Review: Sky Eye F13 XM-L U2 1x26650

Sky Eye F13 (1x26650, XM-L U2)

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆

Reviewer's Mod Host Rating: ★★★★★

Summary:

Battery: 1x26650
Switch: Tail, Reverse-Clicky
Modes:

H 100%, M 50%, L 10%, Strobe, SOS, with next-mode memory

LED Type: Cree XM-L U2 flux bin, est. 1A or 1B tint bin
Lens: Standard Glass
Tailstands: Yes
Price Paid: Review sample from DX, reg. price was $21.60
From: DX
Date Ordered:

N/A

Pros:

  • Very good finish, minor ano blemishes on head
  • Very good machining, good threads on tailcap and bezel, OK on body to head interface
  • Nice pill, good size with a nice star mounting surface
  • Good heatsinking on head, great for modding
  • Very good reflector, aluminum SMO
  • Perfectly centered emitter
  • Works with flat-top, raised top, and protected cells
  • Excellent mod host

Cons:

  • Cheap Direct-Drive driver with next-mode memory
  • Emitter centering disk blocks a lot of light
  • No thermal paste under emitter star
  • Deep bezel blocks some spill
  • 'Squishy' feeling to tailcap

Features / Value: ★★★☆☆

Design / Build Quality: ★★★★

Battery Life: ★★★★★

Light Output: ★★★☆☆


Overview

DX recently launched some new Sky Eye models and asked me to review one, the Sky Eye F13. This is a familiar looking light, as it is sold under several other names.

The machining and finish on the entire light is very good . In short, the only sharp edge is found on the body-to-head threads. The anodize is nice and even, except for the main bezel which is slightly uneven. One side is shinier than the rest of the light.

Here you can see how the emitter centering ring actually blocks a good portion of light; you can see it as a white ring on the reflector image. I plan to swap this for a generic ring to see if there is an improvement.

The red switch boot seems to stick out too far, resulting in a spongy feeling when pressing the button.

As a 1x26650 light, the handling is nice. It fits in the hand OK. I find that for my larger hands, I am partially gripping the headsink area. The knurling is light and provides a little bit of extra grip.

[In-hand shot to come soon...]

The light comes apart at the tailcap, and between the body and head. It ships with an 18650 adapter and a 3xAAA holder. No wrist strap was provided, just a split ring on the tailcap.

The threads on the tailcap end are nicely cut, smooth, dry, anodized (lockout capable), and have a rather unique shape.

Digging into the tailcap, we find a nice brass retaining ring and the usual items; gasket, switch with a long but heavy spring, switch holder, and a red switch boot.

In here, we find the head components. The pill is removed through the reflector end. The reflector seats onto the star with a plastic emitter centering ring . There are O-rings where they should be. The one between the main bezel and body is a bit thin. The shiny bezel is purely aesthetic and made of plated aluminum (not SS), but still looks OK.

The driver retaining ring is easily removed with needle-nose pliers. The driver is firmly pressed into the pill and makes very good electrical contact. The driver itself is not a very desirable one. It is a simple direct drive (DD) module via limiting resistors (8 x 1R5), and sports the infamous next-mode memory (easily defeated, but one has to ask why these drivers are still used).

On the other end of the pill sits the emitter which is not mechanically mounted to the pill. It is held in place by the reflector, and had no thermal paste at all. A shame really, since the pill provides such a nice smooth thermal interface.

Beamshots

The beam is not bad, with one outer ring that comes from the shiny bezel.

High:

Med:

Low:

Measurements

Dimensions:

  • Overall Length: 152mm
  • Bezel Diameter: 40.7mm
  • Body Diameter: 32.1mm
  • Tail Diameter: 33.0mm
  • Reflector Inner Diameter: 33.5mm
  • Reflector Outer Diameter: 36.8mm
  • Reflector Depth: 26.1mm
  • Reflector Emitter hole Diameter: 6.9mm
  • Lens Diameter: 36.9mm
  • Lens Thickness: 1.54mm
  • Emitter star diameter: 20mm
  • Driver diameter: 21mm

Weights (without battery):

  • Overall: 166g
  • Head: 102g
  • Body Tube: 32g
  • Tailcap: 32g

Performance (stock, 4.2V supply, uncalibrated measurement equipment):

  • Light Output: ~522 lumens at start, ~450 after 30s
  • Beam Intensity: ~12.7kcd

Power Source Options: 1x18650/26650/3xAAA, unprotected or protected cells, flat or raised positive caps.

Switch type: tailcap, reverse-clicky

Modes: High (3.2A), Medium (1.6A), Low (0.41A), Strobe, SOS

Mode Memory: Yes, next-mode

Conclusions

The Sky Eye F13 is an decent light that suffers from a few cut corners. With a better driver, lower profile emitter spacer, and some thermal paste, this becomes a very good light. I plan to do some minor mods to bring this light out to where it should be. I have not fully determined where the loss in output is yet, I expected much higher output.

As shipped, this light gets a 'middle-of-the-road' rating.

As a 26650 mod host, Relic Recommended. Other than the price (a bit high for a host), it should be capable of handling just about any emitter and drive option you want to throw at it.

Thanks for reading! searchID8934

Thanks for the review relic38. As a host this looks like an excellent starting point. I would begin with a copper pill, decent switch, ar lens, 7135 3 amp driver and a copper star with XML T6 3C led (or maybe an XP-G2 driven a little less on copper). Ok, I take back what I said about posting this. I hate spending money and you have made me spend some. No xmas card for you this year. Where is the 50% off coupon for this light. I want one and a holster to suit. :slight_smile:

I did the same thing, looked for the 50% off link. No dice. :frowning:

Curse you relic for getting your review up first! (Just kidding.) We have a couple very minor differences between yours and mine. I'll still post my review when I finish. I do agree with your opinions and conclusions 100%.

I already have an XM-L2 T6 3C on copper and AR lens ordered. Planning either a 3A KD driver or a 105C Nanjg (added AMC's maybe).

-Garry

Got my new meter and checked tailcap current on mine. With a freshly charged protected TF Flame 26650 I'm getting 2.74A (2.35A on a protected Tenergy 18650). For some reason medium & low wont give me good measurements. I'm getting numbers that are way way low and the light is dim. I cleaned contacts, checked / changed test leads and even tried my old meter - nope. I gave up.

-Garry

Hey Garry, definitely post your review. More perspectives are better. My reviews tend to be more technical than actual usage reports. This is more-or-less on purpose, since my usage doesn;t mean much. I can churn out a review like this in a couple of hours. The longer term usage perspective comes later once it’s modded. I’m definitely going with an XM-L2 on copper, probably drive it harder (4A+), and address the usual resistance points (springs, wires).
I didn’t notice the current measurement issues on med and low. Worked fine. Could be a meter issue, not sure how though? My essentially-dedicated tailcap meter is an old-school non-fused Metex M-3800, with less than 0.025 Ohms of resistance, including my custom leads.

I did some minor modding, now this light is where it should be stock. Above, I measured drive current without the tailcap in place. This is where the main drop occurs. After adding some copper braid to the tail spring, the output improves quite a bit.
Changes:

- braid on tail and driver springs

- thermal compound under emitter star

- thermal compound on pill threads

  • swapped emitter centering spacer to a lower profile one

Output: ~680lm at start, ~600 after 30 seconds
This seems more reasonable to me. A UCL lens, copper-mounted XL-L2 driven at 4A will push this light into 1000lm territory.
After running this light at 3A for a while, it does handle heat quite well. There is ample surface area for a 4A drive.
Now, have get my next XM-L2 order placed… J)

Hmm . . . interesting. I thought the tailcap spring seemed pretty good (and the driver spring seemed ok). How's the switch itself?

At least I'm ahead of you on something! (You'll get the mod done before me I'm sure though.)

-Garry

The springs are nice and strong, but still add quite a bit of resistance. The driver spring seems better than the switch spring. The switch itself seems to be OK.
You mentioned yours was bright out of the box, so maybe it was just mine.
I have three XM-L2 U2 emitters here for someone else that I could use and replace… hmm. :wink:

I too put thermal compound on my pill threads. My thermal management test showed that this host does handle the heat quite well. Those heatsink fins are not just for looks! I was surprised when I found out last night that my light was only pulling around 2.35A (the Tenergy 18650 was the one in at that time). My fins were getting quite warm (not too hot to hold) at 5 minutes and I wouldn't have expected that at 2.35A (and it could have been lower if the tailcap spring & switch add much resistance). At 15 minutes it was still like it was at 5 minutes - head quite warm, but body (and battery too) were only slightly warm.

I should retract the previous statement I made about not recommending this host driving an LED above 3A.

-Garry

Well, I did a quick emitter swap on this one tonight. I put in an XM-L2 T6 1C on a 16mm copper SinkPAD. Beefed up the emitter wires to 20ga.
Drives around 3.6A on 26650.
Output is 1070lm at start, 1022lm at 30s.
Throw is 27.2kcd after 30s.
It is definitely a decent light now. It handles the heat really well. After almost 6 minutes, the head temperature was about 40C, and output dropped into the mid 900’s.

Great review!
It must have slipped by me, I saw it first now. I was waiting for you to review that light. :slight_smile:
The red tailcap did not look as good as I had hoped, but then again. DX pictures often seem over saturated.
Nice light, especially after modded.

Is there a reason you used XM-L2 T6 instead of XM-L U3?

I’ve never directly compared them, but I seem to get a bit more from these XM-L2 T6 emitters. On paper they should be similar though, good point.
I swapped out the tailcap, not because of the red, because it was too squishy.

Thanks for the info…
And so the search for a nice red tailcap continues… :stuck_out_tongue: hehe…

I'm glad to see this is a great mod host. A 17mm driver would have made things simpler, but a copper washer should work fine.

Thanks for the review.

KD has it for $20 - http://www.kaidomain.com/product/details.S021658

The Ultrafire version is a tiny bit less at $19.80.

http://www.kaidomain.com/Product/Details.S021554

Thanks for the info relic38.

I'm not even going to bother with a review for this light. You and garrybunk did a good job. I wouldn't run this light without adding thermal paste under the MCPCB, and at that point the review is already somewhat dishonest, so I'm going to go straight for the mod. My experience is almost nothing so far, but I think this will be a really good mod host if high output is more important than fine machining and flawless anodization.

I love the room for the 20mm MCPCB. The ~21mm driver makes it a little more complicated since I'll have a floating driver. Hopefully there's enough depth for the floating driver and some extra thermal mass under the back of the pill. This thing has so many threads on the pill and head. I'll see if that helps with the thermal path. I'm planning on pushing over 4A with this project.

The Windfire version is even cheaper..

http://wallbuys.com/Product/Windfire-F13-CREE-XM-L-U2-900-LM-5-Mode-LED-Flashlight-Black-1x26650-18650-3xAAA--9711

On top of that, maybe WB have a nice coupon code for August too??

leaftye, sorry you think something in the review is dishonest. If you can tell me what you think is at issue and I will take a look. I can assure you there is no intentional dishonesty in the review. There may be mistakes or missing information that can be interpreted as such,and I would like the opportunity to fix them. Thanks.

To your point about thermal handling, I believe this host can handle quite a bit of drive current. I am pushing over 4A and have run it for quite long like that. It does get hot, but the heatsinking removes it quickly.