Review: Balder SE-1 (yet another one, but pics and outdoor beamshots heavy)

SE-1 is fourth creation of Balder. Previous models were classified as a very well made midrange products. Not overly expensive, but not budget either. This time, Balder created more mass oriented (which translates to "more affordable") product.


Below are technical specs provided by manufacturer.

1. Dimension: Head diameter 24mm, Tail diameter 24mm, length 102mm
2. Cree XPE R3 / XPG R5 / XML T6 LED
3. Lumen and runtime:
14500 Li-ion battery:
R3 : Maximum output of 180 lumens for 1.2 hours
R5 : Maximum output of 230 lumens for 1.2 hours
T 6 : Maximum output of 325 lumens for 1.0 hours
Do not recommend AA battery. Brightness differences between R3 version and T6 version are not obvious if AA battery used in.

4. Material: Aircraft Aluminum Alloy T6061
5. Weight: 40g (without battery)
6. Water proof to IPX-8 standard
7. Battery: single 14500 or AA
8. Accessories: O-rings, user’s manual, tail cap, holster (optional accessories)

Inside/Outside

Balder SE-1 comes in a small plastic box, similiar to boxes in which metal bits or other metal parts are sold (at least in european tool shops). Since, I got a testing sample. There are no writings on the flashlight body. From what I've seen, retail version has such writings etched on the body.



The external workmanship quality is superb. Flashlight body has HAIII finish, similiar to the one on more expensive BD models. This is the cheapest flashlight in 1xAA form factor with such durable surface treatment. This is big plus.



The head and the tailcap are heavy knurled. The knurling is quite aggressive and provides good grip. Battery tube is not knurled, but the clip assures is won't slip from hand and also works as a anti-roll protection.

The clip itself is OK. I didn't performed any destructive tests, but it does its job holding the light firmly in different positions when attached to something. I'm not a clip expert, this is not a "must" feature for me, so can't tell if it's explosion-proof. Probably not, looking at its thin ring that's attached to a groove in the tailcap.



The glass lens was clean, but it doesn't have any visible coating. LED is very well centered, thanks to plastic ring that holds it in proper position.



The threads are precisely cut and o-rings are matched properly (not too loose and not too tight), although they came dry (just as BD-4 I received earlier). They have conical cut, which is the most common cut in flashlights within this price range. Yet, they're smoother than average.

Balder SE-1 is medium sized for a 1XAA light. It's bigger than most twisties, but a bit smaller than Sunwayman M10A. Below there are size comparisons to Sunwayman M10A, Nitecore Defender Infinity, Fenix LD01 and on the second photo, to Balder BD-4 and DQG Tiny AAA.


Overall, for the light in 20-25$ range, I was pleasantly surprised with the machining and surface finish. I don't know about any other light in this price range that is finished as good as SE-1.

User Interface


I praised the machining, now I have to rant about UI. The main reason is forward clicky. The modes are changed via click, so either you have to choose your mode before turning the flashlight on, or you have to do full on-off cycle to change the mode. Half press of switch, while the light is on doesn't work. This bugged me for a while ...until I took SE-1 for a couple of night walks. I realized, that this light is not your typical, nightstand, go-to-the-theater, put-inside-the-suit EDC. This is true pocket rocket. Always starts from high, so as long as you don't click every second, you can use momentary on function.

The light has three modes. Low, medium and high. No disco modes.


Circuit, runtimes, etc.


As it's been said before, Balder SE-1 has three modes. The lower modes use PWM. Unfortunatelly, the pulse frequency is low. Something around 300Hz. As a bonus, the low mode is pretty low. The manufacturer says, it's 1 lumen. After comparision to other known lights I have, I agree.

Since there were other good reviews with current draw measurements, I'll pass this part. However, I made a runtime graph for high mode using NiMH LSD cell (similiar to Eneloop).



The regulation is quite good. Definitely better, than typical budget lights.

The light can work also on 14500 li-ion cells. However, it's not regulated then. Manufacturer claims about 180 lumens are false. As much current, as the cell can give, goes to the poor XP-E R3 LED. I would estimate way over 250 lumens at startup, with freshly charged 14500 Trustfire flame. Therefore, caution is required. I'm not sure how long the LED will survive, when it's fed by a current that exceeds CREE specifications by 80%. Therefore, I didn't perform any runtime tests with li-ion cells. However, I used it for beamshots, to show you, what this light is capable of (for a short periods of time of course). And to clarify, it's not about overheating of whole light, it's about massive current passing through the tiny LED and tiny wires attached to phosphor structure. So... be reasonable when impressing your friends.

What's interesting, there is no instant flash of light when turning on. Instead, we have a something like soft start, where the light ramps to the maximum brightnes within ~0.5s. Looks cool.



Beamshots

I used the following camera settings (which turned out the be somewhat underexposed):
t=3.2s
f=4.5
iso=200
wb=daylight

As a comparision, I used also Sunwayman M10A and a Nitecore Defender Infinity, with the LED swapped to Q3 5A (a neutral one). These are the only 1xAA lights that I own, that offer good performance. However, the M10A doesn't work properly on 14500 cells, so they were used only in SE-1 and NDI. There are three scenes. All in the forest near my house. In the first scene, the bushes were approx 15m from me. On the second scene, the old oak and concrete parts of sewer were approx 40m from me. Then, returning home, I tried to illuminate far trees (over 100m) - which is third scene. That's a lot for 1xAA light. Didn't even take out Sunwayman. NDI on 14500 lit the trees, although not very bright, SE-1 did a good job, and everything was niecely lit. However, the air clearness wasn't good. There was a smoke haze because people burn bonfires to get rid of fallen leaves.



That's all folks. As a summary, I must say, that SE-1 is interesting product. It's superb when it comes to machining quality, but lacks in UI and circuit departament. Yet, it's a very good light for a gift. It offers great throw, considering the form factor. And "throw" is what impresses the non-flashaholic people the most in tiny lights. It fells good in hand, the finish resembles much more expensive lights, so SE-1 should be definitely considered when making a list of "gift lights". Using 14500, it's a pretty good pocket rocket with throw matching (or even exceeding) larger 18650 EDC lights (Yezl Z1 with R5 driven at 1.4A for instance). And all of this for ~20$. Not bad

Nice review Coolperl. A joy to see your photos.

What is that flashlight in the right of the two balder flashlights? This photo

Great review. Seems your impressions are similar to mine. 300 hz sounds about right on the PWM. I couldn't test it, but I figured it was in that ballpark. It really is impressive throw for such a small light on 14500, but you don't dare run it for long on high with one. My recommendations for Balder were to increase PWM frequency and reduce high current on 14500. I hope they make the changes should they decide to update this model in the future. Changing the switch to a reverse clicky I think would also be a smart move considering its intended market, but I did not mention that in my review.

What do they mean by R3, R5 and T6 versions? I only see XP-E R3.

Where can you buy them?

Coolperl, you sure know your way around a camera! Very nice photography, and review! Thank you.

patrick

Great review , coolperl .

CNQG has the best price on them right now.

http://www.cnqualitygoods.com/goods.php?id=1297

That Canon EOS rocks!!! :P When I see pics like these, I really want to buy that light, hehe :bigsmile: Thanks for the review, pal ;) I definitely will buy SE-1 v2 (when most of those cons will be corrected)

Hey there coolperl, thanks a lot for the great review! Superb lighting and composition in those photos, they are truly professional. Very nice work! Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.

I wish this had a better low mode and the ability to tailstand.

Hikelite, the small flashlight is DQG Tiny AAA. It's the first edition, after which Ric decided to make a famous DQG II run.

As for the availability of other LEDs, I guess, they're waiting on the market response for SE-1 with XP-E LED. But in my opinion, as a "pocket rocket" XP-E is the best choice. XP-G and XM-L won't throw that far.

And thanks to all of you for nice comments. I really appreciate it ! :)

There are only two store selling Balder, the CNQ as Sir John mentioned and Intl-Outdoor.

All of Intl-Ourdoor's prices are better for the rest of the Balder than CNQ's, I see no one mentioned that. E xcept for the price on the SE-1 which is reviewed here.

Thanks Coolper. I want to find these small flashlights but Ric keeps saying these are his runs and stuff, they are from sellers on Taobao. But since the naming has been changed by him it's almost impossible to find them.

This flashlight is spectacularly good looking and you should tell them it looks better without any "writings" on it.

Foyapproved™

Well... The naming hasn't been changed and it's not Ric's creation. "DQG" comes from Duquingang - the name of the maker of all DQG lights (including all variations). This is a young flashlight enthusiast from China, that makes the DQG flashlights by his own hands. You can check his website here:

http://www.duqingang.com/

There's also link to shoudian forum about it.

I'm affraid, that you won't find this first DQG anywhere. They were on Taobao, under the same name, a year ago. I tried to buy them via Taobao agent then ...but they appeared to be already sold out. A short time later, Ric posted a thread on CPF about them. It seems, that he bought all remaining stock and sold it on CPF. Here's the thread (with my pics on the 6th site):

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?242840-cnqualitygoods.com-Preorder-D.Q.G-Tiny-AAA-CREE-R2-EDC-Flashlight-The-Last-batch

As a consolation... This light has quite unique UI (tighten for off, untighten for max > untighten more for low) ...and this UI doesn't work well. Because of tiny dimensions of everything, this light requires watchmaker precision to operate as it should.

Awesome review and photos Coolperl!

I really like this light, I may buy it but it needs to be runs at 1Amp. This light needs a XM-L Led if it's running at 1.8Amps.

The should sell 4 versions XPE(1Amp), XRE(1Amp), XGP(1.5amps) and XM-L(2Amps or less).

They need to make all their lights like this.

awww.... in a perfect world..

What diameter and length has that narrow middle part? Could someone please take a measurement? Thanks.

It's 17mm in diameter and has 29mm of lenght.

The XML version is out for $23 including shipping.