Nightlightning's made to order iblaast ix has, as you would guess from the name, 9 cree XP-Gs. The blurb on the site says:
* 2800 Lumens @ 2100ma drive
* 3600 Lumens @ 3000ma drive
* 9x Cree XP-G LEDs
* High efficiency optics
* Switch mode LED regulation
* Digital control, dimming, fuel gauge, flasher modes etc
or with on/off only
* Tilt helmet mount
* Operates from 12V through to 18V batteries
* Huge light output. Maximum impact
* Compact MR-16 format
Their Australian rep gave me the following information:
The IX Blaast c/w helmet & bar mounts, 4.4ah Li-ion battery (3hr), smart charger & carry case is US$650 delivered.
The lens angle is 12 degrees. The first delivery will arrive this week, I will compare with the current Quad Blaast for beam angle, as we have a slightly wider beam pattern when used 3 lens in the 50mm lighthead.
Has anyone used these or have a view on how they would perform when driven at 330ma each? I will ask for beamshots when they're available.
Question #1: How are they getting 3600 lumens out of 9 x XP-G's ? I'm assuming @ 3000ma that all the triples are in parallel and seeing 1000ma ea.
#2: Heat sinking?? With all the triples packed that close together, is this set-up really able to sink all that heat...particularly when on high? What about the lumen losses due to heat?
#3: 3hr run time with a 4400mAh battery? At what setting/output? The way I look at it you would at least need to run something like an 8 cell battery to see a useful runtime. With an 8 cell ( 14.8 volt ) you might get 2-ish hrs with all 9 emitters on half power. I need more info on the battery to figure out what they're doing.
All I can say is if Nightlightning can do all the things the OP says it can, I take my hat off to them. My last comment: I couldn't help but notice that the emitters are set back in the lamp head and not flush with the front of the lamp. I would think this would block a lot of light that would otherwise spill to the sides....Not that it would likely make that much difference with something like a 9-up.
I really would like to see some beam pics of this monster!
I was going to send my two original IBlaasts (the 720 lumen versions with the Seoul emitters) to Eric to be upgraded to IBlaast ix's today, but I'll wait until I hear back from him because his home city of Christchurch has been hammered by a 7.1 earthquake on Saturday!
We've been exchanging emails about the upgrade for several months now, & I'm more than convinced that the heat-sink extension barrels that will be added to the original housings will easily handle the 9 XPG's. He's put a significant amount of R&D into this.
He told me that one customer in NZ was running his light with each of the triples at 1200mh (200mh more than we plan for mine) with no problems.
Anyway, I'm putting both of the ix's on my bars, and will try to post beamshots when they arrive.
Cheers, Digger.
I was going to send my two original IBlaasts (the 720 lumen versions with the Seoul emitters) to Eric to be upgraded to IBlaast ix's today, but I'll wait until I hear back from him because his home city of Christchurch has been hammered by a 7.1 earthquake on Saturday!
We've been exchanging emails about the upgrade for several months now, & I'm more than convinced that the heat-sink extension barrels that will be added to the original housings will easily handle the 9 XPG's. He's put a significant amount of R&D into this.
He told me that one customer in NZ was running his light with each of the triples at 1200mh (200mh more than we plan for mine) with no problems.
Anyway, I'm putting both of the ix's on my bars, and will try to post beamshots when they arrive.
Cheers, Digger.
Digger
What sort of battery were you planning to run and what sort of run time do you expect? Running the LEDs at 1000ma seems to be much higher than the ~330 that was mentioned by Australian distributor (I assume 9 LEDs driven at a total of 3,000 ma).
I've just ordered an Iblaast IX to go with my Iblaast 2 that has cree r2's and claimed 1000lumens. The IX will go on the helmet and Nightlighning are so helpful, they even tested the run times for me at 1000ma giving the 3600lumens on a 2.6ah battery. It ran for 1hr15mins, on this battery on full power then 30 minutes low power reserve on top.
I am going for the 4.4ah which should give around 2hr15, at the full 3600 lumens.
I'm really looking forward to getting this light and it replaces my Hope 4led, a very good light, but the Iblaast2 always seemed to have a longer throw and was my favourite,
This new one, I hope lives up to expectations and it is said to have an even cooler colour than the Iblaast 2, which I think i'll like..
I've just ordered an Iblaast IX to go with my Iblaast 2 that has cree r2's and claimed 1000lumens. The IX will go on the helmet and Nightlighning are so helpful, they even tested the run times for me at 1000ma giving the 3600lumens on a 2.6ah battery. It ran for 1hr15mins, on this battery on full power then 30 minutes low power reserve on top.
I am going for the 4.4ah which should give around 2hr15, at the full 3600 lumens.
I'm really looking forward to getting this light and it replaces my Hope 4led, a very good light, but the Iblaast2 always seemed to have a longer throw and was my favourite,
This new one, I hope lives up to expectations and it is said to have an even cooler colour than the Iblaast 2, which I think i'll like..
Pete, Your numbers for run time @ 1000ma sound a little more realistic then what the others have said but I don't think your gonna get 3600 lumens. At 1000ma realistically, considering thermal and optic losses you might get ~ 900 lumens per triple ( or 2700 measly Lumens ) Regardless if you think you'd really need more output you better order the white cane now because when the sun comes up you're going to need it.
P.S. If I was going to buy a IX I think I would order it with one of the triples as XP-E for just a tad more throw...not that it would probably make that much difference.
I don't understand too much about losses due to heat and optics, but what you say probably isn't too far off the mark, but my limited knowledge makes me think that the output will be nearer 3000 lumens and not 3600.
The Iblaast 2 claimed 1000lumens but I guess again you would lose up to 200, the same way. In any case as you say if I need more than 3000 or even 2700 there is something wrong with my eyes. I'll be getting a light over 3 times more powerful than the iblaast 2, which outperformed the Hope 4led for throw and power,even though the claimed power was very close, so maybe Nightlightning somehow lose less at the lens than other manufactures. I look forward to it being delivered.
Anyway, this might appear a daft question but putting pride aside, where is/are the reflector(s) and the lens cover?
It uses a Carclo TIR (total internal reflective) optic rather than a reflector. I suspect that this is a prototype that had not gotten a cover on it yet or the cover caused photo problems in showing the LEDs and was removed.
I have been using my IBlaast IX now for about two months and I have to say I love it. It took 6 days to arrive from date of order to the UK and when I first turned it on I put the Iblaast 2 on first to compare. Wow, this thing is at a different level. My Iblaast 2 outperformed the old hope 4 led, but this thing is insane. I now ride flat out down fireroads that I don't know and never run out of light. I have the Iblaast 2 on the helmet. It throws further than the 2 but is such an even spread of light with no halo, strong centre or defined edge. It makes night vision great and doesn't hide anything which I find lights with stronger centres can. It gives me 1hr 50 mins from their 4.4ah battery on full power 1000ma and no heat issues at all, it barely gets warm. I will give it a go at 1200ma soon to test for any difference.
The only and I mean only weak point is the bar mount, which is a cateye one which the light attaches onto via a special bracket with extra strong Velcro. Initially this allowed the light to vibrate and bounce slightly which you could see whilst riding along. A zip tie to hold the light tighter onto it's mounting bracket solved this completely and now it is good as any other bracket I've used. A 3 pence fix.
I would highly recommend this light to anyone and it's value for money and quality is fantastic.
I haven't used the iBlaast IX - I only bought the MiniBlaast housing for $55 from Eric. The thing I'd like to point out is that the whole housing is a heat sink. Does a great job keeping everything cool.
Very timely for this thread to come up again.
Eric finished my custom twin IBlaast IX's two days ago, so I'm hoping they'll arrive here in Sydney either today or tomorrow. He used German drivers in mine (I think they are called Rocom) to drive each triple at 1200 ma.
I'll put some photos up when I can.
Your double IX is going to be ridiculously bright, all for less than a Lupine Wilma.
Next ride I'm going to drive the light at 1200ma, which is the maximum that comes on the Nightlightning, although your driver may be different. I'm sure it will affect run times and not sure it will be much brighter, though in all honesty it doesn't need it. The admin mode where you set the lights different settings is very easy to use so I can switch it back to 1000ma maximum in about a minute. The light is so customable personally, you choose the brightness for low, medium and High.
They still haven't arrived yet.
Yes 2 x IBlaast IX's will be awesome! I don't think I'll see too many other lights on my local trails that will be brighter. I doubt that I'll run them on high much, except maybe on very fast descents.
Eric is going to pre-program the settings for me at 33%, 66% & 100%. And I expect the low setting with each of the 6 triples running at 400ma will still exceed 1500 lumens.
I also got him to mix the optics up for me. One light head has all narrow, & the other has one triple with 40 deg & two with 25 deg optics. And the two light heads will go up & down the modes together as if they were one big light with 18 XPG's. I also purchased one of his remote thumb control thingys.
This me cost AU $530 without a battery, 'cause I already have one.
Ok, please forgive me for resurrecting an ancient thread. But I posted some beamshots yesterday of some well known (and some not so well known) bike lights hoping to get some opinions out of some of you. So I've resubmitted them here. The very first beamshot is of the IBlaast IX.
If you've read the preceding posts, you'll know that I own two IBlaast IX's - and I rate them very highly. I also rate very highly the service that you get from Nightlightning.
Eric, who owns the company, personally addressed any percieved shortcomings with the product that I had (some are mentioned in the text which accompanies the beamshot link, & they are valid concerns). In fact I ended up recieving custom made mounts (a HUGE improvement), a handlebar mounted remote controller, optics of my choice, upgraded drivers and later on a custom 14.8 volt 15.6 Ah battery.
All of this, with the exception of the battery, was for almost no extra cost.
The fact that I had been a long time customer probably had some influence on the deal I recieved, but anyone can expect great service from them - they're great people to deal with.
Looking at the beamshots, you see how good the Betty is - it's almost as bright & has a better beam but uses two less LED's than an IBlaast IX. But you definately pay big bucks for one!
If you look at my set up, it cost me a little over half the price of a Betty, now has what I believe to be an even better/smoother beam spread (due to a good optics combo), AND it puts out honest 4500 plus lumens.
If you are looking for something mega bright with a good build quality, plus the option of a certain degree of customising at a decent price, give them a try.
Cheers,
Digger.
ps. Eric is currently working on a new 80mm light with 3 x triple XML's. After initial testing he said that it's "in another league"
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Originally Posted by fujio001
I'm assuming @ 3000ma that all the triples are in parallel and seeing 1000ma ea.
) Regardless if you think you'd really need more output you better order the white cane now because when the sun comes up you're going to need it. 
