A lot of guys I know order from there, and yeah, it can take a month or more to get something similar to what you ordered, or completely different, or maybe even what you ordered, etc.

A warning - there's a TON of knock off stuff on there, so the specs are FUDGED. Sometimes its the right part, but factory seconds or recycled returns, etc. Lots of things will be advertised as SUPER DEATH RAY 3000 MegaLight - The Worlds Most Powerful Light! - And its barely a light, etc.

Other times, its more like getting a Rollex Watch, or a Guchi Purse, or a Sonny Camcorder, etc.





If you want more throw, those little domes to disperse the light over the LEDs are just typically held in place by soft silicone, and you can pry them off. I have a De-Domed SST90 LED in a search and rescue light I use, and it increased throw from ~ 112,500 lux at one meter to 203,000 lux at one meter, ~ 80% improvement.


The XML is kind of a large die for throw, a smaller surface area LED would typically throw more as well, etc...for the same reflector.

But as you HAVE them, you could de-dome them, or say a few in the middle, to get the distance out there a bit further.

It made my SST90 LED go from being able to light stuff up well ~ 400-500 yards away, to being able to see stuff 800 yards away.




As for the color of the heat sink: The side attached to the die is using conduction, so the color doesn't matter, just getting a good thermal bond. The side that has to RADIATE the heat should, ideally, be FLAT BLACK. Flat black radiates the most heat...even in the dark, and you can't SEE what color it is.