Clone of On The Road M3 ~$13

Ha thanks about that extra UI, gonna check it.
Me too NW, nice tint, it seems a but more yellow/brownish then Q8 tint.

It is kind of explained on their AE page, but with strange translation, i.e. UI is “Position description” :

Sent this seller some PMs with some questions about a month ago when i found out this light , but he didn’t respond …

I always thought the click and hold of the Olight was a bit weird too. But lately I am using the D4 ramping a lot and now the click and hold feels really natural. You can easily use them after each other without thinking.

On the Olights I have to use index finger or thumbnail, both not comfortable

I owned a couple of their lights. Jaxmanve is nowhere near OTR.

Thanks The Miller for compiling and opening the thread, and thanks yasenf for the explanation about the UI!
Their description is somehow weird, but it does mention the “stepless dimming”. I’m glad it has it and gonna try when the light arrives. It was shipped today, so let’s wait some weeks :wink:

BTW, there are some “discussions” about 16340 cells in other threads. I guess they will be useful bearing in mind that the one that comes with the flashlight is not the best, for what is said above.

This light is amazing for the price! Really! I don’t know how it’s possible. They took a very nice budget light, somehow added charging to its tiny package, and lowered the price by %75! I don’t get it…

Anyway, in a way, I did get it. Actually I got 15 of it. :smiley:

It’s a great gift and cheep enough that I can offer a great light at a great price and still make $5 on it. Very nice:)

I can’t stand you guys. Just ordered the jaxmanve

My modded OTR M3 running the same NarsilM as in the Q8 is pretty awesome, with a TA triple channel 15 mm board. I've found the IMREN 700 mAh 16340 does pretty darn good in it.

IMREN's bought here: https://www.imrbatteries.com/16340-batteries/

The flat top IMREN's seem to work for me in the M3.

It's a tough mod to do - trim the driver, set it in at 45 degrees mount, etc. Not the best to get max output, but works well, still good power.

Tom, if I wanted to change the driver/UI of this light (OTR M3 Clone), without technical equipment to reflash it and give it Narsil or NarsilM (or other nice UIs being developed), how could I do it?

I’m not aware of and do not own technologies some people here has to make those driver’s modifications, but I would like to try those UIs in some lights I will probably have, like this Jaxmnve M3.
Are there any “stock” drivers with that firmware installed that can be placed in these small lights?

Sorry to ask, and if this not the appropriate place to talk about this, no problem, I can be directed to other thread or through PM. Thanks in advance!! :+1:

I think this is the ideal place to talk drivers and such
:wink:

This little thing with Narsil wowsers!

Perfectly the right place to ask. There's not many options, in fact there's probably no options, but can't be sure because might take a Herculean effort to search for something. E-switch lights specially are all custom designed drivers, so there's no availability of replacement drivers out there. The drivers are somewhat a pain to reverse engineer, so slim chance of being able to re-program the stock MCU. Stock MCU's can vary, but many are PIC controllers where our expertise is with the ATMEL's - even though they are one in the same company now, their line of MCU's are quite different architectures.

It's a monumental task to re-program stock driver MCU's - tons of time, etc., may have to make hardware changes, and they do not make it easy to do by scratching off identifying part #'s, or even if it had part #'s, very tough to trace them down -- many times undocumented by the manufacturers. Is it doable? Maybe, but why suffer with the driver hardware design when you can spend your time better with a driver with hardware features you want? It just doesn't make sense to me, this is why we do full driver replacements -- we get the amps we want, other features, plus a better custom UI.

Thanks for your answer Tom, it was very clarifying about the state of things!
I guess, it will difficult to change my UIs and drivers then :person_facepalming:
Not being able to build or reprogram drivers is a PITA, specially when such nice firmwares are coming out to change the game!

It would be good to find some available for these small lights, ready to swap in and to make lights better! Time will come, I hope :blush:

Unfortunately for lights like this, slim to none chance. Say for example I built a batch of the custom drivers for sale that fit this light, the mounting and wiring is pretty intricate, detailed, and required some pretty good skills.

Stock driver:

My custom driver:

Lots of pics here showing details on parts, assembly stages, etc:

Sorry, you'll get banged with ads though: photobucket.com/user/TomE2012/library/Custom Mods/OnTheRoad M3

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

Yeah, for someone like me, it’s not slim, it’s really NO chance of doing this!
The work is really intricate, saw your photos, no chance to do that easily or without proper knowledge!

Thanks for sharing this Tom, it is a really good work! :+1:

We really have to make small lights with these new UIs :smiley: If you know what I mean :wink:

About the Jaxmnve…I’ll have it and accept it just the way it is when it arrives!

It’s worth saying that some manufacturers do have some pretty good technology in their own drivers. E.g. Olight S15 has a buck-boost that will run efficiently on anything from a depleted AA NimH at ~1V, to a 14500 at 4.2, to two AA alkaline at over 6V with extension tube. Meanwhile having almost unmeasurable parasitic drain. And is of course, tiny. The genuine On The Road M3 also has a quietly impressive driver, in my opinion.

Thanks for the thread guys.
My OTR M3 died 3 says ago. My fault, I just Had to take it apart… Broke 2 pads off the driver that mount the SW board. It was pressed in Really hard. I had it HOT too.
Really wanted to get something Olight to help Marshals Family but really cant afford to buy something I may not use. Almost bought the OTR M3 CW version with a coupon yesterday, was gonna swap out my warm emitter to it.
I can swing the $13 on this one… to replace the OTR M3 and it will get the warm emitter from it.

Of all the lights I own, the M3 really has been the #2 go-to. EDC AAA is #1. Wish it were 18350 but…
Will report back when I get it.

Though’t I’d mention, On The Road make a U16, which is an M3 with USB charging. Kit with good OTR cell etc. lists at £25 on GB but frequently on sale at about £15.

Always worth keeping an eye on GB prices for OTR, e.g. recently picked up it’s very big brother, the X5, with 26650 cell, for £17.40, on sale.

https://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_642834.html

Gearbest description is incorrect, this does have USB charge port.

About OTR, besides the lights they have on Gearbest (Models: U16, M3, M6, X5, M900, X6, U18), they also have an AliExpress Store where they have other interesting models, such as the M1 (16340 with tailswitch) and the M5 (AA/14500 with side switch).

Link for the Store: https://ontheroad.aliexpress.com/store/3081046?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.258.Cc6QSh

Price is higher, shipping is paid, and some of the specs are in non-english language, what makes it difficult to read.
I sent a message to the seller asking to change language, so that more people can be aware of the specs. Let’s see if it works :wink: