[M4D deal] Nightwatch NI40 with Luminus SBT90 Gen2 interest list OPEN

do you know if he used an off-the-shelf driver and if so, which one? Is the driver a standard size (if something like that exists)?

From post #432

Neal finally responded, on 8.
He says:

Friday’s over and…

(From post #437 )

I ordered on October 21, from the stock of the first batch…
In the “FULFILLED” order, the tracking number has not changed, the one that appears corresponds to the previous order (FW3 Ti + Cu, received).

My patience is over.

Another PM sent to Neal, will be the last.
I gave 48 hours to ship or refund.
If he does not send it or makes the refund in 48 hours I will start the process in Paypal.

forwarded to Neal again

I want to thank EasyB for modding my NI40.

He called it a simple mod. I call it a Game changer and a Light “Saver”….without it I would have sold it. That crappy driver had to go.

I have a link to the driver he used in my post #443. A FET-22mm from Mt. Electronics. I chose CUSTOM Firmware-3%/50%/100%-Mode Memory and with NO STEP DOWN[NO Turbo Timer]. That is the sole purpose of getting it done.

It is nice to turn it on MAX and let the battery/output deplete naturally without that frequent and annoying step down.

Tonight was 40F/4C.I used my Aspire 26650 4300mAh batteries and I was able to run it for 10 straight minutes on max without the handle getting too hot.Battery change was after 10 minutes where the voltage was around 3.64V. I know that from my run time tests. I did that Three consecutive times. The only break the light got was from battery changes and the last 30 seconds before I switched batteries I used it on 3% to let it cool a bit.

I have always liked my hand to be the judge in terms of when I dial it down. Step Downs are for amateurs!

Thanks EasyB for making my light enjoyable. :+1:

Neal messaged me too about shipping this week.

I have purchased three of these, and just like Baron, I hate the driver. I sold one already and I haven’t used the other two since day 1. Maybe it’s time to change out the driver as well.

Just received a shipping notice from Neal.

Mine arrived yesterday. I was very pleased to see they actually now put "Stalker 2020" on it instead of 2019. Cool! I have to say it looks stunning, the design is very much to my taste, the SS bezel gives it a very nice touch. There's a tiny smear on the LED (not directly over the chip though, it's off to the side), probably a bit of flux. It's translucent tho, nothing that bothers me.

I do not have any switch issues, can cycle modes perfectly fine (maybe they changed something for this batch? IDK). The firmware is simple but acceptable imo. The mode spacing is a bit weird, with a big jump from mode one (can't call that a "moon mode" at all) to mode two, then only little difference from two to three and four. Big jump again to Turbo for me (using a Golisi 26650). The light heats up quickly on turbo as expected, it reached 45-50°C rather quickly and then slowly crept up to around 60 in a test I just did with a full battery. I'd call the step down practical. It's a turbo mode after all, it's meant for short bursts, else it'd just be a regular mode.

Awesome! :+1:
This host has such phenomenal heat shedding capability a FET driver with no step down is the way to take full advantage of it.

Definitely Awesome! It is very enjoyable to use now.Probably have about Two plus months of using it on max continuously.

When late spring and summer come I know I will only be able to use it on max 2, 3 maybe 4 minutes. At least my hand will determine when I step it down instead of that annoying stock driver.

From post #444

Neal finally sent by PM new tracking number, on 16th.
Tracking number working.

And I received a notice that mine was sent.

It is now listed as sold out in the SBT90.2 variant only. I didn’t order yet because the coupon wasn’t working :frowning:

Neal did deactivate the coupon because he had no stock

Hey guys. just had a quick question, I just received the ni40 90.2 and was just wondering if I wanted to bypass both springs due to the light pulling 18 to 22 amps, what would be the proper gauge wire to use? On my other lights I have used 22awg but they don’t pull anywhere near the same amount of amps as this light. So will 22awg be good enough or will I have to go to like a 18awg? I also plan on going to a different driver just due to the quick step down time. Mtn is out of the stock with the fet-22mm so I’m waiting for that to come back in stock.

Thanks

Anybody know how this compares to the
Astrolux ft03s? Apparently the ft03s has some qc issues, I’ve been looking at this Nightwatch instead but can’t seem to find many reviews on it.

Interested in that as well

Even at the standard, non group buy price I think it is a deal. I use mine every day for checking my animals and such here on the ranch.

Theres a few people bad mouthing the light for a few reasons, such as: didnt like the driver, didnt like the turbo step down, disappointed in the output, etc. Honestly, if they got defective units and I just got a perfect sample, I cant say. But I do like mine alot. It does get hot fast,(but not faster than other even bigger lights with the same emitter) and it sheds heat like crazy with all those fins and the one piece head. I’d say its definitely very usable when alternating between turbo and other modes as I do with almost any other light that can get too hot on turbo.

My main wish is that it had an electronic switch with a shortcut to turbo and moonlight like alot of my other lights. It’s not bad though- you can alternate between turbo and your currently memorized mode with double taps of the switch. It does not memorize turbo.

Lumen wise, it trounces the thrunite catv6 with a much bigger hotspot (about 2x the size), and throws noticeably more. On high mode, it hrows about the same or slightly less than the cat v6 on turbo.

Tint is greenish on moonlight, getting gradually less green as you get brighter. High and turbo are nice. Slightly cooler than neutral- I’d say 5500k but I’m not that great of a judge of tint.

Right now there is no other light of this size, that fits comfortably in a back or coat pocket, that has this combination of hotspot size and throw.

It would be fun to do a video review but it’s hard to find time for things other than work these days. If I can, I’ll post here. It will have temperatures, turbo runtime, throw, and ceiling bounce comparisons with other lights of known quantities.

I’ll just echo I also really like the size and performance. It beats my FT03 (xhp50) on every level. It would be perfect with a better driver, usb-c charging and e-switch but it’s not bad as is. I will probably do the driver swap mentioned earlier on here just to give it a try. I also have the k30gt and this ni40 matches the performance (I’ll have to run them longer to see driver differences).