EagleTac M2XC4 Review: RUNTIMES, PHOTOS, BEAMSHOTS and more!

[SunFire900]

O.K.......I have held off as long as I can stand. I pre-ordered the M2XC4 (cool) and received it just over two months ago. I still think it is one of the most overall unique lights out there...especially for the price, so I am not here to bash it, but to tell everyone about a peculiarity I have experienced several times since it arrived.

On occasion, after running the light for a few seconds or minutes on turbo and then returning to low, the light will enter a strange "moon mode" where the brightness (on low) is about the same as, or a little bit dimmer than the Olight M20 on low. It is so low that you can look directly into the LED's. This can happen while the light is cold or warm. It makes no difference.

Now, this is good, when I move the ring to the MID level or HI position.....nothing happens. The light remains in this very low glow mode. But, and this happens every time, when I go to Turbo everything is fine again...until I return to the Lo position. It goes from Turbo to Hi to Mid and then back to "moon" mode!! It's nuts. I know.

I am wondering if any one else has seen this phenomenon in their lights.

Most of the time the light works perfectly and I can always go from off to turbo and back down from turbo to the Hi or Mid level even when it gets "stuck" in this super low mode from time to time.

If I find out that I am the only one to experience this, then I will start buying lottery tickets again!

 

[strinq]

Never experienced this. Has always functioned perfectly so far.

 

[Xe54]

Here is a link to the post with the disassembled head: https://www.candlepowerforums.com/posts/2956552&postcount=19.

That picture makes me a bit concerned about what technique is being used to ensure full thermal contact between the center pad under the emitter substrate and the heatsink. It appears some white adhesive is used to tie the emitters down. There are two possibilities:

1. The clearance needed to solder the wires under the emitter spaces the emitter off the heatsink somewhat. This would be unacceptable, as no adhesive would provide low enough thermal impedance with a gap equivalent to any realistic wire diameter. If this is what's going on (highly unlikely) the emitters wouldn't last very long.

2. The little recesses milled into the metal mass have "pads" protruding (but which unfortunately we can't directly see without removing an emitter), onto which the emitters are adhered. The milled recesses provide clearance for the wires so that the wires don't interfere with seating the emitters on the pads.

I suspect the 2nd case is the actuality, and closer study of the photo leans me strongly in that direction. Still, having read the data (specifically the thermal management/solder instructions) of these LEDs several times, my sense is that flashlight builders rarely achieve optimum thermal contact.

Since we probably only ever put a handful of continuous hours on them, we get away with it. Or rather, they just don't get used long enough to notice the accelerated lumen decline that results from overdrive and/or pushing the junction temp. to the limit or above.

I think the ideal design would involve metallic bonding of the thermal pad to a large copper PCB area, with extensive thermal vias to conduct the heat to a lower layer for contact with a solid mass.

 

[berry580]

My M2XC4's rubber on the selector ring is already starting to wear out after less than 2 hrs of handling.
I just got the light yesterday, and no, I didn't mistreat it, all in normal testing/usage.

Anyone else noticing the same issue as my light?

 

[Steve Curtis]

Yes , mine is doing the same after less time than yours.
very poor :thumbsdow

 

[berry580]

Yes , mine is doing the same after less time than yours.
very poor :thumbsdow

Well i haven't been actually using it continuously for 2 hrs straight, more like its been in my eyesight for 2hrs. I probably had actual physical contact (with my hand ) with it for less than an hr. lol

hmm... Eagletac never gave me any good impressions due to its "Chinese TRYING to be American" marketing, until I first had the M2XC4 in my hand. i.e. it gave me a good initial impression, which is short lived. Now its image is back down, except lower than it originally was.

Built quality wise they're DEFINITELY inferior to other premium Chinese flashlight brands.

Just on the side note, the threads are extremely rough/tight in certain sections (bad machining) between the SS bezel and the head.:thumbsdow
I expected a little more from a $150 light (although i paid it at a discount).

Has anyone raised these issues up? I have yet to see anything about it.

 

[blacktop711]

Hotspot size vs Raptor 2

Can awayone estimate for me what the size of the EagleTac M2XC4 would be relative to a Jetbeam Raptor 2?

Thx..

 

[HKJ]

Re: Hotspot size vs Raptor 2

Can awayone estimate for me what the size of the EagleTac M2XC4 would be relative to a Jetbeam Raptor 2?

Thx..

Will this do:

 

[maxilux]

Here you can see some more Beamshots:
http://schiermeier.biz/html/eagletac__m2c4-m2xc4.html

 

[blacktop711]

Re: Hotspot size vs Raptor 2

Will this do:

I'm sorry, I omitted the word "hot spot."

 

[blacktop711]

Here you can see some more Beamshots:
http://schiermeier.biz/html/eagletac__m2c4-m2xc4.html

Thanks for the link. Do you have any beamshots of the Jetbeam or the Olight?

Thx...

 

[berry580]

Not sure whether its a coincident or good quality control, but with a pair of pink Ultrafire 18650, i managed to get 1hr 22mins of runtime on turbo before the thing shuts down, quite close to Selfbuilt's 1hr 20 mins to 50%

What's worth noting is that after the light shut down, about half an hour later i took the batteries out and it turns out one still have 3.5V and the other still has 3.7V left, and i put them back in and the light still has the ability to fire back way up to the Turbo mode.

Amazing!

 

[skyfire]

another great review!

may i ask if you would recommend this light in warm tint, or the catapult?

ive never been a fan of eagletac for some reason. but i do like this light, eagletac went in a different direction than most, and i feel they created something special.

anyhow, for a bright outdoors light, i want neutral or warm tint LED. and it seems my only 2 options are this, and catapult, also i dont really like the warm M1X because of its donut and availability. i really like the catapult, but because of its leaky grease problem, and it might not be warm enough, im seriously considering this light. (4sevens is making it hard to keep waiting for their maelstroms. and i havent heard anything about warm tint option maelstroms yet).

also, will this light work with AW flat-top 2600 18650?

anyone with some insight on these subjects would be greatly appreciated!

 

[forexer]

Comparing build quality, price, OTF lumens, throw (lux at good distance), regulation, tint and feel;

How does M2xc4 match up against the thrunight catapult SST-50? Please lets me know, i'm going to get either one. The bad comments on this thread about the m2xc4 are making me lean more to the catapult.

Forexer

 

[cy]

got a M2C4 ... can hardly use it due the piece of sh*t strobe design.
everytime you turn it on, almost impossible to turn on without strobing.

which can give a king size headache... making this light all but un-usable.

what's the fix for this light?

 

[Steve'O]

CY, it sound's to me like you have an older design of that light.

They changed the UI a long time ago.

On the new version the strobe is hidden, you can only access strobe by turning the power ring quickly from HIGH to STAND-BY then back to HIGH again.

 

[selfbuilt]

got a M2C4 ... can hardly use it due the piece of sh*t strobe design.
everytime you turn it on, almost impossible to turn on without strobing.
which can give a king size headache... making this light all but un-usable.
what's the fix for this light?

Yes, the original interface had strobe at the end of the dial, after Turbo. This made it difficult to reliably access Turbo without accidentally "overshooting" into strobe.

Newer lights have a revised interface where Strobe is hidden. FYI, the M2-series lights have all been replaced with the improved M3-series build reviewed here.

For those with the original M2, I seem to recall a thread where people disassembled the head and put a jury-rigged stopper on the control ring, preventing it from turning all the way. Sorry, can't remember the details, but a search should pull it up. Good luck!

 

[AardvarkSagus]

Yep, that's what I did. Just used a piece of an old credit card and glued it in place as a shim to stop it before it gets to strobe.

 

[brightnorm]

Yep, that's what I did. Just used a piece of an old credit card and glued it in place as a shim to stop it before it gets to strobe.

I didn't even have to glue mine in. Just add a little more lube so the ring slips over it easily and it will not slip out of place. Even though I have the new M3's including the XR-E R2 version I still enjoy using the M2xC4. It remains a great light, one of the best of its kind in my opinion.

Brightnorm

 

[Helmut.G]

there was also another hack that I did, my light worked very well ever since.
you had to open the head of the light and de-solder one of the reed-switches that recognize the dial position and solder it back shifted by a few millimetres
there was a tutorial thread, I'm gonna search for it.

edit: found it, look here:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/231907