Magnetic control diving light (Cree XM-L T6 | 1 x 18650)
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary:
Battery: | 1 x 18650 |
Switch: | Magnetic side switch (Slider) |
Modes: | 7: From off to high with slider (7 levels) |
LED Type: | Cree XM-L T6 |
Lens: | Glass |
Tailstands: | Yes |
Price Payed: | $25 + shipping |
From: | CNQG |
Date Ordered: | June 2012 |
Pros:
- Seems to be water tight (didn't test in deep water though)
- Reasonably driven for longer runtimes
- Bright, tight hotspot (Think of C8)
- XM-L provides also some spill
- Good UI (just slide to desired level)
- Magnetic side switch (with seven brightness levels)
- High PWM frequency (No visible PWM)
- Emitter perfectly centered
- Tailcap with square threads
- Double O-rings at tailcap, single but beefy ones elsewhere.
- Tailstands
Cons:
- Switch movement is short -> requires practice not to jump some modes (small amount of oil helps)
- Could be driven harder (but then again, runtime wouldn't be as good)
- Only one hole for lanyard
Magnetic control diving light (Cree XM-L T6 | 1 x 18650)
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary:
Battery: | 1 x 18650 |
Switch: | Magnetic side switch (Slider) |
Modes: | 7: From off to high with slider (7 levels) |
LED Type: | Cree XM-L T6 |
Lens: | Glass |
Tailstands: | Yes |
Price Payed: | $25 + shipping |
From: | CNQG |
Date Ordered: | June 2012 |
Pros:
- Seems to be water tight (didn't test in deep water though)
- Reasonably driven for longer runtimes
- Bright, tight hotspot (Think of C8)
- XM-L provides also some spill
- Good UI (just slide to desired level)
- Magnetic side switch (with seven brightness levels)
- High PWM frequency (No visible PWM)
- Emitter perfectly centered
- Tailcap with square threads
- Double O-rings at tailcap, single but beefy ones elsewhere.
- Tailstands
Cons:
- Switch movement is short -> requires practice not to jump some modes (small amount of oil helps)
- Could be driven harder (but then again, runtime wouldn't be as good)
- Only one hole for lanyard
Features / Value: ★★★★☆
The light comes bubble wrap without any accessories.
Main features are: Waterproof (for diving, 100m by manufacturer specs) & magnetic control.
UI is pretty good: Seven modes with a magnetic slider (no blinky modes). Slide forward to turn on / higher modes, back for lower modes / off. It's very easy to turn fully on / off, but requires practice to find all middle modes. I got a piece of advice from : use a drop of oil in the slider and it helps a bit.
Here's a photo of the slider in off-position (in disassembled light).
The light has some parasitic drain, so it is a good idea to lock out the light by unscrewing the tailcap for about half a turn.
Value for money: Good.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★☆
Design is pretty "normal". Looks like a functional flashlight. Head crenelations work as anti-roll.
The anodization is good overall and the glass lens looks ok.
Here's the thick glass lens wit a beefy O-ring:
Let's see some more details..
Tail part of the body tube with square threadas and double O-rings (sorry about the hairs, they stick nicely on the well lubed threads):
Clean threads between the body tube and head. Note also the O-ring and separate metallic ring that makes sure that the O-ring is pressed tightly against / inside the head.
Perfectly centered emitter in a flawless aluminum reflector:
A flashlight requires some kind of lanyard for diving use, however I'm not sure how to attach it, since there is only one quite small hole for the lanyard in the tail cap => At least it doesn't tail stand so well with lanyard attached.
Inside of the tailcap: Thick tail spring, smooth surface for the double O-rings, and good threads.
The body tube is thick and looks durable:
Here's the magnet side of the slider:
Business end of the head. Looks perfectly serviceable:
Knurling of the mid section. Looks good!
And I have to say the same for the tail cap. Looks good, indeed.
A photo of the light disassembled:
Some measurements:
Length: 153mm
Head diameter: 43.5mm
Body diameter: 26.8mm
Tail diameter: 30.1mm
Weight: 245g with cell (= ready to use), 199g without
And the bottom line in the quality: Not much to complain. Double O-rings between the head and body would be nice though.
Battery Life: ★★★★☆
Good! (And bad)
I measured the current at the tailcap and got results of 1.50A on high to 0.25A on low. And 0.07A parasitic drain when off => TC lock out highly recommended.
This would give almost 2h runtime on high and over 10h on lowest setting! On the other hand, just a couple of days on the shelf without lockout equals a dead battery.
Light Output: ★★★★☆
This light is not driven hard, most probably because it's optimized for longer runtimes, which is surely needed when diving. The hotspot size equals to well known C8s and there is some spill provided by the XM-L emitter.
I estimate (ceiling bounce + "known" references) the light output to:
- about 500 lumens on high
- about 80 on lowest setting
White wall beamshots (WB: Daylight)
Lowest setting:
Highest setting:
Beam pattern (low)
Beam pattern (high)
Couldn't take outdoor beamshots due the lack of darkness. Sorry about that.
Summary: ★★★★☆
Looks & feels like a good flashlight for diving. Good build quality and no moving parts to leak water in. Magnetic control with so many levels is nice also for other uses.
Verdict: Recommended!
The End (pun intended):
Thanks for reading & watching. Hope you enjoyed the review!