Review: DRY 3 XM-L T6 CW *PIC HEAVY*

So, I got my hands on one of the best 3 x XM-Ls lights to date. I ordered this on 2/19 and received it 2/29. Ordered through Ric and thew in some extras which was very nice of him! This is the updated 2nd version, not to be confused for the earlier model. Some users have claims of over 2400 OTF Lumens on Turbo. The price is awesome especially for the light output. Believe me, this flashlight will not disappoint.

Specs:
- Powered by 3 x 18650s
- Reverse clicky
- 3 x XM-L T6 Cool White
- 4 modes: Turbo (step-down feature after 20 secs, direct drive), High, Med, Low
- Mode memory
- Glass lens
- SMO reflector

Pros:
- Price
- Insanely bright!
- Nice hot spot
- UI is nice. I really like the turbo with that step down feature
- Build quality is ok, just some areas need improvement on
- Came with spare parts! Awesome!

Cons:
- Doesn't come properly lubed
- Battery holder rattles inside the body
- Head doesn't sit flush against the rest of the body
- Could use more aluminum mass for better heat dissipation, but for the price it's hard complain about
- Driver crackling noise on lower modes

Driver testing:
Prior to testing all electrical contacts were cleaned with deoxit. I got rid of most of the nasty black grime off it. All batteries (NCR18650A) were freshly charged and let it rest for <30 minutes.

Looks kind of hand soldered. Silk print shows up an ATMEL 211. Searches come out to be a IC switch?


Power MOSFET


Tail cap readings:
Turbo: 4.51 A (direct drive)
High: 2.47A
Med: 959 mA
Low: 186 mA

Light output testing:
Testing was done in a dark room. There is still a degree of error using this method so take it as an approximation.

Light box lumens:
> 2352 lm on turbo @ 1 sec
> 2162 lm on turbo (stable)
> 1449 lm on high

Ceiling light bounce test:
> 2540 lux on turbo
> 1910 lux on high

Lux @ 1 meter:
> 28000 lux on turbo
> 21000 lux on high


Flashlight pics:

















Slight imperfection












Beam shots:
Taken on at my usual spot me and my girlfriend go. :yh:

Low


Med


High


Turbo




Left: f/8 1/25 sec - Right: f/8 1/50 sec
Low


Med


High


Turbo


Final thoughts:
This light when you first look at it you might think it looks plain, has outrageous lumen claims, too good to be true. When you turn this on, DAM! It's a real sleeper light! The down side is that this light is heat sinked poorly and creates a lot of heat, really fast.

Nice review. This is the best triple xm-l, dollar per lumen.

IMO, the light is heatsinked as well as can be expected. Sure, it uses MCPCB, but most lights these days do. The MCPCB is bolted directly to the head, i.e. it isn't bolted to a pill that is screwed into the head. The head is directly interfaced with the MCPCB.

What is the difference between the "old" version and the "updated" version? I bought one in the CQG GB, in neutral white. Wish I had a lightbox Also, I've only been feeding mine old Sanyos; yours gets fed them gourmet NCR18650A. Wonder what it'd do on IMRs :eg:

Edit: recently took some pics of this light disassembled. Not as good pics as Jufran88's, but they might be helpful for some.
http://s187.photobucket.com/user/bshanahan14rulz/library/cpf/DRY 3x XM-L

I'm gonna be adding this to my review in a bit, but yes they are epoxied to the head. The head itself is the whole heat sink. Pretty cool. They have this isolation ring they used around the emitter to prevent shorts from coming into contact with the reflector. I wonder where they got it.

The old version was a different driver, I believe. When the DRY first came out around July last year? The newer version is the one in the group buy and the one I got.

It seems they used some tiny wires. Maybe 26 gauge? I might mod mines to use 20 gauge if I can fit it through the holes. The LEDS seem to be wired in series if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT:

Here are the pics!

yep, wired in series, that turbo amperage is probably gonna be a good indicator of if changing the emitter wires has helped. Let me know, too. I got the neutral version, so fewer lumens, but it matches the tint of my other XM-L lights, amazingly enough. If anything, I like the tint of this one better, harder to notice the XM-L greens.

I'm actually surprised at how well the emitters are centered, too. That took some very obsessive/compulsive alignment.

So I just finished changing the wires with some 20G. Doesn't really seem to affect the amps on turbo. I get about the same reading.

It looks like those isolation rings fit perfectly against the reflector. So I'm thinking the placed the emitters on the head with the isolation rings and them placed the reflector and slid it around until it was perfect. There is some overlapping epoxy that looks like the emitter moved from it's original placement.

I bet driving this light on IMRs will boost the turbo close to 5A :eg::lasergun:

Have you looked at the KING yet?

Nice review... howabout the price?:eg:

The DRY is $65.00 +$10 more if you want NW, and airmail shipping runs around $8

@jander6442: Thanks! Electron is right about the price. Should have waited a bit longer to save a few bucks lol.

@electron: Yes, I've seen the KING. Very nice light!! The high is about the same as the DRY's turbo! However, I'm not a fan of the color. It looks a lot more sturdy than the DRY and the price keeps getting lower, almost the price of the DRY. It would make one EPIC laser host. :eg:

Yea I wish the KING came in black too, I think many do; I guess we'll just have to live with the color they choose.

Nice, very powerful, worth $65.00 for sure. So, when are you going to gut the B--tch? The host deserves a champion diode or perhaps a Casio threesome would be epic.

Not every flashlight has to turn into a laser... If you have seen 2500lm in person, you would consider keeping the light as well... Chances are, both headlights on your car combined don't put out 2500lm.

My Jetbeam cranks 2000 OTF and the duty cycle is limited only by by the battery. My MX3 with a decent duty cycle is over 2500 lumens.

Now, my beemer has Halo Cat Eyes and will burn the tiny hairs on your forearm if you get close. And i agree not every light has to become a laser , that's up to the owner. There's a guy on Ebay with small custom lights all in excess of 1500 lumens -----Monster. I have them all and wouldn't hesitate the disembowelment of any light in my collection for the opportunity of a better life.

BShanahan14rulz said:

Not every flashlight has to turn into a laser... If you have seen 2500lm in person, you would consider keeping the light as well... Chances are, both headlights on your car combined don't put out 2500lm.

Click to expand...

@electron: I'm tempted to buy it. Maybe I'll wait a bit see how much the price will go down, but judging at it now it won't be much if any at all. Need to save up funds!

@DarkSide: Haha, no plans to make this into a laser. I plan on keeping this baby as it is. I just changed those tiny wires they originally had and put some 20g silicone wire.

I'm planning on an incan build soon. Just waiting for the parts to arrive :eg:

DarkSide said:

Now, my beemer has Halo Cat Eyes and will burn the tiny hairs on your forearm if you get close.

Click to expand...

lol well, you know I didn't mean HIDs. I've got FX-35 bixenons with clears.

I'm talking about the halogens most people use, in their crappy fogged up lenses, being powered by 30guage wire, lol

the RRT3 looks really nice, I wish the reflector design on the DRY were more like that. I hear that it throws very nicely. I can't afford nice things anymore, so this DRY was my chance at cheap handheld lumens :wave:

How much room is there in the driver place ? I need to buy a driver for this flash light.
Most 3A drivers have a big inductor placed on the pcb. I don't know if that fits the DRY.

I have ordered an empty DRY host for my XML leds that I have harvested from flashlight.