Which HDS or Other Superlight?

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I'd say get the U60. I have a B42 and a U60 and EDC the U60 and a TW4. The B42 defaults to primary (10 lumen) and I mostly use the light in theater mode, so I wanted it to default to secondary. With my U60 set to default to secondary (2.5) I can double click to primary or hold for momentary full (60).

I also have an AW lens I sanded flatter to fit like the normal lens. The extra spread is useful for me most of the time. Then again, I have a Mag85 for throw /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Hi Jayflash,

The way I think of it is- Primary (10 L) and Secondary (2.5) are the most used, with 'Turbo', either the 42 or 60, and 'Moon', the .3 as readily available. 'Stock', which is either the Basic, or the unmodified U's always comes on in Primary and 'Turbo' is always a momentary press away.

Frankly, it would be few situations in which you'd really want the full power mode as constant on, the Primary mode is more than enough to clearly see over the longest throw in my fairly large house, and when I'm walking outside, clearly illuminates for 20' or more. If there's something you need a better look at, the 'Turbo' is only a fraction of a second away. So, at least for me, the 20 minute constant runtime for the 'Turbo' is moot.

If I understand correctly, if you get a U60 and set the 'Turbo' to 42 lumens, then you will get a significantly enhanced runtime over that of a B42, if that's important, and you still have the 60 lumen option should you be in a situation where every photon counts.
 
Like Sarius, I'd probably use the 10 & 2.5 lumen settings as primary & secondary, or something close to those outputs. TRC may be right about .3 being too low for most practical uses. I use my Arc AAA and Ultra G quite often and sometimes desire a little more light (10L) or less, where 1L may be more useful than .3L.

Now, thanks to all your input, I'm leaning toward an Ultimate model. My rationale is that the extra $30 is about a 20% price increase but may make, what will be an EDC, even more useful with the ability to fine tune the settings for different occasions.

Flip, flop, flip, flop... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon3.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif
 
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jayflash said:
I'd probably use the 10 & 2.5 lumen settings as primary & secondary, or something close to those outputs. TRC may be right about .3 being too low for most practical uses.

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I find the .3 setting ideal when my eyes are dark adapted. It's so low that it appears to leave my night vision intact. I therefore wouldn't touch that setting even if I had an Ultimate rather than a Basic. It works really well for me, and more light is only a couple of clicks away ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Hans
 
About the .3 setting. Try it first. I find it quite useful- more than enough to find my way up and down the stair avoiding the cat-toys that they keep rearranging after dark /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

It's brighter than you think, and easily changed if not. Regarding the additional money- the build quality on this light is such that it's as close to a lifetime investment as a flashlight can be, so figure that 30 bucks over at least ten years and most likely much more.
 
Sorry, duplicated post. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Quote: "If I understand correctly, if you get a U60 and set the 'Turbo' to 42 lumens, then you will get a significantly enhanced runtime over that of a B42, if that's important, and you still have the 60 lumen option should you be in a situation where every photon counts".

That's not correct. Setting a Ultimate 60 to 42 lumens will give you exactly the same run time (within the variation of emittors, or course) as a Basic 42 will get on maximum power: about an hour.

I know a CPF member who, when he saw the huge difference in runtime between 42 and 60 lumens (60 min. vs. 20 min.) set the maximum power on his Ultimate 60 to 42 lumens.

Unfortunately, the inevitable 'playing' with new flashlights tends to eat up a few batteries fairly quickly.

I still like to turn my Ultimate 42 to maximum power every 2nd or 3rd time I use it, just to see how bright it is. This usually only lasts about 10 or 15 seconds, but compared to running the light on 10 or 20 lumens, eats a CR123 pretty quickly! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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makar said:
Any thoughts about the U60XR (extended euntime-50% longer runtime at 60 Lumen than the standard model)?

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I'll know more when I get home tonight. My wife called to tell me my package from HDS arrived today and I know it's my EDC 60 XR.
 
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TRC said: Setting a Ultimate 60 to 42 lumens will give you exactly the same run time (within the variation of emittors, or course) as a Basic 42 will get on maximum power: about an hour.

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As the more efficient emitters should be in the EDC 60s, you will get more runtime.
Why should the same range of emitters been used in 42 and 60 lm lights?
 
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this_is_nascar said:
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makar said:
Any thoughts about the U60XR (extended euntime-50% longer runtime at 60 Lumen than the standard model)?

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I'll know more when I get home tonight. My wife called to tell me my package from HDS arrived today and I know it's my EDC 60 XR.

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TiN: Good on you! I know this feeling when the package waits at home. One of the best things about buying flashlights /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

How do you like the tint of the xr?
Marc
 
I have had my HDS U60XR model for a few days now. I did have a plain U60, but I "Traded Up". Let me say that the U60XR is white and bright. The beam is very slightly towards the blue side of the spectrum, but only barely. Its quite NICE actually.

The original U60 light I owned ate batteries quickly. (At least this is the way it seemed to me.)

I compared by XR beam color to ALL other lights I have. (Brass LC, UWOJ Raw, K.I., Original U Bin McLuxIII PD, JIL DD) and there was great variation in tints of white. To my eyes the XR's tint was the most pleasing out of ALL of them.

I'd like to hear what TiN thinks once he plays with his for a bit.

Its better than "Perfect White" and its tint actually makes the beam appear brighter.

I love my XR. Great tint, long runtime.
 
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RchGrav said:


I love my XR. Great tint, long runtime.

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Hi,

Do you have any sense if the runtime at the lower levels (Primary and Secondary) is also increased? and if so, by how much?

Thanks
 
According to past posts made by HDS on the subject the runtime in lower levels is also increased, but they don't say how much. I would assume that the LED is more efficient, but its running on the same electronics as the non XR model. But I'll tell you from experience, its really in the brighter levels that you NEED the increased runtime. According to the runtime chart at HDS (http://www.hdssystems.com/LightFaq.html#Runtime) I'm now getting 33 minutes vs 17 minutes on my battery station batteries. Thats like 94% more efficient in my case using BS batteries. HDS I guess is just giving the CYA (Cover your A$$) estimate of 50% increased runtime at 60 lumens. So no one knows just how much gain is seen in the lower levels of brightness, probably because they just last so long as it is.

I'll do a test to see how many hours I can get at 10 Lumens tonight when I go to bed. I don't have a lux meter, but I'll try it.
 
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RchGrav said:

I'll do a test to see how many hours I can get at 10 Lumens tonight when I go to bed. I don't have a lux meter, but I'll try it.

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Thanks, this is along the lines of 'Inquring Minds Want to Know'- probably only useful in an emergency, or if you're traveling and realize you forgot to pack spare batts and don't want to pay tourist prices /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I have to admit to being curious though. I take it the XR has replaced your U to the point you don't have it anymore to directly compare.
 
There was a period of a few days when I didn't have either. :sob:

Yeah, so I only have the XR now.

I'll do a time test at 10 lumens on a fresh BS battery and see what happens.
 
Which light is the output of the EDC 60 on high most similar to? Is it comparable to the E2E, which is also 60 lumens?
 
I think that for most uses of a small EDC that 25-30 lumens is about right, particularly if the beam is fairly large for close in work. I find that my VIP, on the medium setting using the small head and, Fraen optic, providing 25-30 lumens, is about right for my purposes, and can give up to three hours runtime. The low level beam is just fine for bedtime use, and low ambient light levels. I have thought about purchasing a HDS, probably a 60 U XR. I would set the light to provide 60 lumens, 30 lumens, 15 lumens, and 5 lumens, and would probably never need the 60 lumens mode.

Bill
 
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