Salvaged Jacob A60 Mod (242kcd - Hard to believe) - Lumen Readings Added

I just acquired a NOS A60 from a member here.
Yes it has rings. Anyone who can’t get past that, probably isn’t married. :expressionless:

A pun and several levels of thought there :wink:

I plan on putting a Nichia 219C in mine. What an awesome emitter!
I was sleeping during the ME promotion, luckily another member Had my back and procured some for me.

I believe there’s definitely still a need for a better quality light, in the same form factor as the A60. Why is there so little to choose from in this ‘A60’ size? The size/performance ratio of the A60 is exceptional… I mean, almost 1000m in a light this size - Crazy. The light is really compact. Most of its ‘competitors’ are bigger sized lights e.g. M2X-UT (Single Cell). Again, I’ve realized that the size/performance ratio of the A60 is special.

I would add the best price/size/performance ratio in category of reflector flashlights.

But best kcd performers are aspherical flashlights in size/performance. Even when you compare same kcd values of reflector vs aspheric, aspheric will always visually out throw reflector.

Very nice work!

Nice work! I felt he same way as you did when I first got mine and completely overhauled mine too. Did you get the focus right the first time or did you have to sand down your spacer at all?

**EDIT - nevermind…I missed the part where you said you sanded it down.

4.7 amps on a fresh Efest Purple.

What flashlight is this? I want one! (Sorry to thread jack, my flashlight excitement gets the best of me sometimes)

FWIW, my A60 w/ a de-domed XM-L2 produced 157Kcd. A lot more usable light than the stock pencil beam.

Missed out on getting more so would def like the A60 to be resurrected again…

Great work.

I’m not a huge fan of them stock but they can be made into a nice light. I actually like them better with a de-domed XM-L2 in them or De-domed XPL, whatever same sized die.

I also can’t stand the ringy beam and it’s not from whitewall hunting either. I can’t stand walking around outside with them! The beam is incredibly distracting to me. Fortunately there is a solution. Drop in a De-domed XM-L2, remove the bottom of the reflector and lift the emitter up into the reflector just a hair. You will lose some kcd with the XML vs XPG but in my opinion it’s worth it, because you are lighting up a much bigger area and it still throws almost as far. It gives the appearance of seeing a whole lot more of what is downrange than the tiny pencil thin beam it normally has.

If you are stuck on the de-domed XP-G2 removing the bottom of the reflector will still help some and you can get it close to perfect if you mess with it for a couple hours. Mess with it enough after removing the bottom of the reflector and it’s pretty good, not great but good enough.

I use a small round file and remove the bottom of the reflector by hand. Just the flat part, don’t get up into the side of the reflector. This will actually increase your throw even more.

I have a couple of them floating around the house someplace and I have modded a dozen or so of them. Pretty cool lights and really nice for the price. But if the price went up to $25 on them I would pass. Might as well get an HD2010 or a small sun ZY-T08 at that price range. At $10 you can drop $20 worth of parts into it and have a heck of a $30 light.

I agree with you on the XM/P-L route. With the A60 my goal was to try and push as much throw as possible - but not to the extent of XP-E2 - that’s too much of a pencil beam for me. I’ve settled on the XP-G2 route. Edit: I’m still very impressed by the lux figures I got from the XP-G2. Its very, very impressive for its size.

I still ask the question: Why is this form factor so scarce? And I’m specifically referring to the size of the A60 - its extremely compact. Excluding aspherics, this is probably 1 of the furthest throwing lights in its class? What else do we have in this size that performs so well?

Thanks for your input 18sixfifty. Appreciated…

It’s a good question, it can’t cost much to make them and they are popular. There isn’t anything I can think of in this size that is a budget light. There are a couple crelant lights that are close or there were at one time. They might be gone too.

I recon a Solarforce M8 (on which the Jacob A60 is modelled) fully modded with dedomed XP-G2 and DD driver could be on par, or even better than the A60. Its the same size, has an aluminium reflector, and the reflector is hybrid as well to remove the rings. Given the Solarforce M8 was around $80 before it was discontinued:

Thanks Lothar. Very Interesting - I did not know the Solarforce M8 was the inspiration behind the A60. The M8 is one pretty flashlight! The Convoy C8 with an A60/M8 size head will do the trick! :wink:

There are also a bunch of different light in this size but they come stock with 2x18650 and they don’t always really break down so well into single 18650 lights. The UniqueFire UF X6S is one that I have running as a single 18650 in this size. I also had a couple of the small sun ZY-T13. Here is a great look at the two of them from RaceR86

Excellent work on the A60. You’ve built an amazing thrower. Nice photos of your fine work too.

That is really high for a single 18650 light considering the XP-G2 is infamous for its high Vf. :open_mouth:

There are plenty of lights in Jacob A60 size (single 18650, 25,4mm tube) that can easily outthrow it but they are not on the budget side and they would need modding to achieve performance.

Guys does anyone know China factory that was producing A60? I would contact them immediately.

I have a perception that the A60s head is smaller?

Thank You

That is a good point i didn’t notice that before. Almost 5A i thought you needed to use a buck driver to push the S4 2B that hard, but if not good news :slight_smile: Maybe that switch is extra low resistance or something.

My A60 i built i used 18awg wires and just a bare DD drilled through board as a driver. If the Efest 35A can take the S4 2B to 4.7A i wonder the 30Q i am using with just a stripped board can push it over 5A i know it gets crazy hot at least very fast.
I used the stock driver & it has hold up crazy well i have probably run it many many hundreds of times and almost run down all the cycles in 2 high drain cell with it. And the switch hasn’t missed a beat yet, but i think i bypassed the switch pcb also, can’t remember clearly to tired :weary:

But unfortunately i failed at the focus part so far & the beam was so ugly i haven’t really got around to fixing that whoever said this can possible be fixed by removing the bottom of the reflector and pushing it slightly in could fix the beam, made me want to try to fix it :slight_smile:

Good mod & write up shrick :slight_smile: thanks