GB Clone Offically "SOLD OUT" 10/21/18 XPL HI 1300LM Focusing AKA Cometa 2016

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461

You have done a good job there. But the springs can also move sideways when the torch is closed. This does not matter at the tail, it would just turn on, but at the head it could short out. Clearances are small.

Hopefully the spring (or both springs) would fry and collapse. Which used to happen regularly with this thing.

Since I don’t have a recent one, I can’t advise on further measures. Problem is, that it has, I think, the standard 17mm BLF driver in a pill that would be ideal for 18650 cells. But they put it into a body sized for 26650 and failed to understand that there is a significant difference, particularly at the positive contact.

Also a pity that they don’t supply a 26650-18650 adapter.

I think that you have done a good job with the extra insulation.

Then there is the issue with the driver, which can get flaky at high current levels. I’ve not seen this myself, but it is real. Particularly if you decide to mod. it with e.g. spring by-passes and stronger LEDs. It was fixed in later BLF designs, and if you are very handy with a soldering iron you might manage to retro-fit the fix.

Finally, the brass pill is a weakness. It looks pretty and shiny, but brass is a very poor material thermally. and a screw-in pill is always a compromise.

Due to the zoomie head there is almost no thermal path to it, so it all has to go back into the body. So putting more powerful LEDs into this may stress the driver, and the thermal capability.

Plain Al alloy pill, or an integral design with no pill, just a shelf, would have been better.

The LED was also a poor choice even at the time, for a thing like this. Something with the best surface brightness would have worked much better, which is why you will see talk of modding with e.g. a de-domed XPG2. No doubt newer technology is better.

Still, the basics are all there, particularly the optics, and if you are prepared to do some work it is a great place to start experimenting. Definitely a bargain.

462

Hey Vidramon, Check the material for the black centering ring, on mine it was plastic (non-conductive) and milled out so it only contacts the painted portion of the MCPCB and not the exposed solder on the wires like the original aluminum one.

463

That is harsh.

Royal mail handling fee if duty is required is £8 (seems fair enough, it does take some paperwork), but I can honestly say that I have never ever had anything stopped by UK customs (and I’ve bought a lot of stuff, sometimes quite expensive). We seem to be open for business, for the time being.

Once stuff is in the UK, it can be sent throughout the EU with no further issues.

And we appear to be very friendly to trade with China.

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/default/files/International-customs-charges-leaflet-Jan-2017.pdf

You might also want to look at import tariffs, which is a complex subject, and you might be surprised by how much stuff is totally exempt, if properly declared.

464

Tom Tom, you mention more problems than there are in reality.

*I have not seen the drop-out-of-turbo problem of the X5/X6 driver on a single led, it happened to me only with triples and especially when low voltage leds are used. In fact the X5/X6 driver was fine-tuned on the XP-L HI which is also used in the Cometa. The drop after 10 seconds that I noticed on one of my copies seems related to not yet setting the thermal stepdown temperature (I will just turn the stepdown off, not needed on the Cometa)

*the incredibly chunky brass pill is thermally overkill for a single XP-L Hi, even with light meters you will not measure output increase if that pill was made of aluminium or copper. Same for the thermal path further to the outside of the light (large and wide threaded area, wide tube etc.) , more than adequate to transfer the heat of a single XP-L Hi (and a bit more, would you use a more powerful led).

*given that only a handful manufacturers ever made (expensive!) flashlights with factory-dedomed leds, so a dedomed XP-G2 was out of the question, the XP-L HI was a pretty good choice I think, good output and very decent throw, it would at this moment even still be a good choice for this flashlight.

465

vidramon, great pics. Thanks for posting. The black piece that go over the mcpcb seems plastic to me instead of aluminum. Also don’t think there’s any using putting that plastic washer at the bottom (negative) terminal. Seems like they fixed all the problems with the Cometa in this version.

466

It is aluminum ! At least in my case.

Cell also can short if touch tailcap bottom. For example if you use this light as a hunting light and after a big and strong recoil there are a very big chances that it will short !

Sideways touching of springs is almost impossible a battery will compress a spring and there is no space for such a big movement there. Only if spring completely loses its shape but that is 0.001% that will be happen… Also this protection plastic white ring is closer, so if spring go on side it will first hit on it.

They supply an adapter at least in my case !

A b158 also use a brass and also it have a pill, and many people mod it with a fet drivers as far as I know no one is complain, don’t know I don’t play to do anything with this light in terms of change a led or driver just use it in this condition and try to prevent sorts.

@Others I will check after putting a white plastic ring on mcpcb to protect from short is focus changing dramatically or not… Will post results here.

467

I think there’s perhaps a hint of irrational rampant malfunction paranoia about this light that somehow translates it into being a veritable pipe contraption ready to go BOOM! at any given moment. :disguised_face:

If you’re not an experienced modder and know what you’re doing then at least use a protected cell otherwise. IMO that goes for any light for an inexperienced user.

468

Ok, I have two samples, measured on one.

30 sec - 907 lm
1 min 886 lm
After about 1:10 it steps down to 764 lm.

Look here, you can believe me or not but which is better one to you ?

I don’t have time for better shoot because I’m in big hurry, this is just for reference, but right one is without white plastic ring on led ( stock, how I got it ), and a left one is with white plastic ring on led like I post here :

With my eyes I see that better focused beam is this one with plastic ring than this one without it ! Also camera pick it up as you can see but I don’t have time in this moment for better shot I need to get to bed right away.

So don’t know it will this be in only my case or at the others, try then post results here. Led on my both samples was not perfectly centered just to mention.

469

Swap the plastic ring to the right one and see if you get the same results.

If not the left one is somewhere set up differently than the right one and thus doesn’t necessarily prove that the plastic ring will tend to work for all samples recently received out there.

Worth a shot for others to try the same experiment though. Couldn’t hurt.

470

Mine come with 2 white plastic rings on both LED side and driver side out of the box.

471

For this kind of price, I think it can be a good gift for friends and relatives too, Christmas is coming. I don’t see any real safety concern of my two stock Cometa. The safety concern is definitely there if one to modify it like using higher gauge wire that will have higher solder blob and higher chance to scratch the alu. disc, also higher chance to cut the high gauge wire with the sharp edge of brass pill if tighten until the MCPBC rotated.

For those who still worry about getting a bomb, I think you better don’t over modify this light out of its design tolerance and you might tighten the MCPCB until it rotated. If you are really concerned, just use a layer or two of klapton tape under the alu. disc.

472

does it look like the pictures in post #467? Thanks.

473

US$14.95 (Earn 14 BG points)
Sold Out
Ships from CN Warehouse

Is EU warehouse still in stock?

474

Yes exactly like that pict.

475

Still shows 3 in stock for CN Warehouse

476

Ya, a few minutes ago was sold out.
I looked at the page showing 13 in stock, then I refreshed it knowing that was page of yesterday. And it showed sold out. Now I refresh again, it shows 3 in stock.

US$14.95 (Earn 14 BG points)
Only 3 units.
Ships from CN Warehouse

I think Banggood is preparing Backorder game for us, it is fun time for them.

477

Those three are mine ...just parked there until the light grows wings and learns to fly . Are they 3 B’s ? The B is for Boaz

478

Ya’ know, two years this side of the ‘Cometa fiasco’ and looking back; it was not a bad little light at all.

To me how it was presented as being a Jaxman Z1 host, when it turned out to be something entirely different; created by Manker was a big problem.

Basically Manker cloned the Z1 except for a couple of minor differences. In other word they robbed the Z1 idea from Jaxman & knocked it off. :frowning:
…. This turned out to be a big problem.

The buying of lenses from Jaxman under somewhat false pretenses. :person_facepalming:

Then Cyberescudo, the ‘leader’ of the Group Buy pulled the disappearing act and cut all communications with anyone…… this was really not good. Especially when it finally was revealed that Cyberescudo had in fact given the OK for the last protype to be put into production & ‘the team’ followed suit in that recommendation. :person_facepalming: :person_facepalming:

And on & on…… :person_facepalming:

BUT…. getting past all of that, with a couple of very simple “fixes” ; it was & still is a nice, reliable little light. :+1:

Not quite up to be an equal of the Jaxman Z1…. but nice enough none the less.

Of course, at the time; it was not sold as a ‘kit light’ either. These problems should have been discovered before the Cometa sold. They were not & added to all the above BS it was a disaster……

I’m still happily using mine. :wink:

479

For this price it’s a great deal - if you have any skills at all

480

Yes, of course. Still showing 143 in stock.

Maybe get a VPN where you can choose the end-point from around the world.

And use a private browser window so those pesky cookies don’t persist.

The same applies when trying to book flights etc.

The mind-games continue :wink: