When I first opened the box, “WOW” came to mind. I can’t put into words how impressive looking this thing is. Best looking flashlight I currently own. Quality is about as good as well. SolarForce has outdid themself on this one. On a wall, this light smoke my brightest TN31 which has been measured at 115,000 lux. I wouldn’t doubt this light is 130,000 lux or more. I’ll have to compare it to my 2 TN31’s later on. I’m blown away with this one. Don’t get me wrong, I still would pick my Fenix TK75 for my favorite, but this S1100 is very very close. As for looks, the S1100 wins, but for overall quality, finish, weight and the TK75 having more spill I would still have to pick the TK75. I hope SolarForce keeps more flashlights like this one coming in the future. They knocked this one out of the ball park. The tube is just spectacular and the tailcap is in my honest opinion even more spectacular. Battery carrier is one of the nicest I have seen. And protected batteries regardles of length will fit in this one. The KeepPower 18650 3400mah(Panasonic cells) protected batteries fit with ease. The S1100 with these 3 batteries installed weight 1lb 15oz or 31oz. All in all you would be hard pressed not to love this flashlight.
Very nice, Brad! Looking forward to your outdoor beam shots to see if this really does beat the TN31. Other lights have beat the TN31 in hotspot size and intensity when wall hunting but outside where it counts they come up short. Looking forward to seeing if the SF really does bring it. >)
We shall see later tonite. I actually didn’t think this thing would be that much brighter than my TN31 on a wall. There’s a big and I do mean big difference. I wished I had a light meter. And no I’m not buying one, but I would like to know just how many lux this baby is putting out.
Are the TN-31 and SolarForce reflectors intercheangeable? How do you compare the size and quality of finish? Which one is built better in your opinion?
The S1100 reflector is quite a bit deeper than the TN31 reflector. Build quality I would say goes to the S1100. And you can take the tailcap off. In my honest opinion, the S1100 should out throw the TN31. But we shall see. The anodizing is about the same on each. I had one blemish on the tailcap. I just took a black permanent marker and colored over it. It was very and I do mean very minor. But I am very picky. Like I said it’s close to Fenix quality, but not quite as good. Fenix flashlights are typically flawless. My TK75 was perfect.
If you look at the tailcap photo above, you will see the little blemish at 10 o’clock in that photo. I did find just a few very tiny microscopic specs where the anodizing needed touched up. But like I said I am picky as hell. I also got like 20/13 vision up close. But really this light is a 9.7 on a10 scale. And trust me, coming from me that would be a 10 for most folks. I am totally satisfied with this light. Well worth the money and then some.
Correct me if I am wrong. It looks like the battery carrier can only be inserted in one direction. I mean is it user might make mistake when insert the battery carrier and cause reverse voltage?
If that is the case, I wish Solarforce has reversal voltage protection. Just to be safe as out of 100 insertion, occasionally it might happen once or twice.