This morning the DHL truck stopped by with an early surprise for me. W00T!!
Here is what was inside...a box!
Not just any box, but a BLF/Kronos Limited Edition box!
And inside the box was this!
Inside the fitted, velvet-over-foam lining are two accessory bags, a SS & Cu X6, and an entirely new light, the X5 in all copper.
A closer look at the lights. Batteries (18650 & 14500) do not come with the lights. I couldn't wait to bask in the blue glow of the lighted tail caps. The engraving on these lights is absolutely amazing!
Another view? Sure! I'm in a lots of angles and views mood right now.
How about one from the other side?
A better look at the lights. This is a limited run of only 400 sets with matching serial numbers. Only 250 of those sets have matching serialized boxes. The remainder of the 400 sets (250-400) are sold with the box optional and sold separately.
Each light has two flats on the battery tube. One has the KRONOS logo and serial number.
The other side is engraved with "BLF Limited Edition".
The engraving is clean and deep.
In person these lights look more like they were minted rather than engraved.
Each light has it's own accessory bag included. The accessories for each light include a stainless steel pocket clip with engraved model name, a spare O-ring, two spare switch boots (one black, just in case you don't like awesome backlit tail caps, and one clear in case you should need a replacement), and a lanyard with quick-release snap buckle.
The business end of each of these beauties starts with a solid copper, unibody pill/head, a thick, copper DTP MCPCB, Cree XP-L HI LED in choice of 1A or 3B tint bins, SMO reflector (The X6 model's reflector actually threads into the head and focus can be easily fine tuned), and finally, it's all capped with an ultraclear AR coated lens.
The reflector sits over the perfectly centered XP-L HI emitter without the use of any centering rings. This allows the reflector to sit directly onto the MCPCB for a nice, tight hotspot and smooth spill.
Ahh...my favorite pic from this post. This is a peek in at the X6 LED when the light is in Moon Low mode. Mmmm...sexy... BRB.
OK...back and ready for a look at the first of it's kind in any production light - an LED backlit tail switch.
"BS", you say? "Seen these tons of times on other lights", you say? No you haven't. This is not an electronic switch, which is where you've seen lighted switches before on plenty of other lights. This is a mechanical Omten switch (reverse-clicky) and, thanks to the most innovative bunch of folks on BLF (budgetlightforum) who regularly figure out how to do things others thought only imaginable, this one contains an SMD LED and resistor on the switch PCB that makes the tail cap glow when the flashlight is off. This is more visible than any tritium vials and draws less parasitic energy than many lights with unlit electronic side switches. Want it brighter? There is an empty set of pads for an additional SMD LED. Want it to glow barely enough to see at all in pitch black? Switch the resistor with one with higher resistance.
Now to the limited edition box. Where to begin with this little beauty? Look at it. Just LOOK at it! It looks like a fine humidor or jewelry box. It is made of white birch, stained a warm honey color, and covered with what looks like LOTS of lacquer.
The first thing you notice, once your eyes adjust from the blinding they took from your lights reflecting off that shiny lacquer exterior, is the laser engraved "BLF Limited Edition" on the lid of the box.
The next thing you might notice is the "KRONOS" logo with matching serial number engraved into the front corner of the lid edge. Only the first 250 sets will include a box with matching serial number. Numbers 251 thru 400 are sold without the box but the box (same exact box but no serial number) will be available for..are you ready for this? $11 USD. ELEVEN DOLLARS!!! How the heck can they do this? I don't care. I'm just thrilled they can.
Look at the joints at the corners. Perfect. No gaps, no wood filler, nothing. Just perfectly mitered corners. Amazing!
Here's another corner. Same deal here, too. See that faint circle on the edge there? That is where one of the two lower magnets are located. The lid has two more to match these. All 4 magnets are covered with wood plugs to make them nearly invisible. They are installed prior to the thick clear coating getting applied. The lid holds tight enough that you can pick the box up by the lid and it won't pop open on me even when full of these monster lights with cells installed.
Sweet cabinet hinges are used here. No cheap jewelry hinges that are two flaps with a center pin hinge joint and nailed into the back of the lid. These are hidden, routered hinges that are counter sunk and have a built in stops to keep the lid from opening too far or falling closed while you are accessing the beauties inside. My expensive humidor has hinges like this.
The base is completely covered with a swatch of felt to protect your desk top or fine furniture from getting scratched whilst displaying this fine set. I'm going to say it again...$11 dollars. E L E V E N D O L L A R S ! ! WHAT???
So, what haven't I covered? Actually quite a few points that need to be noted. I'll sum them up in a bulleted list.
- Availability: Only from Banggood.com but completely sold out.
- Aluminum sets are still available at this time for $50 USD.
- Price: $85 USD + $11 USD for box. Free shipping. No joke. Where were you when there was still space in the reservation list?
- Construction:
- X6 - Stainless steel and Copper.
- X5 - Pure Copper
- Batteries:
- X6 - 18650 (IMR recommended for maximum output)
- X5 - 14500 (IMR recommended for maximum output)
- LED: Cree XP-L HI in 1A or 3B tints
- Lens: Double-sided AR coated Ultraclear glass
- Reflector: SMO (X6 reflector is threaded and focusable)
- Driver:
- Voltage range: 2.5V-4.3V
- BLF developed ATTiny25 FET+1
- ToyKeeper's Bistro firmware
- Programmable mode memory (On or Off)
- Programmable thermal stepdown (can be turned off)
- Hidden Modes
- Voltage reading (whole plus tenths)
- Programmable mode groups
- Output: DD in Turbo. 1250-1300 OTF for X6 and 1100-1200 for X5 have been measured. Output depends on quality of cell used. I will be doing full testing in the next couple days.
- Switch type: Back-lit mechanical reverse-clicky
- Waterproof: Yes
User Interface:
- While Off:
- Fully click and release to turn the light on. It will go to the first mode or the last-used mode, depending on whether you enabled mode memory.
- While On:
- Short tap: Do a short (less than 0.5s) half-press to go forward to the next mode.
- Med tap: Do a medium (0.5s to 1.5s) half-press to go backward to the previous mode, if medium-press is enabled.
- Long tap: Do a long (longer than 1.5s) half-press to reset to the first mode (if mode memory is turned off).
- Or fully click and release to turn the light off.
- Short tap a bunch of times (15+ taps, or until the light stops turning on) to enter config mode.
- Hidden modes:
- Go backward from moon to access the hidden modes. They are, in order:
- Turbo (just like the regular turbo)
- Tactical / police strobe (7 Hz / 14 Hz alternating)
- Battery check / beacon mode
- It should blink out the voltage in whole numbers then a '.' then tenths. So, for 3.6V it would blink out "--- . ------".
- Voltage range is from about 2.5V to 4.4V
- Biking flasher (2-level stutter beacon, 1 Hz)
- Configuration options:
- The config mode has several options. It will blink out a number to show which option is active, then "buzz" or "stutter" for a bit. Click during the "buzz" to select that option. Some options may enter a secondary config mode after the light turns back on.
- Options include:
- 1. Muggle mode / simple mode. Good while lending the light to others. It overrides other config settings temporarily:
- - low/med/high, in that order, with high at about half power.
- - no moon, no memory, no medium-presses, no hidden modes
- - the only config option is the option to exit muggle mode
- 2. Mode memory. Off or on.
- 3. Moon. Select to turn moon mode on or off. This is in addition to the other regular modes, so you get 2 to 9 levels when moon is enabled.
- 4. Mode order. Low to high, or high to low.
- 5. Mode group. Choice of 1 to 8 regular modes from low to turbo.
- After clicking, the light should come on in a special group-select mode. In this mode, it slowly blinks 8 times, pauses, then repeats. Turn the light off after N blinks to select mode group N. The number of levels in each group is equal to the group number, and all levels within are evenly-spaced.
- Example: To select low-med-high, let it blink three times then click the button.
- 6. Medium-press. Off or on. If on, a medium-press will allow going backward through the mode sequence, and hidden blinky modes will be accessible.
- 7. Thermal calibration. Set the temperature at which the light will begin stepping down to cool itself off. After clicking to select this, the light should turn on in a special thermal calibration mode. It will start at a medium-low brightness, wait a second or two, then step up to turbo.
- - To turn off thermal regulation, click within the first second (while the output is relatively low).
- - To set a new maximum temperature, leave the light on until you think it is too hot, then turn it off. From this point on, the light will use that new temperature as its maximum allowed heat.
- Note that there may be a delay between when you feel the heat and when the MCU feels the heat, so the value saved may be a little bit lower than expected.
- 8. Factory reset. Change all settings back to default.
Parting Thoughts...
I am blessed to be a part of the design team who made this light happen. Am I a touch biased about these lights? Possibly. I will say that they are arguably the highest quality, highest performing production flashlights in their classes. There is nothing on the market similar to them, both as a whole, or their individual features - Customizable drivers, massive output, one-of-a-kind tail caps, production hosts the likes of which were previously only available as one-off uber expensive customs... The price. What can you say about the price? You can say it's insanely cheap and you'd be right. Anyone who hesitated or debated in getting in on this limited set should be kicking themselves for missing out. The entire set with box for just $96 out the door. WOW!
I'll close this out with a parting shot of the lights.
Still kicking yourself for missing out? Learn from your mistakes. Team 'Kronos' has only begun and there is much, much more awesomeness in the works down the line. Stay tuned and don't hesitate next time!
Cheers,
Johnny
