Astrolux FT03

My google tables line 46 is a Convoy L2 with fet driver and full spring bypass.
2226 lumens, 172400 cd and 830,4m throw. The FT03 has 4-5mm bigger head than L2 so maybe reflector is also bigger. I think lumens will be 2000-2200 and maybe throw will be over 800m I hope for 850m but not more. The SP70 has an XHP70.2 which is a huge led compared to SST40 so it will give more lumens and bigger hot spot, more spill but less throw.

Thanks very much.

And what about compared to the BLF GT Mini?

To me the FT03 is definitely looking like the bargain thrower to beat.

My tables containing GT mini also stock and modded and a lot of other lights with beamshots :wink: . If you click on the name you can see beamshots of the flashlights and compare them by picture also.
GT mini has less throw. This FT03 is a bargain. I will buy 2 for sure. One stock to compare with the other. In the other I will try multiple leds like XP-L HI, Samsung LH251D, Luuxeon V, Luxeon V2…. etc.

Like Zozz’s says, it’s two very different lights. The SP70 is not made for distance. It’s limited to the big led and med reflector size. It will be many times brighter and have a much larger hotspot, but throw distance is limited. Although, if you were inclined to slice the dome off the 70.2, not a factory option, you would probably hit 1000 meters.

The $30 group buy price of the FT03 does seem like a bargain. The group buy price on the SP70 will also be a bargain. :smiley:

Still have not got mine. Guess mine is in the second batch, taking forever seems like.

Ordered from BG on Feb 15th and it’s just arrived today!

Looks good, but don’t have a cell with me to test it yet - had forgotten it was still on order after 2 months wait! :slight_smile:

Ordered mine from Mateminco on 4/13. Received it today. (16 days). Neutral White. Runs for 7 min. on turbo before step down. Gets pretty hot. No glue.Works perfect.

Just had a quick try of it and compared it to a Thrunite Catapult V6 - much nicer tint than the Thrunite, beam doesn’t seem too much different though, just a little extra reach with not quite so tight a hotspot.

Doesn’t really look much different though, with the extra size I’d probably not pick the FT03 up before the Thrunite if I were to be carrying it in my pocket. UI’s on them both are comparable.

Nice light though, probably will end up living with my camping gear as I start to move it all across to USB-C.

I missed this one and when I visited the Banggood web the price was back up to approx $50,— …………bummer.
.
Then, couple of weeks ago it was on sale again so I purchased on with SST40 in 5700K (although a little too cold for me still acceptable).
I fired it up with one of my Keeppower IMR26650 / 6000 (the good ones, almost impossible to find now).

WOW! Nice light!
Looks great
Ano is great
Has a good feel to it
Lens is coated
Reflector is ok. Not the best, but ok.
Led is perfectly centered.

So I measured the throw with my cheap lux meter and got (on turbo, i.e. double click) 275Kcd.
Wait, what? That much? I thought they were being promoted to have 190Kcd. Lux meter ok?

Today Djoz came over to collect a light I bought for him of the German flashlight channel and he took some
measurements as well. Conclusion:

286Kcd at startup
277Kcd after 30 seconds.
I haven’t checked but perhaps the 190Kcd is highest setting at normal ramp-up?
Anyway, 277Kcd translates into 1050 meter viewrange.
Excellent performance and value!

My conclusion: unbelievable value for money, absolute winner!

Cheers,
Nico

PS: due to this unexpected high performance this will be one on the very few lights I own that will not be modded………

I just got one also, great thrower for the money. I got mine for $32 shipped

Update and small correction: Djozz used a lux meter that exaggerates CW a little more than we thought.

Throw ater 30 seconds = 266Kcd.

And that is with the dome on, still thinking about dedoming it and reaching (wel over) 400Kcd.

Cheers
Nico

Make sure you share some beam shots if you do, please! :slight_smile:

Cool… I have a clean de-domed 7500k SST-40 in my FT03, I got Lucky and 3 out of 4 de-domed clean… that one to this day will not give up it’s Dome? :person_facepalming:

for 30$ it beats almost the mf02 which is super heavy. Dont think there is a competitor at this price range…

Like I stated: this light is crazy value for money.

Great design
Great ano
Great UI
Great performance out of the box (266Kcd @ 30 seconds)
Fantastic price.

Con: accessories

With properly dedomed SST-40 is should go over 400Kcd, indeed beating more expensive and bigger lights.
These lights however, can keep up max performance for a much longer period of time whereas the FT03 only
reaches those throw numbers on the - ever dwindling - turbo setting.

That said: if it reaches 190Kcd at normal (highest ramping) setting, the dedomed version should reach around
285 - 300 at max ramping……….not bad at all!

Cheers,
Nico

Ha Nico, I attempted to dedome the SST-40 in my FT03 last night, it went far from perfect but I posted about it here: FREEME ✌ ASTROLUX FT03S SFH55 9300lm & FT03 SFT40 2200lm 1300m NarsilM v1.3 USB-C - ALIVE - #2696 by djozz

I don’t understand one thing.
I compiled a number of FT03 performance measurements here.
4 people got between 199 and 206 kcd.
5 got 235-266 kcd.
There was no result in between.

Any explanation?

(mine was in between, I measured 230 kcd for a 5700K SST-40 version)
Two reasons:

1) variation between cheap luxmeters. See my luxmeter tests for an idea how much variation to expect.

2) bad centering and focussing of the led, the FT03 has no provision for adequate centering, the centering piece has a too large hole which even does not fix against the led (it slides over it when too off-center). De SST-40 die is fairly big so the beam does not look distastrous with the led slightly acentric or out of focus, but you can certainly measure it.

HI,

What dedoming method did YOU use?

Cheers,
Nico

Effect 2 should cause Gaussian distribution of measurements. Yeah, I know that 10 is a small group size but the distribution is totally different, enough to make me curious if there’s some actual reason.
Effect 1 - depends. F.e. if there was 1 very popular luxmeter model that measured this light completely off - that would be an explanation.