GUYS, Please forgive me for calling it a review (don’t want to offend those who write top notch reviews) but I will try to give you some feedback. I can only do it as much as time allows. so I apologize in advance for my unprofessional approach.
To distinguish it clearly I’ll make 2 replies which I’ll be updating as I move on.
Questions are welcome however I’ll hesitate before disassembling. This seems to be not my level for modifications.
UI - will feedback later since I’m not sure if I mastered it enough. At this moment it seems to be the weakness of Beaconix.
And so it was…
For reference I measured Jax Z1. Distance 8.5m. This gives 1050m throw. Opple3.
Fisrt Impression:
Very quick delivery. Big and quite heavy. It came with a few minor scratches which was surprising. They come in a modest box and are accompanied only by usb cable and lanyard.
General machining quality and anodizing is comparable to Sofirn. The body appears to be a monolith except for the bezels which come on both ends. The LCD display is very legible and easy readable but looks kind of modest with weird little protruding screws. No logo, no inprinted text except for a few Chinese letters which I don’t understand.
ZOOM
It slides (not twists) but it feels very precise and well assembled. The body piece and the sliding piece are ideally coaxial and there’s no rattling at all. The downside is plastic lens however the quality is so good I had to make double sure. No coating applied but the transparency is quite amazing. Only its weight convinced me it must be plastic.
Focusing range is adjusted just perfect: from tight spot to wide flood. The flood is wider than in Convoy Z1 but narrower than Jaxman Z1. In general focusing mechanism is the strong side of this flashlight. Best slide I had in my hand, definitely.
It is possible to split axes of both pieces but only applying some force on purpose.
Rear end COB light:
This is still a mystery for me. It obviously gives a floody light but having it already at front I wonder what is the advantage of having it also at the rear end. I hope to figure it out soon because maybe it’s super efficient or higher CRI or wider or… Just don’t know it atm.
Modding:
Doesn’t seem to be easy. The interior can be accessed only at the ends. Batteries cannot be accessed either. A big downside I think.
Yesterday I did some night shots comparing it to my Jaxman Z1 SFT-40 at 9A L4P driver (I assume real 2400LM and over 1km range). I thought comparing to twice as expensive flashlight and getting half of range would be OK but to my surprise the range seems to be just a bit worse. This was the biggest positive surprise on this flaslight so far. I realize the measured values (which I hope to take soon) may show not that slight difference but the naked eye impression is really satisfactory.
Fisrt Impression:
It’s not white micro arc oxidation. It’s just silver anodizing. But together with the red accents the look is really good. Lighter and smaller than it’s BX5 brother. Diameter similar to 3x 18650 soda cans but around 30-40% longer.
Tell me this isn’t the same light…just different patterning on the outside, even seems to have the same led and cob in the end.
Just by looking at your photo’s you can see the quality, very cheap anodising. It’s a £12 light hyped up to be something more. The one I linked, and ones extremely similar are all over Aliexpress, one just has to look - I’m not referring to outrageous lumens claims, I’m talking about the actual light and it’s body. I might buy one from Aliexpress, as the beam does look quite good if I’m honest.
Yes, you’re right. These look very similar. Hard to say if the performance is similar too. But if it is that would be awesome price talking account you get it with batteries and charging.
The scary thing is that these perform really nice. So if you can get such performance for $25 the big brands should reconsider what they offer.
If I were new into flashlights and bought Beaconix and afterwards bought twice or triple priced zoomie from a known brand and compared output I would feel tricked since the Beaconix performs really well.
You can find the entire range on Aliexpress if you look zoulas, all slightly different looking, but exactly the same, what I can’t believe is how people seemed to have gotten suckered in by them! cmon guys, we all know what a quality light is and isn’t…this most definitely ISN’T - however it IS good for £12 delivered, and I would have zero complaints about it for that price! the only difference between these and the Aliexpress ones is the company seems to be pretending to be registered in the USA, even showing photo’s on their literature of western workers in a machine shop, they aren’t going with the 10000000 lumens route though, they are preaching quality quality quality, and in my opinion kinda pretending they are USA made, when CLEARLY like you said they are mass produced clones made in a sweatshop.
Here is the literature I’m referring to -
Im nearly 2m high guy and my palm is shovel-size. Not sure but telling from the picture above that one appears to be smaller.
I really wonder if they perform the same. But as i said the performance in that price range I would call a bargain.
And if flashlights for that price can offer more or less performance of Convoy or Jaxman I’m raising the question how to convince customers to buy 2,3,4 times higher priced big brands zoomies?
Those photo’s are distorted, look at the users hands! I dunno how or why but the light in his hand seems smaller than it should be, his hand is stretched lol. Honestly though I’m 99.9% sure they are the same, I said it a while back in other threads - I browse Aliexpress quite regulerly and immediately recognised them. Plus the one I linked also has 3x 18650’s in so it can’t physically be much if any smaller.
Sorry, I must appologise, I’m not trying to be mean to you or anyone else, I just think people should know about it is all, I’d hate to think someone parted with $100 for one when in actual fact you could get one for $16 or so.
If this is supposed to mock unexperienced users we should try to reveal the truth. This is my aim.
It’s just the feeling the light are worth its price for what it offers.
But if Beaconix is offering exactly the same light but accompanied by the narration they are better than other of the same appearance - this would be unfair.
We need to realise these are just assumptions. Beaconix might use the same body but put better components inside. I just don’t want to draw too fast conclusions to not hurt anybody.
Completely fair comment 1stein. There is a tiny chance the driver may be different. I wonder since you have one, is the UI the same as this?
I may even buy one to check it out, because in theory it’s a bargain.
The UI is different. Different from anything I had so far. It requires 3 seconds press to turn it on. It’s even different from what it says on Beaconix site so I need a while more to get familiar with it.
LOL, I just browsed a few of the different models on Aliexpress, then came across this video for the same light I posted, but clearly it seems to be different, that said…WOW I want one lol! what a beast! https://tinyurl.com/emmdubrr
I’m pretty sure the “Tony” in that marketing image is Tony Maglica. Seems pretty bold to use an image of an unaffiliated company. Maglite is also notoriously lawsuit happy.
