These negatives are not effecting my excitement… the light still performs I’m sure… it seems like a good light… just because there is some flaw that aren’t that big.you can mod the tail spring and glue the cover down if need be … that’s half the fun is working on it right lol
Also got my S42. Same observations with the others:
Tube is too short for KeepPower IMR 18350 750 mAH (flat top). 16340 also won’t fit. No way to make the bottom cap to make contact to the body without modification
USB cover just dangle from the flashlight. Will not stay in place
UI is sluggish and difficult to navigate. No way to turn off flashlight in moon mode. Cannot quickly go from moon to the next level; a fast click would be recognized as a double click and switch between 4 or 7 mode. Cannot reverse from higher to lower brightness.
However, the fit and finish is quite good. Better than the Astrolux S1.
Received mine today. I can confirm it won't fit any 18350, not even a flat top 16340. Either they redesigned the tailcap or planned on using a low profile button on the driver, then replaced it with a big stiff spring. Unusable without modding. Just insert a 18350, push down as hard as you can - it still sits over the battery tube, and therefore the tailcap cannot be tightened enough to make contact.
It's a chunky one, but just sitting in that machined out spot. Seen this many times before. It's gotta collapse maybe 1-2 mm above the bottom for the cell to fit w/solder boob.
This is my temp solution. Banggood should still make good this faulty designed flashlight and send us the proper tube.
Remove the tail spring and fit 3 magnets to the -ve end of the 18350. Tail spring can be easily pulled out of the cap, and no soldering required. It then fit quite nicely, provided you happens to have the magnets.
Nice! With the solder job I did, the S41 tail works great with it. The S41 tail spring is real soft, plus it's got more clearance.
Battery tubes are identical between the S41 and S42, though the S41 feels slightly heavier.
A shorter or softer tail spring would probably work well, but dunno what options you'd have. Can't just solder in a replacement. Maybe can cut down the stock one, then solder a softer one to the remaining bottom ring of the stock spring.