KronoReview: Eagle Eye X6R

Ordered 7th. Paid 0.86 usd extra for “priority direct mail” to Sweden. Uncredible fast…

But not all perfect… Regarding to the label on the box it is tint 3A :frowning: ordered 3C…

I will test and compare the lights later, and then contact Banggood

By the way, no gift box as in Kronos review

Got mine today - sure does feel great in the hand. Should be easy to add power with stacked 7135's, but really if you go much higher, it should be upgraded to a DTP MCPCB anyway. The UI isn't bad, but not that great either, compared to higher end lights. Double click on the e-switch turns it OFF, but I find clicking through modes triggers a double-click, and the light goes OFF when you don't want it off. Also, if you are on low mode and want to turn it OFF, you double-click, but the first click displays the next brighter mode, so you get flashed with a brighter mode in order to turn the light OFF. This is why I hate double-clicks on e-switch's, unless you can get the timing 100% perfect.

The tailcap power switch has memory, while the side switch will always start on lowest mode. Modes are from lo to high, double click turns the light OFF when ON, and single click turns it ON to low when OFF. I'm real happy with how they kept the overall length very close to the original X6 - usually the length would be extended when the full tailcap button is retained. The SolarStorm SC02 and Roche/Convoy F6 are two examples of small length e-switch 18650 lights, but both don't have tail switch's, so it saves a lot on length, but they heat up quickly big time with little mass or cooling in the design.

I confirmed with or without a tailcap spring bypass, the light will do 2.8A with a fresh battery. Mine does roughly 1,000 lumens with the claimed U2 3C - nice output, and match's the advertised specs - amazing!

I also got the cheap squashy white box with mine, and I have one small nick on the bezel's edge, probably a direct result of the poor packaging.

I would still prefer my own UI for e-switch's, with a FET+1 driver, but probably would lose the charging ability - will have to look more closely at the driver. It's possible the charging circuitry is totally independent from the MCU, and if so, might be possible to piggyback in one of our drivers and retain the charging capability.

How’s the charging? In mine, I have to switch on the tailcap, double press the side switch, then plug in the cable.

This is exactly as a reviewer described it on the BG site. I never used USB charging on a flashlight - it’s not really why I bought it, but I’d like to retain the capability because it appears to be a good (quality) one. I’d like to try it eventually.

What you describe makes the most sense, because you have to have the battery in the circuit to charge it, and if the tailcap switch is OFF, you are breaking the circuit for the cell, so it would be impossible to charge. Most charging e-switch lights don't have a tailcap switch, so its not a problem on those.

The flashlight “marked” 3A also turned out to have a bad reflector… When I turned it on it looked like it was moisture on the reflector, of course it was not but that is the easiest way to explaine how it looked. My 1A was perfect. I contacted Banggood and finally got a relply… Regarding the 3A tint they assured me that they had just written wrong on the sticker…. I sent many pictures on the reflector, but they told me that the supplier claimed that nothing was wrong with it. Like I wrote before I ordered two lights so it was very easy for me to se the fault…So after plenty of mail they agreed to send me a new reflector. Of course first they must get it from the supplier…

Tom E, did your box also say 3A? Does it also have a white plastic retainer ring on the led?(have not seen this on X6R or the originally X6 before)
My 1A looks just like the picture on the site…and as the review pictures at the beginning of the thread.

Yes, mine says U2-3A, but I'm thinking it's a true 3C - I have lots of 3C's.

Yes, mine has a white plastic retainer as well - never saw this in any X6.

Here's the stock #'s I measured, using a LG HE2 at 4.10+v:

moon - 0.03A: 13.6 lumens

lo - 0.45A: 190 lumens

mid - 1.19A: 455 lumens

hi - 2.96A: 1027 @start, 986 lumens @30 secs

throw: 23.8 kcd, 308 meters (measured at 5m)

This driver uses 380 mA 7135's, not 350's, so in theory it should get 3.04A, but 380's always read a little lower. The results are darn close to what is stated for the X6R.

I have two extra X6 reflectors - I built a triple and quad X6, so the reflectors became spare parts. Anyone who did this probably has extra reflectors.

The real good news is the driver and charging circuit are completely separate, isolated on two different PCB's in fact. Only 3 pins connect the two, from the charger base board to the driver: ground (Batt -), Batt +, and the switch.

Here's detailed pics of the top view:

Hers you can see the 3 posts carrying the 3 signals. It got a little marked up from attempt to disconnect the board - apparently it's not a plug connector, posts are probably soldered:

The top driver board is about 20mm. There is very little clearance above it, so stacking extra 7135's might not fit - very close. Pill cavity doesn't have much vertical space. They could fit, maybe, then you may have them touching the pill top.

A 1mm one sided FET based driver would be perfect for this, just have to tap into the pins, maybe remove them or trim them down, and add maybe some extra support on the opposite side, like an extra ground line.

Code still works, thanks for sharing :smiley:

I was able to separate the top driver from the bottom by putting the iron on the top of the 3 posts - came off relatively easily. Now it's just a regular piggyback job - usually things: 22 AWG grnd wires (3 could fit), 20 AWG LED+ straight through the FET+1 driver and through the contact board direct to the spring pad, and 20 AWG LED- wire from the FET/7135 output to the LED.

I did some continuity tests, and poking around. The main charging circuit goes through a 8 pin lead surface mount (same basic format as a ATTiny13A), and the chip is labeled:

5056

1418

It's got a red LED and blue LED by the switch, outputs from this part lights them up, and the USB+ goes into pin #4 (via a protection diode), and batt+ goes to pin #5. Pins #6 and #7 control the LED's. This will be awesome if it works out like I suspect!!

Full blown FET+1 driver, modes/firmware I want, plus the fully blown USB charging in tact! Dunno, not sure if anyone else has done a mod like this -- probably, I just missed it Smile.

Let me know if anyone is following this, has interest in it, etc...

Thanks TomE! I’ve been waiting for this info for a long time. Would be really interesting to have a fet+1 piggyback on this.

Btw, I'm using a 20K 0805 resistor across the FET input now on these FET+1 drivers. Seems to take care of the flicker when changing modes or when turning the light ON. With a 22K, it still happens but very intermittently. You don't want to go lower in value because it could effect power (amps).

I’m following…very nice work Tom. The “downside” is that I probably need to buy more. My first goal was to test them firmly(mostly the charging) and if they meet my requirement give one to my father and one to my brother. The charging ability saves me from giving chargers…

After following this I will probably need to buy one for me :wink:

Finished the mod - worked out very well. Used a XM-L2 T6 4C on a 20mm SinkPAD, and the FET+1 (wight A17HYBRID-8) driver. On a HE4 @4.20v, I got 6.25A tail, lumens: 1707 @start, 1615 @30 secs, throw: 39 kcd (395 meters). I used 20 AWG LED wires, with the LED+ direct from the spring, 22 AWG spring bypass wires. I left the stock LED centering piece, but filed it open a little. Used Nyogel on threads/o-rings, NO-OX-ID on the contact points. The stacking of the driver worked out real nice - lower profile than the stock driver assembly.

Couple of things to note on the X6R:

  • as krono mentioned, you can't LEGO the parts with the X6 - I consider this a con, but see below
  • the body tube is thicker than a X6 (X6: 23.5mm, X6R: 24.7mm)
  • overall the X6R feels better balanced than an X6, and looks more balanced
  • the SS clip on the X6R is a different design - thicker all around
  • the finish is not flat or matte, it is definitely more of a gloss black, at least on mine
  • the knurling is more robust on the X6R - definitely grippier. The X6's were pretty smooth.
  • the switch is a quality one - it's recessed and small to avoid accidental activation, but makes it a little harder to engage. I do like it very much.

With the discount code, to get a light like this for $24 is a good deal for sure... Not crazy about the $3 extra for neutral, but even for $28 it's a deal.

Thanks for the info, Tom. Did you take pics of the mod? Please post them!

The X6R is indeed a nice light…even un-modded. Definitely worth the money, even more so with the discount code.

I took some of the driver assembly.

Here's the FET+1 A17HYBRID-8 v009 driver on the left all prep'd, and the base stock board that has the switch and charging circuitry on it. Notice on the FET+1, the hole is to pass the 20 AWG LED+ wire through, and I removed some of the ground plane masking to get better contact on the driver edges. On the stock board, I drilled another hole for the same 20 AWG LED+ wire, so it will connect directly to the spring. I got really close to cutting a trace (above right to the hole), but a continuity test with the DMM passed, so was ok:

Better close-up. The 2002 (20K) resistor seems to help to cut down the flash you get in turning on to moon mode:

Here's a top view after assembly. The grounds has 2 pts of contact: 1) a re-used post by the cap (lower right), and 2) a 22 AWG wire in the lower left. Here, I was able to take advantage of the USB connector ground where it has clearance inside the housing. The blue wire is 30 AWG single strand wire for the switch:

Shows the wire connections. The marked + spot on the base board has a 26 AWG wire connected to the underneath spring+ pad of the FET+1 driver - this provides power to the MCU, so no high amps needed:

Another view:

Yet another angle:

I added the LED wires after this, and the spring bypass's. I was gonna re-use the single screw for the MCPCB, but, it didn't fit well on a SinkPAD - the screw head would fall through, and make the SinkPAD go crooked. I tried a flat head brass screw, but the threads didn't match, and ended up breaking the head off. The brass screws I use can't take much force... Figured it didn't matter much, so left it as is. The X6R, like the X6's, have a pretty good fit of the reflector on the MCPCB, so wasn't too concerned about screwing it down. I really don't see any measurable results from screwed down MCPCB's, though I've done it many times. It's specially needed on zoomies with no hold down retainer, like the JAX Z1 has -- best I've ever seen in a zoomie.

With my custom firmware, the moon mode is really nice and low - I use a PWM value of 5 for only lighting up the 7135 (notice it's 380 mA). Mode 2 is 30 (only the 7135), and mode 3 is the full 7135. Mode 4 is full 7135 plus a 80 PWM value for the FET, the mode 5 is full FET only. I like this arrangement because the first 3 modes are a really nice neutral/warm tint operating on just the 7135. You do see a pretty good tint shift switching to mode 4, but I'd rather have better looking lower modes.

As I was typing this, I had the light on a wall USB charger (finally found a charger, from a old MP3 player), and it lit up RED and eventually turned BLUE, so seems to be working well! First light I modded where I could retain the stock charging circuit! Big advantage this light has for modding.

Was still able to use it for this light.

Great mod and great pictures! Tempting, but need to complete some other lights first…. So many different projects :slight_smile: , so little time…. :frowning:

Been charging all my batteries in this to test it before giving it to the person I bought it for. So far they’ve all come out at 4.21 which to my understanding is a little high but still acceptable.

Anyone tested the low voltage protection? Says indicator light at 3v; is there any hard cutoff below that?

Have also charged a couple of times. All showed 4.2V… Im not sure if it maybe indicates around 3.0 and shutsdown at 2.8 like some drivers do. Will sure test this before I give it away… But because I am waiting for BG to send me the new reflector(or DO anything) I unfornately have plenty of time…