ALIVE: Astrolux S42 groupbuy: US$ 25.95

My reply (from Mandy) came after a day or so. Very polite, will send the longer tube and silicone cap when they’re ready. I’m happy enough with that.

I got a response early this morning from Mandy as well as another one from Alysonhe. Time to reset the wait timer.

My s41 is not glued and has holes for optics and i think a glass lens.
But its “very” new… only a few months old.

Yea, was afraid of that - too early on that one, as well as this one :FACEPALM:

I did get the very nice polite email from Mandy, saying the tube and USB cover will be sent soon, but they are still working on the USB cover, so, should work out. I damaged the USB cover anyways, and even though I got a solution for the short tube, would be better to get a spring back on the driver and get rid of the washer in the tailcap..

Yeah I had an email minutes after I posted here… which was a co-incidence.

Still waiting for answer on my request for new 18350 to replace the damaged one.

Seems like USB covers are not available yet.

Support told me that usb covers are expected to be available next week. Then they are going to send me body tube and usb cover.

Not happy with BG support, I had no response after emailing them so I logged a complaint with paypal, they then contacted me and said “they would send me a tube but cannot until I cancel the paypal dispute deal with it! ” I cancelled the dispute 3 emails later no response…………… not looking good as i cannot re open a eBay dispute. Not the best customer service.

Still waiting for the S42 to arrive… :frowning:

Disheartening posts about the LEDs and of course the driver… :weary:

My replacement items accualy show up on the order list. No pictures or names but it cant be anything else.

I might have missed something - what’s wrong with the LED’s? I got the 219C’s…just waiting on a battery to come in so I can try it out.

Just got this light and none of my unprotected flat top Keeppower and Efest 18350 batteries worked. The Keeppower got damaged, scratches the wrapper on the side and dented tail cap.
Also, got a BLF A6 18650 battery tube and none of the unprotected flat top 18650 batteries works: 25R, HE2, HG2, Q30, VTC6 and BD.
Bad USB cover pops out easily, poorly designed.

Just found that my first Email sent to heyanqing@banggood.com was reject by them due to “content”. It had a hyperlink to page showing this thread. Guessing that was thr cause. Postmaster notification ended up in my spam folder which further delayed my re-send without the hyperlink. Hopefully it goes through now.

Have had same experience as other BLF members with regular CS, with 2 emails now. Almost seems like they don’t read or understand content details since seems like robot-type auto responses which are designed to slow whole process down. Not surprising, I guess. Will still continue to buy from Banggood. Know this is an Astrolux problem and am surprised since I have the steel S41 with long tube and was very impressed.

Just hope this is now handled by Banggood with no further emails from me.

Well , it seems i was lucky then .

Sent email @ cservice and got reply within 24 hours if i would accept the correct tube and usb cover .

How come the manker version has more lumens?

Because manufacturers are not able to properly measure stuff in the first place, those numbers must be regarded as ballpark figures . I never find the output that is specified.

I’m getting lower output too , 23% lower output on my s42 (in comparison with the e14 ii) .

It could be a higher resistance fet or pwm controlled turbo mode , i don’t know .

Manker is famous for using double springs, and overall quality is better in the Mankers, so better electronics, wires, etc. I don't have a E14 II to compare but not surprising. Of course the E14 II can run on higher amps/heat with all that copper vs. thin aluminum of the S42. S42 turbo gets super hot super quick.

In this case, you do actually get something better for more money, but still big differential of $65 vs. $25...

I just received mine yesterday and as others have said, it has multiple issues.
The USB cover does not fit properly.
The battery tube is too short.
I tried the smallest battery I had, a protected 16340, and dented the negative end.
What is with this UI? I had to loosen the tailcap to turn it off.
This being said, I love the look and the size of the light.

Holy cow this ui makes the light unusable! I don’t even care about the other problems. I wanted to carry it today, but the idea of blasting off 2000 lumens in the office to turn the light off is a no-go.

Plus the lockout is worthless. Had it in my pocket for like 3 minutes and it unlocked itself. Which means the potential to get into turbo in the pocket is a reality.

Just what I want is to be in a meeting and notice a burning sensation in my leg and rip out a burning hot 2000 lumen light in a room full of people.

I’ve never had a light get out of lockout that easy. Even my nightcore tip takes a long combination of time and leaning awkwardly against something to get it out of lockout. I literally put it in my pocket, grabbed a drink, sat down to get a better look and it was unlocked. At that point I’m just a short click and a long click from being in turbo.

So they can make any tube or cover they want… The light is worthless.

I can’t let anyone else use it because of the UI and I can’t really carry it at work, and I’m not comfortable putting it in my pocket without a physical lockout.
Can’t use it in a vehicle, or any tight spaces.

Sheesh.

The enormous error in the UI is that on all modes the light is turned off by a long press, except in the lowest mode, then a long press means TURBO. So you can not turn the light off in the lowest mode unless you go via the next mode. To make it worse, the light comes on in the lowest mode, so the first mode you enter when switching the light on will not let you switch it off again :person_facepalming:

So they let a software-nerd make the UI and did not check the result. Oh well, they let a flatworm measure the battery tube and never tried fitting a battery. And we let them sell a bucketload of flashlights and never waited for the review first :person_facepalming: