The no ano option was a last minute favor type offering, to appease those of us that wanted something different, and somewhat special. It is in no way indicative of the factory’s quality control. Let’s not start throwing shade about burrs in the knurling of the tube. No one needs that headache. I’m sure the regular anodized version meets criteria. If you chose no ano, especially given that they said it wouldn’t be perfect, enjoy it for what it is. If not get an anodized version, and be happy. They are really two different offerings, and the standards are not the same for both.
Finally at work and got mine in hand finally! It is really nice. I look forward to getting to use it. Everyone is spot on about the in hand feel. It just seats in the hand, you don’t even have to actually hold it.
My lights arrived today and i have to say i am happy with it. I would do a few small things a bit different next time.
But nothing big. The lights feel much more skookum then the old D80. The tube is thicker and feels almost like the Tank (Jaxman X1/S).
And the burrs on my no ano are almost gone after i used a scotchpad wheel on my dremel. I will use some 400grid sandpaper to clear some
bigger burrs tomorrow. And when my new polishing paste arrives i will first use some cutting paste (Dialux yellow) to get rid of the rest. Followed by polishing paste Dialux (White) and fine finnish paste Dialux (blue).
But i am really happy to see a nice quality aluminium reflector sitting really tight inside the head. A MCPCB with almost to much thermal paste (a very nice thing compared to some manufacturer that only use a tiny drop that often not even covers half of the MCPCB).
And the nice Doulble sided ar coating (still hope i can get them to coate the outside in the future with a nice AF coating to keep the lens nice and clean).
The threads are clean and have the right size. And i noticed that the o-rings on the tube and head are real beefe and sit really nice and tight.
I have some lights that damaged their o-rings over time. But i do not think this will happen on the D80V2. Also this nice beefe o-rings should seal very well.
Mr.Poppy it has been discussed already over the past couple of pages that the no-ano lights might be rough and it is expected and not a quality issue. If you don’t like your lights, you can learn to use sandpaper or sell them here probably very easily, since there are some members who would love to have one and didn’t get to the no-ano list soon enough.
I’m not trying to be rude, but I don’t see any reason to sugar-coat this, since it has been hashed out already.
I got mine yesterday, and tried it out last night. My light is the XP-L HI version. The output and beam shape are better than I imagined! This thing really puts out! My wife went outside to watch me test it, and she was very impressed as well! I also loved the perfect looking reflector. That thing is artwork by itself. :heart_eyes:
As for the fit in my hand, I’m not a bit impressed. What bothers me is the transition from the battery tube to the head. I tend to hold my lights a little high, with at least a finger and a thumb on the head. The notches on the back edge of the head don’t line up well for me to hold the light this way. I’m glad a lot of people like it, but I don’t really. I’m okay with it, though. I’ll just have to hold it on the battery tube only. That’s a little weird for me, but the light output makes it worth it.
Thanks to LuckySun and TheOnlyDocc for making this light a reality!
^
Story: When I asked Sofirn for an unanodised version of the C01S, they said no, we will not do that, you do not want an unfinished flashlight do you? I said, yes I want exactly that, an unfinished light. They said no way, it will look and feel ugly. I said I still want it because on the keychain it will go that way anyway, and many people appreciate the used tool experience of a light that comes straight from the CNC. Eventually they gave in and produced 200 pieces that were sold out in two days (also because of the switched mode order). That was a few months ago, my no-ano C01S is aging beautifully on my keychain, looking quite polished actually, and the edges are rounding off a bit.
So when you signed in for this non-anodised D80, the rough finish is what you should have expected that could happen. Perhaps the information in this thread did not prepare you well enough for it, but I think that Wildtrail is not to blame.
I see, I could see that being annoying with that grip. At most I put a thumb on the head. If I’m doing a lose grip, no thumb or finger on the head, if I ‘choke’ up on it I put a thumb in one of the notches.
I got mine and I like them a lot. I don’t care for the fact that even though the size is close, they feel and seem quite a bit thicker and larger, but I know why, and I know it makes them better lights.
My no ano tube is rough, but I was told that, expected it, and wanted it any way. No worries at all.
It does make me curious though, BlueSwordM, what is the hot vinegar trick?
Also, does anyone know where I can find a description of the many mode groups, and temperature calibration process? I don’t see either in the manual.
And as David said, these things are real blasters. I love the output. The tint is very nice too, very neutral.
Great job!
Made a last minute mad dash to the post office and picked up my package.
I got two of the bare aluminum variety, both have very well done heads and tails and both have the burs on the battery tube. I can’t feel the burs so I guess they won’t be a problem. I put in a Sanyo GA and adjusted the number of levels to 6 plus moon mode, and found that while all the other mode levels work nicely, Turbo has a flicker in it. I checked grounds, everything seems good and solid, but it flickers on Turbo. I added solder to the inside of the driver ground ring to be sure ground is making good contact, Turbo flickers. The tail cap pcb retaining ring is in very tight, I don’t see an issue with looseness in there but the end of the tube doesn’t contact the retaining ring, or doesn’t appear to.
Checking into it…
Edit: I should add that it’s odd to see how well made everything is and then the burs on the tube. The retaining rings, bezel, head, tail cap, reflector, glass lens, everything is exquisite! That being said, I wonder who did the knurling on the tube and flubbed that up? lol Anyway, with so many points nailed to perfection how can we complain at all on a rough, off the machine light? I’m diggin it, hope to get the flickering resolved… oh, and they even used 20 ga leads it looks like. Nice touches everywhere, way to go Docc!
I got SST-40 on both, one works flawlessly but the other has a flicker, more like a strobe is bleeding into Turbo than a ground flicker. I reflowed the driver, no luck, replaced mosfet, no luck, re-soldered emitter leads, no luck, soldered every 7135 ground independently, no luck… this one just has an odd intermittent strobelike flicker in Turbo.
Well if it was fixable I think you’d have it fixed by now. Maybe you have to get it replaced? Yes, the tint is really nice and white. The manual recommends against high drain cells, but I believe you said it shouldn’t be a problem based on your experience, right? I’m also curious about the wires. I thought they were going a little thinner on the SSTs, but I’m glad if they didn’t.
I am not sure if I have firmware for triple channel FET driver, thought about just using the 2 channel but haven’t yet. At this point it does feel like a re-flash would solve it, Docc do you know if I could get the .hex file they used?
Mine arrived, despite the burs in the knurling I love [almost] everything about it!
Whats bothering me is the lens, it has finger prints and some sort of pattern on the inside of it! Also some specks of dust on the reflector.
The finger prints in the inside of the lens I can probably clean, the patters seems odd though, like maybe it’s a coating defect or something, it’s perfectly parallel. I’ve learned my lesson on trying to get dirt off reflectors so I probably won’t try doing anything about that…
Anyone else have these issues on either the black or non-ano versions?
First is the D80 on, second is off & illuminated by another light. Definitely all on the inside, I cleaned the outside of the glass several times.
Other than the above issues it does seem to function flawless, no flicker on any strange behavior.
Edit: not finger prints. Seems to be a coating defect for sure, the round spots I thought were finger prints appear to be where droplets of some chemical caused the coating to be wonky (technical term) and are the same as the lines, just different shape. It doesn’t clean off with distilled water, alcohol or windex (cleaned both sides of glass).
Good news is I was surprisingly able to blow the dust out of the reflector!
