Hey everyone. This is a video/picture review of the Skilhunt DS10 EDC flashlight. About 2 weeks ago they sent me this light and the H02 headlamp for review, so after a ton of work here is the first of two reviews.
The DS10 is the smallest light in Skilhunt’s new EDC line of flashlights. The DS10 accepts 16340, CR123, or RCR123 batteries and has an operating voltage of 2-4.2 volts. For all my tests I used a Keepower 16340 700 mah protected battery. Here are some of the specs for the light, as provided by Skilhunt.
| Battery | (1x) CR123, RCR123, 16340 |
| Operating Voltage | 2v-4.2v |
| LED | XML-2 |
| Color | Black |
| Accessories | Manual, Warranty Card, o-rings, magnet replace o-ring, lanyard, clip |
| Optional Accessories | Headband |
| Length | 76mm/2.99in |
| Body Diameter | 24mm/.94in |
| Head Diameter | 22mm/.86in |
| Weight | 47g/1.65oz |
| Impact Resistance | 1.5m |
| Water Resist Rating | IPX-8 |
| Body Construction | Type III Anodized Aluminum |
| Lens | Coated Glass |
Here are the output ratings given by Skilhunt.
| FL1 Standard | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| Output Lumens | 300 | 180 | 60 | 2 |
| Runtime | 1 hr 20 mins | 2 hrs 30 mins | 7 hrs | 140 hrs |
Ok, so just go in assuming the real review is the video review. Mode level comparison, runtimes, operation, comparison to the Sunwayman V11r are all done there. I tried to keep it interesting by not making it a table top styled review, and the video is in 1080p HD, so it’s nice and clear. But I’ll give all the vitals here, in case you hate videos.
So first off this light is small, it’s even smaller than my EDC Sunwayman V11R. And up until this point I had never used a Skilhunt light.
My initial impression, is that this light ranks with other premium lights I own including, Sunwayman, Nitecore, Xtar, Armytek, Fenix, and Spark. The anodization, as should be expected is flawless.
As far as carry options go, every EDC light should at least come with a clip. The DS10 has an easily removable clip that lets you carry it either bezel up or tail cap up. I find it works much better for pocket carry and tail standing, if you have it oriented with the bezel facing away from the clip opening. Like you can see in the photos.
While I don’t use the lanyards that seem to come with every flashlight, the DS10 comes with one and has a hole in the tailcap that allows you to attach the lanyard.
The light uses a cool white XML-2 emitter. As far as color temperature goes, it’s not overly blue, like a lot of the budget lights out there.
Here’s a tint comparison between a Sunwayman v11r XML-2. You can see the Skilhunt leans a little more neutral than the Sunwayman.
The head of the flashlight is top notch. You have a highly polished aluminum reflector and a nice coated lens held in place by a stainless steel bezel.
Inside the battery tube you get two springs, which help adsorb shock if you drop the light. Since the switch is electronic, you might have to turn the light back on if it’s dropped hard.
The threads are anodized at the end of the battery tube, and they down into a semi-square thread.
There’s also a removable magnet in the tail cap, that works very well. You’ll need a tiny Philips screwdriver to remove it. This gives the light quite a bit of versatility as a work light too. You replace the magnet with the included thick rubber o-ring.
I mentioned earlier that the switch is electronic on this light. It isn’t sensitive enough to active in your pocket, save for a heavy jarring, but it’s also easy enough to intentionally activate with your thumb. If we consider the Armytek one of the more harder electronic switches to depress, and the Sunwayman D40A an easy switch to depress, figure that it falls in the middle to the slight Armytek side of the scale.
Also nearby the switch it has a battery life indicator that seems to activate right after the mode stepdown at 3.45v, and it flashes telling you it’s time for a charge or battery replacement. No worries though about being cut off too soon after the indicator begins flashing, because it seemed to have a good 20 minutes of lower but usable light left when I was using it in high mode.
Ok so now 2 beamshots. These two shots are just here to give an idea of the beam pattern.
First one is a little under exposed. 2.2f, 1/15, 1250 iso.
The second is a little brighter. 2.2f, 1/30, 50 iso.
Next up are the mode level comparisons. For this test the camera was set to manual and all of the settings were the same for each photo. The mode spacing isn’t my favorite, it’s probably be better with a moonlight and getting rid of one of the medium modes.
Ok so the levels are name backwards, compared how the are laid out in the user interface. When you scroll through the modes it goes from low to high. Anyway here’s mode 4, which is technically the first mode you come to when turning it on. For a detailed step-by-step operation on how to use the user interface check out the video. I go over everything. Also I was not able to detect PWM on any level- which is awesome.
Here are a few comparisons between other lights I own. All are similar sized lights, some rated lower and some rated higher in output. I feel that considering the manufacturer rated output of all lights, the DS10 is pretty close to the 300 lumens claim. For reference here are the manufacturer ratings for the other lights.
Fenix………… 117
Sunwayman… 500
Spark………….280
Skilhunt……….300
Ok, what about the runtimes? There is a detailed account in the video along with brightness levels, but heres what I found when testing the lights. I used the Keeppower 700mah seen in the picture to get these runtimes.
Level 4… 76 hours before it shuts off. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of step down.
Level 3… 4 hours 30 minutes (tested twice with nearly the same result).
Level 2… 2 hours before cut off.
Level 1… Total time 1 hour 16 minutes with stepdown at 53 minutes. At the stepdown the low voltage light begins to flash at 3.45v.
So that about wraps it up. If I could sum it up in just two sentences, it would be this. The mode spacing needs improvement. The DS10 is a great, high quality EDC light that is very versatile.
