Clone of On The Road M3 ~$13

It was all about this little light in the “talk avout future projects”thread, so to clean that up here goes:

Overall build is good, no time for measurements, but abe now it has its own topic people chime in :slight_smile:

Any idea on what CT they are using in this light?

I have recieved this light and used to have OTR M3 - this one has same fit and finish minus the fancy pouch, but added USB charging. I charged one battery and measured - 4.19 V - just as TM measured. It came with dead blue 16340 cell inside. Output is OK-ish for EDC, doesn’t have the turbo mode.

UI deserves some words - it has two “groups” - by default is Mid-High-Strobe with memory, but after double click it starts ramping up/down and if you make a single click it remembers the mode, even if you turn off the light. Single click will continue the up/down ramping, double click again to go to the original 3 modes. The double click is tricky, has to be very fast and not always work. The UI reminds me of Crelant V6CS.

In my thinking this light is perfect for non-flashaholic, as it is relatively safe and simple for use. The only downside for newbie is the electronic switch - no idea what is the consumption when off. May be if they remove the crappy battery from the package, the price can go ~ $10-12. Actually I would be glad if they were making 18350 version - with Aspire 18350 it is difficult for me to consider 16340 light.

I also ordered headlamp with 18650 battery and it is also quite usable with same UI and I think same LED. The headlamp ($18):18650 headlamp

I am also waiting to receive the 18650 version of this light with same features for $12:18650 Vesrion

Color temperatures are cold and neutral, I ordered the neutral and it looks like 5000-ish.

Ha thanks about that extra UI, gonna check it.
Me too NW, nice tint, it seems a but more yellow/brownish then Q8 tint.

It is kind of explained on their AE page, but with strange translation, i.e. UI is “Position description” :

Sent this seller some PMs with some questions about a month ago when i found out this light , but he didn’t respond …

I always thought the click and hold of the Olight was a bit weird too. But lately I am using the D4 ramping a lot and now the click and hold feels really natural. You can easily use them after each other without thinking.

On the Olights I have to use index finger or thumbnail, both not comfortable

I owned a couple of their lights. Jaxmanve is nowhere near OTR.

Thanks The Miller for compiling and opening the thread, and thanks yasenf for the explanation about the UI!
Their description is somehow weird, but it does mention the “stepless dimming”. I’m glad it has it and gonna try when the light arrives. It was shipped today, so let’s wait some weeks :wink:

BTW, there are some “discussions” about 16340 cells in other threads. I guess they will be useful bearing in mind that the one that comes with the flashlight is not the best, for what is said above.

This light is amazing for the price! Really! I don’t know how it’s possible. They took a very nice budget light, somehow added charging to its tiny package, and lowered the price by %75! I don’t get it…

Anyway, in a way, I did get it. Actually I got 15 of it. :smiley:

It’s a great gift and cheep enough that I can offer a great light at a great price and still make $5 on it. Very nice:)

I can’t stand you guys. Just ordered the jaxmanve

My modded OTR M3 running the same NarsilM as in the Q8 is pretty awesome, with a TA triple channel 15 mm board. I've found the IMREN 700 mAh 16340 does pretty darn good in it.

IMREN's bought here: https://www.imrbatteries.com/16340-batteries/

The flat top IMREN's seem to work for me in the M3.

It's a tough mod to do - trim the driver, set it in at 45 degrees mount, etc. Not the best to get max output, but works well, still good power.

Tom, if I wanted to change the driver/UI of this light (OTR M3 Clone), without technical equipment to reflash it and give it Narsil or NarsilM (or other nice UIs being developed), how could I do it?

I’m not aware of and do not own technologies some people here has to make those driver’s modifications, but I would like to try those UIs in some lights I will probably have, like this Jaxmnve M3.
Are there any “stock” drivers with that firmware installed that can be placed in these small lights?

Sorry to ask, and if this not the appropriate place to talk about this, no problem, I can be directed to other thread or through PM. Thanks in advance!! :+1:

I think this is the ideal place to talk drivers and such
:wink:

This little thing with Narsil wowsers!

Perfectly the right place to ask. There's not many options, in fact there's probably no options, but can't be sure because might take a Herculean effort to search for something. E-switch lights specially are all custom designed drivers, so there's no availability of replacement drivers out there. The drivers are somewhat a pain to reverse engineer, so slim chance of being able to re-program the stock MCU. Stock MCU's can vary, but many are PIC controllers where our expertise is with the ATMEL's - even though they are one in the same company now, their line of MCU's are quite different architectures.

It's a monumental task to re-program stock driver MCU's - tons of time, etc., may have to make hardware changes, and they do not make it easy to do by scratching off identifying part #'s, or even if it had part #'s, very tough to trace them down -- many times undocumented by the manufacturers. Is it doable? Maybe, but why suffer with the driver hardware design when you can spend your time better with a driver with hardware features you want? It just doesn't make sense to me, this is why we do full driver replacements -- we get the amps we want, other features, plus a better custom UI.

Thanks for your answer Tom, it was very clarifying about the state of things!
I guess, it will difficult to change my UIs and drivers then :person_facepalming:
Not being able to build or reprogram drivers is a PITA, specially when such nice firmwares are coming out to change the game!

It would be good to find some available for these small lights, ready to swap in and to make lights better! Time will come, I hope :blush:

Unfortunately for lights like this, slim to none chance. Say for example I built a batch of the custom drivers for sale that fit this light, the mounting and wiring is pretty intricate, detailed, and required some pretty good skills.

Stock driver:

My custom driver:

Lots of pics here showing details on parts, assembly stages, etc:

Sorry, you'll get banged with ads though: photobucket.com/user/TomE2012/library/Custom Mods/OnTheRoad M3

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

Yeah, for someone like me, it’s not slim, it’s really NO chance of doing this!
The work is really intricate, saw your photos, no chance to do that easily or without proper knowledge!

Thanks for sharing this Tom, it is a really good work! :+1:

We really have to make small lights with these new UIs :smiley: If you know what I mean :wink:

About the Jaxmnve…I’ll have it and accept it just the way it is when it arrives!