500 Lumen - AAA Flashlight (photos) - Work In Progress - Part 2

[jorn]

The X065 hit my mailbox today. Exellent long range presission
Drop test. Dropped from waist 30-40 times in lo mode. It took it like a champ. Nothing unusual happened. Then i took it with me into the shower. Hosed it down. No problem. Filled a bucket of water and dropped the torpedo 30 times into water in high mode. It leaked and fogged up the lense. Inspected it closly and i saw a tiny hair on the inner o-ring. And the inner o-ring was squeesed and deformed a tiny bit. Both were hard to spot. The inside of the reflector was still dry. So the water got past the outside if the o-rings, went on the outside of the reflector, and down the wires and into the driver. The ui got a little iffy when soaked. Dryed it, cleaned and relubed o-rings and it works fine now.
When i screw the bezel too hard back on, the inner o-ring deforms and starts squeesing into the reflector. Too loose, and i fear it might give too little tention. Just right, and it stays tight. Survived 30 new drops into water with no leaks this time.
The overall details, feel, fit and finish is exellent !! The pwm is rather slow. Is it possible to speed up the pwm frequency for the production run?


Sent from my LG-P880 using Tapatalk

 

[climberkid]

Amazing testing jorn! Thanks.

 

[DBCstm]

OMG! How can you DO that? I'd cringe every time it hit the water, flinch every time it hit the ground, and be a nervous wreck! Kudo's to you for the torture testing, I'll stick with lumens and lux output and run times. Thank you!

D³

(Did I miss something somewhere? It IS a keychain light, isn't it? Not a battle AXE?) {Auxillary Xtermination Employment}

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

23 boxes of nukes? 50 kg? whoa! Forget the explosion proof box, you need an actual bunker!



PVC would just up the pressure, making for a bigger explosion. Could make an impressive video, though... :devil:

Hi Cataract,

Yes, I might just need a bunker!
Gonna have to do some re-organizing this weekend.
Its not that I wanted 50kg (5 would have been plenty) but MOQs and all that stuff....
Was a major stretch but at least I won't be stuck without nukes for a very good while.

Excellent notes all on the inner workings, duly noted and bookmarked. The thing about the tint made me remember something, a UV light will show different colors on the phosphor of the different tints and make identification of a bare emitter tint quite probable. Once you know what each one looks like under the UV light of course, for example...the great big MT-G2 glows a magnificent orange!


One would think the 2 MT-G2's are the same, the common P0 tint bin, but apparently this is not so! Notice how the XM-L2 T6 3C is closer to the Solarforce MT-G2 in tint with similar phosphor glow under the UV. Once you've visually labeled the main tint's, it's easy to spot who's who using an UV light. This P-60 drop-in came from Kaidomain and is 365nm at a little over 1.25W, visible light is low but boy does it fire up things like currency, diamonds, and trit's! And of course, LED's.

Wonderful pics as always Dale :twothumbs

I have to admit that having inspected so many heads, I can pretty much guess the tint just by looking at the LED.
For the Crees at least, the warmer the tint, the orangier the color of the LED.
The 2900K look like wonderfully fried eggs

thanks for the link! I do appreciate the baseline info on LI-ons.

Guy, when you have a chance, can you give me a little specific information?
for the nukes that come with the Torpedo-X and the cottonpicker single mode (100ma) charger and tips or anomalies to watch out for?
for using the nuke, is there an easy way to know that it's time to pull it for low voltage?
if it won't maintain high setting is that the indicator perhaps? or is it still usable for a while at lower levels?

does anyone have runtimes on the various modes with the nuke and or nimh AAA?

mine just hit new york so hopefully not much longer. strange that it went from Japan all the way past me to New York

Hi cnelson,

If you can't get it to stay on at least mode 2, its time to charge.
Most important for now is the first time you use a nuke, to make sure the body does not feel suddenly warm (even before switching it on).
I recommend trying a standard AAA battery first, to understand whats going on, then once you've had some fun, consider trying the nuke.

I'll try some runtime tests over the weekend but I can tell your for high mode, in the X its fixed at a 30sec max.

Ha! Pressure Containment Vessel, it's supposed to harness the nuke.

Hi KDM,
I might need to see if I can buy a used submarine, load them all inside and park it at the bay nearby

That's great news and certainly takes the sting out of the wait

Thanks Guy!

Hi mikes1,
Entirely my pleasure and thank you kindly for your patience.
I know its tough especially when you see other orders are arriving.

The whole "keeping you all waiting thing" is mentally the toughest thing for me too as I totally detest keeping anyone waiting whenever possible. Having done a few pre-orders now, I realise especially with a new product, delay is a possible risk and so I try to explain that as well as possible in my pre-order FAQ to hopefully ease the pressure on all involved.

This time round, the window 5 delay is not just a matter of waiting but it also increases the per unit cost quite significantly on my side, so going from something like $250 each to perhaps $350 each for the last window as I need to make an entirely new batch of PCBs, and I want to adjust the design slightly and as the quantity is small (even 100 is considered tiny for PCB manufacture) the per unit cost is high, then I need to arrange all the re-installs, assembly etc.

All that is not a bad thing, but I'm not sure everybody who ordered realises the full extent of whats been involved (though I know some of you seem to have a good idea). I see it all as a plus and of course very much enjoy being able to have such fast and detailed feedback which has already been a huge help even in this short time, even with a funky UI, but its also part of the reason I had to limit the number of Xs I can make available as in my world, a promise is a promise and so if I'm doing it, the only formula is "whatever it takes" but as there's a risk of needing to re-make things, I have to keep it to a degree that I can cover it all and still be left with at least the most critical body parts I need to keep moving forward

The X065 hit my mailbox today. Exellent long range presission
Drop test. Dropped from waist 30-40 times in lo mode. It took it like a champ. Nothing unusual happened. Then i took it with me into the shower. Hosed it down. No problem. Filled a bucket of water and dropped the torpedo 30 times into water in high mode. It leaked and fogged up the lense. Inspected it closly and i saw a tiny hair on the inner o-ring. And the inner o-ring was squeesed and deformed a tiny bit. Both were hard to spot. The inside of the reflector was still dry. So the water got past the outside if the o-rings, went on the outside of the reflector, and down the wires and into the driver. The ui got a little iffy when soaked. Dryed it, cleaned and relubed o-rings and it works fine now.
When i screw the bezel too hard back on, the inner o-ring deforms and starts squeesing into the reflector. Too loose, and i fear it might give too little tention. Just right, and it stays tight. Survived 30 new drops into water with no leaks this time.
The overall details, feel, fit and finish is exellent !! The pwm is rather slow. Is it possible to speed up the pwm frequency for the production run?


Sent from my LG-P880 using Tapatalk

Jorn,
Wow...
I read your post and was partly shocked and partly thinking I'm dreaming and at the same time enjoying it all.
Awesome stuff and thanks for taking one for the tribe :twothumbs

PWM, yes of course. Definitely going to bump that way up for production.
No idea how it sneaked in so low (not the spec) but will get it taken care of.

My proto earlier this year survived more than a few beach dumps, swims and the like.
Still planning on improving it further but at least you know a quick dunk in a lake won't kill it.

I haven't yet tried a slingshot into the wall test but maybe when I have a few more spares (lol)

Amazing testing jorn! Thanks.

Alex,

Will have to send you a spare Zeus when the time comes and see if you can do a drop test from 10,000 feet

OMG! How can you DO that? I'd cringe every time it hit the water, flinch every time it hit the ground, and be a nervous wreck! Kudo's to you for the torture testing, I'll stick with lumens and lux output and run times. Thank you!

D³

(Did I miss something somewhere? It IS a keychain light, isn't it? Not a battle AXE?) {Auxillary Xtermination Employment}

Haha, I was cringing a little too but good on Jorn





...and just to let you know I haven't forgotten the manual.
I found the original one I made but its doesn't have any UI stuff in it though it is in my original spec sheet.
Was a little overbusy today but will get a version up by the weekend for you.

Tgwnn

 

[mikes1]

I have to say that the fact window 5 will be different from the rest of the X run only sweetens the deal for me uniqueness is great and defiantly worth the wait no matter how long it takes

Thanks again Guy :thumbsup:

 

[gunga]

Anyone want to swap? I have window 3 but would like a crack at window 5 if it's different...

 

[jorn]

Haha im always enjoying the hunt for a aaa, and the "getting to know my light prosess", more than using/owning the lights. Pulling them apart to see what can be serviced and dissasembeled etc is always fun and sometimes useful. Never ever dissasemble the rotary switch of the hf. Big tip. Now that light i regretted opening up. Its a painful balance act putting it back together haha

It`s really easy to swap the led on the torpedo. Always nice to know Nice clean tint. Mine seems to be really close to the neutral white border. Even when compared with neutral leds.

I notice the top of the reflector is thin. So when the soft o-ring on top of it gets too mutch pressure, it starts to sqeese out and starts to roll itself into the reflector. Not mutch over tightening on the bezel is needed to make it start deforming. Found a stiff black o-ring from my huge spare o-ring bag. Have no idea what light it belongs to. Put it on top of the reflector, and now i can give it way more torqe. It wont squeese out and deform that fast and handles more pressure. Feels safer. It might just be mine acting this way, but it would be wise to check for sure. See if the gitd o-rings are 100 round. Needed really-really close inspection to spot the ever so slightly deformed inner o-ring.

Got this little picture on my phone. Hope it wont get too big this time. Last time i tried uploding from the phone, it went full size..

 

[fatbrad]

Anticipation and (temporary) disappointment. I have been following my Torpedo for the last couple of days on the USPS site. I checked this morning and work and saw that it was leaving my local post office. Went the mailbox when I got home and had a "you can pick it up at the post office" slip instead of a real live Torpedo. Either my wife was out when the mailman came or he didn't want to walk up the steep snowy driveway. I can hardly wait to get it home tomorrow. Inspired by jorn, I will have to see how it likes the cold and snow (of which we have plenty and are getting more as I type this).

 

[nbp]

Okey dokey, after 24 hours of playing with the Torpedo I have some initial impressions. There may be more as time goes on, or maybe some pictures and such, but here's at least a few thoughts for discussion to get going.

Torpedo X: SSN X043

Packaging and MBI Swag:

Awesome! There are so many little details to see and enjoy. I opened it all up slowly and delicately, like savoring a meal. The little things like the tamper seal on the tube and the holographic sticker on the manual, or the way the clip is attached to the protective tube rather than just tossed in the cardboard tube really stand out. The cool keychains and stickers are awesome, and I LOVE the Torpedo case! It will have a permanent place on my desk. By far, this is the most thoughtful presentation of a flashlight I have ever experienced. I think Guy had as much fun with the promo swag as the light itself. hehe

Construction:

Close inspection of the light shows very good fit finish. The machining is clean and crisp, and the anodizing is smooth and even. The threads are sharp and clean. The extendable tube's action is very smooth and the anodizing is thorough and without defect inside as well. The laser engraving is also sharp and easy to read. My control ring has good feedback, neither too stiff nor too loose. I would be satisfied with this movement in the production version. My emitter looks nicely centered, and the reflector and lens are clean and clear and free of debris or smudges.

A few nitpicks: As I expected, I am not thrilled with the tail fins as they are. I think they are a bit too pointy for comfort. Also, they interfere with tailstanding ability if you chose to use a splitring in the lanyard hole. I put on the smallest split ring I had and it cannot lay flat to allow tailstanding. If I had my choice, I would prefer a design like the old Fenix P1. The tail fins were more discreet and they created a lanyard/split ring hole that allowed for tailstanding. Here is a picture to explain what I mean. Also, the clip is not quite right yet. It is very tight and I scratched the ano with it. I don't really care too much, but some people might. Also, with the 10440 body especially, neither of the positions feels right. On the head it interferes with my fingers' rotary control and on the tail too much of the light protrudes from the pocket if it clipped on. The 10250 body may be better proportioned. However if you were clipping it on a hat or headband I think it would work great. Soo, I don't really have any ideas for change on the clip yet; at this point people can decide for themselves if they like it and want to use it.

User Interface:

The UI is a little glitchy as we all expected, but not terrible. My unit runs happily on Eneloops, Nukes, and efest 10440s, so YAY! for that! Ramping up seems to work just fine on my light. The distance between mode changes is a little sporadic, but I am not too bothered by that. The first mode seems to be about 90 degrees, with about 180 degrees between the next modes. As the pamphlet notes, dialing down is a little more wonky. I generally have to reverse about half a turn, then turn back in the original direction to ramp down. Some times, it may take 2 or three direction changes to begin the ramp down process. I am sure that this will be worked out in production, and in general (and in ideal function) I think the UI is very user friendly and intuitive.

I am not so sure about the 30 second max on high after which it drops to low. I understand the need for thermal management, but I wonder if the driver is measuring temperature or just time. It should measure temperature. Especially is this important when running on Eneloops; I really don't think that the light is overheating after 30 seconds on high on alkie or NiHM, and yet it drops to low the same as with the li-ion cells. I suspect that there is not a "lot" of heatsinking with the tiny rolled up PCB, so thermal management is important, but the process by which this is accomplished may need tweaking. On Eneloops I'd like to be able to use high for a couple minutes at a time.

And just an observation, I see that when you are putting the head and body together, if the dots are lined up on the dial the light will stay off but if the dots are not lined up the emitter will light up in low as soon as the conductive path is created. Not good or bad, just an idiosyncrasy I noticed, possibly by design, I don't know.

Beam/Light Quality:

I got the standard 5000k emitter. I am not a tint snob, so I find the tint satisfactory. Others may be more fussy on that, so they can comment on that. I am generally much more concerned about beam pattern and quality. The beam is pretty good actually; I have never had such a large die in such a small reflector before, but it is fairly floody as I expected, and sufficiently clean. That being said I would say, FORGET about throw, this is not a thrower, and never will be. I would think seriously about a shift from the smooth reflector (generally throwier but more artifacts) to a stippled reflector (generally floodier but cleaner and smoother beam). In a AAA pocket light like, the marginal gain in throw from the smooth reflector is not worth the decrease in beam quality. I would focus on a smooth floody artifact free beam in small light like this one.


General Opinion:

Overall, I think this is a nicely made light, with some excellent features and a LOT of potential. Big output, simple UI, great customer service, how can you go wrong? I am having a lot of fun playing with it, and I think the production version could be VERY popular amongst Flashaholics and will become a favorite for AAA lovers.

Well done Guy. I hope my feedback does not come across too harshly. :duck: I feel as a tester it is my duty to be open and honest and after owning dozens of lights, there are certain things I look for right away. Hopefully my comments are helpful!

 

[sledhead]

Well I cannot compete with the recent responses so far but........... Came home tonight after a 15 hr day to see 2 packages waiting. One was the TORPEDO and the other was a " Holy Grail" custom Rick Hinderer "Fieldtac" that I have searched long and hard for. I opened the Torpedo 1st! played for a 1/2 hr before I remembered the Hinderer! Opened the knife....went back to the Torpedo.:thumbsup:

 

[DBCstm]

well done nbp, gives us a nice feel for the light before actually seeing one. Appreciate that.

D³

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

I have to say that the fact window 5 will be different from the rest of the X run only sweetens the deal for me uniqueness is great and defiantly worth the wait no matter how long it takes

Thanks again Guy :thumbsup:

Hi mikes1,

My pleasure as always of course.
I'm not certain yet, depending on how long the change will take to implement/verify but it looks feasible.
I do have a slight hesitation in changing the footprint too much as I want to ensure it doesn't become the cause of another delay but should be a step in the positive direction

Anyone want to swap? I have window 3 but would like a crack at window 5 if it's different...

Hi gunga,

Will have to wait and see the result first but please stay tuned of course

Haha im always enjoying the hunt for a aaa, and the "getting to know my light prosess", more than using/owning the lights. Pulling them apart to see what can be serviced and dissasembeled etc is always fun and sometimes useful. Never ever dissasemble the rotary switch of the hf. Big tip. Now that light i regretted opening up. Its a painful balance act putting it back together haha

It`s really easy to swap the led on the torpedo. Always nice to know Nice clean tint. Mine seems to be really close to the neutral white border. Even when compared with neutral leds.

I notice the top of the reflector is thin. So when the soft o-ring on top of it gets too mutch pressure, it starts to sqeese out and starts to roll itself into the reflector. Not mutch over tightening on the bezel is needed to make it start deforming. Found a stiff black o-ring from my huge spare o-ring bag. Have no idea what light it belongs to. Put it on top of the reflector, and now i can give it way more torqe. It wont squeese out and deform that fast and handles more pressure. Feels safer. It might just be mine acting this way, but it would be wise to check for sure. See if the gitd o-rings are 100 round. Needed really-really close inspection to spot the ever so slightly deformed inner o-ring.

Got this little picture on my phone. Hope it wont get too big this time. Last time i tried uploding from the phone, it went full size..

Thanks Jorn,

Stiffer o-rings :thumbsup:
I'll look into it for the next batch of o-rings I make.
I found I had that issue sometimes but I have a custom bezel opener that fits the HF/HF-R & Torpedo bezel and since using it,
seems to have eliminated just about all of the issues I had during installs.

Anticipation and (temporary) disappointment. I have been following my Torpedo for the last couple of days on the USPS site. I checked this morning and work and saw that it was leaving my local post office. Went the mailbox when I got home and had a "you can pick it up at the post office" slip instead of a real live Torpedo. Either my wife was out when the mailman came or he didn't want to walk up the steep snowy driveway. I can hardly wait to get it home tomorrow. Inspired by jorn, I will have to see how it likes the cold and snow (of which we have plenty and are getting more as I type this).

Hi fatbrad,

I had a similar thing earlier in the month.
Globally famous courier service, showed the status of a package is "delivery attempted. absent".
Now in addition to be home, I also have video monitor doorbell thing that records every "ding dong" and snaps a photo, and there was no record.
So I called them and they came up with one story, until I told them about my video system, then they gave me a new one and brought it the next day!

Okey dokey, after 24 hours of playing with the Torpedo I have some initial impressions. There may be more as time goes on, or maybe some pictures and such, but here's at least a few thoughts for discussion to get going.

Torpedo X: SSN X043

Packaging and MBI Swag:

Awesome! There are so many little details to see and enjoy. I opened it all up slowly and delicately, like savoring a meal. The little things like the tamper seal on the tube and the holographic sticker on the manual, or the way the clip is attached to the protective tube rather than just tossed in the cardboard tube really stand out. The cool keychains and stickers are awesome, and I LOVE the Torpedo case! It will have a permanent place on my desk. By far, this is the most thoughtful presentation of a flashlight I have ever experienced. I think Guy had as much fun with the promo swag as the light itself. hehe

Construction:

Close inspection of the light shows very good fit finish. The machining is clean and crisp, and the anodizing is smooth and even. The threads are sharp and clean. The extendable tube's action is very smooth and the anodizing is thorough and without defect inside as well. The laser engraving is also sharp and easy to read. My control ring has good feedback, neither too stiff nor too loose. I would be satisfied with this movement in the production version. My emitter looks nicely centered, and the reflector and lens are clean and clear and free of debris or smudges.

A few nitpicks: As I expected, I am not thrilled with the tail fins as they are. I think they are a bit too pointy for comfort. Also, they interfere with tailstanding ability if you chose to use a splitring in the lanyard hole. I put on the smallest split ring I had and it cannot lay flat to allow tailstanding. If I had my choice, I would prefer a design like the old Fenix P1. The tail fins were more discreet and they created a lanyard/split ring hole that allowed for tailstanding. Here is a picture to explain what I mean. Also, the clip is not quite right yet. It is very tight and I scratched the ano with it. I don't really care too much, but some people might. Also, with the 10440 body especially, neither of the positions feels right. On the head it interferes with my fingers' rotary control and on the tail too much of the light protrudes from the pocket if it clipped on. The 10250 body may be better proportioned. However if you were clipping it on a hat or headband I think it would work great. Soo, I don't really have any ideas for change on the clip yet; at this point people can decide for themselves if they like it and want to use it.

User Interface:

The UI is a little glitchy as we all expected, but not terrible. My unit runs happily on Eneloops, Nukes, and efest 10440s, so YAY! for that! Ramping up seems to work just fine on my light. The distance between mode changes is a little sporadic, but I am not too bothered by that. The first mode seems to be about 90 degrees, with about 180 degrees between the next modes. As the pamphlet notes, dialing down is a little more wonky. I generally have to reverse about half a turn, then turn back in the original direction to ramp down. Some times, it may take 2 or three direction changes to begin the ramp down process. I am sure that this will be worked out in production, and in general (and in ideal function) I think the UI is very user friendly and intuitive.

I am not so sure about the 30 second max on high after which it drops to low. I understand the need for thermal management, but I wonder if the driver is measuring temperature or just time. It should measure temperature. Especially is this important when running on Eneloops; I really don't think that the light is overheating after 30 seconds on high on alkie or NiHM, and yet it drops to low the same as with the li-ion cells. I suspect that there is not a "lot" of heatsinking with the tiny rolled up PCB, so thermal management is important, but the process by which this is accomplished may need tweaking. On Eneloops I'd like to be able to use high for a couple minutes at a time.

And just an observation, I see that when you are putting the head and body together, if the dots are lined up on the dial the light will stay off but if the dots are not lined up the emitter will light up in low as soon as the conductive path is created. Not good or bad, just an idiosyncrasy I noticed, possibly by design, I don't know.

Beam/Light Quality:

I got the standard 5000k emitter. I am not a tint snob, so I find the tint satisfactory. Others may be more fussy on that, so they can comment on that. I am generally much more concerned about beam pattern and quality. The beam is pretty good actually; I have never had such a large die in such a small reflector before, but it is fairly floody as I expected, and sufficiently clean. That being said I would say, FORGET about throw, this is not a thrower, and never will be. I would think seriously about a shift from the smooth reflector (generally throwier but more artifacts) to a stippled reflector (generally floodier but cleaner and smoother beam). In a AAA pocket light like, the marginal gain in throw from the smooth reflector is not worth the decrease in beam quality. I would focus on a smooth floody artifact free beam in small light like this one.


General Opinion:

Overall, I think this is a nicely made light, with some excellent features and a LOT of potential. Big output, simple UI, great customer service, how can you go wrong? I am having a lot of fun playing with it, and I think the production version could be VERY popular amongst Flashaholics and will become a favorite for AAA lovers.

Well done Guy. I hope my feedback does not come across too harshly. :duck: I feel as a tester it is my duty to be open and honest and after owning dozens of lights, there are certain things I look for right away. Hopefully my comments are helpful!

Hi nbp,

Thanks so much for the detailed feedback and splendid overview :thumbsup:
The beam should be smooth without artefacts (same as an HF/HF-R beam) even with the smooth reflector.
I can check on making a test batch of OP style reflectors though.

On the thermal management, agreed about the 30sec limit.
For the X, it was tricky testing whether a mode change was due to battery voltage or temperature and so to limit the scope of testing and make it easier to know whats going on, along with ensuring safety, I gave the go ahead for that limit.
For production, a purely thermal based limit is the plan.

Interesting observation on the dots and inserting a battery.
I'll check that later this evening.

Your feedback is not harsh at all :twothumbs
and of course I'm grateful for the honest feedback (and that goes for everyone).

Even with the X UI a little wonky (some more, some less) the feedback so far has been an amazing help and I can't thank you all enough. Looking forward to more of course.

Well I cannot compete with the recent responses so far but........... Came home tonight after a 15 hr day to see 2 packages waiting. One was the TORPEDO and the other was a " Holy Grail" custom Rick Hinderer "Fieldtac" that I have searched long and hard for. I opened the Torpedo 1st! played for a 1/2 hr before I remembered the Hinderer! Opened the knife....went back to the Torpedo.:thumbsup:

Hi sledhead,

Thanks and congrats on receiving 2 nice packages on the same day

well done nbp, gives us a nice feel for the light before actually seeing one. Appreciate that.

D³

+1

Tgwnn

 

[the_guy_with_no_name]

A quick post to let the window 4'ers waiting on a "shipped" mail, tonight is your night :thumbsup:

Tgwnn

 

[Endalaus]

Hello all

Some more feedback after about a week of edc using (deliberately) consumer brand aaa alkalines, and treating the torpedo to my usual edc method of shoving it in a pocket on a lanyard to grind against keys, loose change and a leatherman squirt.

The anodising is unblemished.

The UI continues to be stable.

Battery rattle with nukes and aaa's but easily cured with paper wrap

repeated immersion in water to 1 metre with no ill effects

Passed the 'shake test' with no problem (taped to the top of an induction motor bench router for an hour or so of intermittent work to test resistance to vibration)

the only problem I have found during normal use is that I have to keep forcing myself not to treat the torpedo kindly!


Sorry that i haven't posted a photo of the tiny machining flaw on one fin which I mentioned before (and I am being uber picky to even mention it btw) but I need to dig a macro lens out of the attic to photograph it. It's a tiny shoulder on one fin of the short body.

thxnks again for an astonishingly good light, Guy - most manufacturers would be delighted to get this level of quality from a late iteration production model, let alone a beta run

 

[Cataract]

Okey dokey, after 24 hours of playing with the Torpedo I have some initial impressions. There may be more as time goes on, or maybe some pictures and such, but here's at least a few thoughts for discussion to get going.

Torpedo X: SSN X043

Packaging and MBI Swag:

[...]

I'm purposefully avoiding to read explicit reviews for a few reasons, but the glance I got while scrolling tells me yours seems very thorough. I bet it's a great review (seems to have all the "must" features), but I want to have the fullest experience possible and I don't want to have a headache trying to justify if some parts of my review tend to resemble someone else's comments.

Well.... I'll bet it's a good job you've done there!

Hello all

Some more feedback after about a week of edc using (deliberately) consumer brand aaa alkalines, and treating the torpedo to my usual edc method of shoving it in a pocket on a lanyard to grind against keys, loose change and a leatherman squirt.

The anodising is unblemished.

The UI continues to be stable.
[...]

I have to say many thanks to all those who risk their X's in torture tests! Makes me feel safer and less obligated to drop the one that's coming for my pocket.

 

[fatbrad]

Got mine today and I really like it. The fin edges feel a little sharp in the hand but they don't bother me the way I expected after all the comments about them. Just a little more break on the edges would work for me. I have been using eneloops and like the 4 levels (I haven't check intended function but had it in my head that there were only 3 levels and was pleasantly surprised by the 4 levels.)

My suggestion for improvement would be to have only one direction of motion for increasing brightness and have the other direction of rotation only decrease brightness. I can almost never go from any level below the brightest back to off without having to go through the brightest level and then back down. If the concept is to define the direction of increase by the first transition from off to lowest on any cycle, this function just plain doesn't work. Even if it did work, I think I would find it more natural to have one direction always be up and the other always be down. I definitely dislike the randomness of not knowing whether the next change will be up or down. I can go from off to max without continuing in the same direction of rotation. If I change direction of rotation every time the level changes, I can go up the level ladder and back down by twisting back and forth.

I briefly attached the head to the short body and the o-ring squeezed out the side when I tightened it. My long body (AAA size) doesn't have any issue with the o-ring.

Is the limit on high timer based only. When I was outside in the cold, I thought it stayed on high longer than 30 seconds, but it was cold and i wasn't using a stop-watch. So I was wondering if the thermal protection is included in this X or not. The production version definitely needs to step down one level at a time and not from level 4 to level 1.

 

[NM08SRT8]

Guy, I wasn't able to get in on your first fee X run releases.. But I'm ready now!

Is there still a option it way to get one?

 

[jorn]

Love the 10250 tube, and that it can fit a aaa/10440. And Imo. its the right size to join the battle to become lord of the keyring really uniqe tube.

5 small hobbits reaching for the pressious keyring. No symbolism at all placing them on top of a winning ticket hehe

With the aaa tube its a nice pocket edc size. About the same lenght as the standard aaa clicky light. I have not put the 2 way clip on yet. I can drop it and dunk it, but im not ready to scratch it quite yet haha It`s still too good looking. But seems really solid compared with any snap on clip i have seen for a aaa.

 

[windstrings]

Haven't seen wind of mine yet, so it sounds like the fins are totally removable based on pics I see right?

 

[rebelbayou]

You are the man TGWNN!!! The anxiety ride is over, now's the easy part. I can rest at ease knowing my torpedo is on it's way. Thanks for making my day....again!

A quick post to let the window 4'ers waiting on a "shipped" mail, tonight is your night :thumbsup:

Tgwnn