@Pulsar- Thanks for the heads up on the Q5 emitter. I just placed and order for my next light and its a XM-L U2 26650 light so hopefully it will attract more interest. These are my first Q5 lights and i dont see a problem with them at all. I do understand that many members are “lumen freaks” and the Q5 doesnt put out as much as say a U2.
I did actually check the tail cap after the test and just checked it again. It was perfectly dry after my initial test but i will most likely be doing more tests under water and probably in the pool
Im guessing one way to fix water seepage in other lights would be to epoxy the tail cap boot in place, right?
@Relic, just looked at the pills for these lights and i can tell without taking the emitter off that the Q5 tactical has a hollow pill and the blue Q5 doesnt have a hollow pill. blue lights driver is soldered to the pill and the tactical lights driver just appears to be press fit in the pill. suggestions on getting them out are still welcome
For the press-fit driver, pry it out with something that will fit in the small hole near on the edge.
The blue light’s pill is aluminum and I do not see any solder there, should just pop out as on the other light.
Not surprised about the tactical light having a hollow pill. It has several cheap parts (plastic reflector and lens) which often go hand-in-hand with hollow pills.
I may’ve missed it, but for the blue light, does the pill screw into the head?
And, how is the reflector secured in the head? Is it just the pressure of the screwed in pill push against the reflector to hold the reflector in place? Also, how far up into the inside of the head do the threads inside the body where the pill screws into go?
Sorry for all the questions, but I’ve been lookiing for a tube style light to use a host where I’m using a TIR or 3up Carclo.
Thanks,
Jim
Edit: BTW, is there any code that can be used at Aurabuy?
@ohaya, yes the pill screws into the host body and the reflector actually looks to be screwed into the head (cant manage to get it out right now). im trying to think of a way to unscrew it but having dificulty getting a good grip on it. As far as your third question, not exactly sure what you are asking so im hoping the following pictures will help answer it or you can rephrase it
Pill half way unscrewed to show it better
EDIT: as far as codes go, not sure but ill check. HOWEVER both of these lights are on sale right now at 8% less than the prices listed in the review. ill get back to you on aurabuy codes though, didnt even think to search for any
Sorry. I was having a hard time phrasing my questions.
As background, I was comparing the design of the blue light against an UF S5 that I just got yesterday. discussed in this thread:
See post #41 and after that.
That head of that light is designed such that the inside of the head is threaded, and then there’s a threaded retaining ring that goes “behind” the reflector and the pill. Neither the reflector nor the pill are thread, they just drop into the head, then you screw the retaining ring into the head, which pushes the reflector against the front lens, and the pill up against the reflector.
Nice thing about that is that the threads go further towards the front of the head, so that if you use a TIR lens or a Carclo lens, instead of the original reflector, both of which are much shorter than the original reflector, you can just keep screwing that retaining ring tighter and it’ll secure the TIR or Carclo lens with the pill behind it.
As I said, I was mentally trying to compare the S5 design/arrangment vs. the blue light. What I’m looking for with the blue light would be to replace the reflector with a Carclo 3up lens, replace the emitter with a 3up emitter/star, and replace the driver with a boost driver.
As I said, I’m pretty sure that the Carclo lens is going to be shorter (height) than the original reflector in the blue light, so I was wondering if the pill will be able to be screwed further up into the head to hold the Carclo lens in place.
The S5 design is almost perfect for this, except that the pill is really tiny. I think that I can mount the 3up emitter star on top of the pill (rather inside the recessed area), but the problem is, I think, going to be space for the driver.
The pill for the blue light looks a little larger (height), so there might be a better chance with the blue light for what I’m thinking of.
Does that clarify my questions?
Thanks,
Jim
P.S. And yes, I may just go ahead and buy one just to try it… I seem to have bought a bunch of cheap lights already for this, trying different “hosts”, so one more won’t break the bank… though I’m getting kind of impatient to get this build done!!
Yes thats is easier to understand. To answer your question yes the pill is able to screw further into the head (youd do something like how i took the picture and not screw it completely in but the battery takes up the slack). there is no retaining ring for the reflector however if you replaced the reflector with one that didnt screw in, you could just add a retaining ring since the head is threaded what appears to be all the way up. im going to try and get a hold of the reflector and pull it out so i can get pictures for you. this light is a little over $10 with the 8% discount applied without the need of a code and has free shipping too
the good thing about this host is you can screw the pill in however far you want. i have it screwed all the way in since thats what works best “stock” but if you do replace the reflector and emitters then you can adjust the pill out however far you need. im 95% sure this host will do what you are looking for and if you have any other questions or need pictures let me know
EDIT: apparently there is a retaining ring behind the reflector so will work perfectly for you. at first it looked like the retaining ring was part of the reflector and thats why it wasnt coming out but was able to get ahold of it and twist it out. see picture below
lens is the same thickness as the o-ring (sorry dont have the calipers on me atm)
Nice effort writing this review…
They are nice budget lights.
Very funny…
Your review had prompted me to consider a bit about old school Q5/R2 XRE emitters… About their efficiency etc.
I came to conclusion that they are still brightest domed emitters around. Driven at currents up to 1,7A(there are no sense of driving them more than that) beats(lux/candela) or equals domed versions of younger XP E/G 2 brothers…
But of course things drastically change upon de doming and over-driving them. Younger s win in this case with better thermal/current/brightness ability
Only few of them that could join old XRE and they are also old XPE and XPC emitters.
So if you guys don’t want to de dome… XRE (especially EZ900) will be throw winner in plenty configurations…
Thanks for that info luminarium iaculator. its good to know that the XRE and other “older” emitters can still be good lights. I do enjoy these “budget” lights for the time being and currently only have one “serious” light but now have another on the way
there is a lot of sense driving xr-e’s and xp-e’s beyond 1.7a……they take it and contiue to put out more light and throw, I like them between 2.4 and 2.8a tbh.
Thanks for the reviews on some proper budget lights, suggest a jacobs a60 from aurabuy next and track down my direct drive mod - instant, very very cheap good fun thrower with no irritating blinky modes.
It wouldn’t suprise me if it turned out both these lights used the same driver as the jacobs and could be similarly direct drive modded, the difference in output will put a real grin on your face.
Also please do a post on modding these into laser hosts, that will make for an interesting post.
You can actually mod both of these into lasers very easily
I thought the tactical had been done before and I found it
I am not the owner of any of the lasers shown above. Photos borrowed from the owners
If anyone is interested in buying these hosts and turning them into a laser or having one built for you, then please PM me and we can talk about options and who to get in touch with
You can drive them over that point but you will not see any big improvement… I have put it on 8×nanjg105C and measured with light meter and just slightly better improvement over 1,7 one. So I am really interested into your theory of big light improvement when driven to 2,4 or more amps… That is simply not true… More light and throw will happen but not more than 5%.
If you were talking about XP-E2 or G2’s that theory would have a lot of sense.
I tried several times with different current and results are pretty much the same…
So I was very surprised when I came to this forum and read threads where people drive them up to 2,4/2,8 amp of current…
I say no to overriding them more than 1,7A.
A lot of talk and measurements have been taken on this theme especially on cpf forum
its pretty simple, at 1.7a the light wont hit a target at a specific distance, at 2.4a it will.
That to me is an improvement, and since I still get an hours runtime out of a half decent 18650 at that output, I’m happy with it, but then, I will not entertain the idea of an aspheric, I just plain don’t like them, so what suits me will not suit you and visa versa, what suits your usage wont suit mine.
Nice reviews, Livinloud! I really dig the look of that first light. Looks aggressive as heck but I could do without the attack bezel. If that could accept a Solarforce smooth or light crenelated bezel it'd be the bomb. Many Solarforce clones will take a Solarforce bezel and if it did it'd be a great host for some mods. 8)
That blue one looks pretty good for a budget light in that price range. I like the double o-rings on each end of the battery tube. Looks like the prefect host for a laser mod!
Thanks for the reviews! I think there aren't many comments to these reviews because most are put off by the XR-E emitters but it doesn't mean you didn't do a good job. ;)
@Johnny, thanks for the kind words. I didnt realize at the time i bought these lights that people didnt care for the XR-Es any more. I knew most of the talk was about the XM-Ls but didnt know people completely disregarded this emitter. I took this into consideration for the light i purchased today so will have a XM-L U2 review in hopefully a week or two
Also since they are cheap hosts, figured they’d be good candidates for mods. Do you happen to have the OD of the solarforce bezel so i can measure the ID on this light to see if itd fit
JM, I have a champagne version of that 2650 light from eBay. Not bad.
Livinloud, Aurabuy do reviewer programs and they might send you a review sample if you like. These 26650 lights are quite popular that particular one looks to be built nicely.
