Disappointed with my Klarus Mi7

I have the Brass k18. I soaked it in a baking soda solution to give it a nice patina, love how it looks.

Just received my “red” mi7…
Definitely pink, thank you Klarus… I hate the color, that is that simple!
Seriously, this is so cheap looking, for the first time I decided not to chose a black flashlight it has to be fucked up!
UI is ok, emitter not quite centered and reflector quite ugly (IMO) but this pinkish cheap ano ugh!
Either I will strip the ano with baking soda or paint it black or find a way to darken the color… Any idea?

Oh boy, that looks deep hot pink. I bought the red one thinking it’d be red. Maybe my monitor is rendering your image unfavourably. Well, my red Mi7 is to be delivered any day now.

mine arrived today, 10 business days later after paying a small fee. Seems nice enuf. I got black. I did consider RED but did not want to take a chance and get pink. Surprised to find a battery in it :slight_smile: Not sure of the UI yet. I’ll have to read the manual. Seems to have 3 modes and 2 strobes from what I can see. I don’t know, seems to be one of my better AA lights. Like the switch. Just my .02

I think the Mi7 is a much better light, the K18 is a tiny AAA light, it dont offer the battery status check and its dimmer, it also looks not that good. The only plus about it is a clip

I think this thread title and original post is rather harsh and unjustified.
I’ve just reviewed this light, and it is generally positive review - Review: Klarus Mi7 (1xAA/14500)
As with all flashlights, it may not suit everyone, but it is likely to be one of 2016’s most popular lights.

How is my post unjustified? My Klaris isn’t bright compared to lower output flashlights I own. You would think that having a smaller hotspot than my first gen SC52, and my S1, the beam would be more intense than those two. It was just the opposite. I ended up giving it away to another BLF member. He’ll have it on Monday. Let’s see what he thinks.

I have owned several Klarus models and perhaps been lucky enough not to get one performing below expectations.

l won’t be surprised if what you got was merely a bad, underperforming sample.

Well, having a thread title saying “avoid” is a bit over the top. You should hope that Klarus don’t have good lawyers, as this thread is quite high up the google search rankings for this light!

Just because a light doesn’t meet your personal needs, or is not as good at some things as other lights in it’s category, doesn’t justify an “avoid” in the thread title. Based on many posts on here and CPF, there seem to be a lot of people that do like this light! Yes, the claimed output is rather optimistic, but for it’s medium price point this is a pretty impressive light. You are comparing against lights with 25-50% higher price !

I just got mine this morning. Not as pink as I feared. In comparison to my E11 and Jetbeam AA it holds its own very well, or at least perceptively so. Will do proper measurements later on.

Yeah but Klarus is claiming 700 lumens, while to 2 lights I compared it to are 500 lumens and are noticeably brighter . I purchased it based on it’s claimed lumen output alone. IMO, it’s a huge disappointment.

BTW, I changed the title of this thread.

I think you got a lemon because not as bright as 500 lumen lights would mean 400 lumen or so. The Mi7 should have about 550-600 lumen according to many other tests here.

Very possible. I can only go by the one I recieved . It seems to work nomally. No flicker, modes work normally, etc. My 14500’s work perfectly fine. What else can I say?

atbglenn thanks for post! I almost bought one. Glad I waited. Coupon price + 700 or more lumens is a recipe for strong sales.

2 reviewers have measured the light at over 600 lumens. It should be brighter than your 500 lumen lights unless you got a lemon.

Also it still sounds like you’re comparing brightness by looking at the hotspots. This is NOT how to do it. You need to point the light at the ceiling and look at the reflected light at the floor… or use an integrating sphere. Hotspots alone can be very misleading. For instance, the Klarus might have a smaller dimmer hotspot and yet still be brighter than your 500 lumen lights due to wider spill. If you’re trying to measure total lumens produced by a light you cannot look directly at the hotspots.

It’s also possible you got a lemon. My recollection is that even with the same brightness bin there’s a +–20% brightness range. It’s possible your Klarus just happens to be at the bottom of that range while your 500 lumen lights are at the top.

A third possibility could be your cells aren’t high enough quality or are too old to get maximum output. I don’t have this light myself, but my favorite 14500 cell is the Efest purple IMR from Mountain Electronics. With one of those in my modded 1xXPL HI Skilhunt DS16 with FET driver and my light is as bright as my SC600w III HI. So well over 1100 lumens for a brief period of time.

So who here has tested it with an accurate sphere? Anybody?

The Op says it’s not kickin out the light it should. I tend to trust folks on this forum and Klarus tends to overstate lumens anyways. The g30 puts out 1900 from a claimed 2450. I agree, wait til folks get the G20, there’s gonna be a s$&tstorm!!

Look guys, I’m not a newbie with flashlights. I have around 50 over the course of the last 5 years and never been more disappointed. I don’t care what ceiling bounce might say, I go with what my eye says. And it say’s this thing sucks. It’s true my particular Mi7 could be on the lower end of the scale when it comes to output. But that’s how I’m judging it. That being said, I’m not a happy camper. That’s all I can say. Buy one at your own risk.

Glenn

Edit: someone marked this post as rude? Who ever it is, get a freaking life!

I guess nobody has an accurate sphere here but you can take other lights to compare with from the home made sphere. For the GB price this is probably the cheapest and brightest AA light you can get. Is there even a brighter 1xAA light? I mean we are talking about a keychainlight price and it even offers lock out and battery checker. Even with 550-600 lumens it makes sense to buy it.

Since you ask, Yes there is. Nitecore EA11 for one.