I stumbled across this blackshadow darth deal at the end of an old darth thread. I never saw much conversation or interest in the black shadow/fandyfire darth. Maybe because of the price i guess? The old price of $60 to $90 was probably high since the light was stuck in the middle of high end and budget lights.
Johnny Mac did a review on it with the old t6 emitters, I have the xml2-u2 version and at best it puts out 2000 lumens with a flood beam of about 75 yards tops, what I do like is it does have a long runtime and tail stands super, the magnetic RI g is nice and smooth the anodization is a real Class III I have this light over a year and a half, I am hard on my lights and none of the anodization has worn through on this light.Now the downside, it is strictly a flooder and I haven’t seen any mods for this light at all, also fasttech has it here: http://www.fasttech.com/products/0/10002648/1196400-fandyfire-darth-3-x-cree-xm-l-u2-2000lm-4-mode-whi best of luck.
Thank you very much for your information. This light wont exist soon. I have been talking to blackshadow solarstorm for a long time. They have said that they will most likely not be making any new flashlights, instead they will concentrate on bike lights. I know, bad idea. But they are tired of the copying in china and super competitive market. I myself think their earliest mistake was making all their lights with silver anodizing. And some of their lights have electrical driver problems. I feel this is our last chance to get the darth for cheap before we never see it again.
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/22987. I modded one, resistor mod, but still wasn't impressed with it. Others have modded them too. A search will give some results.
I have searched but the budget crowd does not talk about the darth much. I am almost positive that black ahadow will not make the darth anymore. It is like our last chance to buy it now on aliexpress for $42.98
https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/22987. I modded one, resistor mod, but still wasn’t impressed with it. Others have modded them too. A search will give some results.
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Old Lumens I still I haven’t seen much for upgrading the Darth.
I bought a Darth from that seller a few months back after reading some of the reviews on here. It’s a good light stock, it has a very shallow reflector so it will never really be a thrower. It has actually replaced my Warrior simply because its faster to change modes. Its not driven as hard, but that also means you can leave it on without cooking your batteries and much better run time.
I've always liked the BS Darth form factor since first seeing it mainly due to its was smaller size compared to similar 3 x 18650 lights. It seems that having a control ring for output adjustment makes modding a bit more difficult. I wonder if replacing the XML's with XP-L's would help boost output?
Great price for something that originally list for much more.
It's a great little light but Black Shadow's insistence on using low PWM frequencies ruins what could be a fantastic light. Build quality is superb and in hand it's hard to believe it holds three 18650 cells. It's so damned compact! A resistor mod bumped the output on mine from about 1450 to 1950 OTF lumens for a 33% increase. Not hugely bright by today's standards but as others have said, great runtime and practicality. If you can spare the money it's a must have in your collection, IMO, and at $42 it's a good price.
The BS light to avoid is the similar but smaller Padme that uses 3*AA/14500. That light is built well but performance is horrible and is best to simply be avoided.
Thanks for the info. Has anyone checked to see if the rear springs have a ton of resistance? Maybe some copper braid? What about some high output samsung or sony 18650’s? Are protected batteries a must in this light like a double stack light?