Review SolarStorm SP03 3x XM-L2 U2 from SoonDeals beamshots on page 85 and 86

I actually didn't. Black Shadow is sending it for review. They told me they were sending it a week ago but it just went out last night.

What diameter is the driver?

Oh, you sly dog! I forgot about that little beauty you are working on. Considering the body of the SRK is compatible with the Terminator and Raging heads, I am going to go out on a limb and say my money is on your driver fitting this. Brothers and sisters, can I get an Hallelujah!?

Then again, I could be wrong but my gut says I'm right. We'll have a definitive answer soon enough. :bigsmile:

It looks to be 48mm I’m not pulling mine out just yet so that’s as close as I can measure. I’m not sure how they wired the side switch but it’s directly to the side of the driver and I’m afraid of either breaking those wires or messing up the contact. Someone with more knowledge than me will have to try.

Mine arrived today around noon. First thing I did when I got home was toss batteries in it and put it in my IS. It registered a very disappointing 1600 OTF. My Terminator pumps out around 3000'ish and my SRK around 2200. WTF???

Since the cells used weren't fresh and I wasn't expecting it to arrive in a day I didn't have my set of Panasonics prepped so they are in the charger now. I will retest once they are ready and I sure hope they give better results than the TF Flames I have in it now. If the light is regulated like claimed it shouldn't make a difference but I hope it does.

Build quality is great except the handle is a few mm longer than the tailcap and it doesn't sit flat and solid when tailstanding. How such a simple thing could be overlooked when designing and testing boggles my mind. Other than that the handle is actually properly balanced and the switch placement is perfect as my thumb falls squarely on the switch when held in my right hand when using the handle. Maybe smaller hands would have a problem with it but I think it was greatly designed in that aspect.

I haven't measured the driver yet but by eyeballing it I'd say TexasPyro's fantastic new driver will fit right in it. Unless I got a bum driver it's going to need it!

UPDATE: Okay...Panasonics fully charged and loaded. OTF lumens as follows:

High - 2193
Medium - 1161
Low - 290

Lux @ 3m = 8330
Converted to 1m = 74,969
Throw distance = 547.61 meters

For comparison using the exact batteries all taken within 15 minutes of the SP03:

Genuine SRK - 2150 OTF
Terminator U2 - 2800 OTF
Terminator T6 - 2611 OTF

I would say we both got the same driver. But right now I’m not going to pull mine apart to see. It’s still a great light and really throws. But I’m sure it can be driven a lot harder. I’ll wait and see what kind of options there are. But with the side clicky I’m sure there are not going to be many if any outside of custom made.

I wrote BS and pointed out the following...

My SRK with 1st gen xm-l t6 does 2150 OTF. Even if the SP03 had the same driver as tbe SRK the xm-l2 u2 emitters alone should at 20% more output (430 lumens). The SP03 I have only puts out 43 more lumens than the SRK meaning it has an inferior driver or there is a flaw with the 1st batch of SP03 released.

I will let you know what their reply is. ;)

Cool maybe they can give us a hand.

Well, they responded but they didn't seem too concerned. They say that they purposely limited the output to 2.4a/led to make it more reliable. Hopefully it will have the same driver as the SRK and a simple resistor mod is all it will take to make a good light a great one.

Thanks for getting ahold of them. I do really like the light though so I’m not too bummed out about it. I’ll wait and see what people come up with. You know they will find a bunch of different ways. If I do take the time to pull it all apart I’ll probably go the sinkpad route while I’m at it. I can always use these emitters on something else, maybe in my Mystery Skyray.

2200lm on high is equal to tk70 with larger head, 18650’s and emitter-care amperage = not bad, isn’t it?
Also really want see more photos inside flashlight. Hope driver welcomes mods easyly. Btw, have ordered this flashlight couple weeks ago ).

Now available also at DX for $77.90.

BTW: What has happened to DX advertised lumen ratings? First the 26650 diving light advertised as 500lm -> measured 520lm after 30s. Now this advertised as 2000lm, measured 2190lm (by JM). Did they perform some kind of reality check? ;)

=the= I have been noticing that too. DX lumen numbers are much more realistic than they used to be. That’s a good thing for them and us.

Beam Range 250m ? (

Umm…no. 547.6m of throw from this bad boy. Output really is comparable to the TK70 and for $76 it’s a bargain!

Anyone removed the carry handle yet? Is it manageable like the TK75?

This thing should be beast with KD driver?

I don’t know what the tk75 is like but the body on this is very short. To grip it at least your fore finger is over the wide switch area making it quite the handful.

Does anybody have any codes or coupons for DX? want to purchase the fandyfire version, thanks in advance.

I just got mine in yesterday and I have to agree with 18sixfifty the handle is weird feeling. The light is very front heavy. I will be taking mine off for sure. I put mine in the light box tonight and my numbers were very close to johnnymacs. What seemed pretty impressive to me is a fairly powerful budget light only dropping 20 lumens in the 30 second test. The throw while falling far short of my TK75 is still pretty darn impressive. We did a t/c measurement and got right at 5 amps so very mildly driven. I guess that might explain the good regulation. With the handle off it might look kind of like a shorty TK75 or a big headed King. Lol. Here is a pic next to my TK75 for size comparison. The TK75 is on the left in both pics


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