Apex 5T6, pics, impressions, beamshots added...

Further impressions…
Just got back form a little night walk around the neighborhood and the 5T6 is DEFINITELY a flooder. Its a wider flood beam than the TR-J12, by a slight but definitely noticeable amount. I left the light on for ~30 minutes straight. It got warm but not alarmingly hot, so its well suited as a constant on, hand held flood light, with moderately cool air circulation. Can’t wait to get it out on the trails and camp sites, perfect for that kind of thing.

Snapped some fixed exposure beam shots too EDIT These pics really weren’t that great, so I have deleted them. My original post has now been updated with better shots… ITS REALLY HARD taking good beamshots. Some of you guys have some MAD SKILLS in this department. I was able to lock down the iPhone exposure setting alright, but with a wide beam flooder theres no center hot spot to aim and center the beam with. I tried my best to aim the light at targets, but still… I’m off just a little on a few. So take these shots for what they’re worth. Definitely I think the TR-J12 and 5T6 are in the same lumen ballpark, they’re not far off from each other thats for sure. The J12 has a slightly tighter more focused beam so again its the Lux-versus-lumen thing playing tricks. I’m happy calling them 2000 Lumen flooders, and that’ll be it for me.

One things for dam sure… at $54 shipped the TR-J12 is a STEAL. Its 1/2 the price, of the Apex for almost the same amount of light OTF and a slightly tighter beam. The Apex form factor slaughters the J12 though. Its just an easier light to carry, hold, mode flip…etc.

The handle thing is a nice feature too. I had no problems carrying it.
Beer mug hold

The thumbs up hold

The Rock-ON hold

The double 2KL-OTF hold

Wow thats 2A more than mine draws… strange. I’m definitely getting a lot of light. On a ceiling bounce it just about the same as my TR-J12. Its a more yellow tint than my J12 too. So th etint difference could be playing tricks on me.

Way to go! :)

Thanks for posting your initial impressions, photos & especially beamshots!

I've been preparing a full review of this light, so: I hope you don't mind if I publish it. (No beamshots though. I tried to go out last night at 00:30, but it was still too bright for good beamshots. Midnight sun rules, NOT! )

… especially enjoyed the suggested handle-grip options …

Though all the current readings are lower than claimed by CN Quality Goods (I hope they did not over-state their claims … :~ ), it still seems to put out a decent amount of light. I like how the 5T6 uses 4 x 18650s in parallel, meaning much less stress per battery as well as a decent run time. I also like the handle design - it means you don’t have to directly hold the thick body of the flashlight … I suppose you could put some kind of “grip tape” or rubber / silicon sleeve over it to make it easier to hold in wet / raining conditions?

Anyway - great stuff! I’m now patiently waiting for mine to arrive …

Cheers!

Looks like a decent light and 4 18650 batteries is a great power source but I’m not a fan of the handle at all (my only complaint). Looks like a giant pocket clip and being as thin as it is, I can imagine it would become uncomfortable real quick. A better built handle would seal the deal for me. Yeah, I know, I could “mod” it but making it thicker would reduce the available room for your fingers. Looks like a tight fit already. Good luck to those using gloves when it’s cold.

Mate, there really good comparison pictures. It looks like it throws further than the J12 as well.

i have some big paws and its snug. The thickness isn’t an issue . If it were thin i would have yanked it and made a new handle or retro-fit a Jetbeam or Niteye handle. I actually bought 1 extra handle to mod with tape switch underneath the handle/trigger finger. Its not thin and will not flex…

The tape switch is a great idea. The handle might not “flex” much but the spare handle you bought can certainly be bent/reshaped. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

AFAIK, there is no way to lock the exposure in iPhone. There is no EXIF. I do not think it throws farther than the J12. Coz (1) its a little floodier and (2) The output is actually a wee bit less than J12.

The first and second picture actually shows that the J12 would be able to throw a wee wee bit more than the APEX (brighter)

lol so do I! Hard to drop $$ on a meter instead of a light isn’t it?

I know nothing about IPhones. Just looking at the 2nd picture and the post to the left it appears that it would be a better thrower by the post and the tree to the left of centre. Cheers.

Mouse over for APEX, out for TR-J12:

Lights are pointed to a bit different direction, making the APEX to look brighter on the tree.

I think they are pretty similar in the real world.. TR-J12 is known to be good for longer runtimes, and APEX did run a bit cooler in my 10min "indoors, no-cooling" tests => very promising!

At the end of the day they are both appear to be good lights with a different format. Thanks for the mouse over.

Almost DSLR app brings the exposure locking mechanism to iPhone.. And that's what kramer5150 used.

nit-picking: Yes there is EXIF, but it doesn't tell aperture or shutter speed. Does tell where the photo was taken though.. ;)

Procamera app. You can’t key in a specific exposure but you can make it keep the same exposure and focus through repeated shots.

Thanks for all the positive comments gents!! Yeah I used almost DSLR on the iphone, (THANKS pounder for the tip!!) which is the best I can do for now. It has the ability to lock the exposure setting. So I turned on the J12, aimed the camera for the shot and locked down that exposure. Using the same “locked” exposure setting I fired up the 5T6 and took another shot.

The biggest problem I was having is the Apex has almost NO center hot spot… just BIG huge spot that opens out to a wall of flood. So I had no way to really “aim” the light and center it on target. It clearly evident on the mouse-overs. Thanks the for doing that!! EDIT I now have updated the original post with better “aimed” beamshots.

I’ll try and re-take some better shots tonight. Looking forward to impressions, beamshots, and tailcap measurements from everyone else.

the if your thread is stickied as a formal review I’ll just post a comment+link to my impressions here so they don’t get lost/buried. I did that with JohnnyMacs HD2010 review sticky…. I hope you don’t mind me doing that (just let me know… no hard feelings).

I think the best feature about this light is that it can be left on for LONG durations without worry of thermal stress, battery abuse, or internal resistance issues. Unlike the TR-J12, which pulls up to 7A (!!) from each cell in 2-cell mode, and melts its springs in the process. Another way to look at it is like this…. they both emit about 2000 Lumens, but the TR-J12 needs 3.6-7Amps from each of its cells while the 5T6 only needs a mere ~1.33A. So that opens up the possibility of using ANY 18650 cell in this light. It also means each cell will not voltage sag under load, and as we all know Lithium based cells exhibit higher capacity with lower “C”. So this light does not need $$$ IMR, or other high current Lithium chemistry. As I said before, pick cells for their capacity… don’t worry so much about current draw and “C”. The other plus is the XML forward voltage will remain low at these drive currents. So overall its just a very efficient way to convert Watts to Lumens.

Its a very well thought-out design overall.

Side note… I am starting to FIRMLY believe theres just no way to top ~2000-2300 Lumens using the XML in lights this size and overall heatsinking mass. You can drive up the current, but it will just dim with increased temperatures… or worse yet, over-stress poorly designed internal components. I think the only way is to direct bond the emitters to copper in a bigger, thicker, heavier, $$$$ heatsink design and push them with higher currents.

Further side note… I’m also starting to think this is the ideal way to design a multi-XML torch. Stack up a bunch of 18650 cells in parallel, wire the emitters in parallel and drive them to whatever current the heatsink design can handle. I think you can really pull a LOT of wattage from a 4-5P cell arrangement, transpose that to the LEDs, and if the heatsink design is up to the task youre good to go. I really hope we see more designs like this and the Skyray King.

I have no problem with that. Just go ahead. I actually linked to your beamshots (and "how to handle the handle") in the review. :)

Here's a link to my review.

If you are going to take more photos tonight, would you please try to lock the white balance as well? Now I can't see much difference in the tint. Yours was NW, right?

Definitely… I think there is a way to do that with almostDSLR.

No my 5T6 is the pale white version…. although it has a noticeable cream tint in person. My J12 is slight but noticeably more pale.

It sure looks like the 5t6 is brighter. And not just because it is pointed more at the tree. Also, check out the driveway pictures. It is noticeably brighter. Maybe is it just the camera making it appear brighter.