I am thrilled by this flashlight: Jacob A60 15usd light. Thank you inside!

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
1

Hi guys I just wanted to share my infatuation with my newest light.

Yesterday I received my Jacob A60 light from DX.

Immediately I examined it and found a few things that I liked.

Feel: This is a substantial light. Even without battery it is heavier than what I am used to from budget lights. With a battery in it it feels solid. That is the best way to describe it. The grip on the light is simply awesome. It falls into a natural rest in my hand regardless of hold. Overhand, underhand, cigargrip, this one work in all ways. Perhaps not by the teeth because it is a bit heavy and has a wide tailcap that is great in the hand but probably awful in the mouth.

Size: This is small. Small head. Short body. And I like that no unnecessary length is added by the designer whoever they may be. The only place this light has some bulk is in the thickness of material in the battery tube and bottom of the head. But for an all around nice feel that is apparently where it matters.

Looks: It came with not a flaw in the ano. The ano is the glossy budget type that I am so used to by now. There is a stupid hexagonal cooling fin behind the head that is not big enough to work as a anti roll fin. That is why i think it is stupid that it is hexagonal type. However the squared off tailcap gives some anti roll function to the light.

Then I threw in a battery and turned it on and immediately I knew I would like this light. I prefer throwers when it comes to flashlights and floodlights when it comes to headlamps. This is a thrower! It was daylight but I knew immediately when I saw the round well defined hotspot in the shade under some trees 25 meters away. YES :-) I have handled it last night and during nightfall tonight. And boy does it throw. With soft white spill that starts 3 meters away from you when you hold it at waist height.

Metering it says 54,6 kCd BTW.

Tailcap reading on mine is 1 Amp high , 0,25 Amp low. Strobe I cannot measure reliably.

For the first time ever I have bought a budget light that is so nice that I dont know if I want to mod it.

At 1 amp taildraw a 3,1 A battery would give me over 2 hours on full blast before falling out of regulation and on low it would be something like 8 hours.

Use: Since it is so small it handles really well. Will tailstand reliably and send a beacon type beam into the sky.

The high lets me spot a black cat on a dark background and over 125 meters or very close to what is possible in daylight for a cat that is not moving.

The low is still good enough for the same at 50 meters.

A small brown dog that is moving I can spot and follow at 200 meters easily in grass covered areas.

I can see trees light up at 400 meters well enough to know where I am and what my direction is.

I can spot my golden retriever at 300 meters and follow it.

I am SO happy with this light. For 15 usd I dont see anything touch it! But I am waiting for the Smallsun C10 aspheric light and that may change some of it but let me say this right now.

This is the best built, best throwing, best handling light I own that is still stock! I am seriously considering not modding it and that newer happened before. Ever.

I have a big thank you to the thrower lovers here that have recommended this flashlight. You all know who you are so no one mentioned and no one forgotten. THANK YOU GUYS.

Edit: I forgot to mention these things but I just had the dogs out for their last trip tonight and i remembered this.

PWM: High there is no trace of PWM. Low there is PWM but it is the fastest pwm I have seen on any budget light so far. I am normally troubled by pwm but this is so fast that I had to wave my finger frantically in the light beam to notice. Lovely.

Artifact: Has artifacts when white wall hunting but none that show in real life.

CORRECTION: The beam does not hit the ground 3 meters away. It is 1,5 meters away when held at waist height.

Beam: Bright spotlight center. Soft usable spill. Usable out to 20 meters for details. Corona is even softer and really nice on the eyes.

Edit again 26-June-2012:

I forgot to mention this so I'll just add it here: The threads were bone dry when it came. But the o-rings seems to me like they are in fair contact with the sealing surfaces when screwing the light together. Maybe I'll dunk it in my sons bathing tub or something tonight. Then I'll post results back here.

Added 27-June-2012:
I just threw the light in my sons outside bathing pool. Left it there for a good 25 minutes. No water ingress. And I still did not lube the threads or the O-rings.

2

It’s awesome when you find a light that ticks all of the boxes.

Mine came with a dirty lens, but that was an easy fix. It is probably the best value in reflectored throwers offered presently.

3

Happy for you, man! Not much beats getting something that far surpasses your expectations.
8)

Have to tell you…not one thing in that paragraph that doesn’t sound completely inappropriate. LMAO!!! :smiley:

4

@ Chicago X: So true. I just had to tell you guys this. I could just not contain myself!

@ JohhnyMac: I did not see that one coming. Now you have me giggling :slight_smile:

5

Just pushed the button ...... Now comes the wait ... :((

6

Im satisfied only with looks.
Nothing special, it throws like ordinary C8, something like that, but its much bigger than C8

7

I’ll say your welcome. The only drawback to the Jacob A60 and I have 2 now is the plastic reflector. But I honestly doubt that it affects the throw of this light one bit. The Jacob A60 is the baddest thrower I know of for the money. Easily will throw 400yds.

8

If you like that light, save up $38 for an HD2010 and prepare to be wowed.

But you are right, at that price it is a true bargain.

9

400yds? Sorry but not even my STL-V6 or HD2010 will do that. There might be like .1lumen but no way would you be able to make something out. 400yds that is HID territory not 1x18650 Q5.

10

If it's ANSI throw then you need .25 lux.

11

King Jacob LX

On my night walks, there is a spot from where I have a clear line of vision to our neighbour's house from 230m. Just for pleasure, I used to shine my A60 at it as I went by, but had to give up, since the lady mentioned that to my wife in way of mild complaint.

Now I use a test target house that's 420m away and only hope the people there aren't bothered. Tongue Out

I'd like to test how it looks standing near a distant target hit by the Jacob's beam, but unfortunately I have no one willing to assist me in "that nonsense".

12

How does this compare to the C8 or MRV clones?

Also, how’s the tint on yours or others’ samples?

Thanks.

13

I tested it outside, directly driven jacob and directly driven C8, and if Im not mistaken there’s not much difference.

14

I’m curious how it compares with a regular C8 equipped with an XR-E.

15

Ok I got a little carried away. But 300yds is no problem for the Jacob A60’s I have.

16

I have a Q5 C8 and a very overdriven (2.2A) R2 in a HS-802 clone. I also have a Jacob A60 and it murders them both. Given that the C8 is a 45mm head versus the Jacon’s 55mm is that surprising?

BTW My Jacob pulls 1.82A on high with a TF 3100

17

I only have one XR-E/C8, the UtraOK Tactical (MRV clone).

The UltraOK has quite a bit of corona (though much less than an XM-L/C8), which apparently consumes lots of photons. The entire beam pattern is cleaner and more regular in the A60, the hotspot being even slightly larger (20 vs 18cm at 3m). Practically no corona here, which also helps towards target clarity that I value highly.

Here are my latest lux readings, performed at 8m, using the meter's MaxHold feature:

- UltraOK Tactical at 1.78A ........... 40.6 kcd

- Jacob A60 at 1.75A .................... 59.5 kcd

- SmallSun C10 asph. at 1.37A .... 61.3 kcd

Both my A60s would happily draw 2.0-2.2A from a good battery on High, but due to poor heatsinking I'm feeding them my crappiest UtraFire 4000mAh gold/brown.

My A60 tint seems the standard CW without stray colorations, but I'm no expert in tints.

ETA:: Forgot to mention that of the three above only the A60 is equipped with EZ1000, the other two are EZ900. Thus, more praise to the A60 reflector.

18

@ -JOE-:

Sorry to hear that about your fandyfire and HD2010. Are you sure yours are ok? Do you have any measurements like tailcap reading or something?

Having lived in this house many years and having always been interested in charts and topography ( I am a master navigator as well as marine engineer) I was thrilled when google maps came online with the sattelite pictures. Since then I have mapped distances and angles as well as some interesting heights out using simple mathematics/tools and google earth/maps.

The distances I mention for the dogs may vary a little maybe 15 meters. But the trees, buildings and landmarks don't. So I think my distances are ok.

As for ANSI throw:

If the requirement for light on target is 0,25 lux as stated in the ANSI standard then I believe the throw of this light would be:

sqrt(55000)/0,25=938 meters. That is not what I see.
But if we say that the throw of this light is enough to identify landmarks such as trees, bushes, sheds and outhouses then we can go back through the numbers and say that I need sqrt(55000)/400 meters=0,69 lux.
Note that the experience of light is wholly individual and dependant on eyesight and experience. I've spent a good deal of my grown up life staring out of windows at the night, looking for a sea boy, a navigation light on another ship or the stars for navigation. I think that helps also.
19
Mind those parentheses!
Throw = sqrt(55000/0,25) = 469 meters
http://lux.yi.org/throw/
20

Glad you like it I have one on order too!

Ledsmoke when did you order you light and how long did it take. I placed my order for one on 6/21/12 and all it shows is payment confirmed. I emailed them a week or so ago and they said that the A60 and another item were out of stock!! :frowning: