“REVIEW”: Skilhunt M200 [2019] - 1x18650/2xCR123a – 5000K High CRI – 1100 Lumens – Configurable UI [PIC HEAVY]

You know, I hate these reviews.

I really didn’t need to add another light to my wishlist. EDC’s always get priority, too. So this could soon be en route…

Thanks?

(Seriously though, great review! Great looking light and form factor!)

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Thanks for confirming this. Apparently v1.0 and v2.0 share the same internal parts.

Slightly slimmer than FW1A :wink:

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I have two questions/concerns about this light. Unfortunately, these are the ever-so-important details of lights that get MISSED ALL THE TIME! (Can you sense my frustration?) lol

1. How’s the switch actuation/feel? And resistance to accidental activation? How about ease of locating switch by feel?

2. The dang pocket clip! Can the tube be reversed? What are the diameter and width of the rear groove?

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For a 40$ there is no better EDC imho. Form factor, efficient buck driver, hi-cri LED option ,charger, variety of TIR optic for modding.

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Ahah, thanks :wink:
Your wallet won’t thank you, probably, but your EDC kit surely will :wink: Ehehe!

Thanks for the comparison :wink:
It would also be nice to have an Olight S2R (I or II) to compare it with this light, as both have the same form factor, side switch and all that.

Answering you, by parts :wink:
1)
a) the switch is not as resistant as the Emisar D4 or the Olight M2R Warrior, or even the Wuben TO50R or TO46R. Both these have rubber caps over the switch so this may be a factor in resistance. You still need to press it slightly to activate, but it doesn’t need a lot of strength.

b) well, accidental activation is something that I didn’t experience because I normally use it locked, so it didn’t turn ON in the pocket. BUT, in case you use it loose in the pocket with other stuff, it may happen. If clipped to the pocket, or loose without other stuff, that possibility will probably decrease

c) the design of this light is very nice in terms of location. If you are using it with index and thumb you’ll find out that having the button up or down won’t necessarily matter because you’ll be able to activate it with whatever finger you have on it :wink: Also, I am using mine with the pocket clip in the opposite direction of the button, so whenever I grab the light, I’ll know where the button is. But even without that, you’ll be able to touch the switch and activate it well due to the shape of the head.

Check this photo I put above:

2) About the pocket clip and tube…as the tube is glued, I didn’t mess with it. However, looking at the bottom end threads, it doesn’t seem to me that it can be reversed.
The rear groove has, more or less, 2mm in height and the diameter is similar to the one in the head, 20.3mm:
!https://i.imgur.com/MUqIYRP.jpg !

Hope this helps.

BTW, due to the tension created by the pocket clip, it cannot be used “cover” the switch to hinder accidental activation. The clip presses the switch activating it!

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MascaratumB thank you very much! I appreciate your thorough response.

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You’re welcome :wink:
Hope it helped :wink:

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Helpful indeed!

One more question, what diffuser cap are you using in your UI videos?

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Nice :wink:

The diffuser is the one of the Wuben E05, that fits several lights, including this one (although I stretched it a bit :stuck_out_tongue: )

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I have the same M200 with the LH351 emitter. My beam is quite yellow/green with tint shift to purple. Did yours look like that before the TIR? Without changing the lens, is my best bet a minus green filter or DC fix? The LH351 5000k looks greener in the M200 than the 4000k SST-20 in my Convoy S2+. Pretty bad. Also, I have some 219B R9080 emitters in 4000k. How tough would a swap be and are they compatible?

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Try DC Fix first to correct the tint shift and see how the blended beam looks like for colour.
If the tint after adding DC Fix is still too green/yellow for your taste, then you would have to add a Lee Minus Green filter to correct it.
You will have to get creative if you use both. I would probably add the Minus Green under the lens, and the DC Fix on top.

If you use only the Minus Green Filter with DC Fix, it will render all parts of the existing beam to be less green, but you will still have the rainbow effect with tint shift across the beam.

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Fyi, I got the battery tube off fairly easy on my M200, also removed the bezel easily as well. All I used was my blue sticky gloves. The battery tube had traces of red stuff, probably RED Loctite. I partially pulled out the driver (NOT RECOMMENDED) to check it out, and trying to insert it back in, accidentally pushed the switch clean off the PCB - ouch!!

Now I'll have to fully de-solder the MCPCB to get the driver fully out to do the switch repair. Fortunately the switch and pads on the PCB are undamaged so should be able to re-solder easily, but not sure yet how to re-assembly it without doing the same thing -- I'll find out soon I hope. Interesting the switch was held on with such little solder on the 2 ends and that's it - nothing through the PCB or holes in the PCB for alignment for making it more secure. But really, there's probably no need to secure the switch any better - it's a nice feel switch - one of the better, if not best.

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Thanks for the report on this Tom E , and sorry for damaging the switch :zipper_mouth_face:
I bet your skills will fastly overcome that situation :wink:

I never thought of taking the battery tube out, as I don’t have plans to mod the driver nor the switch! This flashlight is near perfect as it is, specially for the efficiency, design (despite the pocket clip) and UI!
I certainly wouldn’t want to mess with it!
Thanks for your report, though, as someone may wanna take a look at the internals :stuck_out_tongue:

If you can, please take some photos, just to document how it looks like. Always helpful to have some details on that :wink:
And good luck :sunglasses: :+1:

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I'm actually working on a Amazon review for this light right now, so took some pics. Not a complete tear down yet, but will be taking more of driver details with the "removable" switch. The weight of this is incredibly light - bout same as an 18650:

Comparison shot showing how really thin it is. Length, of course, can't be as short as the factory triples since the reflector has some depth to it, but still length isn't too bad From left to right: OTR M6, Amutorch AX2, the M200, Convoy S2+, Sofirn SC31B

With the batt tube off, the driver is fairly loose - nothing holding it in. The blue SS trim looks really nice on this light:

Standard XPL, guessing about a 3B/D or 2B/D. Looks like a thermistor on the copper MCPCB:

You see how small the LED wires are? Tiny, like maybe 28 AWG or so. This light seems to do better on a better cell, so betta if I replaced the wires with heavier gauge ones, might see a boost.

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I got the repair done - M200 is back in working order! I left the stock LED wires - they are teflon actually. The backside of the MCPCB was ugly:

After sanded with 2000 GRIT paper:

The MCPCB is 16 mm x 1.0 mm - pretty thin.

Here's the driver with the "removable" switch:

After the re-soldering:

Other side:

I realized I had to remove the switch, then install the driver, than re-install the switch in order to get it to go together, otherwise I ran the risk of poking the switch off again. So using a spanning wrench, I got the switch off. The big plunger was hitting the switch, so it must be tight up against it:

So, last part was re-soldering in the MCPCB, and while at it, replaced the grease with MX4:

Testing the driver:

All soldered, back to working:

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^ Excellent work, Tom! :+1: :beer: :star:

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Tom E, that was quite a work :o
You then had to solder the switch from the to again :zipper_mouth_face:
Incredible work, but I’d sweat like a pig (if they sweat…) to do it and make the flashlight work again !!
I am also amazed that the MCPCB is so thin. I guess that Skilhunt doesn’t want to force the heat in such a small light…although it turbo can be re-enacted over and over :stuck_out_tongue:

Was that white stuff silicone? And was it originally on the driver? I guess it would be to avoid some shorts rathed than heat dissipation, am I right?

Thanks again for your tear down and information, and congrats for making it work again :wink:

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I was also a little surprised at the thinness of the MCPCB but it's pretty common in mass produced lights - maybe weight, cost, keeping the length to a min, etc.. If you add 0.5 mm to the height, then you have to add it all the way up to the overall length of the light, unless you cut something else down by 0.5 mm, such as reflector depth. They seem to tout the efficiency of the SMO design, so probably wouldn't cut that.

I assume the white stuff is mainly for thermal protection (potting) the way it's applied. When I modded the H15, they had some sort of stuff on even thicker:

Old driver became a dumb contact board:

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Slapped on some diffusion film… not bad. Might keep it.

The bigger hotspot seemed to be a little too crisp and circular. Figured I’d be using this puppy inside/around the house more, so floodier would be nice.

It also mixes the beam to almost homogeneous, too. My ’351s all seemed to have a hint of green, not objectionable like my Quarks, but still a bit there. Maybe tint-separation was bringing it out, hotspot vs spill.

Behind the film, the blended beam seems to be better. On a solid off-white wall, the slight green tinge seems there, but shining it on Generic Stuff, even white magazine-paper and some envelopes, there doesn’t seem to be any green tinge at all.

Reds and browns are soooooo nice, though.

So okay, it won’t throw anymore, but it’s a great flooder for, like I said, around the house. And it’s totally reversible.

Great, so now my M200 and E03 will be in competition…

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So what is the purpose of thermistor on the board? We know the stepdown is timed, not temperature-controlled.

Is it a safety feature, in case the light malfunctions or the user does not respect the timed step-down ?

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