much as should be used, I understand that the D26 is a relativally efficiant lamp, draws ~1.34 amp... so on a pair of ions rated at say- 700mah, it's fine because it's less than 1.4amps to run the lamp... For a 2.7Amp lamp, 17670 is really the safe mininum, but many people would also say, they pushing the limits a little bit would more than likally never be a problem, would just reduce the number of cycles the battery will survive.


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## Charlie Brown (Apr 20, 2006)

mdocod said:


> using 2 17500s to drive a P91 would be bad for the cells, they should be driven any higher than 2.2amps (but unprotected cells would allow it)... For short bursts of use it would be ok, But i'd suggest an A19 extender on the 9P, with 2 17670 sized cells... Or a 2x18650 compatable light that takes surefire P series lamps.


 
Would using the A19 extender convert it to a 4 cell unit (12V total on primary)? What would 2 17670 cells produce so as not to instaflash the P91? 

Thanks


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## KevinL (Apr 20, 2006)

Nice beamshots; the P91 is really impressive. 

I think we tend to forget after a while how bright it really is, until we have a chance to re-look it. 200 lumens.. was yesterday's amazing, then became mundane to me, now it's become amazing again.


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