Another Jax flashlight has arrived! The new Jaxman X1 is much like its Z1 zoomie brother, but packs a reflector and a sharper design. If I’m correct I’m the first one to order this flashlight, almost immediately after it was announced. No coupon, no discount, no free shipping. Why? Because I really fell in love with it the first time, the bold design and those fins… something I’ve been expecting in a long time. It’s a pity they decided to include a AR/AF coated glass now after I have ordered mine with a plain glass… Jax are you reading this?
The Jax X1
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Build Quality and size:
Very consistent anodizing, it has a matte finish like the Z1. flawless machining and square threads with smooth twisting. Feels very solid in hand and the weight is just right for the size. The X1 is built a bit different than other 26650 lights, the head and body being a single piece and all the internals are contained in a pill, similar pill as in the X6 Hunter, if not the same. Jaxman says they did this to help with heat transfer but then they used a brass pill instead of copper. I guess the difference will be noticeable only when running the light for extended periods.
Perfectly centered LED with the new type of centering ring, similar or same to what’s in the convoy L2.
My collection of throwers, SS/CU X6 as a bonus light, it can’t really compete with any of those in terms of throw.
The head is similar to the M3XUT in diameter, but the reflector is smaller, more info below.
Big Jax & Little Jax. See how they have the same pattern in the body tube? I like when a brand have consistency in their product line.
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Performance:
It has a very simple UI with 3 modes, nothing remarkable to write about. With a fully charged 26650 I get 2.85A on high, 0.54A medium and 0.04A low. In stock form it performs better than most lights this size except for dedicated throwers. Because the amp draw is on the low side, manufacturer rating of 800 lumens feels about right. Ran it for 5 minutes and it got barely warm, those fins really do their job.
Lux readings converted to cd, at 5 meters.
-SS/CU X6 stock: 62kcd
-Convoy C8 FET, XPL HI, AR glass: 104.5kcd
-Jaxman X1 stock: 110.7kcd
-M3X-UT LED swap for XPL HI V3 2B: 235.7kcd
-Courui D01 FET, dedomed XPL V6 1A, UCLp: 252.2kcd
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Teardown
Aluminium unibody, brass pill, plain glass and a rather large reverse clicky.
Reflector external diameter 54.8mm, 38.7mm tall
Despite the fact the head seems to be the same size as the M3XS-UT, the ID of the reflector is significantly smaller: 50.35mm vs 56.7mm. This is the “working” area if the reflector, the part that really matters.
The plain glass, soon to be replaced by an UCLp
MCPCB 20mm, Driver room 22mm. Stock mcpcb is supposed to be copper DTP, I have no way to confirm this yet as there are two screws that I can’t remove. However they do absolutely nothing at all to secure the mcpcb, because even when fully tighten the mcpcb is able to move freely. I tried removing the screw to put a noctigon in there but they wont budge a bit… Will have a drill them out later.
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Modding
My target kcd is 200 but I don’t think it’s going to be easy to achieve. Even if I double the amps it doesn’t mean I’ll double the output and throw.
11/2/16 first steps: I removed a 5A LD-2 driver from a sinner titanium with a single nichia 219C because it couldn’t handle the heat and the output dropped in less than a minute. The I build this so quicky that forgot to take pictures and the driver is already potted to the pill. Basically I just used a blank 22mm FET pcb and piggybacked the LD-2. All of my 26650 batteries are button top so instead of using a spring I soldered a copper ring instead. Also did a 22awg spring bypass. Everything worked fine after assembly and I got 5.08A with a fully charged KK 26650.
Results: 6220 lux at 5 meters which translates to 155kcd (stock 110kcd). Not bad I think, but it can do more. Now I can call it the C8 killer
Back end of a pill, a LD-2 is potted inside. LED remains the same.
A quick beamshot at 70 meters:
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What’s left to do:
-Install a UCLp, this should free 5-10% of the output. (Already ordered)
-Swap for a noctigon and reflow it to the pill. Not that I don’t trust the stock mcpcb, but a noctigon is a noctigon!
-Sand down and tune the centering ring, I hope for another 10%
-Fill the little thread gaps with thermal paste (after all adjustments made)