I don’t often look at Banggood anymore, but recently I was browsing through all Astrolux flashlights and I noticed a few (new) flashlights that looked quite good (at least in case of the EP03) and well built, all for a pretty affordable price. (The LED’s are all LH351B’s, but for these prices (at least the EP03 en specifically the HS03 headlight) it might be interesting to buy one and swap out the LED’s for a better option.)
When reading further through the spec’s I read what is an absolute deal killer for me and I think for almost all of the members here on BLF: Banggood/Astrolux have put SOS and Strobe in the main mode selection!
I really thought Astrolux was past the point of doing what (almost) all the (really) cheap Chinese flashlight manufacturers do with the standard (crappy) UI…
The only ‘saving grace’ is that the HS03 also has (what Astrolux calls) “Stepless dimming: 8 brightness”, in which (I assume) isn’t the Strobe and SOS. (The EP03 and EP05 haven’t got this function as far as I can tell.)
I think it’s a shame that Banggood/Astrolux ‘did a step backwards’ when ordering these flashlights (from an 'outside manufacturer) with this UI. I was certainly tempted to pick up a EP03 and HS03 for that price and see how much work it would be to open them and swap out the LED’s, but with also having to change the driver (and not knowing how difficult that might be), costs are already adding up quite a bit…
Yes, but they could’ve also decided to ask the manufacturer to hide those modes behind a triple click in the UI. But because that probably isn’t the standard driver UI that manufacturer uses, it would’ve cost extra money, so that was an obvious ‘no-go’!
I did a shorts video about the Astrolux ED01’s UI here.
Would you believe that they put the AUX lights as a mode ‘level’ in the normal UI rotation? As in, you can’t enable AUX lights outside of the output modes of L-M-H-Aux.
Astrolux really looked at Emisar and Wurkkos/Sofirn etc and went “Oh shit, looks like AUX lights are the new thing - let’s put it in the mode rotation! That’s what people want right?”
It’s a reverse clicky, it’s hard to implement aux another way without some actual skilled developers, which it seems Astrolux is lacking.
I haven’t tried it yet, but it seems like the ED01 has a reflashable MCU, with 3 flashing pads (although not in the standard t1616 layout, 3 pins does imply UPDI so hopefully an MCU that’s easy to develop for). Does anyone have any teardowns so I can see the driver layout and ideally detail of the MCU? I keep thinking it might be a good candidate for some custom firmware.
Yeah, I meant photos of the other side of the driver
I’ll try and find the time to have a go at reading the MCU signature off mine but I’ll need to put together a custom adapter first as the pin pitch is wrong for my existing rewireable ones.
I would have rather they didn’t put the AUX in at all, in that case. Apart from the infinitely SHITTY switch and AUX in the UI, it’s actually a nice light
I completely abandoned Astrolux. I won’t buy any of their new flashlights, because for electronic switches, they usually end up flashing NarsilM. At least, they did this the last time I looked. They never seemed to embrace Anduril.
It’s sad, because this company has made some pretty decent flashlights in the past. Solid construction, dependable switches, and reasonably good QC.
For budget priced good quality flashlights, Lumintop was my favorite for a while, with Sofirn a close second… but then Wurkkos came along and they’ve scored some real winners recently (TS10 and TS11).
I hope AstroLux can turn things around. The more companies out there competing, the better products we end up getting.
Previously most of the Astrolux lights came from Mateminco and (for a short period) Sofirn (or it’s parent company) also made a few models. (Now you also see some flashlights under the Mateminco brand popping up on Banggood, including the (new?) A1s, which isn’t being sold in Mateminco’s own Aliexpress store, as far as I can tell.)
Not sure where these new lights come from; specifically the EP03 looks well machined, with a nice metal button. The HS03 headlight looks mostly like a standard “D10”, except for the different bezel and the triple LED/TIR combination.
They’re like the one that got away for me lol