New XM-L Light,, 26650/18650/4xAAA Good Price and 57mm head ......... NOTE: The star is solid aluminium !!! :bigsmile:

Mine finally arrived, but with an issue. The bezel was loose, and it just wouldn’t screw back into the head properly. I removed the o-ring that usually sits between the bezel and the lens and noticed that the thread ‘bites’ really late, and that the o-ring was preventing it from doing so. After removing the head from the body however, I was finally able to get the bezel screwed down with the o-ring in place, but only barely. The first time I screwed the head back on the bezel popped out again due the pressure the pill was putting on the reflector (which in turn was putting pressure on the lens, then the o-ring and finally the bezel of course). The second time I screwed the bezel down as tight as I possibly could, and was careful not the screw the head back on too tight. It seems to be holding up OK now.

What I really want to know is if anyone else can relate to any of this? If they are all pretty much the same I wont bother trying to get a replacement, but if they’re not I definitely will.

All in all this is a crappy quality torch (even ignoring my bezel issue) which was to be expected. But it’s not incredibly crappy. It redeems itself somewhat with it’s nice styling, decent output and battery options. But if I’d had a chance to sample a unit before purchase, I would have kept my money.

Size comparison with a couple of other well known lights:

If it looks like it’s on a little bit of a lean, it is. As mentioned earlier, I can’t screw the head all the way onto the body with the bezel screwed in, so it’s kinda just sitting like that right now. Have contacted the seller regarding a resolution.

Mines ok tbh, o rings would have made it fine as delivered, I still see it as a functional host but I am thinking of getting a few as gifts, a none flashaholic would be very impressed with it I feel.

Aside from the issue I’ve already described, mine came properly decked out with o-rings everywhere they should be, nicely lubed threads and even had thermal paste applied to the bottom of the star.

QC is clearly all over the place, in an almost amusing sort of way.

Would not be surprised to find out that “assemblers” we’re shown the “right way” to put them together and then were paid for each assembled light with no QC. Sounds like this could be a decent host if you get lucky or scrap Alu if you don’t.

So far, none have arrived doa, otherwise their much the same as Amy cheap Chinese light - lube, o-rings the odd poor threading job, I think its petty much par for the course.

Thing is though, the AAA output is pretty damm amazing, not many other lights can claim that.

Pardon my hyperbole, it’s a lazy habit. This light actually has me intrigued as a host if the threading problems are fairly uncommon. The other shortcomings sound correctable even for the budget minded. Could someone post some pics of the inside and what’s in there?
Edit- sorry, see the pics, skipped over a page by accident.

Yeah I should’ve had them send the o-rings they didn’t put on the tail when they sent my missing AAA carrier.

Used this light for like 10-15 minutes the other night and it actually got a little warm…. :open_mouth:

Noticed a outer ring on the already ringy beam that is huge. It is real thin but is quite a bit further out of the regular halo of light. If you hold the light horizontal to the ground it is nearly directly under the light on the ground. Hopefully someone will understand what I am saying as I have never seen this on any other light I own. Maybe a reflection off the outer bezel?

:~

The seller is catching on. Price has been raised to 12.99 GBP ($20.29 US).

-Garry

I’m starting to become frustrated with this seller. I have tried several times now to explain the issue to them, but they don’t seem to be understanding me. I even made a video for them upon request. They are trying to tell me that I’m not screwing the head on properly, but that’s the problem! It’s not possible without the pressure popping the bezel out, which is partly because the bezel, when fully screwed in, only grips onto about one thread. The head can be fully screwed into the body if the bezel is loose, but that’s obviously a bit pointless, because it eventually falls out.

The only way to resolve this is to remove the oring that sits between the bezel and the lens, but then the lens rattles and there is no seal. Basically, it’s as if the reflector is too long, which I think is the actual problem.

Does anyone around here speak mandarin, or cantonese? I’d really appreciate it if someone who understands what I’m talking about and who speaks whatever language an ebay seller based in china is likely to speak could translate the substance of the problem I’ve described into a format that the seller can properly understand.

Finally the seller has agreed to send me a replacement head. It was a frustrating experience due to the language barrier, but in the end they’re doing the right thing by me :slight_smile: I have to commend some of these China based eBay sellers who don’t require goods to be returned (because they know return postage costs are prohibitive) before they will offer a resolution. It all requires a little patience, but the essence of good customer service is there.

I’m probably going to end up gifting this torch to a friend who will run it on AAAs. I think he’ll like it.

I did some more testing on the light I received in a couple weeks ago. My first complaint when I received it was with a 26650 not fitting. The 4sevens one does not fit.
I got in a MNKE 26650 recently and tried it - this one fit in fine. A little snug, but ok.
So now that I had all the battery choices available I did some testing on it. I did discover that being a mildly driven light that it doesn’t matter if if you use a 26650 or 18650, if both are decent, they both provide enough amps to the driver to put out the same lumens. Now the AAA’s did put out slightly less power, but only about
A 15% percent loss.
So with the bigger batteries we did the testing. So we managed a 542 lumens at 30 sec. And we measured a throw of 23,700 at 1m. Basically not to powerful, but the bigger head helps in the lux numbers.
After that we did some field testing. Did real life throw measurements at various distances. This is what we got - 50yd = 10.7, 100yd = 2.4, 200yd = .6, 300yd = .2. So this light does have a real life throw of 300yds. Not too bad. If there was a decent way to up the amps some, this light would really be nice.
But considering the looks, and the 300yd throw, this light is well worth the money.

Thanks rdrfronty for your observations.

I just checked the shipping status on mine and it says "missent"! DUH!!! I probably could have had it in hand today! Should be soon as it seems the "missent" location isn't that far away.

-Garry

Thanks for the info rdrfronty.

I think that I might give mine away to someone and let them run it on AAA’s but not until I compare it to the HD2010 that I ordered this weekend.

Mines become the in car emergency light, can run on anything has strobe and decent throw, I’ll add a head strap and it’s sorted 8)

Well I received my light the next day after the "missent" status (my address was correct on it, the USPS just goofed.

I really really like this light. I think non-flashaholics would be very very impressed! It's very similar in size to the HD2010 (see below). 26650 (King Kong Raised Top INR) fits nicely (no slop, but also not tight). The 4AAA carrier seems like it could use beefed up, but it probably helps throttle the current back a bit. That carrier fits pretty well too. O-rings were cheap, but functional. Threads are typical cheap Chinese quality, but ok once lubed.

There is no real "pill". The "pill" is part of the flashlight body (not sure if this was brought up or not). My emitter popped right out as soon as I popped off the plastic centering ring (worst emitter mounting I've ever seen). Like mentioned by others, the thermal grease was on the bottom center of the star, but not really around the edge where it makes contact with the "pill" lip. There is plenty of available depth to the hollow section of the "pill" between the driver and emitter. I checked what copper plumbing parts I had to see if they would fit inside the hollow opening, but a 1/2 end cap is too small and a 3/4 end cap is way too big. It appears that 3/4 copper pipe will fit snugly inside and then find something to cap the end of it with such as a copper penny (or cut a piece of flat copper). I'd probably do the trick of packing bare copper wire inside and filling it with solder.

It runs on both 4AAA alkalines (cheap ones) and NiMh just fine and is quite impressive!

Tailcap Currents:

4AAA NiMh (Cheap Rayovac LSD) fresh off the charger:
Hi: 2.80A
Med: 1.57A
Low: 0.83A

4AAA Alkalines (Cheap Harbor Freight)
Hi: 2.30A
Med: 1.26A
Low: 0.67A

King Kong INR Raised Top (@4.14v)
HI: 3.80A
Med: 1.85A
Low: 0.90A

Seems to me the driver is direct drive on high, +/- 50% medium, & +/- 25% low. I wish medium and low were lower. Seems that when it's off for awhile it comes back on in high. Tint is a nice cool white, not blue, purple, or green. Currents do elevate when pressing the battery in tighter to compress the B+ spring. I couldn't notice PWM myself, but the camera display was showing it (flickering) on low mode.

Few photos and beamshots:

Shots comparing it to my Ultrafire HD2010:

Shot next to my Poppas W-878 (battery carriers are in front of the opposite lights & King Kong raised top INR inside the UltraOk):

Beamshots: Camera on same manual settings for each one. 19.5 feet to the garage door. All shots on 4AAA NiMh. Truth be told, I took the beamshots with one of my AAA NiMh's being about 1/2 to 3/4 discharged. I charged them all up after the beamshots and retook current measurements (I think hi was around 2.50A, maybe 2.30A during this shot.)

Beamshot on Low:

Beamshot on Medium:

Beamshot on High:


Photo Album link here.

-Garry

Now that it's dark, I decided to get some longer beamshots outside. I took them in my usual spot where these beamshots were. The shed in these shots is believed to be between 150 to 200 feet away. The flashlights are set on the fencepost you see the shadow of. 4AAA NiMh again and camera on manual, same settings for each (the 4AAA ones only).

First, Low:

Medium:

High:

For comparison, Here's a shot of my KD C8 (LOP, 3.0A high) taken earlier this year:

Now that I compare them, I think this UltraOK 4AAA has a tint that is closer to neutral.

Mouseover with the KD C8 (mouse out = UltraOK 4AAA, mouse over = KD C8):

-Garry

More details on "pill" area: Width of opening is 22.6mm and depth to driver is +/- 16.3mm. I'm wondering now about round Aluminum (or copper) bar. I know there was some company posted awhile ago that sells many different types of metal bars, rods, etc . . . They were in the north central US (Chicago or Detroit?). I'll have to do some more searching. Not sure if my local Lowes or Home Depot carries a close width or not (although if I could get 3/4" aluminum, I could put it inside of 3/4" copper plumbing pipe).

EDIT: Found it - Speedy Metals in Wisconson, Illinois, and Michigan.

Oh, and I don't notice rings at all in the beam of mine! Nice transition from hotspot to spill.

Photos:

Width:

Depth:

-Garry

Nice review Garry, I just ordered one of these for $18.99 shipped. From reading the reports on this, and I always get double good lights, I should have ordered two. :wink: