“REVIEW”: AMUTORCH AX1 – 18650 – Black & Blue – 1100 lumens

MascaratumB · 2018-07-01T14:33:21.000Z

Hi BLF!

This is my review of the Amutorch AX1! This Light was sent to me by Amutorch flashlight store in AliExpress for a review purpose. No other compensation was given.

Thank you Shirkey from Amutorch!

Despite being an offered flashlight, I will present my honest review, with goods and not so goods of this flashlight!

The light can be bought in AliExpress Amutorch store: Page Not Found - Aliexpress.com

There are other stores and sellers on the forum that also sell this flashlight.

Here is a discussion thread about this flashlight: Amutorch AX1 a quick look with a disappointing finish.

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

Body Material: T6 aviation aluminium alloy (CNC machining)
Body Colour: Black (tube) & Blue (head and tail)
Emitter: XPL HD (4800K)
Lens: Glass, not AR Coated (High transmittance ultra tempered glass)
Reflector: Smooth (Hard anodised aluminium, scratch resistant)
Switch: Tail; Reverse clicky
Beam distance: 346 meters
Beam intensity: 30000 cd
Waterproof: 1PX8 (Waterproof under water 2m)
Impact resistance: 1m
Reverse Polarity Protection: Yes (although it is not in the official specifications)
Batteries: 18650 (protected or unprotected)

OTHERS

- Phosphor bronze spring

Intelligent driver circuit for low voltage protection with a long working time.

USER INTERFACE & OUTPUT vs RUNTIME

USER INTERFACE
Full click to Turn ON. Full click to turn OFF.
When ON, half press to cycle through the modes (Low > Medium > High > Turbo).
The flashlight has memory, so it will turn ON in the last used mode.
When ON, quick double half press to access the Strobe.

A quick (1 or 2 seconds) Turn ON > Turn OFF > Turn ON will activate a “next mode”, instead of the last used mode.

WARNING:
When the light is turned ON and when the modes are changed, there is a small delay between the press and the appearing of the light.

I contacted the Manufacturer about this and this was the answer I received:

About delay lighting, for it has designed a double click function, so the lighting speed is slowed down, which is easy to turn out the strobe.

OUTPUT vs RUNTIME
Low: 100 lumens > 45 hours
Medium: 300 lumens > 10 hours
High: 600 lumens> 4h10 hours
Turbo: 1100 lumens > 2h10 hours
Strobe: 1100 Lumens > s/d

I have no means to confirm these, but I have to say that in Turbo, the flashlight is quite bright, indeed.
About the mode spacing, they are well spaced, despite between Low and Medium in indoor environment, the difference is less perceptible. Outdoor, it is well noticed.

The Strobe is single frequency. And is quite disorienting

THE FLASHLIGHT AND ACCESSORIES

The Amutorch AX1 arrived inside a card box, with a brand’s sticker on the top. It was wrapped in foam in order to protect it from impact and other eventual harmful situations. The AX1 was also inside a plastic bubble bag.

Inside the box I found: 1 Amutorch AX1 + 1 spare rubber button + 1 lanyard + 1 User Manual + 2 spare o-rings.

The flashlight has a black battery tube and a part in the head and a blue head and tail.
On the head, on one side we find the Amutorch logotype, and on the other side the name of the model is engraved: AX1 .

The head is composed by two pieces:
a) a blue bezel, inside which we find an o-ring, a non-AR coated glass lens, and the SMO aluminium reflector;
b) a black part that I would probably call “body pill”. On the upper side of the shelf is sitting the 1.5mm aluminium board, secured by 2 screws, grey thermal paste and 2 well sodered 18 or 20 AWG wires. The Led is an XPL HD 4800K.
On the lower side of the shelf, sits the driver. I can imagine that it is secured by some glue, or eventually press fit. It has a thin but strong spring (maybe phosphor bronze?).

The AX1 is slightly longer than a Convoy S2+, but due to the material it is made, it is not as heavy!
It can take protected and unprotected 18650 batteries (flat or button top), but with smaller batteries, it is probable that it will rattle inside.

The blue thing next to the AX1 is an Amutorch charger for 18650 batteries, that they sent as an offer and that I thank too. It was once sold on their store, but you can find it in Banggood. https://www.banggood.com/5V-1A-Li-ion-Micro-USB-Charger-Mini-Battery-Charger-For-18650-p-984061.html?rmmds=search

This is how the head and the components looks like. I didn’t take the emitter out, nor the driver, but I plan to do it soon, and then I will show you how the “pill” looks like.

The black “pill” screws into the blue bezel. There is no gasket around the Led, so the reflector sits directly on the board. The board is aluminium, and has more than 1mm for sure. It is well soldered and below it there is grey thermal paste.

The edge of the bezel is thin and only covers a bit of the lens. It may cause some trouble when accommodating the o-ring that can easily get out of the bezel and get above the lens. This way, I thing the bezel’s edge should be thicker.

About the lens. It is not AR coated, and that is probably good because if it was coated, it would provoke some “green” shift on the beam. The lens is quite thin, or at least I was expecting a thicker lens.

The reflector is SMO (smooth) and allows the light to have a good throw. It is super well made as the one from the Amutorch AM30 .

About the battery tube. It arrived well lubbed on threads and these seem to triangular. On both sides there are sealing o-rings. The tube is not reversible due to the threads spacing, so the light will not function if it is upside down.
The edges are not anodized, and the upper side of the tube seems to be thicker than the lowest part (tail).

The tailcap is composed by a almost flat rubber button + retaining ring + reverse clicky switch on a PCB with (phosphor bronxe?) spring.
It responds quite well when pressed, but there is a delay between pressing and lighting up, as I explained above. It its easy to dismantle the tail and get to is components if needed!!

BEAMSHOTS

Here I’ll post some beamshots of this flashlight in different distances.
The beam is nice, has no major artefacts but has some shifts due to the Led and SMO reflector.
The hotspot is white, the corona is yellowish and then there is white again in the spill. The outer spill is also whitish.

This is not visible with naked eye. On beamshots there is never a single line. This is only seem with the camera above the Led.

AMUTORCH VG10 (XML2 U4, 6500K) vs AMUTORCH AX1 (XPL HD, 4800K)

AMUTORCH VG10 (XML2 U4, 6500K) vs AMUTORCH AX1 (XPL HD, 4800K)
@50 mts

Only the Amutorch AX1!

4mts >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 7-20mts

10mts >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 12mts

30mts

2-20mts >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 18-70mts

50mts

60mts

70mts (the tower in the back)

OVERALL APPRECIATION

What I liked the most

The Black & Blue body. I like the contrast between the blue and black! It gives life and fresh touch to the flashlight and it was well thought.

+ The reflector. Amutorch has nice SMO reflectors and this is no exception. It throws quite well and despite the tint shifts, the beam has no major artefacts.

+ The tint. A Neutral White tint from the XPL HD is quite nice. The beam has a slight yellowish corona after the white centre. It is not harsh to the sight and is good for indoor and outdoor use!

+ The overall form and shape of the flashlight. The flashlight is a bit longer than a Convoy S2+, but due to being lightwheight, it is easy to carry and its grooves help on that. It fits well in the hand and has feels good to the touch.

+ The rubber switch button. It is almost flat and easy to find in the tail. Not being taller (as in almost all the other rubber button lights) it allows the flashlight to tailstand, which is nice.

+ The lanyard. Yeah, this is not about the flashlight, but Amutorch normally sends good lanyards, and this one was no exception

///////////

What I think that can be improved

The small imperfections on the blue finishing on the head and tail, and also in some parts of the (black) battery tube. Both the blue and black finishing are not homogeneous, and there seem to be some flaws in anodizing or at least finishing. This has also been reported in other thread here in the forum. This is something that most of the people don’t care, but flashlight enthusiasts look upon this and will probably complain about it. I advised Amutorch to check on the finishing of the colours to make them more equal all over the parts.

Here are the “minor” flaws on the finishing of my light.

- The delay when turning the flashlight ON and changing modes. I have to say that, despite the explanation given by Amutorch, the delay between pressing the tailswitch and the light turning ON is annoying. This really is something that I think should be corrected because if we need light instantly, the way light operates is not nice.

- The lens and the top of bezel/head. The lens seems to be too thin (or it was me that expected thicker lens) and the edge of the bezel where the o-ring & lens sit could be slightly larger/thicker to accommodate and protect the lens in a better way. I will not make a “drop in the floor” test, but I am afraid that the lens can break easily in a drop.

///////////

Some “Neutral” aspects
> Thin host. I was expecting a flashlight with thicker body (at lest in the head), but being a lightweight flashlight it is comprehensible that it is not thicker to avoid over weight!

> The lower part of the head (where the emitter board and the driver sit). When turned ON in Turbo, specially on high-drain batteries, the light produces a great amount of heat that is quickly transferred to the hands. It then gets too hot to hold for long periods. This was what the manufacturer answered when I contacted him:

Because of its small and light Material, this flashlight has great heat when it is tuned to the highlighting.

> Glued driver. Despite I didn’t take out the driver, it seems to me that it is glued. There is no retaining ring and there’s a slight amount of white “paste” on the upper edges of the driver. This makes the light less moddable, despite it gives more confidence to non modder buyers

> The memory in the UI. I would personally prefer a “always start on Low” flashlight, but there is nothing wrong with having memory in this light; it is just a personal preference.

> The UI. I think that a “lower Low” mode would be good, but I don’t dislike how it is now. Amutorch have nice output levels, but they normally don’t have Moonlight modes, nor very low modes. It could be nice to have one on this light

I wanna thank Amutorch once again for this opportunity to review a nice light! Despite it has some “issues” that I pointed out above (facts or preferences), it is a very nice light and is completely reliable, as others from this brand.

I also wanna emphasize their bet on the different look! I hope more of these continue to appear to give some colour (at least to my collection ).

Feel free to comment or make questions!

Best regards :+1:

teacher · 2018-07-02T01:03:26.000Z

Very good review & pictures… thank you for sharing!! :+1:

I have one ordered & it should be here in a few days…… g)

MascaratumB · 2018-07-02T01:13:03.000Z

teacher:

Very good review & pictures… thank you for sharing!! :+1:

I have one ordered & it should be here in a few days…… g)

Hey teacher! I hope you like yours when it arrives
Thought this might be useful to know what I was talking about on previous PM !
Hope you’re fine and let us know what you think when you get yours

eas · 2018-07-02T03:00:00.000Z

Thanks. Now that some time has passed, and Bangood refunded some of the purchase price, I’m less annoyed by the flawed metal finishing, as long as I avoid looking at it :).

Other than that I really like this flashlight. As I’ve said in my earlier thread, I think the styling is fantastic. The beam is nice, the output is good. I agree though, the odd delay from the driver when switching on is annoying and disconcerting.

I’m not in any hurry to mod mine, but I do wish the driver was easy to remove.

The lines on your emitter shots look familiar. I saw the same thing just a few days ago while photographing an emitter in another light. That light had a buck driver, and I think this results from some ripple on the output. This light might have a buck driver, too.

SKV89 · 2018-07-02T05:36:14.000Z

Very good review and the detailed pictures will surely benefit potential modders of this flashlight.

MascaratumB · 2018-07-02T09:52:10.000Z

eas:

Thanks. Now that some time has passed, and Bangood refunded some of the purchase price, I’m less annoyed by the flawed metal finishing, as long as I avoid looking at it :).

Other than that I really like this flashlight. As I’ve said in my earlier thread, I think the styling is fantastic. The beam is nice, the output is good. I agree though, the odd delay from the driver when switching on is annoying and disconcerting.

I’m not in any hurry to mod mine, but I do wish the driver was easy to remove.

The lines on your emitter shots look familiar. I saw the same thing just a few days ago while photographing an emitter in another light. That light had a buck driver, and I think this results from some ripple on the output. This light might have a buck driver, too.

Yup, the flawed finishing is not a major issue once we stop looking at it It is just the first impression that gets biased by that. Other than this, it’s like you say, nice beam and output, “fresh” body colour and good feeling on the hand, and only that “delay” between pressing and lighting up.

Lots of flashlights have those lines, I am not sure if it is due to the type driver or not. One thing I did notice is that even on Turbo, this light has it while others normally done’t have it (ex: Amutorch AM30).

About the driver, I didn’t try to remove it yet, but I guess it is press-fit. The Amutorch VG10 has the same type of thing and on that light the driver was only pressed against the pill/head. So maybe this one is easy to remove as well.
However, once it has that brass ring incorporated, to change it maybe it will be more difficult to find a driver that fits in the same way.

I was tempted to make this a triple or quad light, but I’m not sure if I’ll invest that much in the light. It is yet to be seen

If you mod it, let us see what you’ve done

SKV89:

Very good review and the detailed pictures will surely benefit potential modders of this flashlight.

Thanks SKV89!
I will probably post some more things about the driver and pill so that people know what to count with
At least because of the body, modders can turn this light into a beauty machine :partying_face:

MascaratumB · 2018-07-02T18:35:17.000Z

So, today teacher asked me some information about the emitter board and the driver, and it drove me to take some more photos!

I took the 2 “retaining” screws out and rotated a bit the plate. Please note that there was just a few thermal paste below it :person_facepalming: I added some when I put it back in place. Please check yours when you got them! There is much heat on max output and without copper board and without thermal paste…damn, it will not be harsh for the LED!

Emitter board is 20mm diameter and 1.5mm tall (as I suspected). It is aluminium and…I think that a copper MCPCB would be a lot better in terms of heat dissipation!

The driver is 20mm diameter as well. It is glued with white glue and I didn’t take it out.
The “shelf” must be between 2-3 mm and there is small space between the driver and the shelf. The wires are a bit hard, so carefull if you pull them out, it will be delicate to put them back in place.

I also found an o-ring on the upper threads the “pill”. Hadn’t seen it before, it was concealed :person_facepalming:

Hope this helps in some way

teacher · 2018-07-02T18:59:05.000Z

/\…. Very nice info my friend… Thank You!! .

MascaratumB · 2018-07-02T19:06:58.000Z

teacher:

/\…. Very nice info my friend… Thank You!! .

Eheh, you’re welcome
Hum, the thermal is probably “not that strong” but I didn’t have the soldering iron to unsolder them from the board so I opted not to force it too much
Removing it from the sides of the driver, heating a bit on the outer side and pushing it from the top will probably do the job :sunglasses:
Cheers mate :sunglasses:

teacher · 2018-07-02T19:20:23.000Z

MascaratumB:

teacher:

/\…. Very nice info my friend… Thank You!! .

Eheh, you’re welcome
Hum, the thermal is probably “not that strong” but I didn’t have the soldering iron to unsolder them from the board so I opted not to force it too much
Removing it from the sides of the driver, heating a bit on the outer side and pushing it from the top will probably do the job :sunglasses:
Cheers mate :sunglasses:

I don’t blame you, sounds like a wise choice you made.

Also sounds like a good plan to get the driver out, when & if that time comes…

.

MascaratumB · 2018-07-02T22:28:52.000Z

Bonus photo

teacher · 2018-07-02T22:45:32.000Z

:+1: … /\ … :+1:

MascaratumB · 2018-07-02T22:47:08.000Z

teacher:

:+1: … /\ … :+1:

Something was missing, right? :sunglasses:

teacher · 2018-07-02T23:14:55.000Z

MascaratumB:

teacher:

:+1: … /\ … :+1:

Something was missing, right? :sunglasses:

Yep… but you fixed it!! . :+1: .

teacher · 2018-07-12T01:32:00.000Z

My AX1 arrived today & I can say I am nothing but pleased.

The LED is perfectly centered, the fit & finish are perfect, and all is well.

The only thing I could possibly complain about is the instruction manual is only written in Chinese……

I think this light is beyond an excellent value for the price. I am totally pleased & a happy camper.

I’d recommend the AX1 to anyone. :+1:

MascaratumB · 2018-07-12T15:04:46.000Z

teacher:

My AX1 arrived today & I can say I am nothing but pleased.

The LED is perfectly centered, the fit & finish are perfect, and all is well.

The only thing I could possibly complain about is the instruction manual is only written in Chinese……

I think this light is beyond an excellent value for the price. I am totally pleased & a happy camper.

I’d recommend the AX1 to anyone. :+1:

Hey mate!!! I am relly glad you received your light and that it didn’t have any finishing/anodizing issue

AHAH, that manual is he same, whatever light you buy from them. So that means that they all work…despite differently Eheheh!

Enjoy the AX1 and if you end up modding it, let us know
Cheers

teacher · 2018-07-12T17:14:52.000Z

Thanks MascaratumB!! :+1: