New Defiant lights at Home Depot (Pics added)

LED Flashlights – General Info
1

just spotted 2 new Defiant lights at HD

3xD-cell, 1000 lumens, electronic side switch, appears to be 3x XPG, $30

4xD-cell, 1500 lumens, electronic side switch, appears to be 3x XML, $35

The boxes are cardboard and can be opened without being ruined.

I bought the 4D model because it looked interesting. Overall I’m disappointed

Anodizing is very bad, the light feels extremely cheap. The threads are very rough and the lens is thin plastic.

It is a triple XM-L2, somewhat cool tint. Modes are operated by electronic momentary switch. 3 mode, High >low > slow strobe > off. Tailcap readings are 2A on hi, 700mA on low. Light always starts on high, advance mode with a short click, or hold for off.

Thought I might be able to use it as a host, but it is not easily mod friendly. The led’s are on a board on a small pill, then beneath that is a contact board held in by a retaining ring, and beneath that is the electronic switch assembly. it’s all hard to access because only the bezel and tailcap come off.

The electronic switch functions are unique for a generic light, but I’ll be returning this one.


Head assembly


Switch buried inside

2

This years defiant lights are very poor compared the the defiant thrower they had a couple years back. I bought one of the 51 led lights and took it back when I saw how bad it was. Didn't realize they were XM-L2 in there though.

3

Thank you pilotdog68 and welcome to the forum. Good albeit mostly sad info. I keep hoping for another Defiant super light to come out, but they seem determined to take the low road.

4

For a moddable host do these seem to have enough meat in em to move the heat away from the pill? (which looks to be quite thick)

Either way, seems the muggles will soon be exposed to CREE and the light it produces…we will have to up our game to stay ahead, even moderately driven CREE emitters make quite a bit of light and make the old Maglite incandescent woefully anemic.

Still making one of those push 3A per emitter woo howdy, imagine the lumens it would pump out (and the heat :frowning: )

But for $30~ bucks…they can keep em

Can still easily hotrod a Convoy S2 that will smoke one of those for less

5

It’s always nice to know ahead of time what lights will be on clearance after the holidays! :wink:

6

The pill is actually quite small. here is a pic (including the plastic reflector)

The light has very little thermal contact. Not very much mass around the pill area, and as you can see the pill for the led’s has few threads. besides that, the switch/driver appear to be mounted on the same board, which is just floating in the main tube

For comparison here is the large DST pill, and a pic of the DST on the left, and this new light on the right

7

Yuck…side by side and pill comparison…no way…new ones are neutered and won’t be very thermally efficient, bleh

8

I already have 3 Defiant lights, the 3c DST, 3d tactical light, and the 3d triple XPG from awhile ago. they’ve been steadily decreasing in quality with each iteration, but this one is the first to go back

9

That pill doesn't look bad to me. More important than it's size is it's fit into the host. That can be compensated for if just a little loose. The plastic lens is replacable. The finish seems to be the only real problem to me. I don't count the driver as a factor in a budget light. If the price comes down alot, I'll probably grab one.

Thanks again. pilotdog68 for taking one for the team. I know you intend to return it, but it still is an inconvenience and there is the risk that you damage it and can't return it.

10

I was looking at both of them too today at the local HD. One was a TIR Zoom light with a XP-G2, and the other with three XM-L2 emitters.
They looked “cheaper” than the previous Defiant lights i bought.

11

I worked the return counter at Home Depot for 2 years. Trust me, my local store will return anything :slight_smile:

It can definitely be modded if you want to put in the time. That finish though… Yuck.

12

I kinda like the matte finish vs the semi gloss

13

I like the look of it, but the feel and durability are sub par. It was actually getting chipped from the plastic packaging

14

That's an awfully deep reflector for a triple, isn't it?

-Garry

15

give it a few months then these might hit the $ 7 - 10 dollar bin.

16

Does the Home Cheapot ever run 40% or 50% off any one item coupons like Michaels or Hobby Lobby do? Because for even $20 I’ll grab the 4D.

17

Is it possible to turn it into a single mode faslhlight?

Thank you

18

You would need to replace the driver, but that’s something Richard from mtnelectronics should be able to hook you up with. That’s if you want to keep the stock momentary switch. If you use a clicky switch then you don’t need a driver, just a current limiting resistor.

19

I just picked up the 3-D with $25 off for signing up for a credit card.

The design is a bit strange. The LEDs are on a huge 40mm aluminum circuit board. Then under that there is a round 35mm board that does nothing except provide a negative host body contact for the driver and pass through the two power wires for the LEDs, which are apparently isolated. Then the actual switch/driver board is under that secured by a circlip. It is square and appears to be inside a plastic housing similar to a Mag-Lite switch with a battery positive contact, though I have not had it out yet to know for sure. It is almost like it was originally going to use a round driver, but then they changed their minds.

There is no visible flicker in high mode. Low mode does have some visible PWM.

20

I was finally able to get the circlip out and get a couple good shots of the driver and contact board.

There isn't much on the bottom of the driver, just the switch and a 10V 470uF cap. The contact board literally has no parts, just wires. So it is a linear driver, which is highly disappointing. It looks like they have been changing the design as well. There is space for 4 FETs, with only 2 populated. In pilotdog's light I can clearly see 3. They are actually ML8205A TSSOP-8 dual 6A FETs. They have used 2 of course to spread out the 2.7W or so of heat. pilotdog's board is red and this one is green.

Taking a look at some of the other components, there is an SOT-23-5 LM321 opamp, most likely for current sensing, a SOT-23 TL431 voltage reference, and some type of SOIC-14 micro. There are no markings on the micro, but interestingly, they left full ICSP pads on the bottom complete with silk screens to conveniently identify the pins. It would be so easy to pull a chip ID that I wonder why they went to the expense and trouble of using an unmarked chip. I may do this if I feel so inclined.