MX Power ML-310 Nitecore Extreme homage

Yes it is....and it will make you feel good inside when you find the light that your looking for and have it in your hands.

I work in a very brightly lit hospital. Bright enough that the Health and Safety squad have just told us about the EU Optical Radiation Directive which requires me to warn people not to look directly at the lights as they are not diffused! That will be right!

However, I found 15 lights in my laptop bag tonight while looking for the one that wasn't there. And took delivery of a 2000 lumen light though that was a very long way from a cheap light.

In practice at work they get used in the cupboard under the stairs and for looking under desk.

But I do understand your wanting a specific model and colour - you are certainly not alone in that.


Found a silver/bare ML-310 retailer so at least have a fallback option but the search continues Alfred.

Hello again Don,

So what's the weather like been like in the homeland today?

The first flashlight site I stumbled on was CPF and it seemed that there were a lot of police, emergency services, security professionals and the like talking about serious work flashlights.

It is good to find a site with people who do not have a particular reason, nor feel the need to justify their obsession interest in flashlights.

Cheers,

Gary

Yes i know what you mean....i spend most of my time on here now.

Wet. Warm, but very wet. Well, this does happen a lot around here. The dog had me up every 90 minutes through the night so it wasn't the best day ever at work. I really don't notice the weather at work unless I'm sneaking off outside for a smoke but did notice my office got rather darker when the rain started so I pulled a couple of lights out of my bag, shut the blinds and did some beamshots. Patients not attending have their uses - DNAs as they get called here. They are responsible for about 90% of impromptu tutorials and coffee breaks.

Hey there Nothing, it would appear that the silver MXDL ML-310 is now available at KD, it's listed as a new product:

http://kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=10009

Hi. Thank for the heads up.
That is the one I tried to order a few weeks ago but was told only black was available from now on, I guess they are making them again.
I actually managed to get a gun metal one off of ebay, had to pay a bit more but in the short time I've had it I quite like it.
Build quality is not great but acceptable IMHO and it's slightly brighter than my F23.

That's where this thread should have ended but unfortunately I stumbled across another NC Extreme design budget light which just arrived today.

I bought it off of QCG Sipik SK68 but right after I ordered it I found it on popbuying.com Sipik SK68 for a bit less.

This one seems to be brightest of all with a similar size flood(?) to the F23 but I need to get outdoors at night to test the usefulness of the zoom functionality.


Thanks again for everyone's input.

Cheers,

Gary

Thanks Gary.

I'm a big fan of this style of light. I have the Romisen Q5 emitter version in a single mode.

What interests me about the one you post is 1) the zooming lense 2) it tailstands 3)Takes AA battery but does not add much length as it's only a few mm longer than the other variations 4) the price.

I worried about the max brightness of only 80 lumens as I'm bright light nut (and I wish it took 14500s) but I may give them a try.

No worries my friend.

I haven't stepped up to Li-ions yet but yeah it would've been good if it was futureproofed a bit by handling more than 1.5v, a low mode would have been good too.

On NiMHs it is the brightest out of a Trustfire F23 AAA, MX Power ML-310 AA and a 2xAAA Mini Maglite with a LED upgrade.

Here is a Chinese webpage with a few more beam shots.

When I do eventually get a load of Li-ions and a charger I can see myself purchasing a genuine Extreme, just something about them.

Cheers,

Gary

Im happy with my A4 but being able to use AA's does appeal to me.

I’ll probably get one of those as well but didn’t want to admit it in my last post in case someone asked me to justify getting 4 versions of the same flashlight.

6 if you include the Smallsun ZY-C81 and SacredFire NF-555, though I definitely wouldn't admit to buying those and would feel suitably disappointed in myself.

Cheers,

Gary

Well i can tell you that the quality of the A4 is nice.......and that light does get used a lot.

Gary, if you were to rank all the variations you have of this light from the best to the least, what would be the pecking order?

Good to know, thanks.

Romisen do seem to make some of the better quality budget lights from what I've read.

I actually only have the 2 that take AA batteries just now and only got the Sipik yesterday so the jury’s still out.

Initial thoughts are build quality is similar maybe a few less sharp edges on the Sipik.

The zoom on the Sipik is a slide rather than being a threaded twisty so it grates a bit, still reasonably smooth though.

Any further impressions on this light? What do you think about the brighness? DX now carries this light and list the working voltage up to 4.2v but with the DX this could very easily be a mistake. I wish there was a way to verify if it can take a 14500 without frying the light.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39585

Hello,

It's definitely brighter than the MX-310 and I like the smaller size.

The zoom feature is great and really increases the throw but the beam pattern is square due to the shape of the die, don't know if that's an issue for anyone, just a bit ugly.

I'm sorry I don't have any exact test measurements, this is all done by the naked eye.

My only concern is the slide, I'm not sure how long it will last as I think it's metal on metal.

It looks like I'll have to take the pill out the top to get at the mechanism and lube it but I don't have the right tools just now.

As for the 14500, the manufacturer's website only states 1.5v and AA. Translated

But to confuse matters the listing in the Taboa (Chinese ebay style website) link I posted earlier might state that it does.

The literal translation is "The shop owner tests personally, uses 14500 lithium batteries to use the 5th battery to be brighter than!".

I read that as meaning he's personally tested that use of a 14500 is brighter than the use of a 5th battery (#5 is the Chinese reference for AA, though you probably already knew that).

Unfortunately I don't have any 14500s.

Hope this disjointed rambling is of some use.

Cheers,

Gary

Thank you Gary!! That's some great info you just shared!! I may have to buy 2 of these lights and use 1 light for a 14500 tester.

DX have just got them back in stock - mine was posted about 4 days ago.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.31730

With the SIPIK variation being 16mm shorter (using an AA type battery) and a few bucks cheaper than the MX version, I'm thinking of giving them a try...though I'm betting the MX will be brighter.