I do but only the C8F has a side switch and accepts 21700 cells. Thing is - it’s noticeably bigger than EC01, it also has 3 heavily driven emitters with much shorter runtime.
Length difference would be negligible but it would vastly simplify the UI from PITa to something intuitive, not distracting and annoying. Added resistance depends on the switch quality. Speaking of the resistance - pushing everything to the max is pointless, Astrolux lights are usually battery killers that loose 50% of brightness in less than a minute with abysmal regulation/runtime graph. What’s the point?
Actually the opposite, dual switch is more complicated. It performs the same actions with additional need to rotate the flashlight between buttons, or perform a complex dual-hand action. In some conditions either of that can be risky.
However XHP50 is more suitable as an all rounder than SST40.
Less complicated because changing modes by a single click is the easiest thing out there. Combinations like “press+hold+wait+release” are a pain in the you know where. Tail switch allows for a different grip which some people prefer but more importantly - both switches can be right nest to each other, more - two-stage click solves everything.
Being floody doesn’t mean being good all-round, I think SST40 version is more balanced. Also SST is available with much nicer color temperature (5000K) meanwhile Cree is very cool white with some tint shifts. And it shouldn’t be a battery killer like XHP50 (which drops the brightness by over 50% in less than a minute).
Speaking of that - @freeme can you please ask Astrolux what’s the current draw from the battery in the EC01 with SST40 emitter? Thanks.
Apparently Banggood didn’t really ship my light on the Nov 12. Tracking still shows the package has not been turned over to the shipper and Banggood has added a week to my expected delivery date, now showing Jan 8, 2021.
Just busines as usual for Banggood.
And the product page still says “10 to 15 days shipping time to Texas”