Nice Reveiw as always Foy, they seam well driven to me you realy want to push the XML for a tiny gain ? Atlest it will handle the extra heat. Will be intrested in what drivers work with it. 3hours run time is Awsome got to love the 26650's 8.4v at 4000 + mAh
This light is off to Erik for a driver swap tomorrow. (I forgot to send it 2 days in a row)
It's going to be an animal when he gets through with it.
Foy
Gonna keep an eye on this thread, as the 2 x 26650 format is looking like a good replacement for my D cell mags.
What size is the magnets foy ?
Foy, I think I missed this during the spate of recent spammers. Thanks for a great review. I totally dig the the aesthetics of this light. It is nice to see a manufacturer try to look different instead of cloning every other design out there. the anno color is da bomb, just wish we could get more color options out there like this. Shadow really seems to be coming up with some interesting choices, can't wait till my JM07 arrives.
Benkie. If your talking about the magnets that came with the King Kongs, (l only got one) there about 1mm x 5mm. It works ok as you only need 1 between the batteries with this torch.
great rev. i only wish this were a split tube baby! 1 or 2 bats. looking forward to that design the near future. i 2 like the larger size lites.
There is a single battery JM05 but I'm not aware of an extension tube.
Foy
Thanks I'll get some to try with my king kong in my TR-J12
I'll start by saying that this is definitely an impressive light. Very refined appearance compared to most in this category. I only have two complaints. First, protected batteries are not supported. The only way to use protected batteries is to leave the ends less than fully tightened (clearly unacceptable). I tried 4Sevens protected 26650's (4000mAh), and JetBeam protected 18650's (2300mAh) with the included adapter. I had no problem with unprotected batteries: King Kong 26650's (4000mAh) and NCR18650A's (3100mAh).
My second complaint is the lack of mode memory. When turned on, the mode is always set to High. From what I've read, some of these have mode memory and some do not. As additional info: my light came with two o-rings on each end of the battery tube. I mention that because it's the only noticeable difference between my light and Foy's. There isn't any indication that this is a knock-off (I purchased from Hank at International Outdoor).
Could someone comment on whether my light is defective, or did they just stop including mode memory (or do I have an early light and they have since started including mode memory)?
All feedback is welcome.
Thanks,
Jeff
Foy mentions memory in the description, but there's no memory in the description. And neither it was last week as far I remember, or actually never.
Thank you for the reply, Hikelite. That mode memory spec may have just been a misprint. Does anyone have a JM05 with mode memory?
I meant to point out in my last post that I don't need spacers with unprotected cells in my JM05 (2 x King Kong 26650, 4000mAh).
I also wanted to point out that the JM05 is rated IPX5, not IPX6 as mentioned above. Its actual IP rating is IP65, but the 6 refers to protection from solid objects. An X is used when one of the two ratings is unspecified. IPX5 is similar to IPX6 (both are protection from water jets), but the IPX5 spec is a 6.3mm nozzle with a pressure of 30kN/m2 and the IPX6 spec is a 12.5mm nozzle with a pressure of 100kN/m2 (both from 3 meters for 3 minutes). That's a pretty significant difference in pressure.
Foy's JM05 has memory:
As for the rating, it's hard to really know, much poorer lights are rated higher by the manufacturers, this has long square threads and two o-rings on each end, that should theoretically be top notch. But the bezel/lens and the rubber boot/tailcap are very important in this matter.
Your light appears identical to mine. I have commented in post 14. I dont think that I will ever run this 0n 18650's as with a run time of 3 hours (Foys testing) on 26650's is more than I will ever need. The lack of mode memory though is a let down, as pointed out it is not advertised. My driver is identical to the pictures but uses different current draw to Foys. Have you tested yours?
My driver is also identical to the pictures.
With freshly charged 4000mAh King Kong 26650's, the tail cap draw was: 1.23A/0.60A/0.05A (hi/med/lo). Both cells had a starting voltage of 4.18v.
After discharging the cells @ 1.5A for 30 minutes, the tail cap draw was: 1.31A/0.64A/0.05A (hi/med/lo). The cell voltages were ~3.91v.
After discharging @ 1.5A for an additional 30 minutes, the draw was: 1.38A/0.68A/0.05A (hi/med/lo), with voltages ~3.73v.
Update: After fully discharging the cells (down to 3.0v), the draw was: 1.53A/0.74A/0.05A, with cell voltages ~3.46v.
I also tested two freshly charged 3100mAh NCR18650A's and the tail cap draw was: 1.28A/0.62A/0.04A (hi/med/lo), voltages ~4.17v.
Sorry Jeff. I should have typed 26650 not 16650. Fixed now. Your getting pretty much the same current draw as mine.
I could not get more than 1.15 on King Kongs, no matter what state of charge they were in. And, this is the same DMM that measures 4.78 amps from a 980L. I bought this light with the specific intention to do a driver swap but even so, was disappointed by the seemingly low current draw.
Jeff -
Thanks for correcting me on the IPX rating. The "IP65" confused me; I didn't know whether to go with IPX-6 or 5 so I guessed 6 because I saw other IO lights that were 6. My bad, will edit. Also, others have reported their JM05 having dual o-rings at both ends too. Guess I just got "lucky."
Erik has my JM05 right now and I can't wait to see what this thing can do when pushed a little.
Foy
No worries and thanks for the great review, Foy.
My King Kong's are marked (XSL) if that makes a difference. I also have one without the (XSL) marking, but I didn't use it for testing. It's labeled INR26650E, while the (XSL) marked cells are labeled ICR26650E. I searched but couldn't find a description of the difference. Does anyone here know?
Update: After searching for general info rather than specifically 26650 or King Kong, it seems ICR cells are the typical Lithium Cobalt and INR cells are (maybe) Lithium Nickel Cobalt Manganese. From what I've read, the INR cells are lower capacity than ICR cells, but they support a much higher discharge rate. I also read that INR cells suffer when charged to greater than 4.1v (the article stated that the cycle life is reduced from 800 to 300 cycles).
So, based on limited research, INR seems to perform somewhere between ICR and IMR, maybe. This is all speculation on my part. Please correct any mistakes.
I wasn't able to find out anything useful about the XSL designation.
Foywhat are the dimensions of the pill?
How2 -
My JM05 is with E1320 right now so, I can't measure but it might be 1.25 inches tall and maybe 1.5 inch in diameter? I'm guessing so . . . YMMV
Jeff -
Hey, I was wondering the same thing! I have 7 King Kongs from two different orders, both from IO. 4 are INR and 2 are ICR with (XSL) above the 4000mAh. I had no idea they were a slightly different chemistry. And, 800 down to 300 duty cycles is significant, especially since my Solarforce charger regularly charges to 4.22 or 23.
If true, your findings are very helpful.
thankyouFoy