I’ve recently gotten the flashlight bug and within a few months have a collection of almost thirty lights. After starting with a few Fenix and Nitecore lights, it’s a good thing I have discovered the budget brands. The Convoys, Sofirn and Lumintop lights have been brilliant. But I’ve bought two Astrolux lights and have problems with both.
I usually start with the smaller lights from a brand to see the quality and experience them with as little investment as possible. First was an A01. It’s not a bad AAA light, though its head is a bit large. It flickers a bit when twisting, and sometimes skips modes, but for the price, those flaws can be overlooked. I was able to fix the next-mode memory problem with a little pencil mark. My big problem with it is its high mode seems to put out quite less output than stated. Compared to the Fenix E05 on high, rated at 85 lumens, it is dimmer. Compared to the Nitecore TUP on level three (65 lumens), it is dimmer. It seems to put out around fifty lumens, half of what it is supposed to on high. It’s a nice tint light, but just not as bright as it should be.
Second, I bought an M01. Twice the price of the A01, but it was just too damn cute, with an adorable 10180 battery. Both output levels seemed correct. There was some flickering when switching to high, but making sure the pill was fully screwed in seemed to alleviate that. But after only eight days, high mode no longer works at all. The light did not get much use. I carried it on my keychain for four days, using it sparsely (mostly to show people how cute it was). But no amount of fiddling will get high to work anymore.
That’s two disappointing problems with the only two lights I bought from Astrolux. Has anybody else had these types of experiences with the brand?
I own several Astrolux lights. C8, Ft03 sst-40, and the FT03 xhp50.2. Never had a single problem. I don’t know if these are issues in perhaps just the smaller or AAA lights.
One thing I will say is many manufacturers have a tendency to overstate output (specially Japanese) but most of us overlook this due to the cost being a quarter of some of the name brand expensive lights. Take the Astrolux FT03 xhp50.2 for example, it’s advertised at 4,300 lumens. You can find it on Banggood for less than $40 and on a groupbuy even a bit cheaper. It’s a monster of a flashlight for the price and even usb-c rechargeable. Nothing I have seen in that price range can touch it. So if it happens to output a few hundred less lumens than advertised, it’s still worth it. But to me it looks like it outs out every bit of what it is supposed to. Maybe you have just had a bit of bad luck.
cant say ifeel that the a01 feels weak… compared to my other lights its more or less whats stated around 100 lumens on high… seems correct for me… i think u just got a bad sample thats all… it can happen sadly.
The problems I’ve had were with QC. The lights them self (MF01 MF01S FT03) work fine. It’s just that there were problems with each when I received them. MF01 had a blue led. Mf01S has a screw on the driver ring which doesn’t go all the way in so when you unscrew the head it scrapes some metal off the body. Also the tailcap was a different shade of blue to the rest of the light. FT03 came with a broken glass. All of the three lights mentioned are made by Mateminco. I think your ones are made by a different company
To the original post.
Do you have another 10180 battery to test this flashlight?
If the battery is sagging heavy under use it may not be providing enough amperage to engage the High mode.
That form factor of battery is pretty much low capacity and suspect build quality.
Bought 3 batteries and only 1 lived 4 months and the one that is good still has very limited run time.
Will not buy another 10180 form flashlight, cute but just a toy.
JMHO
Thanks for all the responses. In response to them:
I’d not mind if it was a small percentage lower output than claimed. But seemingly half the output is pretty low. I don’t think it was Astrolux lying about the output, especially if I’m the only one that feels that it’s weak. it’s still strong enough to be useful, just not what it should be. I do wonder if it’s possible if I somehow did any damage while getting rid of the next-memory mode problem. Either that, or maybe I did just get some bad luck with quality control or premature failure.
I haven’t tried to return the A01, mainly because it’s still putting out a usable amount of light on high, just disappointing. It was also so inexpensive that the effort spent wouldn’t be worth it (unless it had been completely DOA). I did consider buying a second just to compare, but decided against it, as I still have three other AAA lights to use (why I feel the need to have so many is another issue…)
I thought to do a time test on it the A01 though; perhaps if it lasts longer than expected on high to go along with its seemingly diminished output, I’d be able to consider it a feature instead of a flaw.
I did contact the store on the site from where I purchased the M01, as I only received that a little over a week ago. It hasn’t been enough time for them to respond to me.
I hadn’t considered it a problem with the battery in the M01. I did charge it back to full capacity (via the flashlight itself) and the problem persists, but as stated, it may be a bum battery. I’m not sure it’s worth going down the road of buying another battery or another 10180 flashlight either.
I guess I will just have to consider it unfortunate luck and move on. As I said, the A01 is still usable, good for around the house. The M01’s low mode is still a good amount of light too for a nightstand. I’ll probably let my six year old keep it in her room near her bed until it totally dies.
Any other comments or suggestions are still welcome. I don’t want to tarnish a company’s name due to bad luck, but I do like to hear if others had similar problems.
On your A01, if you have not already, try throughly cleaning the head and battery tube.
The symptoms sound like bad connection, skipping modes, flickering and low output.
Rub battery tube end over newspaper.
Clean battery contact points in head with Qtip dipped in alcohol.
You are right about the output being no where near 100 lumens, between the floody reflector and the Nichia LED it is probably more like 60-70
But it is a nice beam
Hi.
They a tiny novelty light. take them as such.
You want more light. Like me. Buy bigger.
There is ALWAYS stronger torches of same size.
Than the ones you buy at that time.
I have 5 x AO1. Beautiful torches in my eyes. and I usually run them on mid.
I want any brighter. I usually have a C8/C8+. Astrolux S41s. Imalent DN 25/70.
Plus another half a doz. You wait.
My first AO1 dropped out after around 2 yrs in pocket use.
Dropped it a coupla times. Plus a dash of electronic cleaner up the bottom?.
It now works again. Naxt door 5 yr old loves it.
But sometimes It runs at a lower rate than it should at all settings.
It’s a $7.50 toy. Treat it as such.
Their torches, with Convoy and Sofurn, plus a few others.
ARE great value for money. for lower market pricing items.
with very FEW problems overall.
My $56k Patrol had A problem in first month. (Assembly/QC. inattention)
So did my $45k D-Max Ute.
But they ran faultlesly after that for a lot of yrs.
And we won’t even start on the money I spent on my second hand 42ft yacht to get her right after purchase. $127K to buy, plus another $32+K to get as I wanted her.
And that was before I even took her out for her first sale as the owner.
Principal here.
ANYTHING can have problems. Just accept and get on with it.
Buy another 3 or 4. One will work. chuckle. I Love them.
So I bought another A01 that just arrived today. It is definitely brighter than the original one. It still may not be 100 lumens, but it is at least as bright as my Fenix E05, which is close enough. I’m still not sure if I damaged the first one when taking it apart to fix the next-mode memory, though I did the same to the new one too.
As for the M01, I contacted the seller, sent them a video, and they said the light was broken, and they’d replace it. All I had to do was wait for the supplier to send them one, which would be in about two weeks. That was three weeks ago, and the seller is still looking into what is taking the supplier so long. I put in a claim with my credit card.
