I’m glad I held out on this one initially - ordered it about a week ago at the new price 
It came wrapped in a mass of bubble wrap, no box at all. It did have the spare switch, 5 o rings, extra lens and holster (which I will use).
I noticed the previously discussed tail cap thread issue but it was easy to resolve. After removing the o ring I started by cleaning the threads on the tail cap and body with a couple of brass brushes (one toothbrush type and the other used for cleaning inside copper pipe).
I then put a small amount of valve grinding compound on the tail cap threads, started the tail cap in the body and added a drop of water, then just slowly work the cap on and off a little at a time. Once it was completely screwed on I removed, rinsed with water (valve grind compound is water soluble) wiped off with a rag and used compressed air to carefully blow dry. Lubed the threads up and they’re smooth as any light I have.
I know not everyone has valve grind compound laying around but you could probably get similar results with any mild abrasive, maybe even toothpaste.
I’m thinking this light has such a classic look it really needs something in the 5C-7C tint, even a Nichia might seem too cool.
Oh, and by the way don’t order the unprotected 3400 mAh battery listed on FancyFlashlights site right next to this light, it won’t fit. I’m not to happy about that right now!
Very nice. Thanks for the heads up. I’m definitely going to order one.
A few questions if anyone that owns one can answer:
1. It has its own protection circuit and doesn’t need protected batteries, or does it only take unprotected because that’s the only thing that fits?
2. It’s really constant current—no headache inducing, efficiency sapping PWM?
3. It fits the Panasonic unprotected 3100’s?
I’m taking the Convoy out of my FT shopping cart and getting this instead, thanks!
1. Looks like a regular Nanjg at one end and switch at the other, I don’t see any protection. I’m sure it just a size issue, the light’s quite compact.
2. I’m not bother by most PWM and tend not to notice. I can’t detect any with my cell phone camera if that helps.
3. Not sure about the 3100 Panasonic, I would think it would fit (flat top). The 3400 makes it about 1/3 of the way in then gets tight. The bore of my light seems smooth, maybe I just have a larger than usual 3400. My AW IMRs fit fine and my AW protected 3100s fit fine diameter wise but are too long.
Maybe some of the other folks will chime in with the batteries they’re using. I’d like to pick up the highest capacity cells that will fit.
Protected cells just don’t fit. I’m using pack pulls in mine and they fit snugly - no rattle or mode skipping. None of my fans or falling water tests show any visisble PWM. That reminds me, I still need to learn how to use my DMM to test for that. 0:)
This brass light does have PWM. At a glance, I’d guess around 4.5 kHz. Compared visually to other lights, it looks identical to the PWM on my Convoy S3, S7, and XinTD C8 V3.
I’m probably just weird, but I see 4.5 kHz PWM (and lower) without even having to try to look for it. It’s actually fairly distracting at times, especially on the road with PWM-based car tail lights.
The only lights I have which use PWM without me noticing (while not looking for it) are: XinTD C8 V4 (18 kHz PWM) and ZL SC52 (L1 2.7lm mode uses PWM on Li-Ion). And I think my JB RRT01 uses some sort of hybrid PWM too, but I’m not totally sure. Its brightness seems to fluctuate rapidly between two levels but it never actually shuts off all the way (maybe it’s using PWM between two different CC modes to get intermediate levels).
The easiest way I’ve found to view PWM (while looking for it) is to take a white business card or note card or other similar stiff-thin-white sheet and wave it back and forth rapidly through the beam. Spinning fan blades aren’t nearly as effective, and falling water drops can strobe even in constant light (as they change shape, the reflections move).
With the notecard trick, you can even somewhat measure the speed by holding a ruler next to it and measuring the distance between “frames”. At 4.5 kHz, I get a distance of about 2mm between frames. My SK-68 (on medium) gets about 3cm between frames, and the frames are actually streaks about 1cm long. So, at ~4cm per cycle, or 20X as wide as my 4.5 kHz lights, this gives me a rough estimate of 225 Hz on the SK-68.
Thanks ToyKeeper, your comments prompted me to get off my butt and measure the PWM - I don’t know why I didn’t earlier since it is so easy to do. Your guess was spot on - I measured the PWM at 4.6kHz. Small wonder its not visible on any of the multi-speed fans I tried. For comparison, my cheap X8 clone has very visible 120Hz PWM.
Nice lights!
Thanks for the review.
Thanks a lot for the review! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.
Am I the only one who is always tempted to buy at least two of everything nice, so I can still have one after giving one away? Or, in this case, at least three, so I can keep one, mod one, and give one away. This really is a very nice light. I’m running out of people to give lights to though, and it’s a bit hard to gift anything which requires a Li-Ion battery since I also must supply batteries and a charger.
I’m using the 3400mAh unprotected flat top Panasonics in my light. They are tight fit, but slide in just fine when rotated into the right position. I think the battery tube is just slightly oval inside so the little bit thicker lines in the battery’s heat shrink wrapping need to be facing the right way or it wont slide in.
The driver has NANJG 101-AK-A1 written on it, and it does seem to give low voltage warning by blinking the light from time to time.
Oh, and how’s the holster that came with it? Is it beautiful leather item, or more generic nylon holster? Did the lights that came with holster come from fancyflashlights or cnqualitygoods? Cnqualitygoods has the holster listed in the product description, but the price is higher there too.
The holster is pretty cheap fabric, and an extremely tight fit for the brass light. The battery I ordered came in the holster, and that was a much better fit than the entire light. I got mine from FancyFlashlights, despite my sig saying CNQG (it’s harder to abbreviate fancyflashlights in a way that can be googled successfully).
BTW, if anyone knows an actual model number or name for this brass light, I’d love to know what to call it.
Mine turned up in the mail yesterday, including several O rings, spare clicky switch, spare lens, & the cheap Ultrafire-branded belt pouch.
The light is very nice, maybe one of the few lights I don’t feel compelled to take apart & alter.
I’m travelling right now so I can’t receive packages, but I really hope FF still has some of these lights in stock when I get back. I’d love to get another one so I can mod it and still have my first unit intact.
Any chance I could get a profile beam shot? Like lay the light down on a table or something and take a photo from above so I can get an idea of the spill angle?
I REALLY want this light but I'm worried it'll be a bit too tight of a beam for my wants/needs.
Thanks to all that can help!
It does have a fairly throwy beam… but you could always put some DC Fix on (or under) the lens if you like. Or, if you find a 17mm frosted lens, lemme know, because I want one.
However, I don’t think this light is commercially available any more. I ordered my second one just in time, and they haven’t had any in stock for a couple months. I’m glad I got it while I could.
…
Actually, scratch that… it looks like CNQG might have some:
http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1904 (XM-L2 cool white)
http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1899 (XP-G2 3B neutral white)
The XM-L2 would, of course, have a wider hotspot than the XP-G2 model… but the neutral white XP-G2 is a particularly nice tint with good modes and run times.
As for the beam profile… I don’t have quite what you asked for, but here is a close-up of the same light shining through extremely humid air:
Oh, BTW… here is a size reference for this little brass light. It’s narrower than a SK-68, and only a little longer. Significantly smaller than a Convoy S3. And it’s even prettier after developing a nice patina.
The lights are, from left to right: Skyray King, XinTD C8 V4, Convoy S7, Convoy S3, brass beauty, SK-68, JETBeam RRT01, ZL H51w, ZL SC52, ZL H52w, L3 L10-219, iTP A3 EOS, DQG Tiny AAA IV.
WOW! Thank you for the links (as I now see the FF link doesn't show any in stock). Also, the beam shot you provided is exactly what I wanted to see and wow it really does look shockingly throwy for its size. The size comparison shot really sealed it for me, this thing is miniscule for a 1x18650 light and I've been wanting a non-aluminum light for a while (copper, titanium, brass, etc.) so I'm going to pull the trigger on this thing.
I am going to have to look for a coupon though as I had $30 in my mind not $40...
THANK YOU SO MUCH, incredibly helpful and quick response.
Dang it! It seems that the NW XP-G is out-of-stock at both sites but the CW XM-L is in stock...I would prefer the XM-L I think for the floodier beam pattern but cool white in this light seems like an injustice! I could have it modded to a NW but then by the time I pay more than I originally thought and have the emitter switched I'll be looking at $60 at least I think.
Boo, maybe it's not meant to be...
Sorry to resurrect this older post, but it might be of interest to someone that these little guys are still around. Based on this review I ordered one from cnqualitygoods. It arrived after the usual couple of weeks overseas shipping.
As pointed out herein, its a terrific little light for a fairly modest price- $35. Some may prefer the old finish, but the new version titanium nitride coated is pretty nice, but probably won’t attain the brass patina favored by many. The two emitter choices are XM-L2 U2 CW or NW.
All in all, a fun little light, really tiny for 18650. I do wish it was just a little longer so it could use protected cells…