Thats a huge let down for me. The Skyline I has that fancy infinite brightness driver with hidden strobe mode too. I was thinking about pulling the trigger on buying one myself.
The abysmal part was referring to its low output on 18650, which can be rectified by replacing the regulator as I said.
You won't lose the "infinite brightness" part if you switch out the regulator for a simple 1-mode linear amc board. The brightness ramping is controlled by a separate pwm dimmer in the tail cap and it won't be affected by a swap to a amc regulator.
The regulator I used was a 5-mode 3*amc board that I pulled from another mod job and converted into 1-mode. But any 1-mode amc regulator should work just fine. It was fairly easy to get access to all components in the light, a xm-l mod should also be fairly easy. You'd want a 16mm or smaller mcpcb for the mod though.
I can't imagine 2x123a (all of $2) being a huge deal since it doesn't seem like a light you'd use all that much. A few years storage life might actually be a useful function.
but as stated poor output on one battery. i knew that going in to it and hate to say but i was shocked still . its my first single battery light in 18650 or cr123 .
destroys this in terms of output , 009 moded with XML BTW ( even without mod).
i had planned on swapping the LED at some point then maybe the driver...
interesting about the tailcap functions - i think that really is the WTG.
over all its a nice build - solid but not too heavy , out of the way disco mode and yet it can be deployed effortlessly , infinite brightness is good but... , does throw but needs xml
but infinite brightness is fast, too fast , once held it in increases in brightness then within a second its down to "flickering moon mode "
worst flaw- is not supporting rCr123s
id get it again but a few bucks less would be nice , i would be highly disapointed if i had paid more. although a few years ago ( when it came out) i dont know if the output equated a , eh-hmm "premium" $90 or whatever at the time
also SFF sent it light wrapped in foamy wrap ,l2t and l2p were in packages
I will be the first to tell you that for what you get for $32 shipped to your door is one heck of a deal. The quality on this light is just awesome. And it throws the tightest beam out of all the lights I own.
This one probably is the brightest light I own and the farthest thrower. It probably will throw a beam 500yds. I know it will very easily throw one 400yds.
It's 400yds or so to this horsebarn from my house where I am standing. That was taken on 18x optical zoom. I can light that barn up at nite very easily with that light at this same spot.
Well at just a 300 lumen light, you will be hard pressed to find a better thrower. This light will easily throw a beam 300+ yds. I can still hit this horsebarn with this light. But it won't light it up like a stronger lumen light that my not be as good of a thrower but the added lumens makes a light throw farther even though the beam may not be as concentrated. The best single cell thrower for brightness would be the KEYGOS KE-5 light probably. But if you could get a XM-L in this Skyline it would be probably the ultimate thrower. I'm gonna see if I can't get a guy on here to help me do that. There are some smart dudes on here.
If you look, this is a shot from the KEYGOS KE-5 light shined back toward that same horsebarn from the same exact spot about. Look to the right of the vehicle lights that are lit up and you can see it. And my shutterspeed may make this appear just a little brighter than it probably was in actual person, but it will be very close to seeing what I seen live and in person.
Well I can tell you I would very easily pay $32 for another one and still be very happy. You do what you want. But the light is a very good quality light for the money. Yes there are other lights to be had that are brighter for the money, but I doubt you will find a better quality light for fit and finish for the price.
yeah I got no doubts whatsoever that its indeed a quality light as are all Solarforce no doubt , I have an L2T and the Masterpiece Pro 1 Head on the way , cant fault the L2T its simply purrrfect , I was just interested to know what tailcap readings you got from yours , no big deal