So I’ve been on the fence with ordering this. The glued in driver is something I’ve never had to deal with. Does this make it extremely difficult to modify? I mean, if I wanted to throw a different driver in there later on… is that even possible or would I have to glue it back in?
Think we need clarification on the driver design. I can’t tell if they mean the driver retaining ring will be glued or it doesn’t use a retaining ring and the battery tube is what presses it into place.
It looks like the switch might be attached to the driver and that is why the driver has ears on it to keep it orientated in the right direction.
Then it looks like the battery tube is what pushes against the driver. If that is the case, they might be gluing the battery tube into place. It would also mean you can’t swap drivers.
—
Texas Ace Lumen Tube and JoshK Sphere calibrated with Maukka lights
This picture is what is giving me doubt in the overall design; there’s no retaining ring. Nor is there one on the tailcap
I’ve see this on cheap xxxFire flashlights mostly, it seems weird to have it on such a nice light. What holds the tailcap spring in? If this light was $20-$30, I wouldn’t mind it. But for the price, there should be retaining rings.
To me, it seems like they cut corners yet still want to charge a premium price.
Edit: Has anyone seen what the LED/MCPCB and the back side of the driver actually look like?
As there is no tail switch, the tail cap’s PCB only has to transfer ground between the battery tube and the spring, gluing the PCB into the tail cap is a fairly normal procedure and doesn’t hurt anything at all.
Many a light has had the driver held in by the battery tube, a great many have had a spot of glue on em to keep the driver from shifting about during battery changes should someone wish to pull the entire tube instead of the tail cap. Seen it a lot of times before and it’s not a testament to quality or lack there-of, just a different way of doing things. The glue that’s usually used is a sort of clear-white bonding glue something like Elmer’s. Easily defeated and I’ve never bother’ed to glue it back in when making driver or component changes. Nothing to worry about, just different is all.
Premium price this one is not. $100 and up lights are at premium’s. $300-400 are exotic, and $500 and up are just getting out of hand, usually custom with a lot of man-hours involved but not always.
This picture is what is giving me doubt in the overall design; there’s no retaining ring. Nor is there one on the tailcap
I’ve see this on cheap xxxFire flashlights mostly, it seems weird to have it on such a nice light. What holds the tailcap spring in? If this light was $20-$30, I wouldn’t mind it. But for the price, there should be retaining rings.
To me, it seems like they cut corners yet still want to charge a premium price.
Edit: Has anyone seen what the LED/MCPCB and the back side of the driver actually look like?
Yeah…. I went ahead & ordered one, but those pictures gave me pause also. I don’t quite understand why they did it this way…. I guess they have their reasons….. just wish we knew what those reasons were.
. EDIT: I just read Dale’s post. What he said make sense.
Thanks Dale….
—
You never know how a horse will pull until you hook him up to a heavy load./"Bear" Bryant
.................................. "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast" ...................................
Usually it’s a matter of maintaining a compact nature and probably also keeping costs down. The light was targeted to look like a smaller version of a BLF Group Buy light, hence, it was also targeted at a budget crowd. Make it a little longer here, a little bigger there, a little more complex at that junction, a few more machined pieces, the cost goes up and up, sales get iffy….
Emisar lights are made the same way. The small Thorfire TK05 has a glued in tail-cap pcb. Fenix small lights have glued in tail-cap pcb’s and nearly impossible to reach drivers. This has been going on for a long time, nothing new here.
Premium price this one is not. $100 and up lights are at premium’s. $300-400 are exotic, and $500 and up are just getting out of hand, usually custom with a lot of man-hours involved but not always.
I was mainly referring to its direct competitor, a Convoy C8. Similar size, output and build quality, and yet its twice the price.
Having not seen the emitter, mcpcb, back side of the driver, etc… I can’t justify the price without seeing what is “under the hood.”
M4D M4X, do you think we could get some pictures of the emitter, and the internals of the Mini GT?
A Fast Freddy’s burger is very similar to a McDonald’s burger, yet the price is not comparable. My cousin’s Cessna flies, but the resemblance to your ride stops pretty much right there. lol
Convoy makes a really nice light at a very attractive price, perhaps ruining the whole deal for a lot of people. Get a new C8+ if the price point is that unattractive, this GT mini is not especially adept at being an impressive light solely based on it’s performance. But for those of us that just love how much it resembles the cumbersome big daddy, it’s already on order.
There are a lot of tricks that can be employed to talk someone out of something, similarly there are a lot of ways an addict can talk himself INTO something. Perspective rules. Me personally, I really liked the idea to minimize the GT, that got me right there as I’ve always been a sucker for a miniature version of a known larger product, especially if the miniature is well made. If they took it a step or two further and kept the full scale, so the lights look identical, but in a 10440 size light, yeah, I’d be all over that one too.
I totally agree that there are much higher priced lights out there. And the price would be a drop in the bucket when considering my collection. I really wanted 2 of these, as I already have the GT. I just want to see what the internals look like so I can plan ahead on how I would like to mod it in the future.
I’m not trying to talk anyone OUT of buying this, by no means. I just need a little more info so I can talk myself INTO buying 2
Well, if it’s an XP-L HI running on a FET style Narsil driver then it should be performing at a nice peak value to begin with. Plug an XP-L2 in place of the HI and gain output with some throw loss, or use a Samsung LH351D for similar results with a purer higher quality tint. Slice and dice the XP-L2 to maintain throw, with some admitted loss in beam profile quality, or slice and dice an SST-40 for max power and still great throw.
Lot can be done, much more than those examples, but those are easy improvements anyway…
Well, if it’s an XP-L HI running on a FET style Narsil driver then it should be performing at a nice peak value to begin with. Plug an XP-L2 in place of the HI and gain output with some throw loss, or use a Samsung LH351D for similar results with a purer higher quality tint. Slice and dice the XP-L2 to maintain throw, with some admitted loss in beam profile quality, or slice and dice an SST-40 for max power and still great throw.
Lot can be done, much more than those examples, but those are easy improvements anyway…
It’s using a buck driver with 4.5A max. The driver may also not be replacable.
—
Texas Ace Lumen Tube and JoshK Sphere calibrated with Maukka lights
Well, if it’s an XP-L HI running on a FET style Narsil driver then it should be performing at a nice peak value to begin with. Plug an XP-L2 in place of the HI and gain output with some throw loss, or use a Samsung LH351D for similar results with a purer higher quality tint. Slice and dice the XP-L2 to maintain throw, with some admitted loss in beam profile quality, or slice and dice an SST-40 for max power and still great throw.
Lot can be done, much more than those examples, but those are easy improvements anyway…
It’s using a buck driver with 4.5A max. The driver may also not be replacable.
Like I was saying, a few pictures of the internals would be nice…
What’s wrong with this picture? A jet pilot, unable to justify a $35 price tag… I know a lot of people pay 3 times that for supper! For ONE!
Exactly. My wife and I pissed away the price of this light a few nights ago, drinking 2 manhattans, and 2 glasses of a good merlot. And that was before we got seated for dinner.
If the factory driver has the switch mounted to it, your aftermarket driver would need to be custom designed to fit a switch on it as well or so I assume.
Be careful assuming things Jason, I rebuild em in all manner of ways.
Edit: I’ve piggybacked a smaller driver onto the stripped former driver, retaining only the switch and re-using it. I’ve glued a switch to a completely new contact board and piggybacked my driver choice onto the new contact board. Doesn’t bother me to put a mechanical clicky in the tail cap and fore-go the e-switch altogether. Usually depends on whatever notion I get while in the process of rebuilding a light. I tend to use parts that are at hand, whatever is easiest to grab or whatever can be modified to work. All part of the challenge.
One might would think that would be the case, but at 4.5A the LH351D is going to have a forward Voltage of around 3.5V, not a lot of headroom for the 4.2V cell especially for all those folks that don’t charge one up to 4.21V to begin with. So it’s pretty much a moot point to have the Buck driver, and especially so since the light comes equipped with an XP-L HI which are notorious for having a high Vf to begin with. Moot point. To my way of thinking, wrong choice.
One might would think that would be the case, but at 4.5A the LH351D is going to have a forward Voltage of around 3.5V, not a lot of headroom for the 4.2V cell especially for all those folks that don’t charge one up to 4.21V to begin with. So it’s pretty much a moot point to have the Buck driver, and especially so since the light comes equipped with an XP-L HI which are notorious for having a high Vf to begin with. Moot point. To my way of thinking, wrong choice.
Well, the 4.5A is turbo, 3.5A is top of the ramp and is probably meant to be the more practical use option.
When it comes to driver swapping, I have to look at the bigger picture, not just what one person is capable of.
BTW, I suspect Lumintops ODF30 of having a similar layout (no driver retaining ring and switch attached to driver). No one has been able to loosen the glue on the battery tube yet.
I may try to heat it up real good, but not so hot to melt the rubber button cover or discolor the finish, and see if I can use my leather welding gloves to twist that sucker apart.
—
Texas Ace Lumen Tube and JoshK Sphere calibrated with Maukka lights
So I’ve been on the fence with ordering this. The glued in driver is something I’ve never had to deal with. Does this make it extremely difficult to modify? I mean, if I wanted to throw a different driver in there later on… is that even possible or would I have to glue it back in?
Think we need clarification on the driver design. I can’t tell if they mean the driver retaining ring will be glued or it doesn’t use a retaining ring and the battery tube is what presses it into place.
It looks like the switch might be attached to the driver and that is why the driver has ears on it to keep it orientated in the right direction.
Then it looks like the battery tube is what pushes against the driver. If that is the case, they might be gluing the battery tube into place. It would also mean you can’t swap drivers.
Texas Ace Lumen Tube and JoshK Sphere calibrated with Maukka lights
Click this to go to signature links. I'm still around, just not reading many new threads.
This picture is what is giving me doubt in the overall design; there’s no retaining ring. Nor is there one on the tailcap
I’ve see this on cheap xxxFire flashlights mostly, it seems weird to have it on such a nice light. What holds the tailcap spring in? If this light was $20-$30, I wouldn’t mind it. But for the price, there should be retaining rings.
To me, it seems like they cut corners yet still want to charge a premium price.
Edit: Has anyone seen what the LED/MCPCB and the back side of the driver actually look like?
As there is no tail switch, the tail cap’s PCB only has to transfer ground between the battery tube and the spring, gluing the PCB into the tail cap is a fairly normal procedure and doesn’t hurt anything at all.
Many a light has had the driver held in by the battery tube, a great many have had a spot of glue on em to keep the driver from shifting about during battery changes should someone wish to pull the entire tube instead of the tail cap. Seen it a lot of times before and it’s not a testament to quality or lack there-of, just a different way of doing things. The glue that’s usually used is a sort of clear-white bonding glue something like Elmer’s. Easily defeated and I’ve never bother’ed to glue it back in when making driver or component changes. Nothing to worry about, just different is all.
Premium price this one is not. $100 and up lights are at premium’s. $300-400 are exotic, and $500 and up are just getting out of hand, usually custom with a lot of man-hours involved but not always.
To my way of thinking, a large bag of potato chips should cost $1.59-$1.79, anyone noticed the Premium they get on chips these days? Lord have mercy!
We’re spoiled to the el-cheapo lights, all there is to it…
.
EDIT: I just read Dale’s post. What he said make sense.
Thanks Dale….
You never know how a horse will pull until you hook him up to a heavy load./"Bear" Bryant
.................................. "Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast" ...................................
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Usually it’s a matter of maintaining a compact nature and probably also keeping costs down. The light was targeted to look like a smaller version of a BLF Group Buy light, hence, it was also targeted at a budget crowd. Make it a little longer here, a little bigger there, a little more complex at that junction, a few more machined pieces, the cost goes up and up, sales get iffy….
Emisar lights are made the same way. The small Thorfire TK05 has a glued in tail-cap pcb. Fenix small lights have glued in tail-cap pcb’s and nearly impossible to reach drivers. This has been going on for a long time, nothing new here.
so any pics of the final version with logo and all thats gonna ship to us?
...where Frugal meets with Flashlight!
つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
I was mainly referring to its direct competitor, a Convoy C8. Similar size, output and build quality, and yet its twice the price.
Having not seen the emitter, mcpcb, back side of the driver, etc… I can’t justify the price without seeing what is “under the hood.”
M4D M4X, do you think we could get some pictures of the emitter, and the internals of the Mini GT?
A Fast Freddy’s burger is very similar to a McDonald’s burger, yet the price is not comparable.
My cousin’s Cessna flies, but the resemblance to your ride stops pretty much right there. lol
Convoy makes a really nice light at a very attractive price, perhaps ruining the whole deal for a lot of people. Get a new C8+ if the price point is that unattractive, this GT mini is not especially adept at being an impressive light solely based on it’s performance. But for those of us that just love how much it resembles the cumbersome big daddy, it’s already on order.
There are a lot of tricks that can be employed to talk someone out of something, similarly there are a lot of ways an addict can talk himself INTO something. Perspective rules. Me personally, I really liked the idea to minimize the GT, that got me right there as I’ve always been a sucker for a miniature version of a known larger product, especially if the miniature is well made. If they took it a step or two further and kept the full scale, so the lights look identical, but in a 10440 size light, yeah, I’d be all over that one too.
What’s wrong with this picture? A jet pilot, unable to justify a $35 price tag… I know a lot of people pay 3 times that for supper! For ONE!
I totally agree that there are much higher priced lights out there. And the price would be a drop in the bucket when considering my collection. I really wanted 2 of these, as I already have the GT. I just want to see what the internals look like so I can plan ahead on how I would like to mod it in the future.
I’m not trying to talk anyone OUT of buying this, by no means. I just need a little more info so I can talk myself INTO buying 2
I am glad to help out:
If you brake something because of the glue you have a second try.
Well, if it’s an XP-L HI running on a FET style Narsil driver then it should be performing at a nice peak value to begin with. Plug an XP-L2 in place of the HI and gain output with some throw loss, or use a Samsung LH351D for similar results with a purer higher quality tint. Slice and dice the XP-L2 to maintain throw, with some admitted loss in beam profile quality, or slice and dice an SST-40 for max power and still great throw.
Lot can be done, much more than those examples, but those are easy improvements anyway…
It’s using a buck driver with 4.5A max. The driver may also not be replacable.
Texas Ace Lumen Tube and JoshK Sphere calibrated with Maukka lights
Click this to go to signature links. I'm still around, just not reading many new threads.
Like I was saying, a few pictures of the internals would be nice…
I can’t fathom a Buck driver to run a single LED from a single Li-ion cell, doesn’t compute.
I mean, I really don’t care, I’ll change it, just don’t understand the why…
The driver is ALWAYS replaceable.
That clip is cracking me up, I must look pretty much like that trying to figure out the use of a Buck driver… ROFLMAO
Exactly. My wife and I pissed away the price of this light a few nights ago, drinking 2 manhattans, and 2 glasses of a good merlot. And that was before we got seated for dinner.
Justin used to always say “It is what it is…” Reckon we’ll see soon enough.
“4.5A” – Excited!
“…not be replaceable.” – Confused and sad
I think Al’s facial expression was my roller coaster of emotion
This… is exactly what I was thinking… right before I bought one.
If the factory driver has the switch mounted to it, your aftermarket driver would need to be custom designed to fit a switch on it as well or so I assume.
I mentioned this theory in post 393.
Texas Ace Lumen Tube and JoshK Sphere calibrated with Maukka lights
Click this to go to signature links. I'm still around, just not reading many new threads.
Be careful assuming things Jason, I rebuild em in all manner of ways.
Edit: I’ve piggybacked a smaller driver onto the stripped former driver, retaining only the switch and re-using it. I’ve glued a switch to a completely new contact board and piggybacked my driver choice onto the new contact board. Doesn’t bother me to put a mechanical clicky in the tail cap and fore-go the e-switch altogether. Usually depends on whatever notion I get while in the process of rebuilding a light. I tend to use parts that are at hand, whatever is easiest to grab or whatever can be modified to work. All part of the challenge.
And 4.5A is so 2 years ago. 6.7A to an XP-L HI, much closer to excitement producing.
On the other hand, buck driver is ideal for low Vf leds, like 219c or LH351D
One might would think that would be the case, but at 4.5A the LH351D is going to have a forward Voltage of around 3.5V, not a lot of headroom for the 4.2V cell especially for all those folks that don’t charge one up to 4.21V to begin with. So it’s pretty much a moot point to have the Buck driver, and especially so since the light comes equipped with an XP-L HI which are notorious for having a high Vf to begin with. Moot point. To my way of thinking, wrong choice.
Well, the 4.5A is turbo, 3.5A is top of the ramp and is probably meant to be the more practical use option.
When it comes to driver swapping, I have to look at the bigger picture, not just what one person is capable of.
BTW, I suspect Lumintops ODF30 of having a similar layout (no driver retaining ring and switch attached to driver). No one has been able to loosen the glue on the battery tube yet.
I may try to heat it up real good, but not so hot to melt the rubber button cover or discolor the finish, and see if I can use my leather welding gloves to twist that sucker apart.
Texas Ace Lumen Tube and JoshK Sphere calibrated with Maukka lights
Click this to go to signature links. I'm still around, just not reading many new threads.
any word on shipping yet?
...where Frugal meets with Flashlight!
つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
Top off the ramp should be half the amps of TURBO, IMHO
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