REVIEW: CREE MC-E Diving Light

[gcbryan]

Is anyone able to comment on how the output compares (brightness, width of beam) to the Uk Aquasun eLED?

Also - what is the main difference between the MC-E and P7 verison (in laymans terms)?

The MC-E has a slightly tighter beam as compared to the P7 and both are about the same brightness. I have the MC-E but I've seen the two compared and the MC-E was a little brighter and had slightly tighter focus.

The UK Aquasun eled should be about the same as the P7 described here (I believe it used a P7) but I can't say for sure. I've seen one out of the water and know someone who has used one in the water and he compares it to the UK Light Cannon in terms of output.

I had a Light Cannon and my MC-E was a little brighter than the LC but overall was very similar.

This is all very subjective but those are my impressions.

 

[rack201]

The choice between the P7 and MC-E version still has me hung. I realise the advertised lumens isn't to be believed but 900 vs 640?

Anyway own both and have beamshots?

Cheers

 

[bevansmw]

I don't have any comparisons of the MC-E K-bin vs. SSC P7 C-bin used in these lights to compare them but I can read the spec sheets well enough.

The MC-E K-bin has a minimum flux rating @ 2.8A & 25 deg C of 647.5 lumens and max of 752.5 within that bin which is what is used in that light.

If an M-bin was installed in the MC-E light that would change to 752.5-857.5 lumens.

The SSC P7 C-bin is rated @ 2.8A & 25 deg C for 700-800 lumens which is what is used in the light. The D-bin is 800-900 lumens.

I think these lights are fully driving the LEDs even though they say they provide 1.5A digitally regulated output I think that is what is coming out at the cells. With the two 18650 batts with a full charge of 4.2V each for 8.4V that is 12.6W which is enough to drive either of the two LEDs at 2.8A with some energy lost as heat in the driver and batts.

In the end I opted for the P7 version and changed the LED from the CSXO to a DSWOI. With the P7's the designator on them DSWOI indicates the bin, color and forward voltage required to drive the LED. I opted for the higher bin with a whiter color and lower forward voltage required to drive it, which reduces power consumption since the max rec. drive current of 2.8 amps is the same for both the DSWOI and DSWOJ. I duno if the CSXO is an I or J so I may or may not have increased the burn time in the process as well. The DSWOI was like $20 mounted on a star-board and shipped from amilite in S. Korea.

The major difference between the two though is the type of beam you get out of the reflector. With the MC-E the beam is probably a little tighter and you can see the four dies from the LED in the center of the beam. The P7 is a bit floodier and you can see the shots I took using mine above.

 

[krulle]

My story about the dealextreme SSC P7 version:

Last winter, I started reading about it, and saw that many people praised this light? As I needed another lamp, I made the step, as it was only about $81.

As I saw that many people were on the waiting-list in December, I ordered it right away to have it soon enough. I also ordered the flat to round plug, to use in in Europe.

Within one week, the status was set to sent, and I could also check that on the site of the Post-service. Then it took about 3 weeks before I heard something more: a letter from the Belgian Customs Authoroties => my package was held due to fraude ...

What happened: Dealextreme declared a value of about $6. Not at all realistic for such a box.
=> had to pay the taxes double + €25 of administration .... (over 50% of the value). In the end it was thus costing me around €108.

Nothing to do about it. It wasn't my fault that the value was not declared correct, but I had to pay the fine anyway to get the goods. So I agreed to pay, they came with the package, and collected the money.

After opening the package, it appeared that the convertor-plug was missing. What a bummer, I already payed the taxes and fine for as well the light as for the plug.

It took a few mail with Dealextreme, but in the end they sent me a convertorplug for free. Luckily no problems with customs this time.

Before diving, I tested the light on max, and it burns for about 1,5hrs

Last week I took it for 2 dives. Two times 45min, maximum dept of 15,5m.
The light did not leak, and the bezel stayed on tight.

Medium power was sufficient for most of the dive, on the worst vis situations, the high power mode was welcome.

To be honest, I was very impressed with the light-out-put. It was as least as good as the greenforce light from my buddies (HID 50 Pro). They had more burning-time offcourse, but this is the least you can expect for a light that costs 5 times as much.


I the end, I am one happy diver with this this dive light.

 

[tactical_hid]

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have these things in stock and ready to ship from USA. They are stocked in California and we ship Priority Mail so you get it in 2-3 days.

No need to wait months and purchase from DealExtreme.... And if something goes wrong with it, we do have a warranty policy, and you won't have to pay a fortune to send it back to Hong Kong and wait a month.

 

[Adgie]

Ordered my light this week from tacticalhid.com. Delivery to San Diego was only 2 days. The fancy magnetic box was pretty beaten up when I opened the packing but everything otherwise looked to be in good, new order.

Had a short soak at 130fsw today here's my initial review:

1. On the surface, the light is deceivingly average. The outer beam spreads out pretty wide and it doesn't seem so spectacular. In a dark garage, it was noticeably brighter than my PCa.

Under water, this sucker was pretty bright. Low setting was comparable to my buddy's Princentontec, High beam was fairly comparable to my other buddy's Light Canon. The LC was a whiter light - but very comparable outputs levels and penetration of the cold, low viz water in SoCal.

2. Did NOT flood. I didn't do the spring mod because I wanted to test this out of the box. Will be doing a few more deep dives so we will see how it holds up. If it floods (or I see it loosening up), I'll clean it up and then do the spring mod.

3. No problems rotating the dimmer at depth or coming up. No noticeable loosening of the light head at depth as I have seen reported.

4. I was holding the light torch style so the form factor of the head wasn't an issue. This light really needs to have a nice goodman handle accessory. Its a shame to stick this nice aluminum stick in a neoprene glove. It loses some of its hard-core-ness.

5. The very small eye-hole allows for a small key ring to be attached, however I could not get both loops of the ring through and this caused the ring to open up during the dive - a potential loss. Also the key ring scratched up the black paint on the light pretty easily. I think I will replace this with a few loops of good cave line and attach the ring to the line.

Overall, this light is a no-brainer for a recreational backup light and is very compelling as a primary (pending burn-time test ). For its price/size ratio, I don't think I will every purchase a light canon or any other heavy pistol grip light.


-Adrian

 

[us2000ua]

I just got mine today from Hong Kong, it's SSC P7. I'll try it on Monday. I took it apart and spring doesn't look like one on sffrenchman's post#166 on page 17. It looks like mine little thinner, maybe they changed it. I don't know if I want to remove one ring from it. If this light is flooded is it completely ruined of after you dry it and use new battery it's going to work again???

 

[gcbryan]

I just got mine today from Hong Kong, it's SSC P7. I'll try it on Monday. I took it apart and spring doesn't look like one on sffrenchman's post#166 on page 17. It looks like mine little thinner, maybe they changed it. I don't know if I want to remove one ring from it. If this light is flooded is it completely ruined of after you dry it and use new battery it's going to work again???

There's no guarantee. It will probably work after a flood if you don't wait too long to soak everything in warm water, dry it out completely and then brush/scrub the visible "brown crap" that forms on the circuit board.

It's this shorting out of the circuit board that is the issue. The Loctite or whatever they use generally keeps the light from flooding for 3 or 4 dives even if your spring is too long.

The test is just to take the bezel off and press the reflector down and see if it will go below the o-ring since the glass lens needs to be able to fully compress that o-ring.

If the spring is too long it keeps that from happening which keeps the o-ring from doing is job.

 

[cram]

The very small eye-hole allows for a small key ring to be attached, however I could not get both loops of the ring through and this caused the ring to open up during the dive - a potential loss. Also the key ring scratched up the black paint on the light pretty easily. I think I will replace this with a few loops of good cave line and attach the ring to the line.

Another option that has worked for a few of us is to attach a cable tie to the light. They fit perfectly in the groove where the textured area meets the non-textured area. Then loop your key-ring or whatever under the cable tie. If you use the groove nearer the head of the light, it even balances nicely to minimize the dangliness.

 

[Chiung]

Follow up on my experience:

First light flooded after a few dives - likely due to front bezel o-ring compression at depth.

DX sent replacement.

Cut down spring and also tightened bezel at depth ~110' (it was tight on surface but loose at depth)

Several dozen dives down to ~120' with no problems.