SKYRAY 1JC8 Q4
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary:
Battery: | 18650, fits protected easily |
Switch: | reverse clicky |
Modes: | 1 |
LED Type: | Q4 but it seems rather Q5 |
Lens: | Glass, uncoated |
Tailstands: | no |
Price Payed: | 13,39 USD |
From: | Manafont |
Date Ordered: | 12th february 2011, arrived the 1st March 2011 |
Pros:
- Small size for a thrower
- Tight shotspot considering the size
- Easy to mount on weapons due to no knurling and straight lines design
- Very smooth and serious look
- Perfectly waterproof with good orings where matters
- Very inexpensive
- Driven a bit hard at least at start
Cons:
- Coated lens would be nice
- Would have preferred no GITD front oring
- Threads are average
- Threads were dry same with orings
- The light needed a disassembling and cleaning but easily done in a couple min.
Features / Value: ★★★★☆
It's a thrower in a small package. It has elegant lines and 0 agressive features. Single mode, which i prefer for such flashlights. Due to small size it does sport quite an impressive reflector. Comes with a standard lanyard. It does feature a CREE XR-E Q4 emitter but frankly i think it's "just" a Q5. Not much for "exotic" CREE emitters collection.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★☆
Being mainly a thrower it does feature a larger and deeper SMO reflector than your average flashlight. It's type 2 anodized in rather matte finish which is often preferred to glossy black. Threads are average but not bad. Orings are everywhere one would like them to be. Very easy to disassemble if cleaning is required. The pill is screwed to the flashlight body rather than the head. Some do not prefer that type of pill mount but i do not see any issues with that in this flashlight. It's not built to stand out for build quality but it works just fine and look quite above average. If you like the design that is. The body is massive enough to not have issues with overheating.
Battery Life: ★★★★☆
I measured 1,26A at tailcap with a fresh battery. This indicates that the driver does the required regulation (perhaps slightly overdriven) but will probably drop the current with time. I'm not a fan of runtime tests since i always forget to check. Due to initial clues the light should last at least 2.5h on a good 18650. The only probelm i foresee is the lack of constant brightness which in such a light seems appropriate. Nothing a triple amc7135 driver can't fix and it is also cheap if one bothers or need to have. Runtime may shorten with such a driver to a good 2h of constant brightness if your 18650 is a decent one.
Light Output: ★★★★★
Light output is excellent! It does compare to the MRV Q5 which is a bit better considering it has a larger reflector. Still impressive for its size. The hotspot is not as tight as the MRV but good enough. Its not a pencil beam thrower others like to call very focused hotspots. Artifacts and famous cree rings are clearly seen at close distances which this light isn't intended for. It has a bit more spill than the MRV but still not much. Can be used indoors but one would easily prefer another light for indoor tasks.
Being a thrower it does that and does it good. The picture was taken at 1 metre of distance from flashlight to wall. Camera was recessed around 15 cm more.
Dealer Experience: ★★★★★
It does not come as a surprise that i like manafont. Very fast, very consistent, very good packaging and very good selection of goods at a decent price. Best customer care and service from all BLF known vendors. There is not much more to say, they simply deliver. It's easy to get spoiled dealing with manafont. Beware! ;)
Summary: ★★★★☆
The flashlight is a compact size thrower. It is bigger than your average solarforce L2 but not by much. Head diameter is 40mm. From my point of view it is very suitable for weapon mount. I fitted successfuly the bare pressure switch from manafont easily. This flashlight gets my reccomendation if you require the following:
- Small sized thrower
- Easy to weapon mount
- Good runtime
- Decent build quality with good waterproofness
- Minimalistic design with no assault bezels and such
- 1 mode
From the price range point of view it is surelly one of the best throwers if not the one above all under 14usd delivered. Feel free to ask anything i may have missed in the review.