BIG thanks to darosk for sharing those runtime graphs.
I am VERY disappointed in this situation. The WHOLE REASON I bought one is because Jackie clearly stated that it was Buck+ FET driver. I would NOT have bought one if I knew it was only a FET driver.
I know Jackie isn’t an engineer, I know they wouldn’t deliberately lie to us and it was likely some kind of miscommunication. But there WAS a lot of subsequent discussion and excitement about the Buck+FET driver after Jackie said that, and it wasn’t corrected. Maybe Jackie didn’t read the thread which is also understandable.
Still, I feel misled. I was expecting it’d maintain the 1500 lumen high mode fairly well, and of course be able to achieve it even on low battery, or at least have flat output on the 500 lumen high mode, but it doesn’t - it drifts down with the battery.
It doesn’t mention the driver on the aliexpress page, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to return it.
It is quite bright. Just my observation comparing against other lights, but with a P42A I think it’s hitting somewhere close to the 3800 lumen rating. Throw might be 280m at startup on a fresh battery, for a split second, but really it’s a ~240-260m light.
Gets very hot on turbo, like you’d expect from an enthusiast hot rod, but also gets hotter than I feel like it should on high.
It’s SUPER floody. Almost like an XHP50.2. I don’t think you’d guess it was a domeless LED. It is a very nice beam, but I do prefer a bit more balance towards throw. It’s spitting so many lumens up close that it’s hard to use it for looking in the distance if there are things in the foreground. Of course it is very nice for lighting up entire areas at close range.
Tint is better than XHP50.2 and SST-40, which is a low bar, but moving into useable territory for me. Definitely above BBL, but not overly green even on lower levels. Some slight tint shift around the corona but not offensive to me. I suppose it’s a better choice than if they had an XHP50.2 in this with similar lumens, and it probably throws further than an XHP50.2. It’s fine, but I have seen better tint with other new chinese LEDs.
My main complaint with the UI (present on the C8L and Yakorsei GD12 as well) is there’s nothing between the 5 lumen eco and 100 lumen low. It needs a 30 or 50 lumen mode in between those two. I can live with it but it’s not ideal. Shortcuts and mode groups work well.
Build quality is great. Beefy springs, nice and thick without being too heavy, nice switches, well-protected lens. Side switch is very clicky on mine, but that’s a bit of a lottery - my C8L has the same side switch and it’s a little mushy, but they’re both good.
The light is just weird. It’s like a light with an identity crisis - it’s a floody enthusiast hot rod pocket rocket, stuck in the body of a tactical light.