I just got my second ArmyTek light today, the Barracuda V2 with XP-L emitter and the redesigned smooth head with silver SS bezel. As expected, the heavy matte anodization is simply wonderful! This light has no knurling, no grip aid to speak of at all, relying instead on the grippy tendency of the heavy matte ano. I like it!
The reflector is waaaaaaay deep, like twice the depth of the new MaxToch M24 Sniper I just got. But, alas, the XP-L is not exactly centered and the beam profile suffers for it. And they seem to have glued the thin bezel on, it won’t budge. (yet)
I got this because I’ve always wanted a Barracuda, always loved the finish on these ArmyTek lights. And also because of the constant current driver. I’ve got loads of FET drivers that die as the cell does, so I thought a nice thrower with constant current could come in handy. Well, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be apparently.
They rate it at 1470 LED Lumens for 675M throw, also they state 114,000 candela. I get 1110 lumens in my light box, 72.75Kcd for an extrapolated 539.44M throw. pretty weak, huh? By contrast, the new Sniper at much less monies does 256Kcd for 1012.42M throw. (This with a de-domed XP-L V6 1D, I killed the HI it came with, oops! The Sniper is still stock though, other than the emitter)
ArmyTek did send a single cell tube with rubber cigar grip that is removable, so that’s pretty neat, and it looks pretty awesome in that single cell format with it’s larger long head. Wonder if it’s more efficient on one cell? Hmmmm……
Anyway, I’ll get some pics later and post them up, get a beamshot tonight. And if I get inside, I’ll show that as well.
Edit: Couple of revealing pics
Gotta show the exquisite ano and labeling first
And now a look at the emitter inside the ultra deep reflector
Closer look at the reflector itself…
Pretty sure the machine marks in the reflector are not conducive to a thrower. When I get the bezel off, I’ll hand polish this out in a top to bottom direction, or across the lines, I’ll use sandpaper first and graduate up to the Mother’s Polish that works so well. I’m betting the output and throw will show a marked increase at that point. We’ll see in a couple of days…