Hello everyone, this my first review, so please feel free to offer suggestions, and I’d be happy to add any information upon request. I hope I don’t leave out too much….
This review is fondly dedicated to Foy, whose masterful reviews are what first brought me to this awesome site. RequiescatInPaceFoy. This light was sent to me for review by Dealmetic. Link (Non-affiliate) Also, here are the two BLF discussion threads on this light:
Consolidated discussion thread:
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Initial Impressions:
The light (an 18650 flashlight with cool white XM-L2 and aspheric lens) is very well constructed and solid for a zoomie. I have to admit, the only other zoomie I’ve handled is the ubiquitous sk68 clone, but 7 or 8 have gone through my hands from 4 or 5 manufacturers, and this one easily beats them all in feel, heft, and overall quality. Not perfect by any means, but excellent for a $7.99 light. The “zooming” mechanism is extremely smooth and stiff (which I consider a good thing) due to an o-ring around the pill.
Pros:
Bright! The driver is a 5-mode direct drive.
Good finish and anodizing. Above average for a budget light, but not Convoy quality.
Second gen LED (not that big of a deal, but nice)
Good solid clip
Clean aspheric lens and clean smooth threads (again, not a huge deal, I can always wash the lens and take some steel wool and Superlube to the threads, but nice nonetheless.)
Excellent thermal path! the light gets warm almost immediately and eventually quite hot(direct drive does that! ;))
Beautiful very wide spill with virtually unnoticeable rings, and well defined hotspot (hotsquare?) zoomed in.
Cons
Thin triangular threads (very much to be expected from this price point)
Stupid blinkies. Arrgh……… But the SOS is actually SOS, and not SOOS!
Modes are not terribly well spaced
I’m 99% sure the shiny tailcap and bezel are aluminum, not stainless steel (Again, definitely to be expected at this price point)
Plastic lens (again, expected)
I really have very few complaints about this light, and none at all when you consider the excellent price. I will tear apart the pill once I do the video Dealmetic asked for, but Tom E’s and everyone else’s that I know of has a solid pill (rather unusual for a budget zoomie) and I have no reason to doubt that mine does as well. There are a few blemishes in the ano, but they are minimal and not really noticeable if you’re not specifically looking for things to criticize. The light tailstands, but not 100% reliably because the tailcap protrudes ever so slightly.
Modes/Current Draw
High: 3.6A
Medium: 1.7A
Low: 0.84A
Strobe: Too fast to measure (looks like the same as high)
SOS: Same as high
Measurements were taken with a fresh Efest purple IMR18650. The driver is direct drive with no memory as far as I can tell. Current would increase with bypassed springs and probably beefed up driver-LED wires. I wish the modes were better spaced.
Pics:
Disassembled:
Threads:
Lens:
Pill:
Battery side of driver (press fit):
Battery tube walls:
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!! I will add beamshots soon, but be patient, I’m in my senior year of high school and school is crazy! (And I’m a member of a University orchestra: lots of work!)
Beamshots (65 yards to the far pine tree, ~10 to the two near trees, all shots taken with the same shutter speed, aperture, etc.):
Convoy s8 @ 3A:
XinTD C8 XM-L2 3A:
Zeusray Flood:
Zeusray “zoomed in”:
Thanks to everyone who checked out my review, and feel free to add constructive criticism!
There’s code in the link that sizes the picture. Quote me and you’ll see the change.
Edit: you may also want to plug the larger size picture into the forum’s code and use the size % so it automatically scales it for different screen resolutions.
As a fellow senior, I feel you. The first week and a half of school are always hell for me. And I myself have to light a fire and finish up two pending reviews…
Nice brief review! Wow - my youngest daughter has 7 years on you! Dang I'm old! I read Lord of the Rings several times, before you were even born -- always liked your nick-name/icon .
The pill top is super thick and does get the heat out to the body quick, but that's a good thing. I got two, and one has the real shiny aluminum tailcap, the other is duller. Definitely aluminum, not SS for the bezel and tailcap. Actually the tailcap is the shiniest I've seen, accept for O-L's polished up jobs.
This is the best of the best in under $10 budget zoomies as far as I'm concerned...
About the light and aging ! I really like this light I am not a lover of zoomies but I love this one I have 3 and got rid of my sipik 96 and 98 ,TomE did you ever figure out the tail switch?
Might be worth adding links to the earlier two long threads of discussion as this deal was worked out here.
Search for “Dealmetic”
It’s a rare case — the Dealmetic folks came here, paid attention to discussion about the earlier, much cheaper, poorer quality version of the zoomie light they first offered, and gave us this current one with a real, honest, solid, massive pill. They’re the only source I know of that actually did this right.
Now that doesn’t mean we don’t watch them because every company has a beancounter somewhere trying to figure out how to steal away a few pennies worth of aluminum that they don’t think people will notice …. but as long as they keep this design, and maybe even improve it further, they’ll be important people to have on board here.
You point out things they could still improve, likely at little cost — make square threads instead of triangular cuts, for example. That’s be a big deal.
If they want glory, they’ll sell us the pills so we can buy their cheap hollow pill version, throw out the LED and driver, and build improved models — or sell us the good light as a host without LED and driver. Let’s hope.
Yes! I think I did the best I could - should have taken pics... On one (the modded one) I got installed an Omten switch, this one: fasttech-omten-1217-15a-250v. I had to do some work to make it fit - filed/sanded down corner and ends til I could get it to press fit into the tail assembly. So the original plastic housing for the switch is out now. Then copper wired the spring and soldered the spring to the switch. It all looks bare but works very well now - no loss's, and think it will hold up ok. Had to use kapton tape on the side of the switch with the spring tab, and the other tab broke off - added some solder to it so when press fit in (by hand), it makes a tight fit for electrical contact. Real klugy but seems to work quite well. Wish I had a better solution - tried modding the internals of the switch but no luck for improvements.
Again as posted before, to get the switch apart I drilled 2 holes in the plastic so I could turn it using needlenose enough to loosen it for removal.
hm, on my two, the entire switch comes out of the tailcap just by gently pushing on the green button cover, no need to drill or rotate at all.
I’m starting to guess the variability on these is a bit higher than usual.
I haven’t pried out the brown ring covering the emitter yet, nor popped out the driver, to see what could be better.
I’d like a less blue emitter eventually.
Thanks for the review Legolas, I like short ones better too :-)
Hmm, they are improving the light for us, let me request: narrower head, or bigger and thicker lens. Like this it is a 'waste of diameter'. (and get rid of the crenelation, flashlights are more beautiful without them IMO).
Should be noted those amp readings are highly dependent on the cell you use (make/model, charge level, age/use) because of the DD nature of the driver.
Edit: I'm think'n of putting my bezel's to the bench sander to flatten them out. I don't like the "attack" bezels on these either.
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