Zeusray EDC120
This review is a little overdue. Dealmetic.com asked me if I’d like the review their new EDC120 Zeusray, an upgrade to the FL05518 that so many BLF members are so familiar with and fans of, myself included.
Of course I said yes to doing a review, however I’ve had a lot of other time constraints and things going on, so this has taken a little longer than expected. I also had a few concerns with the light, and honestly wasn’t sure how to present them in the review. As most of you will know, I’m an enthusiast, not an expert. This means I try to look for the good points rather than the bad.
The main claimed change of the EDC120 is a “copper” (brass) pill instead of the aluminium one.
http://www.dealmetic.com/product.asp?ID=FL06597
At the time of purchasing, the EDC120 was $19.99 and Dealmetic gave me $15.00 towards the cost. Making it a $4.99 torch for me. I see on Dealmetic’s website the price is now $9.99 for the EDC120.
Conclusion Summary:
To put it bluntly, I think this is a step back from the older FL05518 version. That said, it is still an acceptable torch and overall works quite well. It has good output, a nice beam and good finish. But let down massively by some major bloopers such as no tailstanding, the driver!!! And battery length support.
Manufacturer Specs:
Type of LED : CREE XM-L L2 LED
Hollow pillow: solid copper pill (much better heat radiation than the other)
Adjustable Focus : Can adjust its focus for different usage .
Max Output brightness : 2000 lumens Internal wiring applies the high efficient booster circuit, working voltage is wide and can utilize the batteries in the largest extent. Waterproofing design (Not for Diving) (Don’t place it into water)
Material: High quality Aluminum.
Switch: Press Tail-cap on/off
5 Mode: high / middle / low / strobe / sos
Power by : 1x 18650 (Battery Not Include)
Color : Black
Size : 112mm x 31mm(Head Dia)/24mm(body Dia)
Weight : 85g
Package Content : 1 x CREE XM-L L2 LED Zoomable Flashlight
Warranty: 12 months manufacturer warranty
Info about my reviews and testing:
I like to keep my reviews fairly informal and not overly technical. There are plenty of talented people with fancy measuring devices to offer more technical detail. What I want to do is give an honest appraisal of owning and using this torch, and what a regular punter will make of it.
What’s in the box:
Basically not a lot. Remember this is a budget light. You get the flashlight and that’s it.
Exterior Design & Ergonomics:
Externally the design has not changed from the earlier model. There are some subtle differences, the pocket clip is a slightly different length and has much more tension. Although there was nothing wrong with the old clip. This new one is actually a bit too stiff and makes it hard to clip it to your pocket.
The rubber boot is a slightly different colour. This is no issue, however the EDC120 no longer tailstands on my sample. And there are a few other minor finish or material differences none of which detract from the light.
New & old models:
The Zuesray lineup. Two original ones (one modded) and the new EDC120:
The brass pill is fitted very tightly and needed a fair bit of effort to unscrew, but did not appear to be glued in. The o-ring that connects to the sliding head was broken on my sample. I had a spare, but none are supplied with the torch.
Some shots of the pill compared to the older aluminium one:
Note the different driver:
And note the spring on the driver, the cause of the poor battery fitment:
There have been some very slight changes to the lens, the o-ring and the bezel. These probably all help improve the beam the quality:
And the slight change in tailcap swith boot. Slightly smaller and different colour, but similar feel:
The brass pill certainly has more heft than the aluminium one, I suspect this mass difference means the thermal properties are not so dissimilar, in so far as how they perform in each host. The brass one may well be better for high amp setups.
Beam:
The subtle finish and design changes do seem to have improved the beam on the EDC120. Personally I had no issue with the beam on the older model. However it is certainly cleaner when zoomed in (throw) on the EDC120. The slide movement of the head is also 100% perfect for a crisp projection of the XM-L2.
Flood:
Throw (old model on left, note the halo around the beam that the EDC120 doesn’t have):
Original on the left with the head fully zoomed meant a not perfectly focused LED, the EDC120 fixes this:
Switch, UI & Performance:
This is where we start to see some of the issues with the EDC120. While the brass pill might be great for modders to solder too, on its own it doesn’t really add anything to the ability of the torch if you don’t plan to mod it.
I’ve already mentioned the fact the EDC120 no longer tailstands. I think this is twofold, the switch assembly looks different, which makes the rubber boot protrude slightly. However, there is also a very long spring attached to the driver. This reduces the length of available space for a battery, and indeed you may not be able to screw the tailcap on fully with protected 18650’s. And even with my shorted non-protected IMR 18650’s, they still force the switch to bulge and dome out of the tailcap. And mark or damage the battery itself.
Example of the domed tailcap boot:
I think Dealmetic where trying to reduce resistance with a better grade spring on the driver, but the one they have used is far too long. And also doesn’t compress, this would seem a design error when the standard batteries for this torch no longer fit properly.
The poor battery fitment:
Protected Panasonic ICR on the left and non-protected Samsung 25R on the right:
With no battery in, this is as good as the tailstanding gets on my sample (right), vs the older Zesray on the left:
With a battery in it will not tailstand at all.
Next up and my biggest gripe with the EDC120 is the driver!!! As I said, I’m an enthusiast, I love everything flashlight, so it pains me to have to moan about a torch under review. But moan I must, because the driver in the original Zeusray was so good, and this one, by comparison is so poor.
Frist of all, it commits the cardinal sin of having next mode memory. This alone can be enough to make people not buy a product and really has no such place on any flashlight.
Second, there is now very noticeable PWM on all of the lower modes. The old driver I could detect no PWM on any mode. This for me is a big step back too.
Thirdly, performance. Although I don’t think this is such a negative. On first sight it appears there is a big difference. Tailcap readings with my DMM, fat wires and a charged Samsung 25R are in the 3.26amp vs 4.56amp for the older model.
EDC120:
Older Zuesray:
And visually it does look slightly less bright too (as you can see in the beam shots). However what surprised me was, in ceiling bounce lux tests, both the EDC120 and older Zeusray performed almost identical. So maybe this new driver is just more efficient and maybe, as I was taking tailcap readings, the new switch assembly is more efficient also. As for the beamshots, all I can say is, there is a distinct tint difference between the older models and the EDC120, so maybe the EDC120 isn’t really less bright, just a different tint.
EDC on the right, in this pic it doesn’t look as bright as the older model. Ceiling bounce lux tests suggest it is very close however. There is more of a tint difference in person than the photo suggests, so maybe the camera shows this tint difference up as not looking as bright. That said, I think this new driver doesn’t quite perform as well as the old one:
Another shot showing the cleaner beam of the EDC120. The upper beam is the older model Zeusray, note the halo ring around the beam. The EDC120 doesn’t have this:
In Actual Usage:
The good thing about taking time to get the review done has meant I’ve spent a lot of time using the EDC120.
Overall, when you use it in high mode, it is as good as any other Zeusray. i.e. a brilliant high output XM-L2 zoomy. It’s proven to be robust, doesn’t over heat and despite some abuse, still works as well as the day I got it.
The downside is, it just isn’t as good as the older model. The PWM is annoying on lower modes and the Next-Mode-Memory just wants to make you leave it at home and use a different flashlight instead. And I do personally find the lack of tailstanding a very limiting factor in many of the situations I find myself using the light. To be fair, other lights also don’t tailstand, but that is often by design, this isn’t the case with the EDC120, so it definitely counts as a negative strike. I also find the pocket clip a bit too tight too, meaning clipping it to a pocket can sometimes be a two handed affair.
The brass pill, while brilliant in concept, I have to say I can’t notice any difference with it being there. The EDC120 doesn’t do anything the older aluminium pill variants don’t do.
Mod potential, well yes, it does have that. And first thing to change would be the horrid driver. The brass pill is going to be more mod friendly than the aluminium one, for the simple fact you can solder to it should you want too. I will be modding mine, but that’ll be for a future update. Probably with an XP-G2 this time and a direct drive drivers of some kind.
is more appropriate. I didn’t know it could go that high, that is really at the limit of what is possible for a aluminium non DTP mcpcb though.