LIE REN KC-01
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary:
Battery: | 1 x 18650 |
Switch: | Reverse Clicky |
Modes: | 5 (High, Med, Low, SOS, Strobe - With memory) |
LED Type: | Cree XM-L T6 |
Lens: | Plastic, aspheric |
Tailstands: | Yes |
Price Payed: | $13.40 |
From: | DX |
Date Ordered: | March 2012 |
Pros:
- Small
- Good grip because of the tail design
- Tailstands
- Bright enough
- Nice & even flood
- Rotating zoom
- Build quality (for the price paid)
- Orange bezel (is different!)
Cons:
- Small connector makes the light twisty with some cells
- Not a thrower (quite large hotspot when zoomed in)
- Strange SOS (very fast)
Features / Value: ★★★★☆
The light comes in a standard DX envelope and is well & tightly wrapped into bubble wrap. No photo of that, but I'm sure you all know how it looks like.
No extra accessories are included.
Features are normal for a zoomable light: "Standard" five modes (including disco modes) with memory and rotating zoom.
UI is also pretty normal: Click on, half-click to change modes, click off. Reverse clicky suits well (because this is a multi-mode light).
Value for money: Very Good! A nice zoomable light for a small price.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★☆
Design is good. The small size makes it possible to really keep this in your pocket. Tail design really adds to the grip, so the light feels very secure in hand. Rotating zoom is easy to operate with one hand.
Bezel and tail are "tactically" shaped, but not too aggressive / sharp.
Everything except the tail cap took apart.
And here's the internals of the tail cap:
As a positive surprise, the light was easy to take apart. Every piece was attached into each other with threads, as can be seen in the following photos.
First unscrew the bezel. This gives the access to the ring behind the lens.
Then unscrew the ring which was behind the lens.
Then unscrew the head (towards the tail!) and pill. Note also a retaining ring on top of the pill.
And finally unscrew the retaining ring and take off the reflective foil and clear insulator ring => All taken apart, emitter visible. Nice and easy!
The pill looks good with long enough threads and it felt quite solid as well.
The threads were smooth and well lubed. O-ring felt tight and was sitting tightly in it's slot.
There's an interesting detail in the tail of this light: The small connector on the left shorts some cells, effectively making this light a twisty (Tighten the tail -> light goes on!). It doesn't bother with some other cells and it can be covered with plastic if needed.
Some measurements:
Length: 120.6-128.6mm
Head diameter: 34.5mm
Body diameter: 24.9mm
Weight: 147g with cell (= ready to use), 99g without
And same + some more dimensions as photos:
And the bottom line in the quality: Machining is a bit rough at some parts, but nothing else to complain. Very good for this price!
Battery Life: ★★★☆☆
Ok.
I measured the current draw to be 2.0A on high, 0.9A on med and 0.3A on low -> theoretical runtime would be over 1h on high and over 7h on low.
Light Output: ★★★★☆
The tint is ok. Beam is good on flood mode, but quite ringy when zoomed in. This can be seen in the following white wall beamshots (ISO200, 1/160s, F4, WB: Daylight)
High mode, zoomed in (= "throw")
High mode, zoomed out (= flood)
Med mode, zoomed out (= flood)
Low mode, zoomed out (= flood)
Beam angle, zoomed in (= "throw")
Beam angle, zoomed out (= flood)
Summary: ★★★★☆
Nice little 18650-capable zoomie with XM-L emitter. Feels good in hand and fits in pocket. For this low price, this little light will, for sure, get a: Recommended!-stamp.
The End (pun intended).
Thanks for reading & watching. Hope you enjoyed the review!