Review: MaxToch Mission M12

Aliexpress has them for $67.50. A desert rat can appreciate a light like the M12. I use mine out in the Colorado Desert just south of you all the time. You should also get the 26700 battery from Richard at Mountain Eletronics. That batt will give you 5,200+mAh of use with low internal resistance to boot. Quite a pair.

Here: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/MAXTOCH-Mission-M12-Long-Shooting-1-Cell-Flashlight-AR-Lens-Copper-Circuit-Board-Long-Runtime-26700/314381_1836678467.html

but Richard at mtmelectronics.com says he's going to be carrying/selling these, and his prices are always pretty good.

That Richard is a Genius!

Do they make extension tubes for this—to make it a 2 cell, like the M24?

And the driver probably couldn’t handle 8.4v anyways.

Maybe:
From the OP:

“”If you look at the MaxToch M24, the head is identical in looks and dimensions to the M12, therefore, I’m thinking they are using the same driver. if so, the driver could possibly take 2 cells (8.4v).“”

Well!, if that’s the case, an extension tube would be dandy! Maybe I can find one that will Lego. Hmm…

Recently got one of these lights and have just done runtime test on it. Very surprised….with a fully charged Maxtoch 5000mAh battery it ran for 3 hours on high beam. Not very bright at end but would have still done a little more.

Impressive runtime performance for a single cell XML2. The Maxtoch 26700 batteries must be good.

As far as I know the ANSI method to measure the runtime is when the light output is dropped to 50% of its initial output.

Well in the stock form, amps draw could be close to 4A or less at start. 4A draw would only be roughly 1.4 hours, but the amps draw starts to drop immediately as the battery drains with a current limited driver, not current controlled. You'd expect more that 1.4 hours, and in this case, it doubles. These cells are the KK 26700 sold by Richard at MtnElectronics. I've tested a few on the Opus charger and they show 5300-5400 - some variations cell to cell which is typical for all KK's. If you measured tailcap amps along the way on occasion, it should indicate droppage in amps. At the end, maybe under 1A? I'm thinking average was about 2A for a 3 hour runtime.

These are excellent cells though - low resistance and high capacity.

That's probably the loophole manufacturers take advantage of by dropping amps draw 1-3 minutes into a run. What mudgripz is doing is more practical, but of course with lowering output along the way, a function of the driver, the Vf, and the cell.

The last review I read said ANSI runtime was down to 10%.

Will the latest production run of the M12 be improved, and have a direct thermal path?

I'm thinking yes. I would contact MaxToch, probably Amanda, if I were you before buying. I don't see it specifically mentioned on their product page here:

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/MAXTOCH-Mission-M12-Long-Shooting-1-Cell-Flashlight-AR-Lens-Copper-Circuit-Board-Long-Runtime-26700/314381_1836678467.html

but I thought they updated all these lights to DTP MCPCB's. Richard doesn't say it explicitly either here: http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=80&product_id=359. Hhmm...

I asked richard before ordering my m12 from him. He said it had the direct Thermal mcpcb. If it didn’t I was going to order a direct one from him and reflow it. Not sure if they come stock with it or if Richard is changing them to direct mcpcb.

I wish there was an easy way to take the tail plug out of this light without scratching it up…. if anyone has any ways of removing it safely let me know.

Here is the reply from Amanda.

Hello I was wondering if the newest production runs of m12’s have direct thermal path mcpcb’s or not.
MTAmanda’s picture
New
MTAmanda 12/09/2014 - 00:14 Delete Block
Hello,
Thanks for your inquiry. The latest production hasn’t apply direct thermal path yet. It is copper MCPCB.

RMM does have DTP maxtoch 26mm mcpcb listed on his site: http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=63_65&product_id=348

Easily solved!

Chris

Hhhmmm... I wouldn't think Richard would be swapping these out on his own - just a lot more time he has little of, I would think. This sounds quite weird to me... Since they sell the DTP versions, why wouldn't they switch over in all their lights? Maybe just didn't do a new batch run of M12's yet?

That’s what it sounds like to me as well.

RMM is out of stock for the M12 flashlight, maybe on his new order he is able to specify the inclusion of the DTP feature? I plan on sending him an email to confirm this.

I may have been mistaken when I said that the M12 had a DTP MCPCB. I had checked the M24 and it did, and I think that I checked one of the M12s as well, but I don't know for sure now if I thought I had checked it but just got mixed up with the M24. Unfortunately I don't have any more M12s to check out.

If I mixed it up, I apologize in advance.