✌ FREEME- ASTROLUX MF01 Mini 7*SST20 CRI95 26650 ANDÚRIL Flashlight Group Buy - $45.99

You would probably need to unsolder 5 or so wires. No big deal if you don’t want to do that. Eventually someone will pull the driver out and we can see the other side.

Oh. That is a hassle. Might as well wait. Haha.

I’m soooooo happy with the light after taking it out with me last night. That 4000K tint is definitely the most pleasant that I’ve seen so far, and the output is simply stunning for a light that I still consider ‘pocketable’ (i.e. coat pockets, not trousers!).

I adjusted the trimmers to increase the brightness of all AUX channels, with the effect that now only green is visible in low mode, but I’ll be reading through the comments on here to see if I can adjust the brightness levels so that the blue and pink LEDs also light up.

A big Thank You to Freeme for making this group buy possible!

I’m also excited for my 4000k full copper to arrive. I only have the 6500k tint for now.

For the issue of the AUX LEDs in low mode, please do the adjustment when in low mode. Lower down the green brightness slightly until the purple and blue lights up.

Thanks, much better now! :slight_smile:

Just received my light (same day as the EDC18). They hit a home run with this one. I thought I had ordered the green one but received the grey. I’m not disappointed though as this one is beautiful. Love everything about it. My voltage reading appears accurate (haven’t tried charging yet). The aux led’s are beautiful (no adj needed) and the sst20 4000k appear as good as my FW3A (but will look closer tonight).

Fit and finish seem top notch too. I am a happy camper!

Wow, 8 wires going to the head. Did you have to unsolder all 8 or just the 2 led wires? Does the switch come out in one piece?

Yep, it is FET+6+1. A very different looking layout from the TA drivers with the charging circuit integrated in and not on a seperate board. I guess the inductor is for the charging cuircuit? We need a driver guru to explain it.

Edit, it does seem to be the basic TA driver design under all the charging components. The inductor is part of the charging circuit. Lexel using the good Vishay SIR800DP N-Channel MOSFET

I unsoldered only 5 wires:
LEDs: thick black and white
AUX: red, black, blue

I don’t need to disassemble the button and I don’t want to do it. I usually scratch the flashlight…
Switch led - gray
Switch - yellow
“+” - white
green
”Ch” - orange (I guess it’s “Charging” indicator)
“St” - brown (dunno, but it seems to me that it could also be a charging indicator)
I also think this inductor is charging component. The basic driver on which Anduril doesn’t need such “gadgets”.

Ordered a second in green. :person_facepalming:

Okay, this makes sense.

So 4 of these lights came at the same time for me. I’ve had some time to mess with them tonight. So far initial impressions:

1) Build quality is definitely not as high as FF E07. I guess it makes sense since it’s got more features but is less expensive than the E07. E07 is actually one of the highest build quality lights I’ve handled so it’s hard to beat that. I was secretly hoping this would replace my three E07’s, not quite, this kinda makes me appreciate how well built they are. If anyone’s used a E07 you can feel how hydraulic the 21700 going into the tube is because it’s fit so snug in there. These MF01 minis don’t quite have that w/ the 26650’s.

Unfortunately I also feel the standard-sized MF01s’s have better build than these as well. My two MF01s were almost as good in terms of fit and finish than my D18.

2) 4000k tint seems to have some rosiness in it, and more white than FF’s equivalent in their E07’s and 5000k is still significantly green at low levels

3) I love the feel of the button, this is where it trumps E07’s equivalent for sure.

4) Optics are solid, good mix of throw + flood where it’s throwier than the E07 but floodier than D4s.

5) I put a Molicel P42 21700 in one, compared with a LiitoKala 5000mah 26650 in the other; from a pure visual aspect out at night, I can’t tell a difference (I know someone tested 21700 to have output than 26650, but not in my case visually). So… I think it’s moot to use the 21700 batteries in them. It did get hotter quickly though.
(Edit: compared these a few rounds and there seems to be a slight brightness increase w/ the 21700, an effect that’s so minor you’d have to really pay attention and not move the light around to see. It’s not worth the faster heat up rate)

This depends on how you look at it. Snug might seem better, but if you have a battery that is slightly fatter (there are no li-ion battery size standards) it may not fit. The battery tube on the mini being a bit bigger probably allows the fatter PLB 5500mah cells to fit.

If you use a smaller cell and it rattles, you can easily slip a strip of paper in the tube to make it not rattle.

The 26650 cell in question was a very weak, old cell (design wise) and not as good as the LiitoKala 5000mah. Still, that P42 should definitely outperform the LiitoKala black. Especially at higher amps like 20A. So the P42 should pull higher amps and get hotter, but the output increase is minimal. You’d see it on an integrating sphere, but probably not with your bare eyes.

Here is a comparison at 20A.

It’s actually a bigger gap that I thought. These Molicels are really good.

With the 6500K SST-20 a rough estimate between a battery pulling 14A and one pulling 20A is about 850-900 lumen extra. With a WW SST-20 the increase is about the same. Just to give a rough idea.

Well yeah I mean the snugness fitting isn’t the only aspect that tells me E07 has a better quality. I’m satisfied w/ the light overall but I don’t see any significant advantages over the E07 now that I’ve got it in hand. I have a Emisar D18 and that has the highest subjective quality of all of my multi-emitter lights. I’m sure the D4S is of the same; Maybe that’s why it’s much more popular than these. But it’s ok cuz these Mf01’s are $44 so they’re cheap, hence why I bought 7. Planning to give them out as gifts.

I’ll mostly use 26650’s in these lights but occasionally will put my P42a to impress my friends, although like I said you can barely see the difference, but the heat difference is easily noticeable in the first 30 seconds.

That just blows my mind. I got one of the FF PL47 lights and it was one of the worst designed and manufactured lights I’ve ever owned. I won’t buy any more of their products, but has FF really improved that much?

I cannot speak for the FF but this Astrolux (especially for the price) is great. I thought the FT03 was nice but this is even better. Hope it stays that way. The fit of the battery is not that bad either. My Shockli has a bit of wiggle room but some paper (as mentioned) is a cheap fix. BTW - that battery fits the same in the FT03. Didn’t add paper there and won’t here either.

Code please.

Intradested

FF sadly has lots of QA issues and i wouldnt go that far to say, i have a one ff 07 its a nice light, but quality wise compared to the astrolux lights i have i would say they are equal more or less…