I’m sure Richard at www.mtnelectronics.com could get a shipment of these and offer a good price without the unprotected supfire 18650
I had bad luck with this solarstorm starry light ex01. The usb charging worked but the green and red warning lights quit working properly . And the anodizing was very cheap and glossy.
I hope it has memory or always starts on low/high. I really hate next mode bs.
Looks like it has those really cheap dust and side switch covers too. Those things shear/fall/tear off with the lightest use.
There is a non-zoom version A5 for Supfire but the quality is not as good.
Are there any other nice little zoomy’s out there for under $20? Or… Maybe this isn’t the right question for this thread? If not, just ignor my question:)
I feel your pain brother. The only lights i’ve been really selling are green c8’s for blood tracking. Other than hunters, I can’t find many people interested in a premium (Convoy) light.
Please, when you get the light, let us know the UI (low to high or high to low) and does it have memory.
Hope someone can do a BG and then put in a better driver and XP-L HI in it. Been looking for a good zoomie for awhile.
No one has this yet?
Mine is not in yet. It’s tracking # is RF387292563SG. 17track.net says it arrived in the US on the 20th, but no further updates. USPS never heard of this tracking #.
Just ordered one of these. Now just have to wait 4-6 weeks for it to arrive.
I don’t really need USB charging and am not a fan of the standard 5-mode UI. Goal will be to possibly use it as a mod host.
If it could be mod, it would be great with an efficient driver.
Yeah. I tend to like overpowered ultra-compact lights. If possible, plan would be something along the following:
- Replace driver with 17mm FET e-switch driver from Mtn Electronics
- Replace stock switch mechanism with a tiny microswitch (I have a bag of them on-hand).
- Consider shortening pill or moving driver mounting so driver can sit closer to emitter. Goal is to open up as much space in the battery compartment as possible.
- Ideally battery should run completely below the switch with no wasted space.
- If successful in opening up additional space in head-end of battery compartment, shorten body tube using human lathe method.
- Replace emitter with XPL HI
- File down back of head and top of pill so lens can retract closer to emitter dome. This makes the light more compact and gives a wider floodbeam without affecting the spotbeam.
The stock light is 125mm long. This is too big for my pocket EDC. Ideally I’d like to shorten that to 90-95mm.
Just got it! Lik'n everything I see so far. Clicks rotate thru the modes, click&hold turns it off. Little twist of the tailcap breaks the connection, so simple lockout works. Classic cool blue tint of course, classic image of the XM-L2 phosphor zoomed out, it's a zoom slide and feels slightly stiff and well lubed and smooth. Seems fairly bright with the stock SupFire cell, which was in the light btw, not in the spot for it in the packaging (probably to get by customs). Of course it throws a big XM-L2 image because of the narrow aspheric lens - can't do much, accept swap it out for an XP-E2 or XP-G2, and/or de-domed, etc.
The switch feels really nice as well. Smooth to the body, so might be hard to find in the dark.
Shipped the 13th, so 12 days to arrive. Might just say it's worth the cost, even at $23, but I bought it to be modded, so the tear down will tell me a lot more. Everything comes apart easy so far - bezel unscrews, tube unscrews revealing a brass pill with the classic holes to unscrew. Anodizing feels pretty darn good, and I'd say the tailcap has squared off threads.
That's it so far...
Always high? Memory? Next level?
Is there mode memory?
Well it's an e-switch, so modes are hi-med-lo-strobe-sos, always starts on hi. No mode memory, 1st click from OFF goes to hi, them click-med, click-lo, click-strobe, click-sos, click-hi. To turn it OFF, press&hold. I took detailed pics, took output measurements, amp readings, etc. Got it fully dis-assembled - pretty quick, pretty easy (no glue, all std CCW to loosen)
On a fresh Samsung 30Q: 2.15A tail on hi (DMM meter, heavy wires)
- For zoomed in (flood), lumens hi: 690 @start, 653 @30 secs, med: 350, lo: 139
- Throw in full zoomed out focus: 11 kcd taken @5 meters
- Body length: 126.8 mm -> 138.8 mm
- Parasitic drain: 0.016 mA (very low, 7+ years to drain 1 Ah)
- If I jumper the tail, and measure lumens: 731 @start (this means you probably get a 5%-6% bump if you bypass the tail spring)
It's almost there, but I'd have to say the modes are a great disappointment, but as advertised. Shame because doing modes better adds nothing to the manufacturing costs, only a bit more up front software dev, non recurring costs. Pics being uploaded...
Sorry, what are the lumen spacing? Can’t find it on the original post.