ALIVE: Astrolux S42 groupbuy: US$ 25.95

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661

My S42 finally arrived after a long wait.

The light looks very nice. But not as bright as the S41. The s42 has a very blue tint on the XPG3. The S42 is more floody than the S41. The S41 has a nice hotspot. Im thinking of changing the led from the S41 into the S42 to get a better tint.

Also the USB cover does not stay still. And yes I ruined the rear end of my Keeppower 18650 :frowning: the cell is 34.3mm)

662

Mine tooā€¦

663

Why is it bloody?

664

Blue and floodyā€¦.I thinkā€¦

665

autocorrectā€¦.meant to say FLOODY.

666

You care about tint and you went with Cree emitters? Were you just prioritizing brightness?

You could get these and get nicer tint with no visually-detectable effect on brightness. You can order them mounted on this MCPCB if you donā€™t want to reflow yourself. Personally, Iā€™d go with higher CRI over a higher flux bin in the same emitter every time; human perception of brightness is not linear, and a 25% difference is right on the edge of perceptible.

667

High CRI actually helps MORE than a few extra lumens in helping out with seeing details. Once youā€™ve tried it in reality and compared with low CRI, I guarantee that you will prioritize high CRI over lumens every time.

668

I agree. It would take a 100% difference in lumens, a specialized application or some other characteristic different between models before Iā€™d consider a low-CRI model over high-CRI. Partial exception for the 80 CRI 219C in 5000K, which has a nicer looking tint than the 90 CRI 5000K from the last group buy; I have yet to see the 90 CRI 5000K in the S42.

669

So whatā€™s the exact LED used in the S42 nichia version?

670

If i followed correctly the two S42 threads and the various commentsā€¦ it appears:

  • The battery tube is too short and they didnā€™t even try the light before putting it light on sale
  • The USB cover pops out if you just look at it
  • The head design canā€™t handle the heat on turbo
  • The driverā€™s UI is one of the worst in flashlight history
  • The driver is VERY inefficient in less then turbo modes thus killing the already modest runtime on 18350
  • The optics produces way more artifacts then the S41

Did i miss something?

Sorry for ranting, but this seems quite extraordinary. How can you go wrong that much? :person_facepalming:

Did someone test the USB chargingā€¦?

671

The first 3 is bout right, the last 3 I'm not personally sure of - still not sure if the efficiency is that that bad or not - UI has probs, but dunno bout the worse ever - it's usable, and can't vouch for the artifacts. My S41 was an early one, and the MCPCB is definitely different than later S41's and even the S42.

Of course bout the head design handling the heat, there's basically no tube light that has a head design that can handle high amp heat - it's all a matter of what you want and what risks you are willing to take. Perfect temp regulation is maybe what you want because it will give you turbo output, though briefly.

672

Based on Maukkaā€™s test, we can be sure itā€™s a 219C, 5000K, R9050 (90+ CRI, 50+ R9). That doesnā€™t tell us what the exact tint bin is; itā€™s probably sm507, as tighter binning costs more and this light is very inexpensive with four of them, nor the flux bin, but itā€™s probably not the highest available (that being D240, last I checked).

673

Well my s41 has a great beam profile and tint. The s41ss not so much. Thought the s42 would have been more like the s41. And my s41 was xpg3.

674

Replacement parts:- Still on Back Order, how long is this going to take!

675

customer service said:

Dear Alex ,

Thanks for your email.

For your order 00000000 we check the item Astrolux S42 USB Cover out of stock and update will restock around 2017-07-17 .

May I ask if you would like to wait to restock ?

Hope your early reply.

Best regards,

Flora

676

Hi

There email said last week to me

677

In the hopes of not sounding too ignorant, I apologize if I come across that way. Does the S42 with the 18650 tube work correctly and if it does are there certain batteries one should or shouldnā€™t use?

678

About the ugly beam:

the S42 has the same ā€˜improvedā€™ optic mounting as the fixed heads of the S41S: a rim protruding on the inside of the head. That rim was too high up in the S41S and seems even higher in the S42, causing the optics to sit too far from the leds. So what should be a decent hotspot is a wide uneven blur.

A fix could be grinding away some off the top of that rim with a Dremel to sink the optic a bit, I will try that for the S42 one of these days.

679

I just received the A6_BLF/S41/S42 18650 tube from BG for my S42. Screwed it to the S42 and inserted an unprotected flat Panasonic NCR18650B 3400mAh (Green) in it. It works perfectly (I had previously faced big issues trying to use the original A6_BLF tube with the S42). Did not try any 18350. And thatā€™s only my experience, donā€™t know about others ā€¦

680

Good List!

Iā€™d add button is CLUNKY and not Crisp and the optics not seated at correct height.