Hi all sorry if I missed a lot of posts but I did read about Kaisers and Hank amongst others getting poor quality issues on Zuessray and this was his response: , sorry for the late reply,
just back yesterday.
the complaint already find out the reason, the supplier of had change the internal parts without notice,
and the change will effect the led.
had change all item back to the old model parts design, it should be no problem now.
the new C8 i had got the latest model which is testing.
if there is no delay, first lots of good for finial test and modify will come no later than next week.
So hopefully the issue is resolved maybe they will replace the subpar ones everyone recived I’ll try to pop back in kinda tied up with final dr. Clearances for surgery next week .
I’m a newbie, and sorry about my english. I’ve been reading about Zeusray and am very interested with it. I would like to know, is there any supplier that has a good quality one, just like the first batch Hank has?
Can’t really compare them…not the same thing or design
Zeusray is a zoomy, convoy S2/S2+ is a fixed reflector
Zoomies are usually a mix of both worlds…jack of all trades, masters of none…you can drive em pretty hard and make alot of light but the flood won’t be the same as a fixed reflector light, and throw, it does good at throw but you loose the spill in some throwers.
Get both…zoomies are good for some things but I like the slim design of the Convoy S2/S2+ as my EDC…fits much better in a pocket even though the Zeusray would fit just fine
— they got the solid pill back like with the original setup. That’s the important part.
I’d say keep watching them carefully.
We know the China Lottery is a very powerful force with this one.
—- The 2 lights I got have no little holes in the rim of the pill, so it will take more work to unscrew the pill.
—— presuming it comes out with a little tapping or by drilling holes to twist it out with, no worries.
(Maybe someone else will get to that before I do)
— they use a warmer-white LED, likely cheaper. I’d say that’s
—- OK for non-flashololic users who will use it as it comes — it’s still plenty bright, maybe better color than the original bluish white
—- OK for flashaholics, because we’ll be replacing the emitters
(That LED has been identified with pictures at Recognize this emitter (zoom focus) pattern? Splotchy red-purple (warmer, cheaper XM-L2) )
— I’m not sure whether the driver is different (might be different rate of PWM in the low brightness, but my cheap camera could be confused too)
—- That too I think is OK for non-flashoholics using the stock light, and
—- OK for flashoholics, because we’ll be replacing the drivers
I think the important story here is
— DealMetic came advertising a cheap light at a cheap price
— Someone at DealMetic listened to people at BLF who told them how to make it much, much better
— They came back with a much better light, using good parts well made
The usual “China” story is someone there copying a well-designed and well-built but expensive product from elsewhere,
and then slowly degrading the quality as the popularity goes up, til they sell a whole lot of cheap crap and the idea dies.
The new China story here is:
— someone in China found good advice free from BLF enthusiasts
— someone listened and found a way to improve on that advice, in China (the unique, solid, thick, excellent pill, aka “solid pillow hole”
— they produced their own well-designed, well-built, and inexpensive light
Then the old story took over — someone in the chain started degrading the product.
(We don’t know where or how it happened or who knew
—— someone screwed up the cutter depth on the pill;
—— someone hid the problem with a shim but failed to heatsink it
—— the batch sold through and failed terribly)
Now we have, at least for the time being, the good pill back, I think — looks like it just eyeballing behind the emitter.
We have cheaper emitters but tolerable, good enough I think, and most of us swap those anyhow.
I hope someone takes a new light apart and measures the thickness of the metal behind the emitter — is it still the same thickness?
“Trust, but verify” — R. Reagan, movie actor and politician
I just don’t understand how come there is a big price difference between dealmetic and NiceWell (aliexpress). So, i am a bit worried to buy this zeusray now.
Actually i want to use this zeusray as a ‘mule’. I now use my SK98 (18650 battery, XML T6) as a mule. It is very easy to use SK98 as a mule.
My replacements shipped out on the 7th, probably will be like hank's
The TurdRay makes a good host, and the stock drivers I got in mine have off-time mode memory! The brown disc is a little finicky to get back in, even more so if you're going to use a copper mcpcb.
It costs sellers more to sell via AliExpress than their own website. AliExpress offser consumer protections built-in, and other advantages. Part of the reason for the higher cost, maybe all the reason. Also, Dealmetic gave us a deal on this light - reduced the cost, added features, so margins are slim. Good thing is they haven't increased the price... yet
But i have told them i gladly pay more for a omten switch, copper dtp mcpcb and maybe a glass lens or no disco blink modes and low volt protection in the driver…………i still hold a tiny hope that they will listen.
Here are some pictures of a 'turd' pill. Likely the big reason why a lot of lights in the December batch got KO'd is the shiny unpasted shelf! When I opened it up this what it looked like.
Most zoomies are easily converted to a mule by taking the bezel ring and lens off, or by unscrewing the pill and taking off the hole sliding head off. That leaves the LED unprotected. One could replace the lens with a flat window or fix a diffuser, pill bottle or anything translucent over the front.
Dedomed week ago, and the zooming isn’t ideal and MCPCB is not secured to the pill, so I do some changes to it, mostly illustrated in the picture.
I still use the original brown disc, plus some tissue stuff underneath it to hold the MCPCB
I use a spare O-ring I found in my spare parts, to reduce the travel length so the beam will be fully focused. It a little bit thicker than the shim plate was in there but good enough. The side-effect is zooming mechanism is harder to move, maybe its time to do some MORE lubrication.
One more advantage of dedome, when fully focused, the LED image is square. (original with dome is a bit out of shape)
Another difference without the dome, there is a faint hotspot(slight brighter) in the middle. (original light, the lumination is equally distributed)
After dedomed, no more cool/bluish white, more like neutral white now. But now there is a bright ring around the spot when zoomed
However I like the throw pretty much, I’m current doing the next one with shim intact(extensive heat compounding) and will compare the difference.
I still don’t have my camera, so no picture
I found some feature in the brown disc: Only some brown disc have that If you take notice, there is a line on top circumference. Opposite that (180degree apart), the disc is thinner, more easier to pry it out.
*Advise: put some oil (lubrication again ) around the circumference, or at least the part you going to pry (1 or 2 drops),
take a thin material (like a blade, but best non-sharp edge) slowly work around it once you slot into the cavity on thin part.
Thanks for describing that you also got a bright ring when zoomed on your dedomed one, i only have the dedomed one so i can’t compare with the stock until they deliver a good one, and i thought it looked kind of strange, and it really annoyed me that i couldn’t remember exactly how it used to look, so thanks for confirming my suspicion.
(original with dome is a bit out of shape)
) around the circumference, or at least the part you going to pry (1 or 2 drops),