Review: Astrolux S43 2600 Lumen Flashlight

:+1: :+1: :+1:
Awesome reviews,clear and clear.
adding a lot of points to the S43,
which was not very popular at first.
I think I will seriously consider whether to buy S43.

I think if you liked the look and output of the S42, but hated its user interface, you’ll really like the S43.

I like that the S43 includes both the 18350 and 18650 body tubes, rather than separately like it was with the S42. Though, IMO, if you use this light on turbo (and why wouldn’t you), you’ll probably want to stick with 18650 so you get some reasonable run-time.

I could not get close to 2100 lumens on my Nichia version. On another thread they reckon that the Nichia will only produce about 1600 lumens on turbo and that agrees with what I measure.

I don’t claim my output measurements are 100% accurate (they could be off by +/- 10% for example), but I can confidently state that it is way brighter than 1600 lumens. I could be high on my measurements, especially since I didn’t do an ANSI FL1 measurement; in that case the 2100 lumens that Banggood states may be more accurate.

I did notice that it falls from my 2600 lumens estimate very quickly. I could only achieve that on a fully charged cell within the first few seconds after turning it on. For ANSI, I think 2100 lumens is probably the number to use, assuming you don’t hit the thermal step-down before that.

1600 lumens seems way too low. I couldn’t be off that much. Are you sure you weren’t in thermal step-down?

Great review thanks!
Love the LOTR reference!

I wonder if the estimate output being tossed around for the Nichia was based on the 10A S42 vs the 15A S43. I have both but don’t own a sphere. I also visually compared my Nichia S43 to my CW S42 on turbo and the S43 Nichia seemed brighter at short distance. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

While I was at it, I did a bit of LEGO play, and the 18650 body tubes and tail caps do lego between the S43 and S42 and work perfectly. The knurling on the S43 tailcap is minimal, and close enough in pattern and far enough from the tube’s knurling that they are a good match and only show any difference upon close inspection. Black Ano color is a match too.

The S41/S42 18650 tube is 3mm shorter than the new S43 tube. That’s not a problem if you’re running unprotected batteries. I like the newer S43 tube for its ability to fit my Acebeam protected 18650 battery. That’s also the only battery with PCB I own capable of triggering turbo mode. My others could not, which makes sense since it pulls 15Amp, most PCB 18650 cutoff is well below 15 Amps.

I notice none of the S43 include a USB cable. Do you think they believe everyone has one by now? They may? Lol

I noticed yours has a decent gap on both ends of the body tube. I just received mine and I’m a little disappointed that the gap is there and it’s large enough that the thread grease leaks out. Both tubes, the 18650 and 18350, are like this.


I didn’t even notice those gaps until you mentioned it. Thanks so much lol

Those that own the S42 and the S43… I have various S42… and yes, Turbo is impressive for a few seconds… but the usual Non-Turbo-Light is sort of ‘standard’ EDC-brightness (yes, I know, much of the lumens are ‘wasted’ in the flood beyond the center)… how does the S43 compare to the S42 regarding this Non-Turbo-Brightness?

The non-turbo brightness (“high” on the ramping scale) is about half the output of turbo (“double-click”). I measured 1400 lumens, though that drops rapidly as the battery declines. Basically, it’s similar to single-LED XP-L lights that are driven from a FET driver.

As far as sustainable output without thermally ramping down, it’s down around the 300 lumen output, typical of other small lights. The XPG3 configuration would probably do better, since they generate less heat than the 219C.

You can turn off thermal step-down, though you’d have to be careful not to let things get too hot.

As for the S42, I find it eventually gets hot on all modes above their medium output. It’s probably similar to the S43.

With default temperature settings mine can’t retain 250 lumens in 23°C room temp without additional cooling. Steps down to ~100 lm after 15 minutes.

The default thermal controls overshoot, IMO. But if you feel the light after it settles down for awhile, it will only be warm, not hot. You could try raising the thermal setting in the programming mode, or turning it off entirely. Or just turn up the light again when it overshoots. I’m not sure if there’s a setting for controlling how quickly it steps down. That would be nice, but I’m not sure if Narsil has something like that.

I find the thermal controls adequate, and certainly better than a timed setting, but it’s nothing like the PID that Zebralight uses (which is very responsive both down and up, and maintains temperature almost exactly).

If you want to use the S43 on high output a lot, consider the S43S instead. It has a large copper head, and I find that absorbs a lot of heat. Takes at least twice as long for thermal controls to kick in, compared to the S43. I plan to do a comparison review soon.

thanx in advance, will read tomorrow.

Differences with the Astrolux S43S (copper head version), posted to this thread:

I finished my video review. Added to the first post in this thread.

Hello,
Great review, thanks. I’ve bought one on BG.
Can you help me to understand why the turbo doesn’t work with protected 18650?
My S43 works fine except turbo mode with full charged protected battery Sanyo NCR18650BF. i double click to enter turbo mode , the light blink once and stop working. i have to unscrew the tail cap to reset the problem. With samsung INR 30Q the turbo mode works.
Is there a protection in the S43 that detect the battery can not supply enough power? but why to stop the light? it should works at lower level.

Sounds like the protection circuit on the battery is sensing the huge current draw and, thinking it’s a dead short, shutting down the output.

Yeah, that would be my guess too. The S43 on turbo draws a large amount of current. Around 10 amps or more? You really need an unprotected high-drain cell for proper performance.

@jintian, since the light draws a lot of power on turbo, your protected Sanyo NCR18650BF detects the very high power draw, and shuts itself down.

The 18650 you want is this:

I have exactly the same problem with protected cells. It's due to the protection circuit in the cell itself cutting the power.

Thanks all for your replies. I first thought about a S43 protection because i believed the protection circuit in the cell limit the power without cutting it but if it detect a dead short, it make sense. I don’t know if it’s possible with NarsilM 1.3 but i’ll try to disable turbo. Full power is enough for my use.
I like in this flashlight: wide flood beam, Neutral White, USB recharge, 18650 or 18350, side switch, the price and Narsil firmware (i don’t understand the user manual yet but seems very flexible)
Cons: switch very soft and sensitive, could be place deeper in the head to prevent unwanted activation.