Review: Aleto / UltraOK 1x 26650 XM-L T6 Flashlight: An HD2010 challenger? (picture heavy)

LED Flashlights – General Info 26650 Flashlights
1

On a whim, I ordered a 1x26650 XM-L T6 flashlight on ebay. At the time, I was looking for a single 26650 light. I had ordered an HD2010 already, and thought “why not have two?” So today, I received my second 26650 flashlight. I bought it as a mod host, and as you will see, I have some work to do…
Edit: Also known as UltraOK brand here on BLF.
It’s not a bad looking light with a good finish, decent ano, and a polished aluminum bezel. Heatsinking is decent and enough knurling on the body to add a visual feature but no grip enhancement.

the light comes with an 18650 adapter and a 4xAAA carrier. The output when using 4xNiMH is lower, but respectable. (note: the 18650 adapter is almost invisible on the left)

The size of the Aleto (left) is comparable to the HD2010, with a slightly smaller head and a slightly longer overall length.

The reflector is aluminum SMO and the LED is perfectly centered, thanks to a very nice reflector spacer.

Tearing down the Aleto is fairly easy. Everything unscrews with relative ease.

The threads are square-cut and nice and clean everywhere except for the tailcap.

There are o-rings at each joint, however most are inadequate, making the light splash-proof only.

The pill is integrated into the front body piece with the 20mm driver mounted on a screw-in ring. Unlike the rest of the light, the tailcap has very rough threads.

The emitter is on a rather odd sized 25mm star and the pill is hollow. The switch boot is recessed allowing this light tailstand very nicely.

Popping off the emitter star reveals the hollow pill and the driver on the other side. There is lots of room in there for driver upgrades. There is thermal compound on the star, however most of it is in the middle where it doesn’t help. redistributing this to the outer edge will help with thermal coupling to the head.

Unscrewing the driver is an easy task. I’d rather see a 17mm driver here. This driver features five modes with the dreaded next-mode memory.

So, will this light stand up to the HD2010? Time for some beam shots!
We’ll start with indoor shots taken at 1m on a white-ish wall. (f6.3, 1/30, ISO100, 5200K) the dots are 16” apart horizontally, 12” vertically.
Aleto 26650 XM-L:

HD2010:

As you can see, the Aleto has a very tight hotspot, mainly due to the emitter being quite far (maybe too far) back in the reflector. It doesn’t show well in the shots but the HD2010 hotspot is quite a bit brighter. (When my light meter arrives, I’ll update with cd readings.)
The Aleto is not quite as smooth as the HD2010 either.

For outdoor shots, I was time limited due to –15C windy weather and I packed it in when I could no longer feel my hands.
I managed to get 200m shots only. In hindsight, I should have did 100m shots as well. (After I do my mods I’ll make sure and do a few ranges).
All three shots have the same settings: 22mm, f/4, 4s, ISO100, 5200K
First the control:

Aleto 26650 XM-L T6:

HD2010:

OK, it’s a clear win for the HD2010 (if the images show up OK for you; they look dim on one of my monitors). One big reason for this is the drive current; Aleto is putting out a meager 2.2A while the HD2010 is at 4.2A!
There’s obviously room for improvement here. The beam profile is nice, so increasing the emitter current should give some decent improvements. I’ll do an update once I’ve done some mods.

Good news:

- Nice machining and finish, the light looks good.

- decent threads everywhere but on the tailcap, which are not bad once lubed.

- Comes with a 4xAAA holder and an 18650 adapter

- very nice thrower-style beam profile

- No visible PWM

  • Tailstands as good as a HD2010

Bad news:

- Most batteries will not make good contact, if any. Magnets may be required.

- Rough threads on the tailcap

- Hollow pill which is integrated into top body section

- Next-mode memory (with five modes)

- Emitter is underdriven with resistive regulation (output drops with battery voltage)

- Emitter may be mounted too far back in the reflector

- 20mm driver

- 25mm star

  • Slightly different ano on the tailcap

Dimensions:

  • Length: 165mm
  • Head Diameter: 57.5mm
  • Body diameter: 31.1mm
  • Tailcap diameter: 33.5mm
  • Reflector output diameter: 51.1mm
  • Reflector inner diameter: 46.8mm
  • Reflector depth: 31.7mm
  • Lens diameter: 52.5mm
  • Driver diameter: 20mm
  • Emitter star diameter: 25mm

Weights (without battery or holders):

  • Total: 222g
  • Head: 110g
  • Body with pill section: 78g
  • Tailcap: 34g

Emitter: XM-L T6 1A bin
Emitter Star: 25mm aluminum MCPCB
Lens: uncoated glass
Reflector: aluminum SMO
Switch: reverse-clicky
Drive currents (4.2V): H=2.25A, M=1.50A, L=0.28A
Drive currents (4xAAA NiMH): H= 1.80A, M-1.22A, L=0.21A
PWM: High=none, Med and Low = audible ring only (similar to NANJG 105C)

As shipped, this light has issues. if you are looking for a mod host, there are several upgrades needed to get this light up to the task of being a good thrower. If you only plan on running 4XAAA NiMH, then you may be OK, since the holder works fine. Expect short run times on high and a gradual tapering of the output.

I plan to do some mods to this and will post the results when done.

Thanks for reading!

2

Mod Update1: Emitter swap, XM-L U2, driver swap, NANJG 105C w 12x7135 (4.2A), beefier wire, copper braid on springs. I also moved the emitter slightly further into the reflector. Now the hotspot is a little larger but just as bright as the HD2010. This light has become my favorite ‘pocket’ thrower. The only issue is heat sag after about 5 minutes. That darm hollow pill isn’t quite cutting it. Maybe a direct copper U3 is in order… I’ll do a mod thread when I get a chance.
Edit: Beamshots for Mod Update 1, compared to my HD2010
I forgot a control shot. |( It was a full moon so there was enough light to produce a dim light in the background. The shots are good enough to compare to one another.
Aleto 70m:

HD2010 70m:

Aleto 100m:

HD2010 100m:

Aleto 150m:

HD2010 150m:

Aleto 200m:

HD2010 200m:

100% crops of the hotspots. It’s a very tight race:

Both light are driving at 4.2A (HD2010 was probably closer to 4.5A). The HD2010 has the larger reflector, but the Aleto has a U2. I prefer the spot on the Aleto, it’s much more defined and uniform. I’m wondering if there is something wrong with my HD2010… alignment??? It does seem to be producing a lot of spill, which may mean it’s too deep in the reflector. I’ll have to mess around with it one of these days.
If I was forced to pick a winner, I’d give a very slight edge to the HD2010.

3

Nice review, a bit more info on this light.

4

Thanks for the review relic38. If it was driven any harder the LED would more than likely have a very short life span. For $16.80 it is a real budget light though.

5

This never got a proper review until now, thanks for doing one. I use my UltraOk as a AAA light only so I don’t worry about the heat.

6

Me too. I haven't yet got around to modding the pill with a slug. Interesting branding on your sample as mine (and many others) are an UltraOK version. The current spacing sucks! Medium is way too close to high!

For comparison, my tailcap readings were:

King Kong 26650:
HI-3.80A
Med-1.85A
Low-0.90A

4AAA NiMh:
HI-2.80A
Med-1.57A
Low-0.83A

-Garry

7

I’m thinking of ordering the one linked in the other forum post as well. This one had issues with battery length that no one mentioned over there. I suppose I could fix that by adding a longer, stronger spring on the driver.
I’ve added copper braid to the springs and that increased the output a bit, especially the tail spring. I’ll post my mod details in the second post later on.
As for the heat, I just ran it around 2.6A for 10 minutes. The outer head temp was 48C and the emitter temp was 69C (running off power supply, the body was not installed). The head temperature starts rising within 10 seconds of turning the light on indicating thermal coupling is probably OK.
Based on this, I think it’s fine to leave the pill hollow and simply redistribute the thermal paste to the edge. You just have to make sure that the retaining ring is pushing down firmly on the star.

8

Did you catch the info in the other thread about replacing the tailcap switch with the Solarforce one? I bought the switch, but haven't replaced mine.

-Garry

9

Nice review!

I have the ultra ok version and have issues with my flat top 26650’s. I have stretched the spring and that has helped but if you shake it (not very hard) it will change modes. Still have not done much with mine since filling in the hollow spot. Been thinking lately that maybe it should get a new driver. Maybe this one from fasttech . But will still probably have the issue with battery contact. Just want to keep it capable of using the 4xAAA’s and liths.

10

I added some mod updates to the second post. There is definitely a lot of potential in this host. I know the HD2010, with the same emitter and drive can probably outdo it, but there’s something I like about this light… I can’t put my finger on it. The HD2010 will get a turn too, when I can get my copper sinkpads :wink:

11

Nice mod! Tried putting a U2 in mine and it had a hole in the center of the hotspot.

So what did you do to hold the driver in place, anything special? Thanks

Post some drive pics thanks

12

When I put up my mod thread, I’ll have some pics. Basically, I drilled two holes through the existing driver, Fujik’ed the NANJG to the battery side, and ran the LED wires through the holes.
This solved my battery contact problem too, by making the battery compartment about 7mm shorter :smiley:
@ 4 A, I should get about an hour of use with a decent 26650.
I need to solve the heat issue though. There’s about a 30 degree delta between the emitter and body… got to fill that pill.

13

Fill that pill with pieces of cut large gauge bare copper wire and fill it with solder. I've done it once and posted some pics. Cheap, simple and easy. Go to Home Depot and get one foot of ground wire used to ground a houses circuit breaker box. I got 4ga wire, 2 feet for a couple bucks.

-Garry

14

I’ve updated the second post with beamshots comparing the current mod to my (possibly badly aligned) HD2010.

15

Thanks for awesome review ;)!

Im all NiMh person, but I will be buying lithium powered lights for specific tasks such as cycling(have couple of cheapo C8 from Ebay) and for some mega throwers, so this review helped me figure out which of those sub 20$ lights from Ebay are worht it ;)!

16

Nice review, thanks!

17

A bit of offtopic here: does anyone know where can I buy the 4 x AAA carrier alone?

18

I’m glad my review has helped. I am having some fun with this host, so it was worth it for me, even with the issues.

As for a source for the 4xAAA holder, I’ve had no luck. I would like to have a couple as they do work well in 26650 lights.

19

Some of us looked, but can't find them without being forced to buy a huge quantity. Someone tell FastTech to carry them.

-Garry

20

Thanks very much! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.