Wolf Eyes Boxer 24W HID *beam shots added*
I posted this in the review section, but I'll put it here too for now since I'm sure there are a few people looking for info on the torch.
Wolf Eyes Boxer 24W /168R HID Flashlight
Purchased from http://www.pts-flashlights.com
Specs
Housing B24/168 Ballast/Battery housing
Output power 1800 lumens
Continuous runtime 60 minutes
Beam Divergence 6° ~ 16°
Lamp Assembly Metal Halide
Colour Temp 6000K
Battery type 3 x LRB-168A Li-ion battery
Tail cap Tactical Button Switch
Body Diameter 44mm
Bezel Diameter 77mm
Weight with battery 560g
Length 193mm
Body Material Aircraft grade aluminium
Finish Hard Anodised
Water resistant O-ring sealed (Splash proof)
Replacement bulb B2 24W HID
Charger CH-121B AC (Input: AC 90-240V, 60/50Hz)
DH-121B DC (Vehicle charger Input: DC 8.5~16V)
Construction
The construction does seem very good. On my model there is one very small ‘nick/defect’ in the finish on the exterior of the body and the outer glass casing of the bulb itself does not appear to be perpendicular to the base, but the element inside seems better. I’m not to sure to what extent this off perpendicular aspect to the bulb contributes to the messy light pattern – the hotspot, when altering the degree of beam divergence does move about a bit. The inside of the glass lens in unclean and could do with a wipe, but I would need a tool to turn the bezel ring holding it in place and I’ve not tried to remove it yet. There is a small opening at the base of the glass encasing the bulb element that I don’t know whether it should be there or not. Other than that, the finish and construction to my eyes appears very good. Everything fits together well and feels sturdy, threads all move smoothly and the outer finish is very nice. I have used this in steady rain too with no problems.
The batteries fit in a holder of the type we are familiar with here on CPF, in the form of circular disks connected with metal rods, in this case with the addition of the charging jack and clicky switch. On that note, in order to charge the battery pack the tail cap has to be removed in order to insert the charging plug (the supplied AC adapter works in the UK too). This does mean that if you purchase a spare battery holder then a spare set of cells can be charged whilst the torch is in use. You could of course use another appropriate Li-ion charger, but I’d recommend getting a spare holder when they become available, cost permitting.
Usage
Start-up, well this seems slow to me, although this is the first HID I’ve ever used. Immediately after pressing the on button (tail cap, clicky on/off) there is a bit of a bright flash, which I hadn’t noticed at first (you’ve been warned, so don’t look into the lens like I did wondering what the initial purple tint looked like
) this then changes to a weak purple light. This slowly gets brighter and whiter, after 5 seconds there is still very little light, at 15 seconds it’s at above 50% and reaches full brightness by about 30 seconds.
The beam pattern itself, as I’d already alluded to, is somewhat messy – but not stock Mag territory though. When focussing for the tightest hot spot it is a bit tricky to find the best position and even when found, in my model, it is not very smooth, we are talking white wall hunting here though and this is much less of an issue in real use. There is a purple/pale brown ring around the edge of the hotspot which is visible at times in real use, but again isn’t noticeable unless shone on smooth light surfaces – and you are looking for it. Beyond the central hotspot, the wide side spill comprises three concentric rings, the inner most having less luminance than the next, which has slightly more than the outer most. The side spill is plenty for illuminating the ground in front of you when out walking. The method for altering the beam divergence is to rotate the bezel-reflector assembly of the torch. When screwed down fully you get a divergent beam, with a large hole in the middle and the metal return wire for the bulb casting a shadow. Unscrew the head about 3 complete turns and you’ll get an acceptable floody beam with no hole or return wire shadow, give it another turn an a half and your about where the best focus is. Give it a few more turns and you’ve got the head in one hand and the body in the other!I tend to like my light set for best throw and if I changed it, I then found it a bit difficult to find the best position again when out in the fields – if you can find something of a big enough uniform light colour then no problem, just not so easy in this English winter’s muted countryside.
The tightness of the beam when focussed best is good for medium and medium far distances, giving a good wide coverage, but I can’t help think the engineers who put this thing together could have got more out of it. There is such a lot of light coming out the end of this torch; if it could be controlled a bit better it would make a great thrower. To put things into context though, this torch stompsall over my mag85 with a Fivemega 3 inch head with LOP reflector (which also runs on 3 168 Li-ions) it must be putting out twice the lumens, which also look much better because of the whiteness of the HID bulb. The diameter of the Wolf Eyes bezel is only slightly smaller than my FM3H head (actual reflector sizes respectively 63mm to 71mm) and the orange peel finish is a bit deeper/larger on the Wolf Eyes.
This being my first HID torch, I am well pleased with the whiteness of the bulb, that said though, after only a few days of ownership, I already understand why a lot of people here want to see bulbs with 5000K temps or lower. It seems to me that the blue tint is not best suited to bringing out detail in the green colours in natural vegetation – but in other environments it can appear very white. If shone up into the sky you can clearly see the blue tint (handy if you want to be Luke Skywalker…). When I’ve used my FM3H Mag85 and the boxer at the same time the whiter light and amount of it coming from the latter really make the poor 85 look pathetic, this is in large part due to the fact that the 85 just looks so yellow in comparison.
I carried out a run time test using a freshly charged set of batteries (the 2200mAH it came supplied with) and it shut of at 53 minutes, so not quite the 60 minutes. (edited to say that this was with a set of cell charged in the supplied magazine, however, where other people have charged each cell independantly to avoid balancing issues, they have reported the full hour runtime.) My test was in doors and after about 15 minutes the body around the ballast and the base of the head was quite hot, it got hotter still and eventually I went and waved it out the window in the cold winter air, as it was getting a bit too hot to hold. Earlier I’d taken the dog for a walk and ran the torch till it shut off and there was absolutely no problem with heat, the cold air keeping it to slightly warm. It took about 2 ½ hours to re-charge depleted batteries and you can top them of if they are only part used. The charger has a built in protection system and can be left continuously charging the battery magazine if so desired.
I’m very impressed with the compact size and light weight of this unit – it really is coat pocketable. In fact for my tastes it is almost too small, I kind of like having the heft of my Magcharger – big enough to dish out a good dose of head hurt if needed. When I went out for walk tonight, it was the first time I took just the Boxer (and my dog, who is, er…a boxer!) and after normally having either the Magcharger or my Mag 6D ROP with FM3H I felt like I was missing something, felt strangely unburdened, a bit naked almost, but it was nice to carry so little.
If I wasn’t already used to the light levels from my other bright lights (Mag85, 6D ROP, MC60) I think I’d be pretty stunned by this light. Initially after I received it, after waiting for about a month for it to arrive, I’d gotten high expectations of it, particularly after being hit for another £55 customs charges, this made the torch a LOT of money for me. I thought the beam was more messy than I expected it to be, the bulb seemed off centre and I was surprised at how much I didn’t like the start up time. The reality is though the small size of the torch just negates all of those issues, for me. And the truth is, the beam in real use isn’t messy, just lacks a bit of throw (I'm sure it has the potential to throw further) and I don’t really need instant on. My friends at least will be thankful of that due to my disposition to surprise attacks of the old light in their eyes wheeze. This is a very nice torch and if you can justify the money then I say get one, you'll definately like it
That’s enough for now. Phew!
I will get some beam shots up soon too, with comparisons with my Mag85, ROP and MC60 for what it’s worth.
And if there is anyone here in Blighty with either the AE Powerlight or Microfire Warrior lights that are close enough to Coventry and want to meet up or lend me their torches then I’ll do beam shots of those (I’ve got good camera stuff).
Torches below are the Surefire C3 with KL3 head, FM 3 pila 168 fatbody with FM3H head, MagCharger60 and 6D Mag ROP with FM3H
And finally some beam shots
The full set can be found here onwards http://www.pbase.com/mart_williams/image/72976223
The candidates were a 3.5 million CP lamp (the big yellow plastic thing) and the torches above.
I'll post 3 here. All with locked exposure and with white balance set to 6000K
A) "thor" style lamp (3.5 million candle power written on the side, 7 nich reflector)
B) Boxer
C) Mag85 (FM3H)
Later
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Originally Posted by Outdoors Fanatic
Re: Wolf Eyes Boxer 24W HID
I've been back for a couple of months, punishing the wallet a bit 
w@nkers!! the rest was VAt and inmport duty)
it seems mine was not right from the start. It was always very weak light initially and slowly built up after that.
