There are multiple versions of this light. It can come with XM-L2's, a MT-G2, or Nichia219's. Any come come bare, or in a kit that offers a tailcap with switch, holster and color filters. Non-kit versions apparently cannot use the filters.
I ordered the MT-G2 kit.
First thing I learned is that it doesn't have a conventional control ring. The head and body are twisted/unscrewed to change modes. Tight is high, and loose is low. There's no marking on the light to indicate the low position. It came loaded with inserts in the battery tubes that indicate polarity. I think they might also serve as spacers for 17650's. I don't know their real purpose since EagleTac doesn't mention them. The top of the battery tube has a couple nicks in the anodization, which is disappointing since this is my most expensive flashlight so far. I'll add more after I get time to play with it on the trail.
Oh, I see that in the manual now. I'll probably never take advantage of it.
I know it has 4 levels. I'm pretty clueless today, but I'm not that bad! What would be ideal to me is if there were some physical indication, a stopping point or detent, that lets me know to stop. Then I wouldn't have to look at it to set it to low before turning it on. A control ring, basically. The battery tube is asymmetrical, so I might get used to using that to gauge which modes it's in. I'll put a ring of white tape around it and mark it with the mode positions to help me get used to it.
Just give it a good turn and it’ll be on the lowest setting when you turn it on. You don’t have to stop at just the right spot and you can’t really go too far.
I just looked at the specs again for the MT-G2. Over 1000 lumens otf for 3.3 hours. I'm going to have some fun tonight. Oh wait, that's with 3400 mAh batteries, so I'll get closer to 2 hours. Good enough.
It was fun. It's throwier than I expected, so 28 lumens out of this light wasn't nearly as useful for hiking as the same amount of light out of a Wizard Pro, H600 or H52 is. I'm not exactly sure why because the spill is about the same as those Zebralights, but I think it's either because there's less scatter outside of the spill cutoff or the tint is making my eyes less sensitive than warmer tints would. It becomes useful at 175 lumens, which is already a stupid amount of light to put on the trail just for walking. Of course 1057 lumens was much more ridiculous. Fortunately there were very few people on the trail tonight, and most of those there were at the top just on the other side of the peak, sitting and quite drunk. The light barely got warm despite being on that mode most of the time. The turbo's 2375 lumens was noticeably brighter, and slightly increased its prodigious throw, but the increase in usable spill was most noticeable. The turbo mode would warm it up noticeably, but it never got to the point I'd call hot, although I only used turbo mode for short periods. I played around with it on the way home too. Granted, my headlights aren't bright, but this light was what I think my high beams should be for that car, but this flashlight is much brighter than what that car can do. I'm sure modern HID projector headlights would be brighter than this flashlight.
While I was playing around with it yesterday, I took off the head and reflector. The LED is on a square MCPCB. Probably Cutter. I need to take another look. I suspect this light will benefit from a Noctigon.
I'm hoping BigToy302 produces a MT-G2 light with similar output and beam pattern. I'll want a pair of those to put on my motorcycle. With that much light on my bike, I'd have little to fear from remote inky dark roads.
The premium lights by companies such as Jetbeam, Olight, Fenix, and Eagletac have a much better UI than the budget lights. One of the premium lights is almost necessary for a tactical light unless you mod a budget light or get a one mode dropin.
I hope more companies start using control rings or whatever this light has, or separate buttons to switch up and down modes. With so much output, it's silly to blast through 3000 lumens to get back under 50 lumens. It's so much better that I'm not even sure if I'll bother modding the real SRK that I bought to use with texaspyro's driver. As great as his driver will be, it only controls a single button.
I don’t think that the lowest setting is close to the brightness they say it is. Neither my MX25L3 or MX25L3C is much brighter on the lowest setting than my Sunwayman D40A is in its moonlight mode. You can pretty much look into them on the lowest setting without discomfort or squinting.
I should have said: The lowest setting on the SX25L3 tests to be about 5 lumens. The MT-G2 version of the MX25L3 uses the same driver, so I would assume it would be similar.
I could believe 5 lumens. Have you tested the other levels? High seems legit to me, but I don't have much to compare it to, just my (real) SRK that I only ever used for beam shots. I won't have anything else comparable until later this month or next.
It's so fun having this much firepower on the trail. It makes me want to send someone else up the trail while I watch from the trailhead. I imagine it looks like jumbo jet landing lights against a backdrop of fireflies.
