I haven’t the skill or patience to attempt a review but since I haven’t seen mention of this light I thought I’d throw this out for anyone interested.
I’ve been gradually changing my P60s over to XM-L2s and XP-G2s, mostly in warmer tints. That’s great but I’m left with
XM-Ls on 16mm mcpcbs and I can’t stand seeing them just sitting there. I came across the D11 1x18650 HAIII Flashlight host Kit For CREE XM-L/XP-G LED while browsing CNQG and ordered it. I’m not sure why but for some reason I like the looks of it.
It arrived today wrapped in about a pound of bubble wrap. When I finally got it open I realized what they meant by “Kit”
I assumed it was going to be an assembled light, just add a driver, LED and battery, so much for that plan. Even the switch had to be assembled.
That said, the quality of the components seems pretty good. The ano is free of any chips or blemishes, the OP reflector looked fine, threads dry but clean and smooth. Even the pill is heavier than I expected. The kit includes isolation disks for both XP-Gs and XM-Ls, it even includes an allen wrench for the pocked clip screws.
I decided to start with the switch. Other than swapping some P60 switches and modding a few D Mag switches I haven’t had to solder any of these small switches so I did what I usually do…failed miserably on my first attempt. After putzing around getting the switch perfectly centered on the board I found it wouldn’t click anymore. I guess a little too much heat for too much time, the same thing I did when I started playing with drivers.
Lucky for me I had two spare SolarForce reverse clickies in the parts bin. The SF switch is almost as large as the D11 switch board but with a little work it fit just fine.
I used a CW XM-L along with a KD V2 8*7135 driver, this is one with the moonlight low mode.
The final product.
I choose not to install the pocket clip.
Basement beamshot, just to give you an idea of the beam profile, camera settings on full automatic. It’s about what you would expect from a small reflector XM-L. In the picture the light is only about 3 feet from the door, at any distance the beam appears perfectly smooth with almost no hot spot.
As soon as I swap one of my NW XM-Ls out of a P60 I’ll move it into this light.
I should also mention that an AW protected 18650 fits but is very snug, both in length and diameter.
I think I’m going to like this light!
light!