Avoid the MAO finish if you want something durable. Despite that info the brands are selling when advertising, it’s been the complete opposite for every person that’s purchased a flashlight with it.
I have the Cyansky P25 V2, the finish feels amazing and it looks nice, BUT, it scratches like no tomorrow. The tail threads have worn through so it can’t be locked out, and the clip was taking the finish off by turning it ever so slightly, so I quickly removed the clip. Matt Smith/Lumencraft reviewed the Acebeam X75 MAO and by carrying both the MAO and black versions, just from rubbing against each other, the MAO was scratched while the black was perfect.
I will never offer to review or buy another with that finish.
Aluminum instantly oxidizes upon contact with air so any bare aluminum you see has already formed its oxide protective lawyer, yet looks metallic grey.
That said i have not read the links above yet so i assume there is more to MAO
For me, MAO is only for cosmetic reasons. Not for edc or rough use (its white !!). the finishing on my S2+ is really nice, but it does come off rather easily.
It’s a much less polluting process, that’s the main advantage, that is in no way a gimmick.
Also it’s supposed to be tougher from the litterature I read, but current production lights with MAO appears fragile, maybe because the process is still immature ? I don’t know, we’ll see if the quality improves.
It’s not that great a protective layer. It really is only a few nanometers thick. Like 2 or 3nm. Hard anondized aluminum is at least over 20,000nm.
It’s harder, doesn’t scratch as easily. Its not reactive. Its dielectric, an insulator. And it’s porous, so it holds on to lubricants. It can be sealed with lubricant already in the pores and be self lubricating. I have no idea what they use with flashlights tho. Plus it’s pretty and paint doesn’t work as well
As far as mao vs anodized idk. Would depend how they do it. You can anodize a lot of different colors but you can’t do white afaik. The point of Mao might just be to make a white flashlight.
I held off buying any after seeing the fiasco with Wurkkos’ batch on the TS10. I was curious when Simon introduced his but I haven’t seen any comments about it (other than smudging easily with dirt).
I got to put hands on some items with USA-applied mao finish and it’s really a durable finish, better than type III anodizing (when that’s done for real). At this point I think maybe there’s a communication/technical description error with our vendors in China, or that perhaps their finishing factories simply do not have the knowledge or tech to do this correctly (and it’s possible that they are simply trying to do it on the cheap if it’s the same method/chemicals). Coatings and finishes are high tech and big dollars these days so it’s possible that the “real” thing just isn’t possible over there yet. Dunno. Here, that finish can be had in the off white, a greenish drab color, and something close to black.
I wouldn’t mind paying a premium for a more durable finish but I definitely do not want a less durable finish and don’t want the double whammy of paying a little more money for something much less durable. I hope maybe they can do it better because it does look neat and an improvement over even the usual type II anodizing would be nice (many lights seem to use type II even if they state type III…).
Makes sense. It’d be easy to just powder coat or cerakote something white and call it MAO. The whole thing is fishy. Mainly that they’re all white. Like MAO is synonymous with white flashlights. There’s some reasons to make them white for sure. But MAO isn’t exclusively white.
The main issue everyone seems to have with these MAO lights is that they get dirty. Ok, so if it’s a superior coating but the issue is it gets dirty, then make it in black. Or combine it with anodizing, they aren’t mutually exclusive. Or just seal it better. But none of them are. It’s all the same white Mao.
And why are they getting so dirty in the first place? Isn’t mao supposed to be less porous than anodized? Or have an outside layer that is at least? Don’t we use it in medical and dental implants? It wouldn’t be a great fake tooth if it got dirty so easily. Different kinds of Mao I guess but still, shouldn’t it at least be easy to clean? Don’t we use mao coated bearings in turbochargers spinning 250,000rpm? And on piston heads? They would need to be like Teflon. Dirt just comes right off.
And if it’s so good a coating why aren’t we using it on everything? Why is it only medical devices, aerospace, high end cars, some components on expensive firearms and electronics and… flashlights? Because it’s so expensive right? But you can get one for like $30? Really? Aerospace and $30 flashlights? The coating is supposed to be harder than hardened steel, several times harder than hard anodized, it shouldn’t be a question of whether it’s better or not, it should be obvious that it is. But it’s not obvious
Which makes me think it’s just a gimmick or just what they’re callkng these white flashlights and they might not actually be Mao, it’s just what they decided to call this style.
