Yes , its here at last , the Balder HD-1 .
And a nice little light it is to.
Some pictures.
Just a quick note , the Oring belongs in the front grove , and Im not sure how it ended up here , but the front grove folks , OK!
Now this is a pre-production sample , and I haven’t measured anything as yet .
So lets talk about what I can for now .
This light is very well made , its small , has two modes , has a XP-G R5 emitter , looks to be bright on a single AA [ high ] , supports the 14500 [ not tested ] . Anodizing and knurl-ling are very well done , and 0 battery slop to speak off , in fact some larger AA batteries [ diameter ] may not fit as the plunger tube is some what a snug fit on a AA. Now the way the light works , it appears to maintain contact [ circuit ] and when you break the contact , the light turns on , changes modes and turns off . If you leave it off for a while you need to push the button for at least a full second to get the light back on [ feature to stop accidental activation ? ] otherwise just a quick push changes modes and turns the light on or off . Now you don’t need to push the button forwards like a nutter , you only need to push forwards far enough to break contact with the back of the body, so a 1mm push should do.
So far Im very impressed , haven’t taken the Multimeter to the light , or done any tests , other than simply use the light and take some pictures. So nothing negative to report so far , except to thank Balder for sending me this light , cos I really like it . Just the size , the feel , the usability , quality , what can I say , even the clip looks to have been beefed up . Its early days , and while I am impressed all to heck so far , and I really am , lets see what the Light box and Multimeter have to say .
updated !
Ok some performance figures :
High pulls some 1.8A from a Nimh , and when the light settles with a fully charged nimh you get some 126Lumen
Low produces some 1 Lumen [ Moon mode ] and at 0.056A current draw , your looking at some 40 hours .
A fresh Alkaline returned some 113Lumen
Now with this sort of activation the first thing to cross my mind was parasitic drain , when the light is turned of , I measured some 0.007A , but within some 10 seconds the current had gone from 0.007A to 0.001A and then nothing , yep ! The light turns off . I held the MM in place till my hands got sore and detected nothing , so WOW !
The only thing I would like to see is a medium mode ( 20Lumen ) , but this is just me , I really like 20Lumen .
14500 ………….
2A Current draw in High ( thats a lot ) , output was 260+Lumen but the sag was rather serious ( heat ) .
Starting around 265L the light hit 200L within 3 seconds and continued to sag as the head began to warm , I stopped @ 170L as the head was heating up and output was dropping and there was no real slowing down in the process.
Low gave some 2L and current draw was 0.020A
I would love to see this light simply optimized for the AA as with such a small host I really cant see the point in supporting the 14500. Having a better regulated light that only runs AA would be much better. To get decent performance out of the AA you end up with a hotrod 14500 and all the associated issues such as heat and output sag . The 14500 is too much for this light , its seriously over driven and suffers for it .
Some 14500 protected batteries may be to long to function in this light . You may need to loosen the head to get the tail clicky to work .
Last Word ? …………………
Make it AA only , better regulation , and 3 mode .
Now aside from personal wants [ on my part ] , this light works , it feels great in the hand , its a fantastic format .
There is no mode memory , you turn it on [ High ] , then cycle to Low and then turn the light off [ no short cuts ] , You have to cycle through the modes . This is fine , I had no issue with this [ cycling through the modes – there are only two ]
The light is both basic and high tech at the same time , [ basic in the sense you have to cycle through the modes , high tech as it actually turns off ] .
Congratulations to whom ever at Balder for this one , as is , this is a very nice light with some serious potential .
And who say’s you cant build variations on this body . HD-1A , HD-1B etc with maybe different driver options [ one to please everyone ]
XP-G R5 [ XP-E ? that explains the lack of tolerance for the 14500 ]
2 modes [ No memory – no short cuts ]
Extremely well made
Updated clip
Tailstands
Comes with defuser
Compact size
Threads are well cut and smooth
OP reflector
Glass lens
Well anodized
Knurling well cut
No parasitic drain
PWM – Low mode , on the faster side .
This was a pre-production sample , the concept is simply outstanding , It works and works well , and I am impressed by this sample , and would love to see some refinement [ drop support for the 14500 and optimize it for the AA ] , the potential is there for this light to be superb , and maybe a serious contender for the must have AA flashlight for flashaholics . If it sounds like I cant say enough nice things , well its true , I just dont know how to praise this light and not sound like a suck-up , and in no way am I trying to suck-up , but how do I express the impression this little light has left on me? Its been a very long time since Ive been this excited about a flashlight , [ Solarforce L2 ] , and this is a pre-production sample which makes me wonder what direction Balder may go with this light . As it is ATM , I would recommend it , and tell you its Good. There is room for improvement how ever [ Driver ], and I can see in my minds eye the potential this light has and I would just like to say to whom ever is listening , Make it great ! Make it legendary ! The potential is there .
Will post some beam shots tonight
And small 
Thanks for the pics, Matt. Waiting the final version.