Iāve got the second version of this light.
I posted my thoughts elsewhere, but this is a better place, so I moved them.
The first impression it made is the second worst of all my lights. Second after $1 plastic junk.
anodization doesnāt look nice (but I canāt tell if itās sturdy or not)
light came dirty with some grease
switch cover is heavily scratched, as if it was heavily used in the item it was recycled from
bezel - colour looks bad, not like on pictures
bezel - has 4 black areas as if it was held by something during dyeing
dusty reflector
fuzzy reflectorā¦and in some places has larger orange-peel-like imperfections.
LED off centre and not just a bit
Positives? OK, there are some too.
magnetic connector works well
the light is fairly lightweight and a bit smaller than I expected
threads are well lubricated (though the lube stinks badly)
Pics:
Black marks on the bezel, dust, off-centre emitter. The black marks actually look worse than the picture shows.
More dust:
Just another head photo which shows emitter position nicely. And more dust.
I failed to photo the orange-peel arease with my phone, but hereās a single ding in the reflector:
Switch cover. This photo exaggerates tiny dings. What really looks bad is scratched areas in the centre and near the rim. The switch is glossy, but in these places itās matte, so thatās pretty visible.
Ring around the button doesnāt look like it was meant to be here from the start.
On the bottom you can see itās dirty with something. I think itās grease.
This feels unrealā¦
I just tested charging.
Put inside a partially charged cell, 3.98 V.
Plug in, indicator LED turns on. The magnetic connector is superb!
Remove after 1 hour, it charged the cell to 3.98 V.
Maybe something went wrong, try again for 15 minutes.
Result? 3.98 V.
Well, to add to my posts: the bezelring on my light is a very pale blue as well, it has 4 of these black markings as well, and the switch cover looks as scratched as the othersā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦.but these are minor issues.
A major issue is that the charging on mine doesnāt seem to work either.
I will try again with the manual switch āonā and post result.
Tip for led not centered: they probably screwed the head on without looking if it was done properly (hence the dirt on the reflector and the rease on the lens).
screw the bezelring off and remove everything.
blow the dust of the reflector with compressed air (I use a can of compressed air)
if not available you can use demineralized water to clean the reflector. Do NOT touch it under any circumstances
clean the lens (I use warm water with a litte dishwashing detergent)
put everything together but do not screw the bezelring on tight, leave some room so the reflector can move a bit
gently tap the light in the direction you want the reflector to move over the led positioning ring
when in place correctly, gently screw the bezelring on tight
So far, and especially for the price, Iām quite happy with this light.
Nope.
Monday Iām @ Djozzā and we will bridge both springs (so the ātailcapā switch will have to come out) and maybe replace driver wires.
Some good news though!
I put in a cell with 4,04V, turned the light on and used the onboard charger.
The charging port light on the light went red and went dead after some time.
Took the cell out, measured it andā¦ā¦4,18V.
Nice.
Soā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦focus couldnāt be improved, the reflector is not the best ever but it will do.
Both springs bridged and measured with Djozzā Mobilux (my elcheapo LX1330B always exaggerates CW around 9-10%) and now we got a dependable 240Kcd.
Not bad as I paid slightly over ā¬30,00.
I suspect the XP-L HI in the light is not the latest version so I might upgrade to V3 (I like the 3C binning a lot) at a later point.
Hardusvd70 and Nico raised my curiousity just over my natural laziness, so I opened my other 3 samples of the lights and measured the throw - 11 m from the lux meter (HS1010A) and saving the max value:
Battery 4,15 V start My sample - 2180 cd = 263K1m start / 248K@30 sec
Sample 2 - 1830cd = 219K start / 214K 30 sec
Sample 3 - 1994 cd = 241K@start / 218K @ 30 sec
Sample 4 - 2004 cd - 242K@start / 228K @ 30 sec
My sample again - 2040cd= 246K - at the end of the measurement. Battery was 4,06V.
So my conclusion from this small batch - it is some kind of lottery, yet deviation is +/- 10% from 240K cd cold start.
Iām finally back home and I tried to re-center the LED with this instruction. But when I screw the bezel back I always end up with LED completely off-centre. Suggestions?
Iād rather not open the head because while I was away my flat got dusty. So Iāll have to do without a centring ring for now.
I managed to slightly improve over factory by positioning reflector, pressing strongly with my fingers right at the centre of the lens and then screwing the bezel. Worked moderately well on the first try, so I guess I can improve it further.
It can fill the room the reflector has to move offcenter. Almost like a big centering ring. If the reflector keeps shifting to one side, you put a bit more on the side it is shifting to.
Might help a bit improving heatsinking too, filling air with aluminium.
