thanks for this alternative proposal, jon_slider! the color rendering of the astrolux m01 seems to be very good (see the linked beam shots) and was quite tempting for me. but after reading about many of quality issues, i finally excluded that interesting little light from my wish list!
Hello, does anybody know if you can access the MCPCB of the Hobi plus to do an LED swap?
Looking to find a super compact keychain light with removable Li-ion, usb charging and able to change the stock LED.
It has a bezel, glued and combined driver/ LED PCB.
Tricky to swap emitters. Pill holds head & bezel together.
I stick copper tape to the PCB underside, hold the board with pliers and gently heat from below with a jet lighter from a distance that doesn’t torch it.
Hot air station would be better.
Pavlo I changed up my keychain from K18 mini to hobi plus just for something new. If you can get over the UI of k18 mini it does what you ask. You can double click from off for lockout too. It’s easy to mod
Edit; usb charging is via a separate head so idk if that counts for you
@contactcr
How do you like it vs your K18 mini.
Thanks for the recommendation. The need to swap out the head to charge is a deal breaker for me. DQG style and finish looks nicer, but hard to say as I haven’t handled either of them.
The k18 mini is great, 2 levels and a lockout plus build quality is good. Has a decent reflector and good PCB. I put a LH351D on mine.
I didn’t like the long press UI but I accepted it cause it has an electronic lock out. It stayed on my key chain for a year regardless.
Manker LAD came on in my pocket all the time. My daughter plays with the red LEDs now cause its worthless if it comes on in pocket.
The hobi plus seems nice so far even if the beam isn’t quite as good. At least you wont forget the UI and it seems like it wont unscrew itself. It breaks connection with just a slight twist so that’s good. The heat path seems bad though. Whatever that brass pill is in my pictures I’m pretty sure it does nothing but support bezel. Maybe even worse since I got Ti model.