Hello everyone. You asked me for my thoughts on the lights that I received as a gift from someone who is unknown. It was a very nice gift and I am very honored to have gotten such a nice gift. Here are some things to consider while reading my thoughts:
I am legally blind so things related to sight may be overlooked....such as fit and finish
I am relying more on touch and hearing
I have never owned "high end" lights so keep that in mind (I can not afford them)
The batteries in the lights were all fully charged before use
All lights were wiped down with glass cleaner to remove oil, dirt etc
all threads were wiped down and lube removed and relubed
I have not done any beamshots or used the lights for anything yet so I do not know how they look other than what I have posted below.
I am also very grateful and thankful for this great gift, so please realize that this is simply my opinion good or bad. I am not ungrateful in any way, I am rather honored that someone would even think to do this for me.
EAGLETAC D25A MINI:
In a nutshell I love this light. I like the way it feels in my fingers. It turns smooth and quiet. It has a nice sturdy pocket clip and you can carry it LED facing down. The light is silent to my ears in its various modes of brightness. I do have a grip with it....and my grip is that it does have those goofy blinky/SOS, and beacon modes. I am using a 1.2V Tenergy NIMH 2600MAH AQA battery in the light. This will become my new EDC light.
SOLARFORCE L2 WITH SF XML T6 3 MODE DROP-IN
This is a nice light. It is not slick to hold in your fingers and you can do a cigar hold with this light. It will not tail stand. I like the gentle touch switch for momentary on and the positive click when you want it to stay on. The threads on both the head and tail cap are a bit scratchy but they work fine. I like the sharp attack bezel on the light....it would do some damage if your flashlight was the only means of getting away from an attacker. I am using an XTAR 18700 in the light. My grip with the light is that it is hi/med/low. I prefer low/med/hi. I can hear buzzing and a high pitched whine from this light in low and med. I can also see LED flicker in low and med....which bothers my eyes.
KNIGHT RIDER P-ROCKET
I am unsure about the LED in this light. I assume it is am XML, but I am not sure. This light is very slick to hold and slides all over the place with dry hands. You are in for a fun challenge if your hands are sweaty. :) This light works a little differently than what I am use to. If you turn the light off in low, it will start in medium. If you turn it off on high, it will start in low. I let the light sit and even removed the battery and it always starts on the next mode to the one you left it in. The threads both front and rear and scratchy but work fine. However in both front and rear, the orange o-rings want to sqeeze out so I must be careful when putting it back together. I can hear buzzing and a high pitched whine from this light in low and medium modes. The light has a Trustfire 18650 in it right now. This light will tail stand. I like the positive clicking switch on the light as well. Like I said, it is a dog to hold on it, it is very slick.
XTAR WK21 METEOR
I have no idea what LED is in this light. I love the size of this light. To me it is small for a CR123 light. The body is very slick yet the notches in the head make up for that and it is surprisingly easy to hold, turn the head, and use. The threads are very smooth and quiet...almost as nice as the Eagletac. This light is annoyingly loud. It has a whine in all modes and adds a clicking to the whine in its blinky mode. I wish the light did not have a blinky and SOS mode and was just low/med/hi. I am using a 3.6v RCR123a from Battery Station in the light. This light will tail stand
ULTRAFIRE HD2010 XML 5 MODE
This is a nice and heavy beast. It is front heavy but that would be expected. It is nice and grippy to hold on to and not slick at all unless your hands are full of oil or something. The flashlight seems to start in the next mode from the one that you turned it off in. If you turned it off in low, it will start in medium the next time. It did this ever after the battery was removed from the light. I wish it were a low/med/hi light and did not have the blinky/sos modes at all. This light has a terrible whine in all but hi mode and clicks as well as whines in blinky mode, that is annoying to me. I have to be careful when putting the head back on the light as the o-ring will squeeze out if I am not careful. I like the fact that it has a glass lens in it.....I have no idea if it is anti-reflective or not. The threads are smooth and quiet on the light both front and rear. I am using an Ultrafire 18650 3.7v 3000MAH battery in it. This light will tail stand rather well dispite the large head.
4SEVENS MAELSTORM X10
I am not sure what LED is in this light. Alright, I have heard that a 4Sevens light is a nice light. I mean this is CPF material....not BLF material. I am not sure what to think, my mind wants to like it, but my sense of touch is telling me otherwise. There is no other way to put this.....this light is a slick a snot.....period. Dry hands, wey hands, oily hands....forget it. The tail cap has some awesome knurling on it and is crazy grippy. You can hold the light with two fingers and shake it....and it will not slip. Why did they not do this over the body of the light? The light was very dry and gritty with this sticky lube on it and was hard to get apart, it was crazy tight....almost stuck. I fixed that by cleaning the threads front and back and adding light lube. Now it is just tight on the head and gritty in the rear. There is no doubt this light will seal very well....and it is the front o-ring that is making it so tight.....that is a good thing I guess. The light has a 4Sevens 26650 battery in it which rattles around in the light. Now because of my eyes, I must be careful inserting this battery because it is smooth on both ends. There is no bumpy tipe to go by, so I will have to mark the battery so I can tell +/-. The switch or something inside the tailcap rattles unless the light is on the the cap is tightened down to power the light. This is a two mode light low/hi. It starts in the next mode from where you left it when you turned it off. It is either a momentary switch ir a twist to lock it on. I personally do not care for that. I prefer the rear clicky switch so I get feedback from the switch and can hear and feel what I am doing. This light will not tail stand. The light is silent in low or hi mode and there is no LED flicker that I can see it all. I really think that this light is well made and would hold up over time, but somehow I am disappointed with it. Somehow I would expect more from the light knowing how much they cost new.
Overall if I had to pick the two best lights right now based on what I have typed above, they would be the Eagletac and the SF L2.
