Sorry Miller, you have lost something in the translation of my posts. Let me recap for you.
Yes, this is a factory assembled stock light and NOT a host, although at this point maybe a host would have been better. Before receiving this light I noticed that the light shipped from Singapore and not China, which was strange considering Jaxman resides in China. Upon receiving the light I first noticed smaller than expected size of the shipping box. However, the shipping box was in excellent shape so I proceeded to open the box. The second thing I noticed was the wrinkled, flimsy white box with hand writing indicating “Z1”. This was strange considering the pictures clearly show a factory box AND virtually every other light I have ever purchased is sent in a factory box?
Also strange to me, was the condition of this white box, considering the outer shipping box was in perfect shape and ample foam was used inside the shipping box completely protecting the white flimsy box. SO, my logical conclusion was that this box was bent and wrinkled before it was ever shipped.
At this point, I have concerns about the light. I have heard of fakes coming from aliexpress, as a matter of fact, I just received a fake Hugsby X1 on the same order. So, I wanted to inspect the light to see if it was
1. Real or fake
2. Used or new
3. Second quality, such as a customer return or something
4. Or simply a sloppily assembled light
Upon removing the head, the next thing I find is a chip in the outer edge of the lens. This only serves to intensify my concerns about the quality of the light that I paid $58 for (yes, I find $58 a fairly high price for this light and I DO expect high quality at that price point.)
At this point I now have real concerns about the overall quality of the light. I am thinking I could just send it back for a replacement OR I could check the rest of the light and if it is good, I could just request a factory box and new lens. I choose the latter. SO, let me first clarify that removing this cover has nothing to do with grip. I have used the rubber gripping items, such as the mouse pad, for similar purposes with other lights, but this is not the case here. Now, I realize that some factory lights cannot be disassembled. HOWEVER, I am a logical man, as I alluded to earlier, AND I had previously watched the Paul Bo Jaxman host assembly video. It was perfectly clear in the video that the LED Center Cover simply screws on and off, as he did so with a pair of tweezers. So, I try the to remove the center cover with my pair of trusty tweezers pictured below. I quickly realized that I would break the tweezers if I twisted any harder. I then try to use a 17 x 1” brad nail in each hole, a technique I remember DJBurkes telling about (although he used safety pins). So, my wife holds the body of the flashlight while I attempt to turn the cover with these nails. Again, I was actually about to bend these nails! So, tonight I went out and bought a pair of snap-ring pliers with four different “jaws”, only to find that the holes in the center cover of the Z1 are too small for the pliers. I have attempted to show this in the picture below although it may be hard to tell that the pliers tips are too large for the holes in the center cover. SO, this is where I am at right now, I hope this clarifies things. I DID test the light to see if it works and it DOES appear to be in working order (I have not tried any different modes). Nonetheless, it hasn’t instilled much more confidence for me.
Lastly, I DO believe the zooming action of the Jaxman is FAR superior to the zooming action of the Cometa. The Jaxman is tighter, smoother and quieter! HOWEVER, my comment about the Cometa was simply that I had NO issues whatsoever with my Cometa, other than the previously mentioned inferior zooming action, while at this point, I have not had the hassle-free experience with my Jaxman. I do however, realize that this is not the norm for either light, hence the reason in the first place why I wanted to check out the purported quality of the Jaxman light.
Hopefully, this clarifies things and I apologize if I was not clear in my previous posts.