I got mine today, sooner than expected because it came from “N&K Trading Inc., 1980 US Highway 1 BLDG 3, North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902”.
It comes in grey and black. The zoom is electric. While it is on, the silver colored button in front of the electronic power and mode button tuns on a motor that slides the inner head out and back, from a fairly wide flood to a clear XM-L image. It pulls back in when turned off. The button does not move, so it must sense touch electrically.
It appears to have a flat window in front of the usual aspheric lens. It draws 1.2 A with maybe a fifth of an ohm in the leads and three D Duracells that read 1.54 V each. Nice tail threads and head attachment threads. Altogether, it seems very nice on first acquaintance and an exceptional value for the money.
The 3xD configuration has the obvious advantages of long run time and ability to double as a club. It also, if it can be modified, could make a very bright light for someone who does not like to use lithium ion cells. 3 x D Eneloops nickel metal hydride cells should put out plenty of current.
The head looks hard to take apart. There is plastic around the battery + contact with holes to unscrew it, but the lens won’t fit out the rear and there is no obvious way to take it out.
I saw a 3 x D Maglight at Fry’s electronics for maybe $50. Perhaps the goal of this light design was to better the Maglight and I think they succeeded: Even if the Maglight has an XM-L, the power zoom feature puts it way out front. The three year old I shared it with loved it (though I had to explain about holding it in the middle so it didn’t always point to the ground). That is, the technical people succeeded with the marketing people’s idea, as usually happens. With the right advertizing, it probably would have been a great success, instead of a great bargain.
Sounds like someone’s adapted the camera zoom motor approach.
I sure hope someone figures out how to take this apart.
I’d guess once the plastic piece comes out there’s a way to release the zoom part so that would come out the front end.
But don’t try this at home on my account …
Here is an apparently similar light that I had bookmarked but haven’t bought because it is more expensive. The front switch’s marking seems to indicate that it controls the zoom. “3*AA/3*14500”
Added: Click the first image for the Smiling Shark site listing, or the others for full size.
I found another imperfection, in addition to it having an XM-L rather than an XM-L2 because it was made quite a while ago. The zoom has quite a bit of momentum and coasts on for a while after you let go of the button. That must be due to the weight and speed of the motor armature (rotor would be a more general term). Another picky point is that, at least with alkaline cells, the current is resistor limited rather than regulated.
No, I think it will be brighter maybe twice as bright on them, especially if it can be moded. for higher current, but the cost is comparable to that of the light and I haven’t yet decided to spend that. I think at 1.5 A the alkaline voltage will drop below that of Ni metal hydride. I definitely am not likely to use it so much that rechargeables are cheaper than alkalines, though that seems to be what it was designed for.
The 3 x D light is now a Smiling Shark SS-W0016 and costs $52.49.
It also appears on the Smiling Shark Web site, but it is listed in both places as 1 x 18650 with a 38 or 52.6 mm. diameter. The Fasttech listing shows it with a 18650 and an unusual converter/charger.
The 3 x AA one is slightly more than at LightMalls at $39.53 and is still a Smiling Shark SS-W0019.
Since the two are now appearing with the same brand name, it seems likely that the zoom is identical.
I can tell you a not-so-good source of D and AAA cells — cheap Tenergy NiMH, light blue with a dark blue band at the negative end.
Lots of those were for sale cheap for quite a while last year and longer ago, around the time Tenergy took them off their website.
You can still find them for sale here and there. I bought several batches — they’d either aged out on the shelf or been stored too hot somewhere in the sun, low capacity and didn’t hold charge very long.
Cheap though … they’re Ok if charged right before they’re used, for a day or two.
Dang. Got mine today, N&K Trading, North Brunswick NJ.
Lights up, but the zoom does nothing but make a brief little gritty noise when the silver button is held, then silence. No sign of any change in the actual light pattern, no movement inside the head.
EDIT: slight twitch inside the head, in and out, maybe a millimeter, not enough to affect the beam spread at all.
Motor pulls enough that the emitter dims slightly while the motor’s trying to zoom/focus and failing.
The amount of the twitch varies a bit, definitely feels like something’s jamming the zoom mechanism in there.
And it doesn’t open up, dammit.
The zoom button doesn’t depress noticeably at all. Should it?
EDIT -no, that’s how it’s meant to work
The silver button feels like it’s just an electrical sensor/contact.
The power button is usual black rubber cover over a clicky switch.
High, low, strobe as expected.
… contacted Tmart “chat” ….
They will email me after they “contact the relevant department”
Well, perhaps this is why the gray ones are on sale (but the other colors aren’t).
There’s a little twitch inside, feels like it’s got something jamming the zoom.
Sorry that happened. It seems I was lucky. Yes, the silver colored button does not move. It must be an electrical sensor of some sort. Maybe it senses capacitance at a high frequency.
I see now, in addition to black and grey with no brand at $23.13, there are ones branded TangsPower for $42.64 in black and bronze. The descriptions are all wrong, but in different ways. I don’t have experience with Tmart, and I don’t have much idea what postage back to New Jersey would be. You should send them a video of trying to make it work.
I finally ordered three Tenergy high discharge NiMH D cells from Battery Junction for $30.54 with postage. These are old “tech” cells that no longer appear on the Tenergy Web site. Nothing is said about self-discharge.
My alkalines are already down below 1.5 V from me and two three year olds playing with it. At 1.44 V from each of my alkaline cells, it is down to 0.6 A on my cheap meter.
I ordered 2 and received them today. I received one black one, and one grey one. But had ordered 2 grey. No biggie. Amazingly both work despite having slid out of their boxes in the shipping bag.
Not particularly bright, loud, and a fair amount of drift in the zooming mechanism if trying to stop between flood and zoom.
Despite all of that they’re fine for the price paid, and if I can get one of them apart safely it’ll make an interesting host.
