Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary:
| Battery: |
Single 18650 or two CR123.
Do not use 2 x RCR123A (16340)rechargeable!!
|
| Switch: | Tail - Reverse Clicky |
| Modes: |
6 mode - no memory:
High
Fast Strobe
Medium
Low
Slow Strobe
SOS.
|
| LED Type: | Cree XM-L |
| Lens: | Glass |
| Tail stands: | No |
| Price Paid: | Donated for review |
| From: | http://site.gregmcgeeengineering.com/ |
| Date Ordered: | 04/08/2011 |
Greg McGee decided to call my bluff and donate one of his self-touted top of the line lights for my review. Several of you might recall my expressing doubts about this light in another thread, calling Greg out to a showdown with his pricey XML light. His confidence in his product was at stake against his reputation in a budget forum and yet he still sent me the light free of charge in exchange for an honest review. So is this light worth the extra bacon, and how does it perform considering its cost and similarities to other lights in this category?
Pros & Commentary:
MTE is back with a new version of the M3-2I. This time, it arrived equipped with a smooth reflector and a well driven Cree XM-L. My research indicates that earlier offerings were MC-E powered and equipped with TIR optics. I have several less expensive XM-L T6 lights I've purchased at Chinese web sites to compare it with. Greg mentioned that he asks the manufacturer for better “bins” to be installed in his lights. There does actually seem to be a positive difference, although this might be attributable to a driver that runs the emitter at close to 3A on high and paired with a great matching reflector to make use of the extra light. My example has a nearly perfect finish. I say “nearly” because even my expensive lights have some minor flaws... call me a perfectionist, but this is nearly perfect. The threads, engagement and torque required to screw the assemblies together is smooth and a nice tight fit over the o-rings. The body has double o-rings on both ends and an o-ring on the lens. No binding or cheap inconsistent threading here. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be this good. I have the Aurora M3-2I which I will rate as a close equal in finish and quality. Up to this point, the Aurora was the nicest host of any budget light I had come across, both in fit and finish. The MTE has slightly better and tighter tollerences. The two lights also share the same threads, which allows me to interchange parts from one to the other and play “Lego lights”. This was of particular interest to me because the Aurora was quite a disappointment in terms of output and beam tint. It came equipped with an MC-E and larger TIR optics that didn’t play very well together. After going over the light to assure correct operation, I assumed the Aurora suffered from a poor bin MC-E until I temporarily held a smooth reflector against the LED and turned it on. It improved some using the reflector from the MTE... but only about 2/3rds as bright and still had an ugly beam pattern and tint compared to the XM-L. As Don had noted earlier, some LED’s don’t appear to work very well with some TIR optics. Surprisingly, the MTE XM-L played well with the Aurora TIR optic, which surprised me. It provided a WIDE linear hotspot, lots of flood and not much throw. Now I know that I can slap a XM-L in the Aurora and I’ll have a fantastic close range mega-flood light. As an aside for mods, the MTE has a brass pill that screws directly into the host and not the reflector. This allows you to unscrew the reflector/bezel assembly and use the body in candle mode. For those who are wondering how a XM-L might play in a different potential host mod, one only needs to remove the bezel from the MTE and hold the proposed reflector in place by hand to test the beam results. Can you guess what I've been doing with many of my reflectors and the new MTE? Stay tuned for a serious 3A, 3 mode, 2 x 18650 XM-L thrower mod in the near future.
This light arrived as clean and properly lubricated as any expensive light and required no fiddling to make it acceptable and working properly. Greg inspects each of them before shipping and replied quickly to my emails (probably to make sure he knew what he was getting into... lol) Shipping is within the U.S. and the light came in a padded envelope inside a firm cardboard box wearing a MTE label. Presentation is gift worthy, unlike the miserable boxes most of our cheapo lights come in. Time in route: 3 working days. Tailcap lockout is possible and consistently repeatable by unscrewing the tail cap 95-100 degrees (a slight bit more than 1/4 turn).
Water resistence appears to be as good as any non-diving light and should do a good job if submerged in shallow water. Tail clicky action is precise and requires medium pressure to activate and can be done single handed without feeling to mushy or firm. Mode switching is as it should be and seems very consistent (it doesn’t miss or skip modes, nor does it change in consistency as it heats up). The Aurora is horrible at mode switching and takes some getting used to. The tail cap allows a “Cigar” type hand hold and has a hole drilled for a lanyard - although one was not provided. The inside of the tailcap has a spring loaded brass plunger and the driver end has a spring soldered to it. This puts spring pressure on both ends of the battery and eliminates any potential contact issues or inadvertent mode switching when shaken. Speaking of which, shaking both the Aurora and MTE vigorously showed that the MTE held the battery with absolutely no perceptible rattling while I could feel the battery moving around inside the Aurora. The pill is brass and I could not remove it by hand. A strap wrench would probably remove it if necessary and I assume it isnt glued because everything else in this light comes apart quite easily by hand. Those that have the larger 18650 Aurora’s will be familiar with the respectable quality of the brand, but this one has a better finish and more precise tollerences between the parts that generally aren't noted until examining much more costly lights. Also, many pricey lights are glued so there is no potential way to easily upgrade them. Thankfully, this isnt the cast with the MTE. From the soldering to the close machined fit, this was obviously produced by skilled labor. IMO (in my opinion), it only lacks in possessing an original style of its own. But then, I purchased the Aurora based on the style and quality of the host, and that some day I might mod it if I didn’t like it. Well guess what? The 20mm XM-L star is already on its way from KD!
Probably the most outstanding (and surprising) feature is the way the emitter works with a comparatively small reflector. Most power lights get killed by reflectors of this size and depth but the XM-L does wonders with it. In comparing it to my larger KD C8 XM-L with smooth reflector, the MTE has a tighter (smaller) and brighter beam with greater throw.
It puts my Manafont 3-mode with smooth reflector to shame (although this is probably the brightest off-the-shelf P60 tested to date). I think the white tint of nearly 3 amps also contributes to the overall performance as seen by the human eye. Another pleasant surprise is how well it handles heat. It takes quite a bit longer to heat up than the heavily foil wrapped drop-in P60 XM-L that I have stuffed into a slightly lighter (less mass) 504B I used here for comparisons. I had expected it to get quite hot in a hurry but it didn’t. In general, I've noticed that the low vF of the XM-L seems to be rather cool running when carefully heat sinked as compared to the higher vF MC-E or P7 emitters when driven at the same current levels. While this host wont cool quite as well as the larger and heavier C8, it will surprisingly do about 75% as well. I thought for sure that this would be a total hand roaster and I am amazed to find it to be quite the opposite. In fact, the less bright and much heavier (due to its larger bezel) Aurora MC-E actually heated up far more quickly and ran hotter. Pic shows protected 18650, Utrafire 504B, MTE M3-2I.
Cons & Commentary:
Features / Value: ★★★★☆
Battery Life:
High ★★★☆☆
While I didn’t do a run time tests, this will be average for similarly driven XM-L single 18650 battery combinations. This light is geared to provide enormous amounts of light on high and still be DAM bright on medium mode. If you want more battery life, don’t run this light or others similar to it in high mode all the time. At 1.5A the XM-L T6 is said to be 20% brighter than the XP-G R5. It actually seems brighter at lower drive levels because of the comparatively enormous hot spot. Believe me, medium mode still puts out an enormous amount of light (about similar to the Aurora MC-E on high mode that it replaces).
Low
Medium
High
Light Output: ★★★★★
Its an XM-L driven at fairly high amperage, focused through a well matched flawless reflector that provides a fairly tight beam pattern. The tint of the emitter is slightly preferable to me over the other XM-L offerings I've seen thus far and it gives more contrast at longer distances. Its only slightly larger and nearly the same weight of P60 based lights yet provides a sizable amount more lumens while providing superior heat management. So what makes it work so well? I'm not sure if it’s the better emitter, the way the XM-L works with the reflector, the quality of the reflector and its finish or the likely combination of all 3 working in concert. To date, I would have to say this light is probably the brightest light I own when considering size to lumen ratio. Its easily my brightest single 18650 light yet.
Summary:
I deliberately did not provide an overall rating for this light for a few reasons. First, it is not intended as a budget light. While it shares many similarities to the Aurora, it is clearly manufactured and fitted to a higher standard. This obviously takes more skill, time and money to produce. The modes and sequence in which it is offered might be a deal breaker for some yet an advantage to others. It would be nice to see a choice of driver mode options at this price point. Since I already have so many lights, I simply select one or two for the proper intended situation before night fall. As far as I know, there doesn't yet exist a light that does everything well, hence the reason why some of us have several of them. This is one of few lights at any price that worked straight out of the box, and without any adjustment or modifications to make it work properly to my satisfaction. Beyond the mode preferences, I would recommend this for professional duty carry and put it up against any light costing 50-100% more. Greg seems to offer good personal support to his customers. Although we got off on the wrong foot because I had serious doubts about his initial claims (when he boasted in an unrelated thread), I will agree that this light has lived up to his claims.... something I DID NOT EXPECT.
As mentioned before, IMO, if this light was better than my larger and heavier Aurora, it was to be gifted to someone very special... an Alaskan Bush Pilot Guide and very dear friend that camps in the extremes of the wild unforgiving mountainous outback. He is quite often responsible for many lives that hire him for his piloting and guide services. I need to know that when he pushes the clicky, its going to turn on every time, especially after he drops it (which he will certainly do many times). So far, this appears to fit the bill better than any other light in my single 18650 high powered light collection. Everything else is secondary for the non-flashaholic that will be using this to depend on, but its nice to know its all there. I’ll let him compare this to my Aurora and other XM-L lights so he knows what a great light he is getting. Is it worth the extra cost to you? That will be for you to decide based upon your own personal needs and budget. It is however, the only one I will give to someone I know that will likely appreciate it the most - and ultimately at the worst possible time.
It is important to mention that no one should rely one one single light and battery where life and safety might be at stake. Under these anticipated conditions, ALWAYS, ALWAYS CARRY A SECOND AND THIRD LIGHT AND SUFFICIENT BATTERIES FOR EACH. As a SCUBA wreck exploration certified diver and Search & Rescue pilot, I've been drilled with that information and pack this way every time I travel far away from man-made light sources or civilization.
I would also like to apologize to Greg. You put your reputation on the line and risked additional harsh criticism in front of hundreds of others, which I was quite ready to dish out and even anticipated. I am duly impressed with your product and am pleased that it performed as you had described.... straight out of the box. As mentioned, I believe the driver changes I had mentioned along with a descent lanyard, A/R lens, user changeable GITD tail cap and extra O-rings would round out this package nicely. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing.
10% discount code off youre entire order is "Enforcer" which is case sensitive.
