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Solar Storm XT40 + Xtar VP2 + Torchy 3400mah + Battery Box - with pictures...

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#1 ·
Evening guys,

Review of the Solar Storm XT40 with battery box

$52.82 SolarStorm XT40 4*Cree XM-L2 U2 4-Mode 3000LM LED Bike Light / Headlamp - black / 1*battery pack / US plug at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping



After running the SSX2 and SSX3 the XT40 is my new fav trail daylight bringer!



XT40

Looks fantastic on the bars...







Daylight! ...



Beam shots







Comparisons

Some low, medium, high comparisons

LOW...



MEDIUM...



HIGH (the distance, height, and throw of the light is phenomenal. Look at the trees and the ground after the trees)...



Battery box fits snugly in the Blur frame


Heat concerns

When moving on High the XT40 is warm to the touch, after a fast descent its timid to the touch. Once stationary it gets hot to touch, after around 2-3 minutes it dims down slightly and puts itself into medium mode!

This is great as sometimes I forget to turn onto low when stopping for a mid ride snack etc.

On low and medium modes, both moving and stationary heat remains low.The heatsink appears to work as intended, heating up quickly on high mode and dissipating the heat efficiently when moving, with built in protection once stopped. The above tests have been on the recent balmy 16-18*c nights too, come next weekend riding in single digit figures i'd wager it to run even cooler.

Xtar VP2 Charger

Xtar VP2 charger considered to be one of the best 2 bays on the market. Has a 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 amp charge setting, volt reading, and took around 2.5 hours for a pair on full setting. (This is quicker than my old Nitecore I4 which only delivered 0.375 amp when all four bays used)

Perfect cutoff at 4.19v...



Four Torchy 3400 mah unprotected 18650 fit perfect in the solarstorm battery box and lid seals fully...



Nice secure screw down top cap...



Batteries @ 3.76 from 4.19 volts, not bad after a 2.5 hour ride on x4 CREE XM - L2 U2 with a mix of medium and high...



Conclusion

Overall i'd rate the XT40 very highly, I don't really feel the need to wear a headtorch anymore, the beam cast in terms of width and throw is truly astonishing. SSX2 and SSX3 are confined to the drawer for spares. Medium setting is really enough for anything but the steepest of trails, high is just mind blowing.
 
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#54 ·
I don't have a battery pack with sufficient capacity for a lighthead with ~3A draw and didn't want to play the battery pack lottery, so we went with the FastTech one with the battery case and got some Panasonic 3400's from a separate site (the stated shipping time for a FT order with batteries was ridiculous).
 
#63 ·
Trail walk-thru with XT-40

While at work today I had some luck and had time to sneak out to do a quick walk through at one of the local trails. Was a really nice day today with temps in the upper 60's F. Lot's of leaf cover on the trails but pretty dry conditions. I was dying to go for a ride but for now I had to settle for a quick after lunch walk through ( ~ 10:30pm ).

Using my mini AA torch to guide me to a good spot on the trail I turned the XT-40 on ( low ). Goodness this thing puts out! Even on low it has more light than the typical single XM-L lamp. The mode levels are space very well IMO. Medium is more light than anyone will typically need and HIGH....all I can say is , "Whoa"!! Very impressive. Could be I was wrong about this lamp not making a good helmet lamp. Most of the light is very forward throwing. People who are looking for more of a flood pattern might be disappointed...however, there is more light and spill on both medium and high to be very useful as a bar lamp.

If someone was to want a little more close in flood it shouldn't be too hard to mod two of the lower reflectors to add a little more flood. As for me I like it the way it is. I'm going to try mounting it on the helmet just for kicks. In my honest opinion though I think it will make an awesome bar lamp but as bright as the forward throw is I'm betting it will light things up a good ways mounted on a helmet as well.

After testing the XT40 I was so stoked I asked bossman if I might call out tomorrow. :smilewinkgrin: Bossman was in a good mood. If no one calls out tomorrow I'm good to go for a sweet full moon ride. Tomorrow night is suppose to be just as warm and just as dry with a full moon begging me to do some major riding. Nothing like a warm fall full moon ride with the sound of crunching leaves under my tires and the smell of wood smoke drifting in the air. I'm almost getting a HO just thinking about it. ;)

Now if someone calls out tomorrow I'll likely be spewing 4-letter words all night. :yesnod:
 
#70 ·
While at work today I had some luck and had time to sneak out to do a quick walk through at one of the local trails. Was a really nice day today with temps in the upper 60's F. Lot's of leaf cover on the trails but pretty dry conditions. I was dying to go for a ride but for now I had to settle for a quick after lunch walk through ( ~ 10:30pm ).

Using my mini AA torch to guide me to a good spot on the trail I turned the XT-40 on ( low ). Goodness this thing puts out! Even on low it has more light than the typical single XM-L lamp. The mode levels are space very well IMO. Medium is more light than anyone will typically need and HIGH....all I can say is , "Whoa"!! Very impressive. Could be I was wrong about this lamp not making a good helmet lamp. Most of the light is very forward throwing. People who are looking for more of a flood pattern might be disappointed...however, there is more light and spill on both medium and high to be very useful as a bar lamp.

If someone was to want a little more close in flood it shouldn't be too hard to mod two of the lower reflectors to add a little more flood. As for me I like it the way it is. I'm going to try mounting it on the helmet just for kicks. In my honest opinion though I think it will make an awesome bar lamp but as bright as the forward throw is I'm betting it will light things up a good ways mounted on a helmet as well.

After testing the XT40 I was so stoked I asked bossman if I might call out tomorrow. :smilewinkgrin: Bossman was in a good mood. If no one calls out tomorrow I'm good to go for a sweet full moon ride. Tomorrow night is suppose to be just as warm and just as dry with a full moon begging me to do some major riding. Nothing like a warm fall full moon ride with the sound of crunching leaves under my tires and the smell of wood smoke drifting in the air. I'm almost getting a HO just thinking about it. ;)

Now if someone calls out tomorrow I'll likely be spewing 4-letter words all night. :yesnod:
I was awestruck, and still am when riding out with the XT40, mindblowing how much it turns the trails into daylight.

I use it on the bar solely, not tried it on the helmet. Its the first light i've properly felt I can use without a helmet light, on all but the most twisty trails.

I used to run two SSX2 on bar and helmet, then a SSX3 on bar and SSX2 on helmet. Recently i've just been taking out the XT40 on bar.
 
#69 ·
If you guys are getting the same batch as me I think you'll find the heat sink fantastic, only mode it gets hot on is high when stopped...

"Heat concerns

When moving on High the XT40 is warm to the touch, after a fast descent its timid to the touch. Once stationary it gets hot to touch, after around 2-3 minutes it dims down slightly and puts itself into medium mode!

This is great as sometimes I forget to turn onto low when stopping for a mid ride snack etc.

On low and medium modes, both moving and stationary heat remains low.The heatsink appears to work as intended, heating up quickly on high mode and dissipating the heat efficiently when moving, with built in protection once stopped. The above tests have been on the recent balmy 16-18*c nights too, come next weekend riding in single digit figures i'd wager it to run even cooler."
 
#66 · (Edited)
Last night I was able to do some brightness tests comparing the light to my 3x Securitying lamp. I set my camera on manual and tested both lights on high. Also tested the current draw on the 3 settings:

Low .34A
Med .64A
Hi 1.07A

3x Securitying
Room Darkness Ceiling Wall Light


Xt40
Room Ceiling Darkness Light Photography


If you click on the images and go back and forth, you can see that the XT40 is significantly brighter, and in my opinion, has a smother transition from hot spot to flood. Seems like a tighter beam pattern as well. Mine came with XM-L's so you guys that got one with L2's should be even brighter. Hopefully tonight I can get outside to test them, weather has been wet around my house.
 
#67 ·
Things didn't go like I wanted today. I got called in and besides that the weather took an unexpected turn. No matter. Hopefully I'll get the weekend and next week I have off anyway so, to be continued..

Oh, I forgot to mention that I did do some quick ( 5m ) lux comparisons with some of my other cheap Chinese lamps and the XT40 beat out all of them. I did not however compare it to the Gloworm X2 which will make an interesting test when I get the time. Over the weekend I'll try to get some thermal measurements done as well. I did notice that when I was shining the light back in the woods that the lamp did get quite warm when used in the high mode. Still I'm not going to take the lamp apart to investigate more till I at least get a couple of good rides in.
 
#73 ·
I finally got an email back from DXsoul about them sending me the light with XM-L's instead of L2's. They offered me $5 back and I took it. Anyone ordering from them I would contact them ahead of time and confirm that they have ones with XM-L2 in stock.

Or for only 7 bucks more than the light only at DXsoul order it from gearbest and get a mystery battery thrown in for fun!
 
#75 ·
Bad News

I was going to try to take a ride with the XT40 tonight but once again got tied up with chores so for some reason I decided to take the front off the lamp. My plan was to just polish the emitter domes a bit and to buff the reflectors and front lens. Took the front off and got a big surprise. The heat sink arrangement for this lamp is well, putting it mildly, almost non-existent.

The emitters are attached to a MCPCB ( metal-core-printed-circuit-board...for those who don't know what that means.) No problem with the board but it is only able to dissipate heat through four tiny posts that hold the board. No thermal paste or anything else for that matter holds the board in place other than the pressure from the reflectors and the front lens.
These four posts are only about 4mm x 4mm in size. Practically "squat". I would of rather had at least a small lip going all way round but such was not the case. I guess this helps explain why the lamp is so light weight. With this kind of arrangement, no way would I trust to use this lamp to use unless I brought a back-up. I threw some thermal paste on the four posts for the hell of it but with such a small contact area I doubt it's going to make that much of a difference.

When finished I tried to mount the lamp to my helmet. When mounted I noticed that the lamp moved much too easily while on the mount. When I took the lamp back off I noticed that the plastic O-ring mount did not have a rubber insert. :mad: Luckily I had another plastic mount in my parts box but jeez...I think this is a new level for low quality standards. Oh, almost forgot to mention, this lamp doesn't use a typical rubber o-ring to prevent water ingress through the front. :rolleyes: I would think it a good idea to put some clear silicone around the outside edge of the front lens just to be sure. As it is right now, one good rain and it's a goner ( IMO ).
 
#77 ·
I would consider Gloworm instead of Gemini.

The Gloworm X2 3.1 outputs about 1500 lumens. It is priced just a little more than the Gemini Duo, but has output just shy of the Olympia. After introducing the Xera and substituting the XM-L for XM-L2 emitters in the Duo and Olympia, Gemini hasn't done much improvement to their lights, batteries or mounts in the last 12months. Gemini was on the top 3 of my list last winter, but I'd say the competition has left them behind for now.
 
#78 ·
Quote Originally Posted by C.M.S
^^ well, that's a buzz kill ^^ after some thought I'm going to invest in some Gemini lights . I mean I guess that xt40 might be ok if you rode when dry only and used it in typical chilly fall climate .
Yeah, we'll see how it goes. A lot depends on how much current is going through the emitters. The MCPCB is pretty big ( though not thick ) and some heat is picked-up by the metal reflectors. I just wish the contact area connecting to the lamp body was better.

On the upside it feels fine on the helmet. I did some more shine-arounds last night while on the job. From what I can tell the useable distance range is going to be somewhere around 160-200 ft. I'll get a better feel for range when I actually take it for a ride. Shining the lamp around while standing still is fine but nothing substitutes the experience of how well you can see with a lamp unless you are moving.
 
#83 ·
Does your XT40 look like this from another thread?
View attachment 937713
Close but not exactly. Different board, different LED's. Since I can't see behind the board I have no idea what is behind it.

@ C.M.S. ; If you can afford the good lights by all means buy them. Since you ride the twisty wooded trails you might want a wider beam coming off the helmet at some point. Right now the X3's are looking good at providing that. I don't doubt an Xera is a nice lamp but it is a single emitter lamp and as such will have a much narrower beam pattern. I have more than a couple single emitter lamps and while I like many of them for certain types of trails I'm not satisfied with the narrow beam patterns. I want something a little wider and a little brighter coming off the helmet ( although not too wide )
 
#86 ·
I've took mine on many wet rides, pretty much rode into a cloud up on one of the peaks here, no issues with water ingress thus far. Temps also seem ok and only gets hot if on high and not moving, once moving its just timid to touch again.

Does this mean the inside is getting too hot?

The fact the outer heats up so quickly on high, says to me the heat is making the outer casing quite well.

I may have to take the front off mine, but not sure I want to break anything LOL
 
#87 ·
I've took mine on many wet rides, pretty much rode into a cloud up on one of the peaks here, no issues with water ingress thus far. Temps also seem ok and only gets hot if on high and not moving, once moving its just timid to touch again.

Does this mean the inside is getting too hot?

The fact the outer heats up so quickly on high, says to me the heat is making the outer casing quite well.

I may have to take the front off mine, but not sure I want to break anything LOL
I can't answer your question but at least it's encouraging to hear that someone has one that seems to be holding up.

It could be that the emitters are so under-driven that heat isn't an issue. I'm not a rocket scientist so thermal dynamics is not my field. Regardless I'd feel better if there was a better thermal path to the outer body. In the other thread someone mentioned something about a thermal power-down circuit. When I use mine I'll make note if I see my lamp powering down. I'll also do a 5m lux test ( before and after ) to make note of any loss in luminous output. I may also do some static thermal testing at home to see what happens. Regardless I never test a lamp more than a couple minutes without moving air.
 
#88 ·
XT40 trail test

Did a quick little ride tonight using the XT40 on the helmet ( Gloworm X2 (v3) on the bars ). Turned out to be a cold ride, 45°F which is cold by CMD standards as I hate colder weather.

I rode a short section of mild single track that was pretty much completely covered with leaves but at least the trails were dry so that helped. I have to admit I was pretty impressed with what I was seeing. The XT40 was working very well on the helmet. The size of the lamp is deceiving as it is no more noticeable weight-wise than any other typical single emitter helmet lamp. Matter of fact I would say it is actually lighter!

First thing I wanted to make certain was to make sure the XT40 did the brunt of the work while doing my ride. Most of the ride I only had the X2 set to low ( ~ 300 lumen ). After that most of the time I was only using the low and medium setting on the XT40. Surprisingly the low setting works very well at moderate speeds and the beam pattern was working great regardless of what output level I was using. When I turned the XT40 up to medium mode I pretty much had no problem seeing anything. High level only put more icing on the cake.

I really, really liked the wider conical beam pattern coming off the helmet. When I came to a particular 4-way trail intersection, with all the leaf cover it would of been real hard to pick-up all the trails but the XT40 lit up the whole area well enough for me to see all the choices at one time. This is something that the narrower spot lamps can't do.

Not long after I found a nice trail with a pretty good straight away section. I paced off about 180 ft. At that spot I found a small log ( ~ 10cm diameter ) and laid it on the trail. I wanted to see if I could see that small ( natural ) object at 180 ft. ( 55m ). I tested both the Gloworm and the XT40 separately to see if I could pick-up the top of the log. Both lamps could pick-up the log. The only difference was the XT40 was doing it with a wider beam pattern. Pretty much this confirms the "useable range" of the XT40 that I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. Later when I got back to the parking area I found that when shining the XT40 over a grass field the light will reach much more further. So far I'm liking what I'm seeing.

The trails I were riding were full of twists and turns. The wider beam pattern coming off of the helmet just had me seeing everything, WAY before I had to. This I just had to love.

Obviously riding in the fall has some advantages. There is isn't the same amount of trail-side foliage that can block or reflect back light but on the flip side there is more debris covering the trails making them harder to see. I think this is one of the first rides I've done in the fall at night were I felt completely comfortable in every situation. In the fall the wider beam pattern off the helmet works fantastic.

Tomorrow I'm planning a ride at a park with some sweet 7 miles of roller-coaster type single track. If all goes well it should make for an interesting evaluation / ride.
 
#94 ·
Did a quick little ride tonight using the XT40 on the helmet ( Gloworm X2 (v3) on the bars ). Turned out to be a cold ride, 45°F which is cold by CMD standards as I hate colder weather.

I rode a short section of mild single track that was pretty much completely covered with leaves but at least the trails were dry so that helped. I have to admit I was pretty impressed with what I was seeing. The XT40 was working very well on the helmet. The size of the lamp is deceiving as it is no more noticeable weight-wise than any other typical single emitter helmet lamp. Matter of fact I would say it is actually lighter!

*snip*
It just gets better and better :D

I find the battery LEDs can drop to one very quickly on my x4 3400mah pack, but I can get another 2- 4hours on my ride without getting the blinking. On getting home batteries tend to be around 3.67volts. I think my cable might be too thin for the high ampage?
 
#91 ·
Continued from Test ride 1



I knew someone was going to ask this. While riding I was wearing full gloves so I couldn't tell if the lamp was getting hot or not and it would of been too much of a PITA to remove the gloves. Regardless I need to do a proper thermal test inside under ambient room temp using an infrared thermometer and with a fan to provide moving air. When I do that I'll also take some lux readings just to see how much light output is lost when the lamp heats up. I don't know if I'll test the lamps ability to provide a self thermal power-down because I don't like it when the lamp heats up beyond 125°F ( 51.6°C ). Last thing I want to do is toast the LED's. If there is a thermal ( circuit ) power-down while I'm testing it I'll let you know.

@ evasive: You might also consider getting a flood lens for the Titan and running that on the bars with XT40 on the helmet. If you own one of the typical MS helmet mounts you would be good to go. While riding tonight I tried riding with just the XT40 on ( bar lamp off ) just to see what that would be like. Actually worked pretty well but you don't get much light close to the bike that way. I figure with just a small lamp on the bars putting out 300 lumen in a flood pattern you'd be good at seeing stuff close to the bike. Either way the setup you propose will likely work fine. Don't be surprised if you find you only need to run low off the bars most of the time when using the XT40 on the bars.

On a side note I noticed when I got back to the car and took the helmet off that the battery indicator was on the last green led and flashing. This surprised me. I was using my Xeccon 6000mAh Lipo battery and really hadn't been riding that long. To check this out I took the connecters apart and reattached. When I did this the indicators went back to three green leds. I turned the lamp back on and did some more shine-arounds. When finished the lamp was on two leds ( and holding ). Basically what this tells me is that the ( XT40 ) connector doesn't work as well with standard MS type connectors. It works okay but if the connection isn't real tight it will give a false reading with the indicators. ( note, the XT40 comes with a connector that uses the screw-on type sleeve. If it gives me any problems I'll just make my own adapter but for now I'm fine. )
 
#90 ·
I'm still waiting on mine from gearbest, but I'm reassured to read this. I'll be using mine as a bar light with a Gemini Titan on my helmet. Night riding for me is a fall activity, which generally means temps below 50, and I'll climb with just the Gemini (or nothing, if the moon is out). The XT40 is for the downhills. The Gemini gives plenty of light for looking through turns, but I'm excited about having the big light for the straightaways and the 2nd light angle. Can't wait!
 
#97 ·
XT40: Trail test #2

I pulled another ride tonight with the XT40 on the helmet but this time a little longer. Truthfully it was such a nice night I wanted to ride another couple hours but unfortunately I wasn't feeling really well tonight. With this in mind I once again rode my local trails so I could bail out early if needed. With the stomach problems I was having I had to be careful not to over do it. I hate it when stuff like this happens but it is what it is and I had to deal with it.

I did however find a couple good-swoopy-fast sections of trail to ride. This once again enabled me to test the XT40's ability to illuminate my way on some really fast technical sections. Man, I was dodging/hopping roots, ruts and trees as if they weren't there. If it wasn't for the stomach woes I would of been having the time of my life. I think this is the first time I've ever rode these sections at night with this much confidence and comfort. I almost felt like I was riding during the day. The XT40 on the helmet had me seeing all the best lines even before I could get to the turns. As a result I was pushing the same speed I might normally ride in the day. Too bad my mojo just wasn't there to help me out tonight. With the stomach discomfort I was experiencing and lack of energy I just had to call it quits early and limp slowly back to the car. Crap I hate when this stuff happens.

Some after thoughts; I didn't see the lamp heating up too much and it was a balmy 65°F night. Compared to the Gloworm X2 they were both about the same temperature.

Tomorrow is looking good for a ride. I just hope I feel better. For some reason the change of seasons always throws my insides for a loop. Usually takes me a couple weeks to acclimate to the time and change in temperatures. Funny too, just when I was getting used to the cold we had a warm day.
 
#98 ·
I finally made it out with mine last night and used it as a bar light with an x2 as a helmet light. My ride consisted of a 1 hour climb up a logging road, 30 minute high speed decent, and then about a 30 minute XC trail back out to the car. I ran it on low up the logging road and ran both lights on high for the decent and trail out. It worked well as a bar light but I think I want something with a little more light around the front tire. My next night ride I am going to try the XT40 as a helmet light and my Securitying 3x with the wide angle lens on the bars.

I also spun the Chinese light roulette wheel again and ordered another XT40 off of gearbest. Hopefully this one comes with XM-L2's as advertised. It will be interesting to compare to my current one with XM-L's.
 
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