BlackShadow Darth

scaru · September 18, 2012, 10:06pm

Where do you see a guy?

flashlight_man · September 18, 2012, 11:42pm

Is this like find Waldo? I looked all over and could not see a soul.

JohnnyMac · September 19, 2012, 12:14am

I would say the Darth is at least 1800 lumensa comparing it to the TN30 on L5which is 1580. It's at least 200 lumens brighter if not more. More flood, a brighter hotspot, and judging from how it is lighting up the tree behind the main one, more throw.

ttrevs1 · September 19, 2012, 7:56am

I have to agree, i looked at the photo;s for quite a while not quite 2000 lumens

Trev

how2 · September 19, 2012, 9:39am

Yes when are you going to do this?

watkins · September 19, 2012, 9:47am

Check page 3, last posts

NightCrawl · September 19, 2012, 10:06am

kreisler:

Thanks for the new beamshots! I have contacted factory (they produce both Skyray King and Blackshadow Darth) and they stated that the King is much brighter than the Darth. Much brighter in the sense that it is very obvious to be perceived from any layman’s perspective. A similar model (3xXML, 3x18650) with similar price but much brighter is the ugly-looking DRY (feel free to find the DRY beautiful-looking, no offense) which feeds 4.5-5.0A to the LED’s in series on TURBO-mode. If someone really needs a practical high-lumens budget triple X, then the DRY would be it imo. I know a bunch of people who bought the Skyray King, played with it for a couple of minutes and when the curiosity was satisfied and the initial fun was gone they realized that they cant make any actual RL use of it (e.g. as bike light or work light, you cant find any holder or tripod!) and sold it to other curious folks who in turn did the same: play with it, leave it in the box and eventually sell it again. The King is interesting because it is the cheapest compact high-lumens triple X and its price is dropping. The Darth seems attractive for its modes (1 brightness level more than the King, wow), shiny selector ring, cute compactness, agreeable form factor and overall good looks. Can we find holders, tripods, or bike holders for it? I dunno. Maybe not. The video shows that the Darth has veeery low frequency PWM which kills it for applications such as work light (moving hands, moving machine parts) or bike light (moving vehicles, moving sight).

With the Darth the factory tries, for the very first time, to dictate the price and fix it with every customer whom they are selling it to. Note that the King was sold to diverse factory customers: both retailers (e.g. HKE) and wholesalers (incl. distributors). Originally wholesalers were allowed to offer the Darth for 60$, this was no error or typo. But then ---after it got some pre-ship attention on forums--- the factory decided to cancel the ordinary/original plan and instead, offer the product to their customers at a higher price only such that *everyone* (retailers, distributors, wholesalers) is forced now to sell it at the dictated arbitrarily set new retail price of 92$. Clearly, Ric had to pay ~45$ for the early shipped copies (offered at 62$ to end customers), and when in future he has to stock new copies from the factory, he has to pay ~65$ for them: the factory has indeed raised the cost price and, for the Darth only, is trying to make every party sell at the same end price point: ~92-99$. With the King, the factory lost control over the consumer's retail price, and now with the Darth, for *some* reason, they want to make business in an unprecedented way. Why? Guess why. In order to maximize profit from the market potential. The market potential is us, the forum members on CPF, CPFMP, Fonarevka, BFL, Forol, etc.

On other forums it may be silly or ridiculous to discuss in length and question pricing but here on BFL we are more susceptible to the slightest markups. Nor are we dummies.

As i said, the factory canceled wholesale sales of their new product simply by not selling it at wholesale terms to large distributors or large dealers. Wholesale terms exist for the King but not for the Darth. Same thing happened to other new products e.g. the Tank E10 which the makers, not me, believe to have promising market potential and refuse to sell to large volume vendors who would ruin the market price (yeah, always against my poor dinos *sniff*). If animals like the dinos dont adhere to dictation of prices (especially concerning new products), it is understandable that factories dont sell the product to them.

If the factory cant sell, thru the retailers, many copies at the suggested MAP, the price would eventually drop and the product offered to wholesalers at wholesale terms, finally. It would mean that the factory gives in. I am confident that this will happen at some point: a major price drop from the retailers' 90's$ to some 60's$ on a wholesaler's site.

The Darth is a low-PWM budget light, nice looking yes, but not worth anywhere near the 92$ asking price. I've seen the original King for 45$ on wholesalers' sites so once wholesale terms for the Darth are intact i would regard the original 60$ wholesale price as fair. (And dont forget to add shipping and your country's customs and import duties ;) ).

I was investigating the Darth story and trying hard to make a BFL gourb buy possible (some scoring wouldnt harm hehe) but after finding out about the factory's attitude and the veeery low PWM frequency there is no way to draw up an attractive gb offer at this point which i would be keen on myself.

sorrytodisappointkeisler

>quote before its gone. :P

Why do you keep writing BFL ;_;

NightCrawl · September 19, 2012, 6:19pm

kreisler has money to burn. =O

kreisler · September 19, 2012, 6:32pm

i lost too much energy on the Darth story..

it's Ric/Blackshadow people's loss. if they had continued the 62$ deal, i would have tentatively jumped it and they would've got the mooney. now i have paid the 110€ shipped for the nitecore with full conviction, which makes it the more fun.

May the greedy Blackshadow people learn from this example ;)

_the · September 21, 2012, 9:24pm

Got mine today. NW, from Ric.

Initial impressions:
- Looks & feels great
- Good build quality
- Smaller than King (in diameter, a bit longer though), perfectly pocketable
- Flat bezel :love:
- Magnetic control ring (works fine in my sample)
- Forward clicky at tail
- Nice tint
- Ceiling bounce gives about 77% of the King NW -> about 1600-1700lm on High
- Low equals King's Low, Med in between.
- Throws less than King due the smaller reflectors
- Slowish PWM on Low & Med (estimated to be <200Hz)

All in all, seems to be a reasonably good multi emitter pocket light. I'm happy with it.

Full review coming soon to a BLF near you. :)

CheapThrills · September 21, 2012, 9:36pm

Oh boy, just barely saved by that nasty PWM :bigsmile:

JohnnyMac · September 21, 2012, 10:48pm

Looking forward to the full review. Really looking forward to mine arriving!

kreisler · September 21, 2012, 11:46pm

Very helpful, thanks for your first impressions!

Btw, if NE1 wants to buy the TM11 (tiny monster nitecore) instead, a few copies are still left with FREE international shipping for 150US$ total, just drop me a PM for details. If Gun Safari continues to sell off at this rate, all copies will be gone for good by the end of coming week, my estimation. perfect timing, since then dealers will get the TM15 in stock!!

flashlight_man · September 22, 2012, 12:09am

Mine is in transit also, cant wait.

JohnnyMac · September 30, 2012, 7:47pm

My Darth just hit Philadelphia after sitting in NYC since the 24th. It just may be in my hands tomorrow. W00T!!!

kreisler · September 30, 2012, 7:51pm

we could tell how pumped you are lol!

crossing fingers for your and our shipments of stuffz..

8)

Oldienea · September 30, 2012, 8:02pm

This and
- Throws less than King due the smaller reflectors

Is what scares me away.

The King is already to floody for my taste.

DON_KIDIK · September 30, 2012, 9:20pm

Got mine yesterday and im delighted so far.Its not a King,Its not a TM11,though it does feel more like the TM11 in the hand as its more compact.Feels nice to carry and use.The control ring is quick to change with no fragile feel on mine,feels like ball bearings at work when turning to select.One note of slight caution.When unscrewing to insert battries,its worth being a little carefull as the Shadow does unscrew both sides of the selector ring,easy to unscrew the wrong side and reveal the inner workings and disturb the selection ring,which is easy to put back correct.The finish is pleasing in coulor,not black,more carbon grey metalic sort of.Much better in the pocket when out and about,isnt like carrying a brick.Which the King can be i find.
I havent compared by eye the King,TM11 and the shadow,but its very adiqute in its output and on looks its the sexiest of the three ive mentioned[imo].Less fiddling about than the camera type switch on the TM11.Having a perminent On/off clickie at the tail end is good[unless ya forget and think its not working as i did when trying to select via the ring without turning on,DOH].

I wouldnt have paid the higher price on principal,but glad Ric honoured the price for me and even more happy i now own this very kewl piece of kit.

DON…

flashlight_man · September 30, 2012, 9:29pm

Mine has been siting in customs since the 25th. Hope to have it in hand soon. All these great impressions so far are making it difficult. Hurry up USPS.

stanley-beamish · October 26, 2012, 5:49pm

Price droped to $80 and $85 for the nw at Fancyflashlights.com