Packaging
I ordered from Amazon. It came very well packaged with closed-cell foam cut specifically for the light and accessories, packed in its own box. Then that box was in a larger shipping box with air-pack bubble things all around it. It arrived in perfect condition. Included in the box are the light itself, extra switch boots, extra o-rings, an extra AR-coated glass lens, a big lanyard/shoulder strap that attaches to two points on the light, and two 18650-to-26650 adapters. Installed on the light was a “tactical ring” near the tail that threads off if you don’t like it.
Build Quality
I like it. The machining and anodization overall look fantastic to my eyes. It has a good heft, deep cooling fins, and though the threads aren’t very deep, there are a lot of them and they are squared off. The ano is not the super flat-black that is found on some of the newer Convoy models, it’s more of an eggshell type finish. I really like it, though some people might disagree.
The only issue with the ano I found was around the front attachment point for the strap. I also removed the tactical ring because it feels very sharp in my hands. The ridges on the body tube look nice and give an okay amount of grip, but I think traditional knurling may have been a better choice. The branding on the side is crisp and clean, and not too gaudy.
A nice bonus is that the mcpcb is copper and DTP, and screwed down to the shelf with a good amount of thermal paste underneath. The emitter wires are thick and short.
Using it
The UI is dual-switch based. The side switch controls modes. A single click cycles through the 4 mode levels: 0.21amps > 1.09amps > 2.15amps > 5.5amps (measured with UT210e). A quick double-click enters strobe mode, and holding enters SOS. The rear switch is a “tactical” forward clicky/momentary on that only turns the light on/off. Mode level is memorized so you can easily signal on high mode without inadvertently changing modes. High mode will step down after 3 minutes.
I have a small complaint and a larger complaint about the UI. The small complaint is that I wish there was a way to reverse through the brightness levels instead of having to cycle forward every time to get back to low. The larger complaint is that the side button has a long reset. What I mean is that you can not click quickly to advance modes, you have to give a brief pause between clicks. Thankfully it doesn’t trigger strobe every time you click too quickly, it just simply won’t register the second click much of the time. We aren’t talking a full second pause here, maybe half a second, but it still can be annoying.
Under the side switch button is a battery level indicator. It is bright enough to be easily seen, but generally not distracting. It is green normally, then around 3.45v it switches to orange, then around 3.1v it starts flashing red. Eventually the light shuts off completely. I measured this at 2.9v; after 15min the cell had recovered to 3v.
The reflector is a heavy OP, and it does a decent job of fixing the XHP beam “donut”, but if you are white-wall hunting a faint dark spot can still be seen in low mode. If you simply turn the brightness up or go outside, it vanishes into the wash of light. (You really have to click on the dark picture, it is under-exposed to show the slight dark spot)
Moddability
I think many people will be satisfied with this light without modding. The UI is decent, the battery indicator is very useful, and an XHP-70 at 5+amps gives a massive amount of light for a stock flashlight. I think it’s safe to say Thorfire has under-rated this one at 3000 lumens.
Having said that, this light is an utterly fantastic host in my mind. Dual switch is nice for modding because almost any custom firmware will work with it in some way. The head is a solid chunk of aluminum with a thick shelf under the led and deep fins. There are nice fat retaining rings on the driver and switch, and the side switch is on a separate board with long wires attached.
I will say that getting the driver out was a bit tricky, because the wires are short enough that you have to desolder them at the emitter first, and that big mcpcb really sucks the heat out of your iron. Finally I got it unstuck, but still had to push the driver out from the front with a hex key.
I will probably shave the XHP70 down for a tighter hotspot, and either find a way to resistor-mod the driver or replace it with a FET. Either way this light is a beast.
Conclusion
I like it alot. It’s not as “budget” as most of my other lights, but you get a lot for your money. I think people will be very happy with this even without modifying it at all.
Thorfire has sent me review samples before, and I was honest and said I didn’t like them much. They risked sending me this one to review, and it paid off. I think they have a winner here.
Edit: Details found later in the thread.
- Tint is a cool white, but not too blue
- Dimensions:
Reflector OD: 67.42mm
Reflector ID: 62mm
Reflector Height: 49mm
Lens: 67.8mm x 3mm
Mcpcb: 31.5mm
Driver: 29.5mm
Driver bay height: 17mm