Yes - it would barely work with my protected RCR123s and on checking the current draw I bought some IMR 16340s. It will work with unprotected RCR123s but the current draw wasn't what I'd consider safe.
Don also tested the S1 on JAYKI . While I liked the body on the S1, I disliked the small mushy, rubbery switch which was hard to operate. After a while I totally disliked the beam colour, because it was no "warm" tint but a yellow epoxy layer (think like a yellow lens). So I gave it away.
If I may quote myself (from Jayki):
Ah, I found my bag of black 18mm O-rings and did the test myself. Black O-rings don't change the general tint of the light, only the very outer rim of the spill is more white. So there is basically 2 tints in the beam. I changed it back to the GITD O-ring. The emitter itself seems to have an epoxy layer coating, maybe that's the reason for the yellow-green tint. (I'm almost certain ;-) ) My Tank007 E07 was more white and is supposed to have the same emitter. Still a great little light and my ultra budget recommendation when you don't mind the tint colour.
My recommendation for a 1xAA with a CREE is the supreme Hugsby P32 (review of the P31 which has the same body but the p32 has 3 modes and at least mine is slightly brighter) and the Tank E07 (review) if you want a small 1XAA OSRAM. I have given the S1 and the E07 away, I'm glad I got rid of the S1 but I'm considering buying the E07 again for myself.... it's not the brightest ... but had a very nice beam and was the smallest 1xAA I've ever owned.
emitter itself seems to have an epoxy layer coating, maybe that's the reason for the yellow-green tint.
Are you sure it's not just the phospher layer?
Yep, at least on mine, big evidence is the 2 tone beam even without the GITD O-ring and Don's light also looked yellow'ish on the side by side comparison shot. Remember that I had 2 OSRAM lights to compare and approximatly 30 HK lights passed through my hands.
Well, I kind of wish the c78 osram I got had that layer. It's massively purple/blue. Maybe the guy who sprays that on had the day off.
Is it like the yellow in this pic (on the left)?
On mine, not at all. It's pretty subtle around the edges (20% or so). It's tinted like an old Rom G2 I have (P2?), basically off-white.
Mine was yellow as if a cool white emitter would have a too small yellow lens in the inner 90% of the beam and the outer ring 10 % were again cool white like the E07, so it wasn't a warm yellow but very cool and weird. Never have seen anything like that again, first I thought it was a production problem with my emitter but Don's seems to have a similar effect. At first I thought " Yay, a warm white flashlight for under 10$ " but in actual use it is like looking through a filter with some colours missing.... especially outdoors. Maybe they did this to have an even beam under the effect of the GITD O-ring in the front.
The reason for these imperfections on some Osram led lights is that china manufacturers obviously use cheap second quality Osram leds. Some of these might have small defects/flaws.
Osram GDP leds are the most precisely (tint-) binned leds on the market, so I don't think it makes any sense to blame any kind of layer for the phenomenon.
It's a "90% perfect" warm white. So it's not orange as erm... an orange or yellow (which wouldn't be pleasing to look at imho). It's indeed very similar to an incandescent's warm white.
It's the kd link agenthex posted above.
I only can speculate if it was defective, 2nd grade or even a fake Osram. I wouldn't have bothered much about it, if Don's hadn't the same "tint" colour. Maybe it was from the same batch. When I looked at the convex dome of the emitter it was definitely coloured. If it was a one batch occurrence ... who knows. I would like to see beamshots of the S1 from recent orders compared to a cool white XR-E.
Hey fran82, my order for the AA-S1 just shipped from DX.
Thanks medieval, probably I will order one, I love it!
Another petition (sorry) when it arrives comment about it, the tint of the color, the quality, if it has clean or dirty threads... etc...
Thanks
Will do. I'm sort of concerned because Vectrex said he didn't like the yellowish tint to the light.
I think it can not be possible........ the light produced by the AA-S1 is "slightly" warm white, not yellow.
I have seen the photo posted by you showing yellow light in the left and white on the right. It can not be the AA-S1. If really is the AA-S1it can be due to a defective/second class OGD LED.
I have 2 flashlights with golden dragon. On BOTH the light is white, but not cold white, slightly warm white (only a bit warm). I can not notice any yellowish tint on any. Probably he received a defective one or a flashlight with second class OGD LED.........
OR can be that the LED mounted in that flashlight is the 5000K OGD LED instead of the typical 8000-9000K OGD LED
Dug out all the Osram LED devices I could find easily.
Tank007 E07, Uniquefire AA-S1, Ultrafire RL-118, Tank007 E07, Trustfire F22 (Which is a Cree with a very nice beam). All apart from the RL-118 are being run on AA NiMH
Turned off all artificial light
These colours look about right on my screen. If I had a larger white object and a room I could darken, I'd take the shots at a greater distance. Maybe the next time I borrow a projection screen.
The TrustFire F22 Osram LED? In DX page claims Cree R2
And probably newer AA-S1´s are shipped with a warmer LED
Which is what I said above the pic - just for comparison.
Don't put too much weight on my words. Maybe I just got unlucky and received a bad one, or it's personal preference with that tint. What I don't like ... it might be perfect for you... and the S1 is a well built light. But you can clearly see on that second beamshot from Don that the tint is different to the Tank007's and in my experience it's not only due to the GITD O-ring at the front. If you don't like cool yellow-green ... this might not be the light for you.. at least the batch Don and I had. We need more beamshots from other members who also have the light to verify this.
Thanks for the beamshots Don btw
As I already said, I'm quite sure the manufacturers don't use regular tint binned GDPs, so I wouldn't expect one batch of S1's to have the same tint. I'd say it's just a different emitter lottery than with (also cheaply supplied) Cree's, with the benefit of potentially getting some nice and creamy tint, but there is also the possibilty of getting some toxic greenish etc. stuff.
I could be wrong with this of course, lets collect S1 beamshots :)
I don't want toxic green stuff here.
The pics from Don doesn't look too bad. Kind of looks like my Trustfire F23 tint.