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.
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.
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.
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:
Got mine as well.
I put in my request for replacement tube and USB cover before it even got here.
USB cover falls out if you look at it cross-eyed.
Will definitely damage a KeePower 750MaH if you attempt to screw it down.
Battery tube legos with an existing latter model BLF A6.
18350 battery works fine with S42 tube on A6.
18650 tube from A6 works with the S42.
UI is slow and stupid.
I’m not sure I would ever use the glass breaker attachment, although it sure would ruin someones day if they got thumped in the head with it. If the laws in your locality preclude crenelated ‘tacticool’ heads, this may be a loophole you could argue.
I’m hoping that someone will either figure out how to reprogram the existing driver, or create a replacement driver that will take any of ToyKeepers or Tom E’s Narsil and still use the recharge port.
It feels great in hand and it is a beautiful little light, as long as you don’t try to use it.
The lockout/unlock being a long hold seems to be counter to the purpose. In a pocket or bag, a long press is exactly what could happen, which you want to guard against.
There is actually a spare 18350 inside, under the S42. This Manker holster also fastens on your belt with Velcro, and adjusts to fit the 18650 tube configuration.
(Tho you can’t have a battery in the bottom then!) :laughing:
I got mine today, and gosh darnit, the dang cell dont want to fit!
At least I was expecting it. I took one of my older 18350s that just happened to be the shortest, and it didnt take much effort to get it screwed back together. pushed the bottom in a hair. I dont like to do that, but way better than some of my ecigs did to cells before.
My bezel was not glued… What would be awesome was if they made a driver that did away with the USB charging, and instead used the USB to program the driver. Would be cool to open an app and set what button presses did what. Set short presses, long presses, double clicks, triple clicks, short click long click…. you get the idea. I probably will never actually charge it with the USB.
Got the xpg3 and the 219c versions today. I have to say I’m actually pretty happy with them. I was really thinking they were going to be as bad as some of the stuff I’ve read but that’s not the case.
I ordered 4 of the buttontop windyfire IMRs from MTN.
First I thought great these are never going to fit, should have gotten the flats. But that’s what I have running in them now. Simple nondestructive fix was to pop out the cap spring and put one small neomag on the bottom of the battery. The magnets fit quite well in the negative recess where the spring was. Although on the the one i did add a small bit of Al foil to shim it up in the recess. The 219c certainly is more neutral than the CW xpg3, but to my eyes the 219c seems brighter. Can’t wait till dark to try them outdoors.
Not thrilled with the UI but I do like the lockout feature. The flimsy rubber cover seems to stay in place pretty well if you don’t mess with it and press it in well. But pretty blown away by the output of these things for their size. It reminds me quite a bit of the impression i got when I first got my Noctogon 43s.
ion reality if they change the UI from long press off to be short press off it would be much better. still not makes the UI good and great but at least you can turn on and off the light in every mode and intuitive as it is now its insane top say the least
Got my two 219c today. They work with Aspire flat top 18350 without modification. No damage to battery either. Twist the tail cap to turn off when in moon light mode and it’s not that bad. Gets hot fast. Just need the updated cover and it’ll be worth the $25 bucks.
Edit. The other light, not so good. It seems like a dome on one of the LEDs is damaged and giving off a horrible purple tint. May have to reflow some new LEDs as I am not confident on warranty claims. I’ll file one anyway. 50% is not a good start for my first Astrolux purchase.
to be very honest
iffn I had my druthers, I’d rather waited and let everyone else work this shit out
and it has changed my buying habits on new, untested models
I hope that Banggood/Astrolux realize that there are repercussions to releasing shoddy shit
butt, in retrospect, they already made their expected quota of money, so why give-a-shit?
