[Review] Astrolux MF02 XHP35 HI 2x/4x18650 flashlight supplied by Banggood

The light was supplied by Banggood, no compensation other than the light itself was received for this review

The light will be also soon availiable in NW

The light was supplied by Banggood for a review, I am honest and will judge the light as it is with its pros and cons

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Other reviews
Maukka fantastic review with a lot measurements
Astrolux MF02 CW review w/ measurements (XHP35 HI, 4x18650)

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Manufactory specification:

Product name: Astrolux MF02 XHP35 HI 3000Lumens Long Range LED Flashlight
Brand: Astrolux
Model: MF02
Emitter Type: XHP35 HI
Light temperature: 6500K
Light color: Cool white
Material: Aerospace grade aluminum alloy
Mode: Moon, Mid, High, Turbo + Tactical Strobe, SOS, Location Beacon
Lumens: 15 LM,350LM,1700LM,3000LM (Sumsang 30Q)
Runtime: 300h,25h,3.5h,2.5h (Sumsang 30Q)
Battery Configurations: 4 x 18650 battery (not included)
Switch Type: Clicky
Switch Location: Body side of the flashlight
Peak Beam Intensity: 630000cd
Impact Resistant 1.5m
Max Output: 3000lumens (Sumsang 30Q)
Range: 1587meters
Lens: Toughened ultra-clear mineral glass with anti-reflective coating
Reflector: Smooth Reflector
Waterproof: IPX-7 waterproof
Color: Black
Weight: 818g without battery
Size: 189mm x 84mm x 54mm(length x head x body diameter)

Still they use ā€œSumsangā€ Batteries for their lights and aluminium

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Features:

-New Astrolux searchlight with a maximum throw of 1587meters
-Utilizes a XHP35 HI LED
-Powered by 4x18650 batteries
-Max runtime up to 300 hours
-Max throw up to 1587 meters
-One single switch provides access to all functions
ā€“4 brightness levels and 3 special modes selectable
-Light off or Normal mode, click twice to enter turbo or click three times to enter tactical strobe
-High-efficiency boosting constant current circuit, stable property and physical reverse polarity protection.
-Direct thermal path(DTP) copper board
-Intelligent temperature control design, automatically reduce lumen output when temperature is higher than 55 degree in turbo
-Breathing light lock-up design, it detects voltage and battery percent
-Integration and high efficiency optical lens
-Constructed from aero grade aluminum alloy with HAIII military grade hard-anodized finish
-Standard 1/4 inch Tripod mount
-Waterproof in accordance with IPX7
-Tail stand capability

And quite some spelling errors that a simple browser or word indicates, no space after commas

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The parcel arrived after 22 days shipping with to Germany which is a normal time from China.

Package and content:

The lights box came packed with a some wrap around and in a plastic bag

The light comes in a package similar to the MF01, but a lot bigger

In the box is a plastic inlay with the light

It comes with 2 spare O-rings, lanyard, holster, shoulder strap, tripod adapter, Lanyard screw and manual

Photos of the light

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Comparison and teardown:

Size compared to other 18650 lights the MF02 compared to my other lights it is the biggest and heaviest

Beam color is cold around 6500K with a Cree XHP35 HI D4, the beam is very focused without obvious artifacts

The LED is very good reflowed and the MCPCB is from a good quality
The heat paste is applied in a good amount and squeezed in an uniform thin layer

The reflector looks perfect and is free of dust particles that can be seen when the light is turned on

Most dirt is on the lens from first testing and my fingers, it came in almost perfect clean condition

Light color compared to other lights
from left to right the lights get warmer, picture taken @5000K camera setting
left Astrolux MF02, Astrolux MF-01 Nichia 5000K, BLF Q8 V6-3D 5000K, Klarus G35 modded 5000K

The lights bezel is glued, so it is hard to get to the LED, did not manage to get it open, but I will break in when I get to my parents house and tools

The light has a tail cap with a hole for a lanyard

The light stands on the tail

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The lens is really big and thick, and coated

The head has a diameter of 84mm and 71mm visible reflector

The light can be run by 2 or 4 18650 batteries, it is important to have them matched and with same charge level when inserting to prevent bad things to happen

The battery carrier is 2S/2P configuration

The driver is 47.5mm in diameter with 2 notches and 3 mounting holes
as size compare I put the BLF GT inductor next to one of the 2 stock ones

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The light can be physical locked out by twisting the head or tail off a bit

The light lego with the floody MF01 head


The Head

The big reflector with a single LED gives a lot of throw with a pretty small hotspot

Size compared to is small brother

The LED is perfectly centered, the reflector has a little texture from production

to see the LED cover the whole reflector you have to go away over 2 meters

The switch board has a green and red status LED
The switch has a decent feeling but not as good as other lights

Unfortunately when carrying the light with shoulder strap the button is on the wrong side of the flashlight it would be better to have a point on the top to attach it, so it is also not needed to put the tripod screw in the light to attach it

The Waterproofing got better on the switch adding a O-ring

The head has a hot symbol on the bezel, but stays relative cool compared to the MF01

It has a plenty of mass to absorb and spread heat
The surface has on the head quite some cooling fins, the light will also never get really hot

The shelf is thick and the big copper DTP MCPCB does a good job spreading the heat
The heat paste is applied good and has all surface covered with a thin film

The back of the MCPCB is flat, but some dirt on the edge

The lens is hardened AR coated glass

The bezel is glued, I needed heat to about 80Ā°C to get it open on a piece of woof I had prepared to fit the bezel

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Tube and Tail

The tail cap is fully anodized and massive

The light is build for protected and unprotected batteries, unprotected need solder blob or buttons


the light uses thick springs from a non magnetic material

The light is waterproof, the tail cap thread is lubed, but the amount is OK, but the heads threads have no lubricant at all, both ends have an O-ring, the switch cover and bezel have also an O-ring

The threads are medium sized and triangular gut, this could be better

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Driver and Battery


The driver has a spring from a not magnetic alloy

The driver is build very cheap and simple, 2 Boost chips with small 10mm 10uF inductors
2 Diodes in parallel, which may not share load evenly due to variations but should do fine at the low current

One boost regulator has 4 tiny Input caps the other just 3, at least the output capacitors are 2 big ones
The current sense resistors are 2 150mOhms in parallel

The light has no visible PWM in output, falling water drops make a straight line

The mode spacing is not so good, the low has about 15 lumens which is not really helpful at any distance worth having a thrower,
the high is a bit too much, no really visible difference from High to Turbo

The side switch status LED shows the battery level, turning red when the battery voltage gets too low

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Measurements

I did not find the drive to do much here, as Maukka did there an awesome job in his review

Basically throw and lumens numbers are quite below what was advertised
The standby drain is way too high even locked out

I measured here 15910cd @5.4m cold start
so this equals 464kcd at 1m

at 30s I measure 15100cd @5.4m
this equals 440kdc at 1m

the 30s mark did not drop much, so the thermal performance of the MCPCB is very good

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Modding:

First thing was to remove the thermal Paste between the driver and Retaining ring

The driver screws were extremely loose, possibly because the heat paste squeezed more thin after assembly
This leads to all the battery current flowing through 3 loose M2.5 screws which is not good
Maybe some idiot production manager told the workers to apply the heat paste on the wrong side of the driver, to the body it improves the heat path to keep driver cooler

When reassembling the Driver I stripped one thread because the screws do not get deep enough in the holes

I fixed that drilling the holes in the retaining ring deeper

I managed later to open the head
Reflowed a XHP35 HI E2-3C on it

Measured 538kcd now

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Beam shots

about 2m from Light to ceiling

MF02

Klarus G35 with XPL Hi modded

BLF Q8

out of my apartment

Control shot

left MF02 and right side my modded 320kcd G35
low

mid

high

Turbo

long distance control shot

left MF02 and right my modded 320kcd G35

low

mid

high

Turbo

Compared to the Astrolux MF02 Nichia v2 driver @ Turbo

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User Interface

The light has 4 modes and UI similar to MF01 v2

short press turns it on with last memorized mode
double press from Off and On go to turbo
short presses increase brightness mode order low to high
triple click from On and Off goes to blink modes, as short press goes to next one
Strobeā€”>SOSā€”>Beacon
Too bad you have to turn the light off to get out of Strobe modes

There is no way to turn the light on at low mode
Long click when off locks the light out

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Conclusion
The light is an impressive thrower, but has some flaws and does not meet the advertised specs.
Driver got some faulty ones delivered, looks like they need to improve the drivers relativity and get some other improvements

Positive:

- mechanical well made

- very solid head, DTP MCPCB screwed on thick shelf

- AR coated glass lens

- good hotspot and massive throw

- proper LVP and low battery warnings

- low resistance copper alloy springs

- mechanical reverse protection in the carrier

  • accessories are nice to have for a light with this size

Neutral:

- the UI could be better, it has evolved from the S42, but still not really good for enthusiasts

  • High mode a bit to close to turbo

Negative:

- throw and lumens numbers are quite below specs

- standby drain is way too high even locked out

  • Assembly with heat paste between driver and retaining ring is very bad

Thanks for thisā€¦what are the actual throw and output numbers by your measurements?

I measured here 15910cd @5.4m cold start
so this equals 464kcd at 1m

at 30s I measure 15100cd @5.4m
this equals 440kdc at 1m

the 30s mark did not drop much, so the thermal performance of the MCPCB is very good

Basically throw and lumens numbers are quite below what was advertised
The standby drain is way too high even locked out

Hey lexel

can you put your FET driver with NarsilM to see if the throw increase? :smiley:

modding the carrier to 4S the throw would increase by 50% for a few milliseconds before the LED dies with a DD driver
with 2S/2P a 12V LED will not light up at all

4S Buck driver is in progress

I got the light open, mechanical you need brutal force or heat the bezel to soften the glue

Could you please put the mf01 into the mf02 holster and take a photo of how it fits?

Thanks.

Yes, that is as we expected, but still offers a ā€œwhopā€ of powerful throw!

Modded the light with a XHP HI E2-3C in NW

beat the 500k mark with this one very pleased

538kcd now

Only changing led?

LED with better luminous flux bin and more pleasant color

The Astrolux MF02 NW could carry the same bin? can we expect more throw those we have ordered the NW version?

Hi Lexel,

great pictures and measures.

IĀ“m glad, that I ordered 6 XHP35 HI E2-3C NeutralweiƟ from you, some weeks before.

IĀ“ve ordered the MF02 CW, but it is still in Hongkongā€¦

:person_facepalming:

Once I said I would not buy another Astrolux but then I bought several
Once I said I would not buy another Astrolux with glued threads, I will not buy another

Sorry

I do not expect Astrolux to get hands on E2 flux bin of NW emitter, likely they will get same or 7% less Lumens with the NW

for MF02 Narsil driver stencil arrived today

BLF driver with Narsil now tested for 2.5A


with 2x2 LED board and custom light colors

Iā€™ve not taken that driver ring apart yet. I did manage to finally get the bezel ring off to do a burn in. I clamped the head in a wood vise, then brute strength, I unscrewed it with one hand. :smiley: It was glued.
I cleaned the dried glue from the threads, added some grease and re-assembled. :+1:

bezel gets off quite easy heting it up to about 140Ā°C pushing the bezel on a rubber mat

The MF02 is a heavy light. There could have been a substantial amount removed

MF02= 2 lbs ā€“2.9oz
K70= 1 lb-11oz

Mine smoked up quite a bit when I burned it in. Even though b4 I did, there was nothing evident that would create the blue smoke