Review: Raysoon TD-398 (XM-L T6 | 18650)

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
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Raysoon TD-398 (XM-L T6 | 18650)

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

Summary:

Battery: 18650
Switch: Tail switch, Reverse clicky
Modes: 3: High, Low, Strobe
LED Type: XM-L T6 1A (CW)
Lens: Plastic
Tailstands: Yes
Price Payed: $23.30
From: dx.com
Date Ordered: October 2012

Pros:

  • Good uniform flood when zoomed out
  • Bright
  • Well spaced modes
  • No PWM (or actually 7.5kHz = totally unnoticeable)
  • Tailstands
  • Good build quality
  • Nice deep carry clip
  • Almost as tacticool as SK68 ;)
  • Headband included, works well as a head lamp in full flood position
  • Comes in a nice tacticool box, suitable for gifting!

Cons:

  • Next-mode-memory
  • Hollow pill

Features / Value: ★★★★☆

The light comes in a nice big & tacticool looking box:

..which contains the light itself, headband, and adjustable light holder for the headband.

Features are ok: Two modes with ok spacing (about 550 and 175 lumens OTF) + strobe in case you should need it.

UI is pretty normal: Reverse clicky tail switch, the light starts on a random mode (last used or next after that) and mode can be changed by short half-clicks in order High->Low->Strobe. The memory takes very long time to engage, creating a feeling of the infamous next-mode-memory.

There is no parasitic drain as the power is turned off by a mechanic tail switch.

Threads are not anodized, so it's not possible to lock the light out by unscrewing the tail cap. However, this is not needed, because the tail cap switch is well recessed and doesn't turn on accidentally.

Included headband with light holder with adjustable angle is a very good addition, which significantly adds also to the value for money.

Value for money: Good.

Design / Build Quality: ★★★★☆

Design is nice. Almost as tacticool as it's role model Sipik SK68, but I like it. Knurling is not aggressive at all, but fluted cooling fins and smaller diameter battery tube allows good grip in multiple ways. Deep carry clip is just suitably firm and works fine. It also doubles as anti-roll device. Tail cap is larger & easier to open than the one in SK68, good!

Anodizing is flawless in my sample and feels quite durable too.

Here's the light in zoomed in position:

Well centered emitter:

Let's start disassembling the light. First thing is to remove the tail cap. As I said earlier, the tail cap is larger & much easier to open than in SK68. Threads are not anodized, but well machined and very smooth.

Let's take a closer look to the tailcap. Spring is hidden and O-ring feels thick enough:

Next thing is to disassemble the head. First unscrew the bezel, then pill, and finally the zooming part. Note that the body tube is manufactured from one piece:

Driver side of the pill. Also here the threads and O-rings are good.

The business side of the pill. Emitter star is kep on place with a plastic retaining ring.

Retaining plastic ring & emitter star removed. As we can see, the pill is hollow. The light is reasonably driven and I'm using it mostly on low, so I haven't noticed any thermal problems so far. However, minus one star. I'm planning to fill the empty space with some suitable piece of metal. Easy mod, which should elongate the emitter life.

Driver. Says "CX-5120-05"

Here is one more photo of the whole light disassembled:

Close up of the knurling. Not aggressive at all.

One more photo about the silky smooth threads:

A look into the tube:

Clip and fluted cooling fins:

A look to tailcap body threads:

Some measurements:

Length: 116.2 - 127.2mm (zoomed out - zoomed in)

Head diameter: 29.9mm

Body diameter: 23.1mm

Tail diameter: 29.8mm

Tailcap diameter: 22.9mm

Lens diameter: 20mm

Weight: 133g with cells (= ready to use), 86g without

And the bottom line in the quality: Nothing to complain, except the hollow pill! Otherwise very good.

Battery Life: ★★★★☆

Ok. The light is reasonable driven, not direct drive on high as some of the clones.

I measured the current at tailcap and got results of 2.10A on high and 0.35A on low.

This would give over 1h runtime on high and over 7h on low. Good.

Light Output: ★★★☆☆

For a light this small, I would classify it as "reasonably bright". According to the ceiling bounce figures & compared to other well known lights, the output is estimated to be about 550 lumens on high and 175 lumens on low.

The low mode has a very high, totally unnoticeable PWM of 7.5kHz. Very good for a budget light!

Some white wall beamshots (1/400s, f/4, ISO80, WB: Daylight)

High, zoomed out:

High, zoomed in:

Low, zoomed out:

Beam angle, zoomed out:

Beam angle, zoomed in:

Summary: ★★★★☆

This light has its flaws, but the unique combination of high PWM, long runtime on low, wide uniform flood, and very handy adjustable angle headband, has made this light one of my favorite in-house lights.

Verdict: Recommended!

The End (pun intended):

Thanks for reading & watching. Hope you enjoyed the review!

If you are planning to buy this light and want to support my future reviews, please buy it from dx.com via this affiliate link.

2

Nice review, really like the packaging and that it comes with a headband, I really really like the added functionality of this. Nice light.

3

nice review. nice light.

somebody needs to make this with good knurling (including on the tailcap), a glass lens and a non-hollow pill.

I’d pay double.

but can’t, so i’ll buy this one :slight_smile:

4

Thanks _the_. Its a shame about the hollow pill. I got lucky and this maybe the same, a piece of 3/4 aluminium bar was a perfect press fit in the hollow pill I had.

5

Thank you for this and all of your other comprehensive reviews I’ve read while lurking these past months. Especially detailed pictures on this one showing the quality.

A question about the headband use: seems the way it’s clipped in the picture above that the balance would be off, and when you’d walk the light would bounce fore and aft. Is the balance fairly stable or is the clip flexible enough to attach around the larger, centered part of the barrel?

Thanks in advance.

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I like the light but the only thing keeping me away from it is the memory...

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Yes and yes. :)

The balance is stable enough. You won't notice small bounces because of the wide flood anyways.

But I just tested and the holder is flexible enough to attach it around the head / cooling fins.

8

Thanks for the rapid response the !

This’ll certainly be my next “headlamp”… THANKS again for your great review-s- and I’ll make sure to clickthrough your link when purchased.

Best regards…

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Thanks very much for the review! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

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I received one today, thanks to this review. My complaint is that the clip is not springy enough and loses its shape too easily. This might be useful for some purpose, but not as intended.
I am convinced now that cooling fins on the body work better and are more reliable than fins on the head, in a zoom light. Great build, like the 68s. The head band works with other lights I have too. I dumped the box before my wife could see it.

12

I have a Qlite Rev.A 7135*8 Multiple Modes Circuit Board 3.04A driver that would make use of the plentiful cooling surface. A new driver would also fix the next mode memory problem that it has and give more modes. But it is 17 mm. in diameter, while I measure 20 mm. for the original driver. Should I glue it in place or is there a 20 mm. equivalent available?
Added: I got it open, with the help of a file, but can’t see a way to mount the 17 mm driver without being able to fabricate new parts. Perhaps the walls of the pill are thinner at the rear than those in the picture. Mine has the walls thick under all but the center of the star but only 2mm thick under the driver, with a 1 mm step, and 1 mm thick around it. So I was trying to attach a 17 mm driver to a pill with an 18 mm hole in it.

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As discussed in some other thread, I got 20 mm, adapter plates. I lost the spring off the new driver while trying to stretch it. Then I melted off a tiny surface mount component while trying to bridge to the 4th star. I think I got it back, or maybe it works without it. I used wire to help bridge the selection star to ground. I used copper braid to connect the grounds and build up the positive contact. I filed the driver and plate till I could squeeze them into the pill slot with pump piers. I am surprised to find that it works, with four modes and memory. Now my most useful light and one of my brightest. My first driver swap.