I received the UltraFire 1226 I bought via the Old Lumens sale:
(Thanks OL! I received the light in great shape, I’m very happy!)
This light is a lot heavier than I expected, but in a good way. The factory emitter is listed as an XM-L T6, but doesn’t seem as high-quality as it should be. It performs much better than the CW LB counterfeits found in recent budget lights, but the dome seems slightly off center. I don’t have the means to magnify the bond wire junctions at the moment to see if they are square or round. If this is a counterfeit, it’s a better quality one, but given this light’s performance as-is, it should be fantastic after replacing the emitter with a XM-L2 (or XP-L or XP-G2). Unfortunately, the 26mm PCB on this light is secured on the middle of the plate using glue, with no centering cutout. I’ll have to replace this cutout with an XP-board (preferably DTP) if I want to use the XP sized emitters, and I expect re-centering the emitter may prove difficult.
Second item; I had a 2-year-old but never used Dell Precision 9-cell laptop battery pack given to me for disposal. After charging the pack, I tore it down and found 9 LGABD11865 cells inside. I’ve checked the spec sheet and these are decent 3000mAh cells with 5.8A max discharge current. Four of them have already been re-wrapped with button toppers as a matched set for use in the 1226. A single-emitter light with 12Ah worth of cells should give me some serious runtime! The second four will be another matched set for use in my SRK. The last cell will be used to power one of my Convoy S-series lights which has an older lower-capacity cell installed at the moment.
My two 3D BLF A6’s arrived today. Am just waiting for it to get dark enough to take them out and have a play with them.
And as a nice little bonus, I came across a torch hidden away that I’d forgotten I’d even bought (a long time prior to becoming a forum member here), a Jacob A60. From my perspective a decent little thrower. Need to do some digging to see what simple mods (if any) I can do to it and if they’re worth it.
The switch on these is notoriously bad, but it can be replaced easily. Now, no more using a lighter to heat shrink wrap, or grabbing the wife’s hair dryer when I’m re-wrapping cells…
Also picked up a few additional goodies
A pack of 1/8” drill bits (always breaking those)
AA-alkalines (The ones from Harbor Freight are cheap, but I haven’t had one leak yet)
A spare changeable bit screwdriver for $1.99 (I had lost a bit on my good one)
A 10-pack assortment of grinder wheels/cut-off wheels/flap-wheel sander disk
A $4.99 air pressure gauge with regulator (for my pneumatic bait launcher build)
My new works torch has just arrived - a Nitecore EA11. And whilst I’ve not been able to get out into the sticks to have a proper play, just from casual use around the house I’m still struggling to quite wrap my head around something so small and light can put out so much light. I like everything about it - the beam is nice and throwy (I like throwy torches) whilst being usable up close, the buttons feel good, and whilst it’s small it’s not fiddly to use. It’s just brilliant. It impressed me even more than the A6’s (and I love the A6’s.)
It actually seems like a waste taking it to work. Will definitely be getting another.
I got my Manker Rambler in today which was on sale during the Banggood 9.9 day. Nice torch, well made and is bright too on high. The switch button is a bit different to most, it’s quite strong and takes some getting used to.
