Astrolux S43S LH351D Copper Weak Output

Ok I finally got mine in the mail today. First impressions are is its a gorgeous light with a nice ui. But the output seems pretty far off to me. The flashlight I was comparing it to is the Manker mc12 which has a polar opposite beam pattern but hear me out. With both lights on turbo 3 feet from the wall the spill on the super focused manker appears equal in brightness to the s43s beam. The manker is rated at 670 lumens in turbo and the s43s is 3500-4000. Not only that but the hotspot on the manker is significantly brighter in low (12 lumens) than the s43s in turbo at the same distance. Im still a noob so maybe my comparison is flawed somehow? But I really dont think so. (yes a high drain battery was used in the s43s and more than one was tried)

the light probably reduces brightness quick as turbo tends to heat up lights, maybe thats the reason? even if u have a high drain battery dont expect it to run on turbo for too long.

If you have a smartphone with a light sensor, you could compare both lights quantitatively. Have them shine in your bathroom and measure reflected light (best is probably rectangular directions of beam and sensor window. Use full batteries and measure asap after activating the light since the Astrolux will quickly step down.

Please report your readings :-).

Check how tight the battery tube is screwed to head. It’s a common cause for low/weak output. You may want to clean the tube edge too. Same with the tail cap. Those two ends are part of the current path.

Great idea. I think my bathroom was good for this too because its very small

The app I used measures on a lux scale and with the end of the flashlight and sensor (facing the same direction as the beam to measure reflected light) approx 2.5ft from from the wall they came out to……(drum roll)
s43s - 900
mc12- 800

They shouldn’t be that close right? Thanks again for the idea also it made me realize how much of a difference a high/lower drain battery can be. I tested them with a lower one and they tied at 600. I actually had never tried a high drain it the mc12 (before the first comparison) cause I didn’t think it needed it. The high drain battery tested was a efest 40a and the lower is a efest that just says “high drain” on it but doesn’t give a number (couldn’t find one for it on the net either). Also I think it should be mentioned the 40a I have is a couple years old. But I dont think a brand new one would change much. I will be ordering a couple new ones and will run the test again though.

Also great ideas.
I can confirm everything was tight but I will clean up the current paths on both and run the test again tomorrow.

I have the S41 and S41S.
I prefer that model to the side switch ones.

One ali. one Stainless. One Cree One Nichia. Both range up the light scale, 1 to 7. Evenly on my lounge wall.
6 = Bright. 7 = Wash out. I normally use them on 4.
Which gives good light and walking range for MY eyes.
Cree is no colour, just a glare. Nichia is natural colours. Again.
To MY eyes.

I used to find that the Ally one. when I greased the end threads. Sometime deposited/moved.
Some (a smear) of grease over the end of body and gave No or dim light.
Bad contact. Wiping grease off usually fixed.
Don’t know if using the 18650 ext body’s made any difference.
Some of these aly body’s with just bare metal ends.
Often needed ends cleaning of grease to give good contact.

Don’t measure direct reflections. The Astrolux is very floody, so you’ll catch only a fraction of its light. So, I’d target the flashlight to the ceiling and measure light coming from the wall.

It can very well be that the S43 is only slighly brighter than the Manker despite having much more lumens. Measuring indirect reflections is a way to approximately measure lumens.

I will try it that way too thanks. But since my bathroom is so small and the light and sensor were so close I dont think much was lost. With the white shower curtain acting as a wall (it goes end to end) the area is only about 3ft wide. And with my body sort of acting like a wall (almost touches on each side) the space was about 3ft x 3ft. The outer rim of each beam pattern appears about equal in size at 2.5 ft. Granted the mc12 does have a much more crisp rim, but also it has a large spill/rim for a light with that intense of a hotspot. I compared the rim size to a old t6 zoom light I have (which gave a crisp line also that I could measure) and zoomed all the way out at 2.5ft it had a 37in rim and the mc12 had a 33in one.

If lumens are anything like decibels I can understand the “only slightly brighter despite much more lumens” thing but I guess I just expected more out of a light that is supposed to be 6x the lumens. I am still a complete noob here though. I will still try making the connections better as recommended and see if that helps. And will also try the method you recommended.

Are you double-clicking from off, or turning the S43 on and then double-clicking?

Good question cause the little manual doesn’t specify, it just says “click twice for turbo”. I tried both ways and couldn’t tell a difference though(by eye), it appeared to go into turbo either way. So for the sake of the test I quickly stepped/rolled it up to turbo (confirmed by the blink) and turned it off, let it sit for a while to be sure it was fully cooled, and ran the test with one click.

Lumens tell you how much light is generated per time. Lux (that’s what you measure), i.e. brightness, indicates how much light you have in a defined area. The S43 distributes light all around. I don’t know the Manker, but I think it has a better defined spot that concentrates the light. When you directly measure this spot, it will likely beat the Astrolux in terms of brightness. This effect is still there when measuing direct reflections. So, for measuring lumens you will want to catch light that has been reflected many time and therefore has spreaded well.

Sorry, my explanation is quite limited due to limited knowledge of the english language :weary:

Edit: Ah, I see - the Manker is a thrower reaching 650 m. Yes, it is way brighter than the Astrolux.