Review: Magnetic control diving light (Cree XM-L T6 | 1 x 18650)

Other Types of Lights Diving Lights
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Magnetic control diving light (Cree XM-L T6 | 1 x 18650)

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

Summary:

Battery: 1 x 18650
Switch: Magnetic side switch (Slider)
Modes: 7: From off to high with slider (7 levels)
LED Type: Cree XM-L T6
Lens: Glass
Tailstands: Yes
Price Payed: $25 + shipping
From: CNQG
Date Ordered: June 2012

Pros:

  • Seems to be water tight (didn't test in deep water though)
  • Reasonably driven for longer runtimes
  • Bright, tight hotspot (Think of C8)
  • XM-L provides also some spill
  • Good UI (just slide to desired level)
  • Magnetic side switch (with seven brightness levels)
  • High PWM frequency (No visible PWM)
  • Emitter perfectly centered
  • Tailcap with square threads
  • Double O-rings at tailcap, single but beefy ones elsewhere.
  • Tailstands

Cons:

  • Switch movement is short -> requires practice not to jump some modes (small amount of oil helps)
  • Could be driven harder (but then again, runtime wouldn't be as good)
  • Only one hole for lanyard

Magnetic control diving light (Cree XM-L T6 | 1 x 18650)

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

Summary:

Battery: 1 x 18650
Switch: Magnetic side switch (Slider)
Modes: 7: From off to high with slider (7 levels)
LED Type: Cree XM-L T6
Lens: Glass
Tailstands: Yes
Price Payed: $25 + shipping
From: CNQG
Date Ordered: June 2012

Pros:

  • Seems to be water tight (didn't test in deep water though)
  • Reasonably driven for longer runtimes
  • Bright, tight hotspot (Think of C8)
  • XM-L provides also some spill
  • Good UI (just slide to desired level)
  • Magnetic side switch (with seven brightness levels)
  • High PWM frequency (No visible PWM)
  • Emitter perfectly centered
  • Tailcap with square threads
  • Double O-rings at tailcap, single but beefy ones elsewhere.
  • Tailstands

Cons:

  • Switch movement is short -> requires practice not to jump some modes (small amount of oil helps)
  • Could be driven harder (but then again, runtime wouldn't be as good)
  • Only one hole for lanyard

Features / Value: ★★★★☆

The light comes bubble wrap without any accessories.

Main features are: Waterproof (for diving, 100m by manufacturer specs) & magnetic control.

UI is pretty good: Seven modes with a magnetic slider (no blinky modes). Slide forward to turn on / higher modes, back for lower modes / off. It's very easy to turn fully on / off, but requires practice to find all middle modes. I got a piece of advice from : use a drop of oil in the slider and it helps a bit.

Here's a photo of the slider in off-position (in disassembled light).

The light has some parasitic drain, so it is a good idea to lock out the light by unscrewing the tailcap for about half a turn.

Value for money: Good.

Design / Build Quality: ★★★★☆

Design is pretty "normal". Looks like a functional flashlight. Head crenelations work as anti-roll.

The anodization is good overall and the glass lens looks ok.

Here's the thick glass lens wit a beefy O-ring:

Let's see some more details..

Tail part of the body tube with square threadas and double O-rings (sorry about the hairs, they stick nicely on the well lubed threads):

Clean threads between the body tube and head. Note also the O-ring and separate metallic ring that makes sure that the O-ring is pressed tightly against / inside the head.

Perfectly centered emitter in a flawless aluminum reflector:

A flashlight requires some kind of lanyard for diving use, however I'm not sure how to attach it, since there is only one quite small hole for the lanyard in the tail cap => At least it doesn't tail stand so well with lanyard attached.

Inside of the tailcap: Thick tail spring, smooth surface for the double O-rings, and good threads.

The body tube is thick and looks durable:

Here's the magnet side of the slider:

Business end of the head. Looks perfectly serviceable:

Knurling of the mid section. Looks good!

And I have to say the same for the tail cap. Looks good, indeed.

A photo of the light disassembled:

Some measurements:

Length: 153mm

Head diameter: 43.5mm

Body diameter: 26.8mm

Tail diameter: 30.1mm

Weight: 245g with cell (= ready to use), 199g without

And the bottom line in the quality: Not much to complain. Double O-rings between the head and body would be nice though.

Battery Life: ★★★★☆

Good! (And bad)

I measured the current at the tailcap and got results of 1.50A on high to 0.25A on low. And 0.07A parasitic drain when off => TC lock out highly recommended.

This would give almost 2h runtime on high and over 10h on lowest setting! On the other hand, just a couple of days on the shelf without lockout equals a dead battery.

Light Output: ★★★★☆

This light is not driven hard, most probably because it's optimized for longer runtimes, which is surely needed when diving. The hotspot size equals to well known C8s and there is some spill provided by the XM-L emitter.

I estimate (ceiling bounce + "known" references) the light output to:

- about 500 lumens on high

- about 80 on lowest setting

White wall beamshots (WB: Daylight)

Lowest setting:

Highest setting:

Beam pattern (low)

Beam pattern (high)

Couldn't take outdoor beamshots due the lack of darkness. Sorry about that.

Summary: ★★★★☆

Looks & feels like a good flashlight for diving. Good build quality and no moving parts to leak water in. Magnetic control with so many levels is nice also for other uses.

Verdict: Recommended!

The End (pun intended):

Thanks for reading & watching. Hope you enjoyed the review!

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Nice review, _the_, thanks for posting. Looks like a nice light but I have a question on the UI: How easy is it to use the switch using diving gloves?

My other observation: Is the knurling on the body aggressive enough for holding underwater?

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Great review! The light obviously isn’t driven hard, but do you feel the thermal path on this light could handle a more powerful driver if someone wanted to upgrade one? Thanks.

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The switch is very easy to operate also with gloves if you need full on / full off. Anything in between requires small moves, which might be a bit difficult depending on the glove type. On the other hand, the switch glides well if lubed, making it easier to fine tune the output.

You are right that the knurling is not very aggressive. It feels secure in hand also when wet, but I haven't gone diving with the light yet, so I can't give you a definite answer..

I'll check the thermal path later today.

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Great review. Thanks as always.

Looks like great value for the money.

Keep us posted.

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Thank you for the review the. Good and thorough as always.
It certainly the cheapest diving flashlight with anything xml, modes and easy UI I’ve ever seen. Thank you for sharing this.

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Finally, a diving light which is not overpriced!!!

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Nice review. Let us know that it’s like on a night dive it you do one.

It looks like you could use either cave line or 1/8” bungee to tie on a bolt snap to clip on to your chest D ring.

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I checked the thermal path. Looks good.

The pill is hollow, but quite heavy (= middle section is thick enough):

It sits tight and nice in a slot (it's a bit up because wire pushes it, levels down when tightened).

Pill is tightened down with a large enough retaining ring:

Secondary thermal path is via aluminum reflector, which sits on top of the star. The reflector has wide flat surface, which is in contact with the head walls:

Reflector upside down in the head. Note the tight fit and flat bottom surface (to be in contact with the star):

All in all, I think this design is good, and would be suitable also for higher currents. Of course some Fujik (or similar) can be added to make sure that surfaces are in perfect contact.

Hope this clarifies the thermal path. Just ask if you have any additional questions.

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Hey The,

Thank you for going the extra mile as you have to show us how it handles heat. That was a lot of work. The reason I was curious is because I tend to use my diving lights more out of the water than in. So knowing some thought went into this light by the manufacturer to assemble a quality product is important. I just had some major upgrade/maintenance performed on my boat, so it’ll be back in the water on Monday. My friends and I are planning some diving next weekend so I’m going to place an order for this one, but I doubt it’ll arrive in time for this dive, but I’ll surely have it for the next one. Thanks again.

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First of all: Sorry about the quality. Exposure was adjusted for King / APEX, so this might be a bit dimmer than what it was in real life.

2.0s, f/5.0, ISO80, WB Daylight

Control

Magnetic control diving light (highest setting)

Magnetic control diving light (lowest setting)

Compared to XinTD C8 v3 NW (mouse over for XinTD)

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Bonus shot: Beam pattern in water

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Very nice! Thanks so much for the review. Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

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And what about underwater abilities of this light???

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I have one of these that I got from Ebay dealer tomtop….

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290718077151?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&\_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

the has covered everything very well. Mine draws 1.5 Amp on high.

The reflector is about the same diameter as a C8 but is a few milimeters longer. The beam pattern is similar to a C10 or Keygos KE-5. That is, the hotspot is a little tighter.

The O rings at the tailcap are air-tight, when I pull it off, it makes a “plop” sound.

The slider switch on mine is nice and smooth and will not move due to shock, however, the switch sticks up quite high and is easy to change modes if your hand touches it accidentally. Also the modes are quite close together in distance. I have to be carefull when trying to select a mode other than high.

The light tailstands well and the low mode was used as room lighting by me recently when a thunderstorm caused a power outage for 3 days.

As the has said, the Off position on the slider has parasitic drain so it is important to loosen the tailcap before putting the flashlight away. On mine, it only takes a slight twist to open the circuit, much less than a quarter turn.

I don’t know anything about drivers for use with a magnetic switch like this. It would be nice if it was possible to install a driver with a 3A or more setting.

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Yeah everything is here except most important - how this light acts underwater :0

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I am not a diver myself, but maybe someone who is will tie a rope to it and lower it into the water for a while.

Then we can see how well it works as a lithium powered depth charge. :cowboy_hat_face:

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I thought to buy this light (i think it can be bought, same light, from ebay, and from dinodirect too) and give it to diver friend for testing purposes.

But somehow Im hesitant, didnt yet pulled the trigger, I’m ordering to many samples in last days.
If I do it Ill post results here.
First light I have him for testing, Keygos S2 (currently available from manafont, 8mm glass on the front, without keygos label), it leaked in second dive, he thinks through the glass….

Maybe, just maybe leaking can be solved but I dont know yet (buy adding some aditional orings under the glass and by tightening screws holding it….

If anyone wants to test it, before each “dive”, friend says, even professional diving lights need to be lubed (thats supposedly even stated in their’s instructions). So, dont forget to do it.

ALso, one question, this light from the review is clone of that XTAR diving light?
And this would be 2-cell version of same light http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/stepless-brightness-control-xml-t6-200m-diver-flashlight-2x18650-p-7353?rp=816766 ?

ISnt this exactly the same light?? 大龙网_跨境电商B2B商机平台_移动端跨境贸易新体验

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Anyybody has some more info about this light in diving conditions? (sorry if Im annoying, but I plan to buy some light really for diving, and Im searching for reviews and experiences. This one looks nice and price is great but I dont know anything about its diving capabilities)