I received a light with only three modes— high, medium, and the useless strobe. Having paid for five modes (actuallly a ridiculous claim of seven including two extra for the zoom-in and zoom-out “modes”), this was of course highly disappointing. The runtime is crippled without a low mode available, making it less suitable for every day carry or other general use. (Note that this model also offers far less than the 1600 lumens advertised, regardless of battery type used, but I knew that going in.) I therefore cannot recommend this light for anyone prioritizing runtime as well as power, although I suppose the poor max runtime could be mitigated somewhat by using an 18650 (I don’t) or the higher-capacity, more expensive rechargeable AAAs (I have the white Eneloops, a lot of them, and am done buying batteries for a while).
Here are the good and bad points of the light as I see them:
+ Can use AAA or 18650 batteries
+ Good brightness on high, even using AAA batteries, due to the use of an XM-L T6 LED emitter; it is far brighter using 3 X AAA, for instance, than my wife’s 3 X D LED Maglite
+ Flood mode results in a very even beam luminance-wise (no artifacts, no dark “doughnut holes” as with zoomed-out Maglites)
+ Decent throw when tightly focused, though the combination of large LED emitter die (characteristic of the XM-L T6) and small reflector means it cannot be a champion in this area
+ Medium mode somewhat conserves battery life when compared with single-mode lights; though the medium mode is implemented using power modulation, the frequency is high enough not to be a bother in use
+ Does not noticeably heat up on high mode using AAA batteries (but, again, I have not had a chance to use it with an 18650 battery)
+ Zoom action is fairly smooth, and does tightly focus and broaden the beam quite well
+ Good ergonomics / comfortable to hold; shape and knurling makes for a fairly solid grip; nice solid chunky feel, but still small and light enough for a purse or largish pocket
+ Can tail-stand, making it more suitable for short-term (very short-term) indoor area lighting in an emergency
+ Slight crenellations on front bezel mean that when placing it head-down, one is less likely to accidentally leave it on, though I wouldn’t call it a tactical strike bezel
+ Small lengthwise creases or gouges in the head of the light provide some protection against rolling
+ Build in general is decent for a cheap flashlight
+ Decent-quality rubber-covered switch
+ Construction seems water resistant enough for use in the rain, though I haven’t had occasion to test that
+ Decent-quality threads for the price point
+ Comfortable lanyard
- 1600-lumen claim is ludicrous (though lying on this score is par for the course with cheap Chinese lights)
- No low mode, though one was advertised, greatly diminishes the battery life of this product.
- Lack of regulation and terrible runtime. I just finished a runtime test in medium mode, using three new-out-of-the-package AAA Eneloops rechargeable batteries (for which a comfortable estimate is often about 80% of charge capacity or more). At two hours the light had dipped severely and begun to flicker, so I switched to high, which was at that point less bright than the medium mode when the batteries were more fresh. After one more hour, the light was flickering and beginning to fail. This level of runtime is unacceptable to me.
- Useless strobe mode in place of the low mode that should have been
- Not waterproof (I imagine this is difficult to do with a zoom mechanism anyway, and it is a feature sometimes missing from cheap lights, but is still a failing in a modern metal light costing far more than a few bucks)
- Quite blue-tinted beam, on the blue side of “cool white”
- In zoomed-out “flood” mode, noticeable color inconsistency: center of beam is more blue, while edge of beam is quite yellow, likely caused by the focusing optics
- Zoomed in to tightly focus the beam, the beam is a representation of the LED emitter die; this doesn’t bother me much but some people don’t like it. Note that this is a bigger patch than, say, in an SK68, due to the larger emitter.
- Tiny flaws in the anodized finish (it sometimes comes with the territory on these cheap lights, but a flaw is a flaw)
I already got my money back, and am waiting to ship this back. I may try the XM-L T6 version of the Tank007 TK-737 soon, except that I’d like it to fall a bit further and, especially at the current price point, will miss waterproofing.