I did some blackening on the pill that I build and now the beam is how I want it :-) I first did the bit on and direct around the led with a black permanent marker, as close to the die and bond wires as I dared, then placed a plastic centering ring over the led with a piece of tape on top to mask the led, and also masking tape around the side of the pill, and spraypainted with two layers of heater paint.
The beam is much cleaner now, there are artifacts but they are so much dimmer than the hotspot that it is only noticable closeby on a white wall.
Camera with exposure set on hotspot:
Camera with exposed set next to the hotspot, the hotspot way way over-exposed:
At latest builds I want as much light around hotspot as possible. I even have mirror foil on order. I plan to put it around emitter so maybe it will pump more lumen out in hotspot and flood mode?
Yes that does not look nice on white wall but In nature you get something like "useful spill" :)
Edit: I got green B158 today and first expressions are more than good. Must find some time to modd it.
Edit: I just did mod it with xpg2, djozz fet, bypassed springs, pre collimator lenses. Great lenses. I am to tired to fully charge battery currently but for now it has 240 kcd with LG HG2 (brown) at 3.8V :) Yes that is really insane. It has bit smaller die projection than 1503, and bit better flood mode(not much only 10%), as Djozz mentioned.
Fast photo 3m from blueish wall (looks even clearer than that):
I think it is very dangerous to color emitter with paint cause if even tiny particle comes to dedomed led, it will suck it in and create burning crater inside emitter. I had 2 cases when something fell onto emitter(junk or metal particles) and burned it. Emitter creates a lot of heat and paint will eventually crumble into tiny particles.
22.12 edit: with fully charged LG HG2 330kcd :) Uniquefire if you read this thread(and I know you guys following this) get plastic lenses for 15.. series of flashlights cause your glass one sucks!
Ya, me! :bigsmile: I just got mine in the mail today and can now confirm that I can mod the battery tube with a wood sleeve and/or extend it for up to 2 cells. Match the gun stock anyone?
Got my Brinyte today. Pleasantly surprised by the quality and looks. Even stock it performs nice. Plan is to put MTN FET driver and
XP-L V6 3D. Can't wait to see what this zoomie can do at full throttle.
Thank you Mhanlen for your recommendation and for organizing this group buy. Excellent flashlight.
I’m glad everyone is liking it, and no one is having QC issues. It’s a real solid light, at a very nice price. Brinyte seems to be a good company and they were pleasant to work with.
I got mine today, I’m very impressed with it. Every time I’ve bought a zoomie, I’ve always regretted it (even the 1405). Maybe this will be the first I like. I buy aspherics for the throw, and I love how natural and proportional this looks when fully extended. It’s not end-heavy, and there’s no wobble fully extended. Excellent. Even just taking it out of the box, I can tell the lens is much better than my others as well.
Thanks for bringing this to light, mhanlen. (pun intended)
1405 is big and heavy 2x26650 but even shorter version 1504 is to fat and heavy :)
1503 is very good but with plenty of issues. Tweak here and there and you can get very nice flashlight for $. Lenses quality inconsistent. Hope they'll switch to acrylic ones like Brinyte.
There is no doubt B158 is better flashlight out of the box with better lenses.
All the insides swapped directly into the tailcap of the B158 and worked perfectly of the linked remote switch from the 1504. Unfortunately they are out of stock. I've others on order which I'll report on when I receive them.
Still waiting for mine, plan is dedomed xpg-2 and LD-2 or BLF A6 driver, have all those things, need the flashlight now, tracking said it is send to destination country 5 days ago. Cant wait
This one would be my first good zoomie, i have ultrafire SK98 and im not impressed, it is used for indoor needs because it has no hotspot but other than that it haven’t seen much usage.
Changed the led for a XP-L hi 16mm noctigon from intl-outdoor, removed the driver and connected the led directly from the contact plate for direct drive as i only needed max output.
I also removed the Klingon protrusions on the body with a lathe since i don’t intend to mount the B158 to anything, lost 26 grammes in the process and the light is much nicer to hold.