Amazon is literally plastered with variations on this flashlight, most often than not just a different name printed on it, it's supposedly based on a XM-L T6 (fake, I'm assuming), whereabouts of 1000 lm (claimed), usually, gets sold in bundles that are about 10 to 20 Euros.
I tried looking these up on the forum ...what are these normally referred to, in the community?
Garbage
They are clones of the UltraFire A100.
search for tactical zoomie here. There’s at least one hilarious mockingvideo, among much else.
LMGTFY: site:budgetlightforum.com tactical zoom junk crap - Google Search
Gotcha!
Is this flashlight really terrible or dangerous, besides being terribly cheap?
AFAIK, they aren't dangerous. But, they're so cheap they're not good for anything - not even as a modding host.
The batteries included with them can be dangerous, and IIRC some don’t have LVP.
I’ve seen most people refer to them as the “Atomic Beam” as that commercial made them really famous/infamous.
Advanced Knife Bro (a well known flashlight reviewer) did a video on these types of lights:
Damnit, you beat me to it.
Yeah, they’re generally all crappy A100/G700 clones. And anything that has “XML-T6” shows the ignorance of the maker. It’s an XM-L, and the brightness bin (for an ancient LED) is T6.
Anyway, most are in fact garbage. Some zoomies, ’though generally not those tulip-head ones, are actually pretty decent. Old/Original SK-98s were pretty decent. Morpilot made a pretty good one that I got with a multitool (hefty, solid, decent brightness, could also drop in a 21700).
Before, the fakes came with LatticeBright clones of Cree LEDs, but now they don’t even bother with that. You might get a cheapcrap LED that puts out a whopping 100lm or so of ringy Angry Blue™ or Hateful Purple™ light.
Yep. That’s the video I was recalling.
$6 is a bit more than I’d pay for one. If I had no flashlight at all and the apocalypse was imminent.
In case of apocalypse, if I had no flashlight, I’d still not buy one of those. I’d use my cell phone, since the towers would probably be out of operation anyway, and it can be charged by USB-C. :partying_face:
In case of apocalypse I would be more concerned with guns and ammo than flashlights.
just gon’ shoot all random in the dark, eh?
Mmmm, I think Klarus would disagree with you. :smiling_imp:
Mr. Glock will light’em up.
Not that I would not have a flashlight, just that if SHTF the only thing that will really matter is guns and ammo.
Comparing beamshots of zoomable flashlights on a wall:
(distance of flashlight to the "wall" is approximate 18 meters or 60 feet for these beamshot test video)
1) generic XML-T6 zoomable on highest brightness (I used a genuine high-drain battery, not the included poor-quality generic battery)
2) Cometa (XPL-Hi 1A, "1300" lumens max)
www.youtube.com/embed/ZLCZFoXDNIw
3) Wuben LT35 (XP-L2, "1200" lumens max)
www.youtube.com/embed/uvLPIPfMoEs
His lumen readings are quite high for the shitter, I tend to get 90 lumens flood, 30 lumens zoomed.
Has anyone ever tried to mod one of these with decent innards to produce impressive amounts of light? I’ve always liked how they look. I know they’re junk (I’ve had a couple in my earlier days of the hobby) but I do like how they look.
I’m guessing there is limits to their thermal handling which would make something like a high output XP-L / LH351D or even an XHP35 rather futile?
The aluminum pill is probably the worst for that, yes! I thought about modding one a while ago, but then gave up! And also because of the switches, that are normally not so good as OMTEN, in case you want better drivers and more power.
And…the lenses are not as good as they should, scratch a lot :zipper_mouth_face: