I received my Tool AA Ti in the mail this afternoon. Immediately after opening it, I was very pleased. The light feels robust, the machining is good, and the threads are very smooth for a titanium light.
Unfortunately, my reception to my new light soured the instant I powered it on. Yuck! Not only was the CCT far too cool, but the tint shift was horrible. Not 30 Minutes after receiving it, I went in for an emitter swap.
The emitter is fixed to a non standard shaped board, but I was able to cut and file a Kaidomain 16mm star to fit. In order to get everything to button up nicely, I also had to take a bit of height off of the centering ring.
My Tool Ti now wears a 3,000K SST20 and the beam is fantastic. It certainly throws further now, but I am indifferent towards that.
I also am not pleased with the driver. When using a 14500, the low mode is far too high (16 lumens!), though now mine has an SST20, it is probably a bit less than that, but still, too bright. The driver seems to be another bespoke part, so I doubt I will be able to swap it for something more capable.
I just got mine and using fresh off the charger eneloop and an Efest IMR 14500 600mAh 9.75A cell. I measured 4.9A and 2.19 A on high and .05A and .06A on low. The low on the IMR was a lot brighter. I Like it so far I like lights I can just throw in my pocket and not worring about scratching up.
Chris
I’ve used a 14500 in mine every day since I got it a little over a month ago and have had ZERO issues. Granted I don’t use turbo for long periods of time, usually I use medium or high. In the case that I do use turbo it’s usually for less than one minute.
It really looks like a bad solder job, since my replacement (with good old leaded solder and resin flux) held up well.
Lumintop were happy that i pointed it out, and if they are reopening their business any soon, hopefully they will address this issue (and let’s hope for other LED options as well as a lower low mode)
My regular (white) Tool AA 2.0 arrived today, and it has an illuminated tail switch. I’m worried about the drain of it though. Won’t it notably run down a 14500 in several days?
Okay, so more like 2 months to fully drain a typical 14500 battery. I take it this is a new feature for the non-Ti Tool AA 2.0 flashlights? I really do not like it and probably would not have selected/bought this light had I known about it. How is it a good idea to half-deplete your battery in a month without ever turning on your light
Yes, removing either the LEDs, the resistors, or all of them (should be two of each) would remove the drain.
I swapped mine for a custom LED tailcap and am only getting 0.08 mA drain, which on a 900mAh battery translates to 15+ months of standby… much more acceptable.
That does not work well with white aluminum that I rec’d earlier this week. I can go well past exposing the o-ring and still have the tailcap illuminated.
