Mothra has landed!
Happy Butterfly arrived today and I am half impressed.
http://www.kaidomain.com/Product/Details.S022912
With its 2800mA [rated] circuity, of course this 4X CW XM-L2 lamp is not appreciably brighter than any 2x Cree of the same class. OTOH, the four glass refector lenses do create a unique beam pattern: very intense hot spot, fading smoothly out from there with virtually none of the ringing or color separation typical with SMOs. Thing is quite hefty, all that mass keeps it from getting hot to the touch no matter how long run on high, even without ventilation. Was concerned at first that maybe there just wasn't good a good thermal path inside and that the LED board was retaining all the heat, but upon opening up the Butteryfly was relieved to see a fairly passible design. Couldn't get off the face plate, is held in fast, but from the back could see what appears to be about a 2 or 3mm thick shiny alloy plate cut to fit closely against the exterior case wall and sealed with thermal paste. Would have liked to see a lip around it but maybe that would not have been possible the way it is all assembled. Not sure but figure the four emitters must be soldered in series to a single board flush up against this plate, there is just a little odd cut out on top (behind the empty spot in front) through which the wires pass from the circuit board, which sits perpendicular to the cross section - there are grooves cut on either side of the interior case wall that support it like a shelf. Inductor coil so that means a booster driver, right? (Sorry I'm such a know-nothing here.) Anyway, plenty of air around both sides of the board, this thing shouldn't fry. Lamp might actually be under-driven, wonder whether it could support closer to 4A. Kind of a waste of the four emitters as it stands, I think. Though given the beams' hot spot, I'd want to swap out a couple of the lenses for wider angled ellipticals first. And of course upgrade to Neutral White... something for KD to consider.
Most interestingly, the power/mode button (four levels brightness, no Strobe, long press for Off) is self contained within the thick back plate, which is finished like glass. In MagicShine style, it illuminates in four different colors to indicate state of charge, and flashes red at the lowest. Most interestingly of all, and which is not mentioned in the product description, is a feature I've not seen on any other light head: When initially connected to the battery pack, or going from any powered mode to Off, the button illuminates for about seven seconds, then flashes ten times before turning off, after which the silicon boot glows in the dark. Thus, the lamp can remain connected when not in use without draining the cells, yay!
Sorry but as HTML is temporarily disabled, may be a while before I figure out how to link pics from my stupid iPad. Have to say, with its smooth satin finish and burnished red anodize, Mothra looks a LOT better in real life than in the shots on KD. Perhaps their watermarking KAIDOMAIN all over everything detracts from the images a teensie-weensie.
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