Got mine today too. Really nice light. I have no issues with the PWM, cause I can’t tell its there at all. My only “gripe” is with the ring in the beam due to the two-stage reflector shape. Its a minor thing though. Loaded the tail up with an “icy blue” trit. I like it!
A couple of photos:
After all the chaotic tracking, guess what came yesterday? Yep, got it! The USPS tracking emails stopped, but tracking info is now updated - weird... Quality is excellent, threading silky smooth. Not a fan of the button feel - mine is very loose, wobbles around - I'll have to take a look inside to see if there's an issue there. For the pics above, mine seems to have a bigger gap of space around the SS button. No one seemed to complain about it so maybe it's just mine.
The beam is more white than expected - doesn't look like Gunga's beamshots, but that's just a first impression - need to compare with other tints I have in 219B's and 219C's. I know 4000K CREE's would look more yellow. I already received the 4000K 219C's I ordered separately, so could install one and compare.
Overall outstanding though. I'd say my initial measurements of amps and lumens match up well to Dale's, just lower across the board because I used a not so good 14500 cell - MXJO.
I got a pineapple in the mail. I haven’t had a lot of time yet to measure it, or even take it apart, but here it is next to its brass siblings: (late-model CNQG brass 18650, original CNQG brass 18650, Reylight Pineapple, CNQG brass AA, DQG Fairy)
It hasn’t had time to age yet… is still pretty fresh brass.
I did try to measure the PWM though. What I found was:
The only level with a solid “lock” on the frequency was medium; the others are estimates from a signal my meter had difficulty measuring. I’m also not sure it got an accurate number for the low mode, though visually it did look like low was slower than medium.
Another quick pic. I noticed that the different brass finishes were more visible in a different environment. Also, it looks like the head of the Pineapple may have spent more time exposed to air than the other pieces. However, that should all even out after I’ve had a chance to weather and polish it.
You can see a close-up of the surfaces here, or a zoomed-out view below.
Please keep me updated about the button.
For the button, what I did was move the rubber boot inside the collar instead of outside, as it came. To me it feels a bit better, works well. I added some Nyogel where the cap makes contact to the brass collar and the end cap assembly. There's still some wobble but I find it acceptable.I fiddled with a couple o-rings in various places, but it took away the button press ability - not a good thing, so I didn't pursue the O-rings any further.
The tint is a bit warmer than Nichia 5000's I have, but wow, it looks so good for a 4000K LED...
Now all I have to do is add the trit that's been wait'n.
Got mine the other day and it is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. But I can definitely see the PWM. Rey, if you end up producing a revised driver at a faster rate, I will definitely order one.
For what it’s worth, most BLF designs run at about 15 to 20 kHz. The ideal speed is about 20 to 25 kHz, just fast enough to not see and not hear.
The common nanjg driver runs at 4.5 kHz, which many consider too slow because it can be seen and heard.
Rey, this light and its tint/beam and modes are perfect for working on engines, looking for possible leaks, lost bolts, contrast, and such. No shelf queen for mine. Good job and thanks.
Hard for me to tell about CRI, but this is a high CRI light with an AR coated lens. Has anyone seen a problem with this? Thought TK and others say AR coated lens kill CRI.
I'm really impressed with this light, so not a complaint, just wondering what the thoughts are on this - it's come up before with the BLF Q8, and other lights.
Generally it doesn’t.
Ahh, you would be the definite guy to know! Thanks! Was think'n of pm'ing you bout it. All I know is two BLFers that said an AR lens reduces CRI. I think the AR lens requirement was dropped from the BLF Q8 for that reason alone. Maybe it's bad AR treatments, as we see in some low cost AR lens?
I think the tint can be affected with some reflector lens combinations, which would make the beam purplish on the edges of the spill, but from my testing with the same light with and without AR lens, it has no ill effect on the CRI.
Have to agree with this. I’ve had a hard time putting mine down since it arrived. It just feels good in the hand, a really nice size/shape to hold and use. Maybe I just got lucky, but I’ve got no issues with mine. I’m sure the PWM is there but I can’t see it or hear it. And my tailswitch is as good as most other metal switches I’ve used, better than some really. Its just a solid light that I’m not at all worried about harming, cause its very solid. I’m normally a copper sort of guy, but this brass has really grown on me.
The Pineapple does appear to have some sort of hue splitting, in the same manner I normally see on AR-coated lights. Here’s a beam slice which shows the typical blue ring around the outside of its beam:
As for the beam itself, mine seems to be about the same color temperature as my ZL H52Fw (4400K) or L3 L10-219A (4500K), except it’s a little bit green instead of a little bit pink. There is also a ring in the middle of the spill area:
It appears warmer than my Nichia 219B lights at 4750K-5000K, and warmer than my Cree 3D (~4900K) lights, but colder than my BLF A01 at 4000K, and colder than my ZL H51w at 4200K. I haven’t tried removing the lens yet, to see if the beam gets colder with the blue ring mixed back in.
The Rey Pineapple is looking nicer after a bit of wear though. The head is now the same color as the body, and the recessed areas now have a bit more depth. However, the logo is nearly invisible; it could perhaps have been engraved a little deeper. Here are some pictures of it after some attempts to weather and polish it:
Looks awesome TK! I added an ice blue trit in the switch, and changed the tail assembly so the rubber boot is under the sleeve instead of over (switch felt better), otherwise left it stock for now.
Polished mine and I like it much better; orange trit looks good too. Regarding the switch button wobbliness - all credit to gunga for this idea:
just stack approx. 2 layers of thicker self-adhesive material - he suggested glow sticker material which I used -- right on top of the smallest part of the black switch inside the tailswitch. It not only has much less play/wobbliness, but it does actually tailstand a little bit better.
Also wanted to add how much I like this light.
So many positive review for this pineapple, can’t wait to see mine arrived.
The new batch will have 9K Hz.
