Well, Intl Outdoors sent my replacement C88 (most should recall the issues with my original light). Hank was good enough to send me a new one. Honestly, he’s the best! Can’t get better! I recommend Int Outdoors with every breath!
And so, I’ve had a good long couple of nights to play around with the newbie, which, unlike the first light, is a three-mode and no blinkies. But I’m sorry to say, this light has the same problem, which means the first one never had a problem. The driver lets the light jump to a lower mode at random times. And as it turns out, this can happen with the Nanj driver (so I’ve heard). I just don’t know why no one else here has experienced the same issue with it.
The praise has been so incredible, but the light is maybe 600 lumens on a 26650, “angry blue” in color, and although regulated and with some throw, doesn’t illuminate as well as everyone has said. I really am beginning to believe hype is just darn infectious.
My Copper P60 drop-in (from Int Outdoors) is notably brighter, but tonight, we had PD out for a wreck and they of course brought their Streamlight 180 lumen LED Stingers. Both Stingers together were about 1/2 the brightness of the Cyclone. But I am totally baffled at the endless praise this light has gotten. I was really looking forward to being happy with it.
A lot of the hype on this light is probably my fault. I do, however, stand by every word.
If any $45 light I just purchased changed modes randomly, I would feel exactly as you do. It is totally unacceptable. I've had no issues at all with mine and like you, I'm curious about other C88 owners' experiences. Also, I wonder what flashlights with that driver have had similar issues.
Makes me wonder too, if it's your battery or something, since the same thing happened with two different lights . . . . I apologize if we've had this conversation before.
Wouldn't be the first time Foy liked a light others didn't care for but honestly, I'm amazed that our experience could be so different. Of course, I also hate ketchup and if I were to review ketchup, most people would disagree with that too.
You’d hate my cousin and his family. They put ketchup on everything from green beans to brisket. I don’t care for it THAT much, but I hate cinnamon like you hate ketchup, sounds like.
Hate it! Eeew, just the thought!
Well, as far as the batteries go, I have a cheapie UF red fatty and the gold one I got from IntOutdoors. Same affect with both batteries. Although it is still possible to have gotten two duds, I don’t care to entertain the idea.
Hank said the following…
“For the memory is not present sometimes, actually that is possible for any 105C driver
which is common issue for 105C.”
So, I guess we have the answer. Funny though that others haven’t run across it. No more 105C driver lights for Rusty.
I don't think he understands the problem. If it was simply a memory issue, like coming on in a different mode, that's not a big deal. Your light actually changes to a lower mode. It's got to be some kind of rapid interuption of current. But that doesn't work either because you said it changes to a lower mode randomly. My Cyclone 3-mode is ascending - it goes to the higher mode, except when it starts over.
Ah well, I don't know . . . . if you get real tired of it, let me know. Would'nt mind having a defective Cyclone if you want to sell it but my guess is, you might accidently stumble across the problem one day.
Well, let me be clear; it doesn’t randomly do it as in when Im using one mode it switches. It’s when I click it on to spot something and then click it off and it goes off and anywhere from 5 seconds to ….hours later…it starts at strobe (first light) or low (second light) when I click it on again. That’s why I can’t stand it.
Sometimes it does it and sometimes it doesn’t, but usually not more than 2 to 3 cycles go by without it acting up again. There have been exceptions. For some reason, these drivers get the bad signal to change modes. Drives me nuts. PMing you.
Some lights if you dont leave them on for 10 seconds or more , WILL , change to the next mode when turned off .
So time it , is it 5 sec , 10 sec , 20 sec … Just be sure to lock in the memory function , some lights needs to be on for a certain amount of time for this to happen .
Once the memory is set , you may be able to SPOT as you call it , but you may want a different driver or light if you wish to turn it on for a second or two only .
No, that’s just the thing; it does it with any amount of time, whether seconds, minutes, or hours. Well, I haven’t actually timed hours, but it has done that a day or so later. So it honestly seems to have memory quitting out.
Foy mentioned the type of cell perhaps. If you have unprotected cells in the light now switch to protected…I had the same problem with a Jetbeam switching modes. I even replaced the tail cap and tape switch.
I hate to say this but i pulled out the unprotected AW’s and threw in 2 Protected Trustfires knockoff’s
and problem gone…I banged the light a few times to check the modes and she’s rock solid. The few MM’s made the difference…
I have literally made hundreds of lights with the Nanjg 105C drivers and the mode switching problem you describes is caused by the battery voltage dropping below 3 volts causing the driver to kick down one mode. It sounds like you have a bad battery or bad set of batteries. The kick down usually occurs when the battery is getting low and the light is being run in the highest mode as the battery gets lower the kick down will occur in the lower modes as well.
I’m with Erik. I say its your battery as I’ve seen flat top and/or voltage issues as I’ve seen the same as you are describing, even jumping past certain modes or refusing to enter them.
Curious Joe… are you using it with Alkaline? Its further possible the battery voltage sag from the 7135 drivers is starving (for lack of a better term) the EPROM. Eneloops are solid performers out to ~3A.
The driver lets the light jump to a lower mode at random times. And as it turns out, this can happen with the Nanj driver (so I’ve heard). I just don’t know why no one else here has experienced the same issue with it.