Great review Foy. That reflector looks great, and it is such a small light.
I had concerns about run time on a single 26650 with that much power. Held me back from picking one up, in fact.
I’ve read that HA-III anodizing can only be done in dark colours, something to do with dye penetration. Any time I see HA-III mentioned on a lighter-toned host, I get skeptical. This one does not appear to be HA-III, it would not rub off that easy. Most of my grey coloured lights have this problem.
Then why are they all turned every whichaway in my Dry and Sky Ray? None of them are the same on both lights. I'm not asking defensively or doubting, just would like to know so I don't appear the fool yet again.
Wonder how often that happens . . . where I say something that sounds authoritative but is in reality bozo-clueless?
The emitter plate in the S-L3 is a single prefabricated MCPCB. The emitter pads are placed exactly where the designer wanted them, so they all line up perfectly.
In a typical light, the stars are independent so the installer can mount them every-which-way. That usually results in an OCD trigger (I fixed this on my SRK when I modded it ).
I was going to point out the same thing. I bought an SL3 around a month ago. It is a beautiful little light and I don’t regret the purchase. It’s only as bright as a Black Shadow Darth and nowhere as bright as an SRK but it does throw well for it’s size and output. The Darth is all flood but the overall quality is a little better than the SL3 and the ano far more durable as its a true type3. The XinTD in the photo definitely looks brighter, even with the spill as you can see where they overlap the XinTD dominates it. Not one of the brighter small triples but it throws well and just feels a treat in your hand and in use! Like I said, no regrets.
A major plus for the SL3 not touched on by Foy is that it well regulated with zero visible pwm. It's always great to see an AMC7135 driver with no visible pwm.
The SL3 is a solid bugger and while far smaller than an HD2010 it is heavier and feels like it was carved from a solid block of very heavy aluminum. The HD2010 feels like a cheap toy in comparison.
Thank you for the awesome review. Great looking light in a compact form factor for a triple xml. I like how it looks like it's single emitter brother, the JM26.
I have both the skyray king 3 xm-l2 and the newest sl3 BTW the anno is changed on the new version, much better and darker. the driver has been improved also. it now has a contact spring allowing all batteries to work.
the srk seems to put out a few more lumens but it is really hard to tell. the sl3 is much cooler. very white light. my light is not even hot when it steps down so I just reset it. great light for the size. great dog walking light.
I bought an SL-3 when it first came out. Had a chance to show it off at our town’s firework show. I noticed this year more folks with LED flashlights. Someone across the small lake shone their fairly bright light across the lake to the side where I was on. I responded with my SL-3 on high and hit them with a wall of light. The guy sheepishly turned his off and hung his head.
Be careful as some stores (eg.Fasttech) are still stocking the previous XM-L emitter version. I also believe it was updated with harder (darker?) anodising than when first released due to complains of 'flakiness'...