The Nextorch TA30C is a small, 18650-powered duty light with a rotary control and soft button on its tailswitch. Unfortunately, its driver does not befit its price point and it’s far too easy to accidentally activate strobe.
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Wow, the poor regulation came unexpected. I know that the previous generation had a simple PWM driver, but after reviewing the TA30C Max I hoped that they switched to something better for all models of that generation.
Anyway, thanks for the review! I still want something smaller than my TA30C Max, but only with a proper driver.
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The 21700 version is a very different design, it looks like. The battery goes in backwards and it has a signal tube. The XHP50.3 HI doesn’t come in 3V does it? If not, it must be a boost driver.
Oh wow. So the 18650 TA30C has the battery in the usual orientation and no double tube?
The 50.3 HI is also available in a 3V variant. But I wasn’t able to figure out how the driver works in the TA30C Max. Adding all the cables added so much resistance (or bad contact), that it didn’t function properly.
Did you take out the reflector and measure voltage across the LED?
No, but I’m pretty sure it’s a boost converter because it provides a stable output down to 2.75 V when the protection of the battery kicks in.
Well that’s a completely different light then, and the price point is much more justifiable. I still absolutely hate the decision to emphasize strobe in the UI - just making the tailswitch high-only (or a low-high gas pedal like some Surefire and Olight products) would greatly improve it.
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Some users do actually want instant access to strobe. Just a shame, that many of users (such as light painters) want a constant frequency instead of the alternating frequency strobe that manufacturers are currently obsessed with. If all flashlights has the same UI, it would be a boring hobby.
Has someone built a light painting specific variant of Anduril yet?
Not as far as I’m aware, but unless it was available in a stock light (or limited run), I wouldn’t be able to recommend it to other light painters anyway.