Just recieved it and works ok. For the money is a very decent zoomie. Genuine cree XR-E of some sort. Lousy heatsinking by design but overall pretty interesting one. Hi-med-disco without memory.
I hoped to get the black zoom selector but got green. :/ Anway still good. I was expecting a lesser quality item. The 3AAA adapter is one of the best i've seen to date. It does include the 18650 adapter tube.
XTAR 18700 2600 (the longest 18650 in history :) ) fits nicely.
Good tailcap, average anodizing, plastic lens, not overly stiff clip.
Draw:
1,77A at high (severely overdriven perhaps direct drive)
350mA at Med is it low?
A driver swap might bea wise thing and i will do it, when single mode 1050mA amc regulated drivers come from DX. No need for a multi-mode driver for this one for me.
At the price asked i reccomend! paid around 8 usd delivered. Took 14 days.
My reasoning after DD bad are just that more current draw isn necesarily more noticeable lumens but very noticeable heat. Driving leds over their limits aint very goood at all either.
XR-E's are supposed to run up to 1A per cree specs that is. 1,7A or even 1,85A iv'e able to measure aint goona do good to the led, possibly kill it in short time, give 20 lumens more and double the heat generated...
Lack of any regulation is alos the drawback of DD.
The run time was why I wanted to get some 18650 zoomers. If I like this one I’ll get more. Now I have regular strobes on the back. These on full flood with some red film behind the lens will be nice. Now I have to find some type of red film. Probably a hobby store will have this.
Changing lens if some wish to do so may be a very difficult task. Looks tailored for this flashlight. Heat dissipation is almost a joke. Personally i would rather have this one running at 800mA to emitter. Dirver is snug fit and 20mm in diameter so finding a replacement must be rather hard. After 20min of searching the usual suspects i gave up. The driver cosist of a 2 resistor 2 diodes and a chip for modes i guess. So probably purely driect driven with modes. Best with 3AAA as current can't go that high compared to li-ion's.
The pill relies on a few contacts to the body for heatsinking impaired additionally by threads. So thermals can be an issue, at least at what is driven at high on stock. Mid setting is not half less bright but 1/4th to eye but the current difference is massive and well over 1A of difference.
I used a plastic stick to not damage the lens when prying it out.
Unscrew the head, then pop out the plastic lens. Then zoom in the flashlight till you can't anymore. Then just extract out the pill. Beware it is attached with wires to the driver but you still can have it out for a few cm which is quite enough for anything you may want to do with. Did it a few times.
I got mine today and I love it. It’s pretty big and very bright. The lens is super easy to remove, unscrew the head and it’s right there Pops right out. For the price it can’t be beat.