Eastwood YJ J01 Nice XM-L host with potential - Pics Added ..

LED Flashlights – General Info 18650 Flashlights
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DX SKU: 50512

Mine is actually 4 mode - High, Medium, Low and slow strobe. But at least the useless SOS mode is gone.

High - 2.3A @ 4.0v Probably around 650 lumens max!

Mid - 1A Probably around 300 lumens

Low - 500mA Probably around 150 lumens

I really like this light. The deep aluminium reflector produces an intense hotspot, while still having plenty of spill for close in work. I really like the tailcap design on this light too. The large 'footprint' tail with resessed clicky allows the light to tail stand really well. I wish more flashlights had a similar design.. There is no reason for the rubber clicky cover to extend out past the tailcap on other lights, as this simply prevents tailstanding.

Build quality is excellent, with good O-Rings everywhere and good threads.

The sellers description mentions 'Coated Glass', but I doubt it.

The only problem (so far) with this light is the driver..

The driver max's out at 10w at all voltages between 4.2V - 8v.

The problem is that below 4v, this driver really sucks!

At 3.7v, the driver is running only 5.6W. Putting this another way, at 3.7v, this flashlight is putting out barely more lumens than a well driven XPG, or around 350 Lumens!

I see no reason to provide lumen output figures when the battery is hot off the charger and producing 4.2V, as this condition actually only lasts for a very short time once a heavy load is placed on the cell. With a 2-3 Amp draw, the battery terminal voltage drops from 4.2v to 3.7-3.8v in only a few minutes.

Also, why anyone would want to put 2x CR123's into an XM-L flashlight, is beyond me! Sure you might get the full 10w output (in this case) but runtime would be aweful.

The bottom line with this light, is that it desperately needs an 8x AM7315 driver transplant.

Such a driver should optimise performance on a single 18650. At 3 Amps, the VF on an XM-L is only 3.3V, so a 8x AM7315 driver should be able to provide a well regulated 2.8A to the emitter, right down to a theoretical battery voltage of around 3.4V.

Anyway, thats my plan..

After the driver is replaced, This might be my favourite budget XM-L.

For now, the most impressive XM-L light I own is the Manafont (also sold on ebay for $19), 3 Mode (H,M,L), mirrored reflector, P60 Drop-In! The P60 draws 3A on high @ only 3.8v and in a R-502b host, the amount of light produced is just plain awsome. The only drawback of course, is that you can't really run high mode for more than about 10 minutes, before the host gets rather hot . In reality though, I don't need 800+ lumens of light very often and the low & mid modes on the P60 do the job in most cases.

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The only difference between that and the J06 seems to be styling and that the J06 has a forward clicky - oh yes, and it costs 20 cents less!

Does yours say 3-9V on the body?

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Actually this has a forward clicky too. I'm not a big fan of forward clickies on multi-mode lights. Makes changing modes a bit of a pain IMO.

However, the memory mode works well.

Yes, it says 3.6-9v on the body and I have tested this on a variable power supply.

Output peaks at 10w, no matter what voltage you run it on above 4.2v, however, at 8.6v the power supply power draw suddenly rose to 15w (no increase in light output), so I presume the driver was about to become charcoal. I wound the power supply back real quick, which saved it.

I prefer the tailcap design on on J01, but each to their own..

Just waiting on the 8x AM7315 drivers to turn up from KD.

I reckon this thing will be a barn burner once the emitter is driven harder. Even now, it throws better than the other four XM-L (off the shelf/budget) lights I own.

Has anyone found cheap AR lenses for these yet?

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I looked. Flashlightlens.com wee the only ones who had one. Too expensive for me.....

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this thread need pictures

dropin pictures?spot pictures ? size of the star?good dropin and heat transference?aluminium or brass? it have screws?

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Pictures being uploaded as I type..

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Nice review, Sparktastic! And thanks especially for the pictures.

I was always wondering why some sellers refuse to understand that good and detailed pictures would make their sales figures rise as people tend to believe their eyes more than some often unreliable, sometimes nonexistent specs (yes, I have KD on my mind right now).

Great thing that you tested the voltage range. Seems that DX specs still can be anything but the numbers published, but this time I think it's good as I have been waiting for a budget buck XM-L driver. I hope the next ones come without any flashing, though.

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Nice,

This is in fact the first medium sized XM-L light that has a tight hotspot (before I thought you would need at least 5 cm reflector)

I hope the spear clone I ordered does the same.

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This is the one I had ordered but they emailed me and said they didn't have it. I asked them to substitute the J-06 and they agreed. Would you mind sharing the SKUs or the links for the parts that made up the other light you created? I'd really like to check it out.