Just got this light in. First impression is it’s very small. Installing the handle is a bit difficult because the integrated battery carrier blocks the allen wrench from fully spinning.
Also not sure if mines a defect but I have quite a bit of wobble on the handle. The screws bottom out before it tightens on the handle so there is a ton of wobble.
they started the thread on the 3rd, so if you ordered then, it only took 7 days to get here??? OK, it’s small and the handle is weird, I’m waiting for MORE, like those tandem MT-G2s! It took everything I had to resist purchasing this light. MORE please, thank you….
Shipping from hkequipment was very fast. I didn’t think it would be here so soon and I think I might have ordered a day or two after this thread was created too. Less than 7 days from HK to the west coast.
It is quite bright but I have not really tested it out much, still light out. The light gets warm very quickly on turbo. Heat coming out of the front end is also quite warm. The electronic switch is a bit mushy and doesn’t activate the light everytime its clicked. You need to push firmly for a connection. I wish the handle didn’t stick as far out, they should have kept it closer to the 2nd prototype but with just a little more room for fingers/gloves.
I personally think the second prototype had a good mount for the handle. It seemed sturdy and simple to take on and off. The way the handle is mounted now does not seem as sturdy and is a bit of a hassle with the included allen wrench. Here is a picture of some washers I found. I wanted to find something smaller to fit into the handle holes but didn’t have anything. With it installed the way I have it, the body tube tightens onto the handle and isn’t spinning closed as far it goes without the handle installed. Also a few pictures with a p60 light for comparison.
I can tell all that it is a real chore getting double-wrap protected batteries into the non-removable carrier. Yes, length was a chore, but doable. The width is more challenging.
Yea I also tore the outside layer of a protected pana3400. The lip of the head where the battery slides across is a little sharp.
Anyone else have problems with the handle being loose? Am I doing something wrong? I’d prefer not to need the washers every time I take on and off the handle.
Yes, I finally got round to doing some calculations and current readings too. The readings give 1.05-1.15A on L5 (2000 lumens), whilst the original figures suggested impossible efficiency of over 300lm/w.
Selfbuilt has since acknowledged the mistake and updated his runtime graphs with accurate figures, as are now linked to in my original posts.
Having now got one myself I would like to point out that despite these mistakes in claimed runtime from earlier tests, the efficiency is still very good, especially for such a great and tightly binned tint. Output/size ratio is also still amazing (the 5200 OTF lumen figures were NOT mistaken!) and the overall quality is top class. I’m certainly still very happy with mine.
It depends entirely on the ambient temperature and airflow. Selfbuilt sees his thermal step-down kick in at about 6 minutes inside, but I have run it outside with a small amount of airflow and at around 10-15 celsius for about 20 minutes continuously with no step-down.
Got mine today. Of course didn't waste much time - had to take a looky. I'm not too crazy about the UI and inconsistent click activations - it's hard to get the double click to work - after lots of attempts, can't get it working consistently.
Didn't realize the cells are 4S, but they are. Also the output levels seem to depend on the cell's power. Freshly charged, higher lumens output. Even left to cool down, with weaker cells, lower lumens output. I measured pretty close to selfbuit's #'s across all modes for the "shipping" MM15 version - review here: CPF-Niwalker-MiniMax-Nova-MM15-(2xMT-G2-4x18650)-SHIPPING-Review. I'm thinking it will vary by cell resistance, but did not verify/test that.
Looks like one big copper MCPCB. I can tell from looking from the driver side. The LED wires are a pathetic 24 AWG, 150C rated - no clue why so weak. Looks quite clear where the current sensing or current limiting resistors are - there's 4 in line, 3 R100's and one R068. They are not the usual 1206's, but are smaller - probably 0805's.
First things I do is copper bypass the 4 + springs in the carrier, and upgrade those LED wires to 20 gauge if possible. Then start experimenting with resistors. the driver electronics is actually on the + side of the battery carrier -- pretty weird but keep the unit nice and compact.