Thinking of getting another Cree torch for night riding. I’m happy with how my TR-401 has performed but suffer from trail eclipse when somebody behind me has something brighter!

But they seem to come in a few different variants… 1600 or 2000 lumen, “501b” or “502b”. Does anyone have experience with these and know which to get?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UltraFire-1600LM-CREE-XM-L-XML-T6-LED-WF-501B-502B-Flashlight-Torch-Lamp-18650-/330902148202?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Camping_LightsLanternsTorches&var=&hash=item4d0b4e146a
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UltraFire-12W-2000LM-CREE-XML-T6-LED-Zoomable-Focus-18650-Flashlight-Lamp-Torch-/141317733578?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Camping_LightsLanternsTorches&hash=item20e7317cca

Ignore the claimed lumens as they are usually just plain impossible. Flashlightwiki will give you an idea of the light output at different currents, so by definition an XML-T6 will give you 910-975 lumens at 3amps – and the chances are that a single 18650 torch won’t be running at 3amps.

The “T6” is the brightness bin within that type of LED, so an XML-T6 is an XML LED of a certain brightness (280-300 lumens at 700mA) while an XM-L2 T6 is an XM-L2 LED of a different brightness (318-341 lumens at 700mA)

The XML-T6 is getting a bit old now… superseded by the U2 and then U3 bins. I would go for the even newer XM-L2 LED. My personal recommendation is this XM-L2 501b as the driver pushes about 1 amp on MED giving you a useful 450-500 lumens and a run time of 2.5-3 hours (as a comparison my previous XML-T6 501bs are 0.6amps on MED). On FULL my XM-L2 pushes about 2.5 amps I think and is nice and bright. And it is £6!

The 501b/502b is the body/tail configuration – compare the tailcaps and finish with this 502b. There’s very little in it to be honest – it’s the LED and the driver that make the difference, and while you can tell the LED from the spec sheet you won’t really know what the driver is doing till you get your light and test it.