Wattnot
Enlightened
Captain Ahab beware . . . . the Pilot Whale is coming for YOU!
Hi All. It appears that Wolf Eyes is again first in the release of yet another envelope pushing flashlight. Introducing the highly anticipated SIX core Osram LED super flashlight, the Pilot Whale. Strange name . . . . killer light! Join me on this wonderful, visual journey down Bright Light Way (hey . . . if I ever get to develop a sub-division, I've got a great method for naming all of the streets!).
Manufacturer's features and specifications (from WE's site):
From
left to right: AA battery - Eagletac M2C4 - Pilot Whale - TK40 - 2C Mag
Initial Impressions:
It's smaller than I expected it to be. From what pictures and info I read on the web, I expected this to dwarf the TK40. As you can see that's not the case. There seems to be no wasted space on this light. I kinda wish I had a WE Storm here for size comparison since they both take 3 18650's side by side in a magazine. The Pilot Whale fits the hand nicely and is very sleek looking. I'm not sure if LSD (acid) was involved in the naming of this light but they can call it whatever they want, as long as it delivers. Oh and yes, it delivers! It arrived in the largest box I've seen from Wolf Eyes yet. As it arrived I thought my wife had bought shoes online. The lanyard ring is similar to the one found on the Surefire M6 but there was no lanyard with mine. I confirmed with Mike at PTS-Flashlights and it DOES come with a lanyard. Perhaps Mike was fondling this one before he shipped it to me and it fell out! It is similar to the nice (but very long) lanyard from the WE Explorer, which you can see here.
The Pilot Whale is HAIII hard anodized and has a reverse clicky with an identical UI to the Sniper/Explorer. My sample did not contain any extra O-rings or clicky covers or anything else. Just the light, 3 of Wolf Eyes great 18650s and a battery charger. The charger plugs right into the battery magazine.. The finish is what I'll now call the standard Wolf Eyes matte finish since the newer lights all seem to have it. The whole head and body seem very solid and well balanced. Sorry but no tail standing with this one; you'd probably burn a hole in the ceiling anyway. The initial rumors I heard for this light involved it being certified for diving but that is not the case with the one I received. A future model (or future options for this model) will allow for that. I'll post the details as I get them. The output is very impressive. It's like WE says in their description: flood with moderate throw.
UI:
The Pilot Whale (ugh, that NAME!) has a reverse clicky. After turning it on, smooth half presses cycle through the preset intensities in descending order with HIGH always coming on first. None of the functions of this light are programmable. I don't find that to be a negative because they made some good choices for you. The three preset intensities are very diverse and I feel most people will be pleased. The SOS, strobe and beacon are contained in the "hidden" menu and I'll get to those below. The clicky has a great feel but isn't well suited for tactical signaling since it will change intensities followed by entering the hidden mode. If you grab the light and turn it on, it comes on HIGH. You get all ONE THOUSAND paint peeling lumens. For medium, low or hidden mode you simply half press (or full press fast enough, if you're into that) until it arrives at the desired intensity/mode. Changing modes on this light is much more natural with the reverse clicky verses the forward clicky found on the P7 Sniper/Explorer, which otherwise has the same interface. Wolf Eyes has come up with an excellent system to please both the SOS/STROBE lovers AND haters alike! It would be extremely difficult to accidentally end up with the strobe, sos or beacon (this light has all 3). To enter the "hidden" menu, as they call it for strobe/sos/beacon, you have to press/cycle 7 times (or in the case of the reverse clicky, turn it on then half press six times in a row). For example if you want strobe from the light being off you would half press through TWO cycles of HI-MED-LO then the seventh press would give you strobe. Once you do this you are now locked into the hidden menu and it will cycle STROBE-SOS-BEACON instead of HI-MED-LOW. At this point the ONLY way back to the other world is to shut it off for 2 seconds.
Logistics:
The instructions explain all of the features and functions well enough except where they say you have to wait 5 seconds for reset, I found that 2 seconds is enough. It doesn't list a working voltage but the batteries are in series and I measured 12.5 volts on nearly full batteries. There is no clip but it comes with a nice lanyard and the ring installed on the light is on there nice and sturdy. The PW cannot tailstand. I found one O-ring on each end (two total). The threads are good and came lightly greased. The reflector is deep, highly polished and has a light OP finish. The LED seemed a little off center to me at first but I might have still been in shock over seeing the SIX cores!! It seems well centered to me now but you be the judge from the close-up shot. If it is off, you can't tell from the beam. There is no knurling, just some smooth fluting but gripping and retaining this bad boy will be NO problem. The head unscrews right in the center but the seam is extremely well hidden amongst the ribbing/fins. The self contained and apparently sealed LED module is on fine threads inside the head and takes a lot of turns to remove. All of my 18650 brands fit and I found no rattle at all. The battery holder doubles as the charger (you leave the cells in the carrier to charge) but I'm not sure if it contains any electronics that would aid in charging. That means it could very well be the typical WE system that relies on the PCB in each cell to terminate the charge. It's been said this is not an optimal charging method but it works because I charged it up using this system and the voltage was the same in all 3 batteries: about 4.18 volts (analog meter but all readings were identical and a hair below 4.2). Mike at PTS said the batteries will remain fairly balanced and users should be okay unless they run the batteries down so low that they cut out, in which case a balance would be in order. When you plug the charging lead into the port on the battery magazine, the light on the charger turns red to indicate charging and green when the charge is complete. The battery magazine has three tiny red LEDs on the bottom (see photo) that light up when the switch is in the ON position. I'm not sure if that has any function except to say "cool" when you see it. The switch does not have to be in the ON position for charging.
Current draw:
The current draw on high is 1.3 amps. That might seem low but keep in mind we're dealing with 11.1 to 12.6 volts. That 1.3 amp measurement is taken from the batteries NOT the emitter. Medium was 420ma and low was 41ma. Again, don't let the low amperage figures fool you. The higher voltage makes up for it. By ohms law this light is consuming 16.38 watts where the Eagletac M2C4 is consuming 12.6 watts. DISCLAIMER for the techy-types ready to pounce on me: Those figures are more rating or theoretical since I used the voltage of fresh off the charger cells and did not account for voltage dip under load.
In the hands of "babes:"
This is the part of the review where I take the light over to my neighbor Joe and get his "I don't care about flashlights the way you care about flashlights" opinion. He is a highly skilled mechanic and has an impressive array of tools but to him a flashlight is a good old stock Mag. I've been slowing converting him but there's no "passion" as with our group so this makes him the perfect subject. I handed him the light and the first thing he said was he liked the feel. He was referring to the weight as well as the grip. Joe liked the apparent quality too. He felt the light was very strong and stout and could take a good beating. I had to help him find the concealed mode but he managed to find the 3 levels on his own. He preferred the reverse clicky over the forward clicky of the Explorer I recently reviewed.
The beam and white walling:
The beam is pretty good. It has some tiny imperfections that only some CPF-ers would see but considering what's making the beam, a rectangular, six core emitter, it's pretty darn good. It's mostly round too, which is a little surprising. The donut hole is only obvious under 1 foot. The tint is nice and white. There are no rings as it goes right from large hotspot to spill. Nice job, Wolf Eyes. White wall hunters will be mostly pleased and good luck finding those imperfections out in the wild.
Pilot Whale left - EagleTac M2C4 right
Pilot Whale left - EagleTac M2C4 right - underexposed
PWM:
Using my highly scientific method of pointing the light into a fan, I detected no PWM at all on any level.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>*<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Now we'll move on to what you've all been waiting for . . . the BEAMSHOTS! In all pictures with two lights, the Pilot Whale is on the LEFT. Captions appear below each photo. I couldn't put the lights side by side at the longer distances because I ran out of "house." The main competitor for this light, as I see it, is the EagleTac M2C4 with the P7 emitter supposedly putting out 900 lumens. The two seem fairly close and I'm sure many of you will be studying those back and forth for a while.
Pilot Whale - 50 feet.
M2C4 - 50 feet
Pilot Whale - EagleTac M2C4
Pilot Whale 100 feet
M2C4 100 feet
Pilot Whale - M2C4 - 100 feet
Pilot Whale 150 feet
M2C4 150 feet
Pilot Whale 300 feet
M2C4 300 feet
Conclusions:
What a year this has been for new lights! They keep getting brighter and brighter and even a little smaller. You've seen the pictures, this thing is a MONSTER! I'm predicting you're going to be very happy after the UPS guy (or that UPS gal in the tight shorts, if you're that lucky) shows up with your new Pilot Whale. Congratulations to Wolf Eyes and Osram for bringing this awesome, compact and super bright light to the eagerly awaiting market.
This is no EDC but you won't care how you got it there after you turn it on! It's even impressive when it's light outside! People are going to think you ripped a landing light off of a Learjet. The price is up there (mid two fifties) but it does deliver and you won't be disappointed. It's still a whole lot cheaper than an M6 and it's all ready to recharge with its' own charger built in. It would have been great if you could plug the charger in through the tailcap but that would have made waterproofing extremely difficult.
The EagleTac turned out to be a very worthy opponent and there isn't a clear winner in some of the shots . . . but I feel the Pilot Whale edged it out at 300 feet and perhaps the underexposed shot as well. In the shots were they look tied, or if it appears that the EagleTac won, look again at the hotspot, corona and spill. These two lights are rated within 100 lumens of each other so we're talking a difference of about 10 percent and I believe the shots reflect that small difference.
So I say BUY IT! But then I always say that. Here are my ratings: Overall I give it a 9. The output is a 10 (11 if you're a Spinal Tap fan because this one does go to 11). The fit and finish gets a 9.5. The UI gets an 9. It has all of the loved (and hated) "bells and whistles" so for features I'll give it a 9. Perceived durability gets a 9.5.
There are many fine retailers for this light but I recommend www.PTS-Flashlights.com for great prices and great service. CPF members who set up an account receive special pricing on everything they sell.
Hi All. It appears that Wolf Eyes is again first in the release of yet another envelope pushing flashlight. Introducing the highly anticipated SIX core Osram LED super flashlight, the Pilot Whale. Strange name . . . . killer light! Join me on this wonderful, visual journey down Bright Light Way (hey . . . if I ever get to develop a sub-division, I've got a great method for naming all of the streets!).
Manufacturer's features and specifications (from WE's site):
- Model: Pilot Whale
- Housing Material: Aircraft grade aluminum
- Output Power: Up to 1000 Lumen
- Continuous Runtime: 100 minutes on high
- Lamp assembly: 6 chip Mega LED
- Battery type: 3 - LRB168A Li-ion rechargeable
- Body diameter: 45.6mm or 1.8" inches
- Bezel diameter: 63.5mm or 2.5" inches
- Length: 181.7mm or 7.2" inches
- Weight: 430g or 15.2oz
- Finish: Mil spec Hard Anodize Type III
- Water Proof: Yes
- Beam Characteristics: Flood with moderate throw
left to right: AA battery - Eagletac M2C4 - Pilot Whale - TK40 - 2C Mag
Initial Impressions:
It's smaller than I expected it to be. From what pictures and info I read on the web, I expected this to dwarf the TK40. As you can see that's not the case. There seems to be no wasted space on this light. I kinda wish I had a WE Storm here for size comparison since they both take 3 18650's side by side in a magazine. The Pilot Whale fits the hand nicely and is very sleek looking. I'm not sure if LSD (acid) was involved in the naming of this light but they can call it whatever they want, as long as it delivers. Oh and yes, it delivers! It arrived in the largest box I've seen from Wolf Eyes yet. As it arrived I thought my wife had bought shoes online. The lanyard ring is similar to the one found on the Surefire M6 but there was no lanyard with mine. I confirmed with Mike at PTS-Flashlights and it DOES come with a lanyard. Perhaps Mike was fondling this one before he shipped it to me and it fell out! It is similar to the nice (but very long) lanyard from the WE Explorer, which you can see here.
The Pilot Whale is HAIII hard anodized and has a reverse clicky with an identical UI to the Sniper/Explorer. My sample did not contain any extra O-rings or clicky covers or anything else. Just the light, 3 of Wolf Eyes great 18650s and a battery charger. The charger plugs right into the battery magazine.. The finish is what I'll now call the standard Wolf Eyes matte finish since the newer lights all seem to have it. The whole head and body seem very solid and well balanced. Sorry but no tail standing with this one; you'd probably burn a hole in the ceiling anyway. The initial rumors I heard for this light involved it being certified for diving but that is not the case with the one I received. A future model (or future options for this model) will allow for that. I'll post the details as I get them. The output is very impressive. It's like WE says in their description: flood with moderate throw.
UI:
The Pilot Whale (ugh, that NAME!) has a reverse clicky. After turning it on, smooth half presses cycle through the preset intensities in descending order with HIGH always coming on first. None of the functions of this light are programmable. I don't find that to be a negative because they made some good choices for you. The three preset intensities are very diverse and I feel most people will be pleased. The SOS, strobe and beacon are contained in the "hidden" menu and I'll get to those below. The clicky has a great feel but isn't well suited for tactical signaling since it will change intensities followed by entering the hidden mode. If you grab the light and turn it on, it comes on HIGH. You get all ONE THOUSAND paint peeling lumens. For medium, low or hidden mode you simply half press (or full press fast enough, if you're into that) until it arrives at the desired intensity/mode. Changing modes on this light is much more natural with the reverse clicky verses the forward clicky found on the P7 Sniper/Explorer, which otherwise has the same interface. Wolf Eyes has come up with an excellent system to please both the SOS/STROBE lovers AND haters alike! It would be extremely difficult to accidentally end up with the strobe, sos or beacon (this light has all 3). To enter the "hidden" menu, as they call it for strobe/sos/beacon, you have to press/cycle 7 times (or in the case of the reverse clicky, turn it on then half press six times in a row). For example if you want strobe from the light being off you would half press through TWO cycles of HI-MED-LO then the seventh press would give you strobe. Once you do this you are now locked into the hidden menu and it will cycle STROBE-SOS-BEACON instead of HI-MED-LOW. At this point the ONLY way back to the other world is to shut it off for 2 seconds.
Logistics:
The instructions explain all of the features and functions well enough except where they say you have to wait 5 seconds for reset, I found that 2 seconds is enough. It doesn't list a working voltage but the batteries are in series and I measured 12.5 volts on nearly full batteries. There is no clip but it comes with a nice lanyard and the ring installed on the light is on there nice and sturdy. The PW cannot tailstand. I found one O-ring on each end (two total). The threads are good and came lightly greased. The reflector is deep, highly polished and has a light OP finish. The LED seemed a little off center to me at first but I might have still been in shock over seeing the SIX cores!! It seems well centered to me now but you be the judge from the close-up shot. If it is off, you can't tell from the beam. There is no knurling, just some smooth fluting but gripping and retaining this bad boy will be NO problem. The head unscrews right in the center but the seam is extremely well hidden amongst the ribbing/fins. The self contained and apparently sealed LED module is on fine threads inside the head and takes a lot of turns to remove. All of my 18650 brands fit and I found no rattle at all. The battery holder doubles as the charger (you leave the cells in the carrier to charge) but I'm not sure if it contains any electronics that would aid in charging. That means it could very well be the typical WE system that relies on the PCB in each cell to terminate the charge. It's been said this is not an optimal charging method but it works because I charged it up using this system and the voltage was the same in all 3 batteries: about 4.18 volts (analog meter but all readings were identical and a hair below 4.2). Mike at PTS said the batteries will remain fairly balanced and users should be okay unless they run the batteries down so low that they cut out, in which case a balance would be in order. When you plug the charging lead into the port on the battery magazine, the light on the charger turns red to indicate charging and green when the charge is complete. The battery magazine has three tiny red LEDs on the bottom (see photo) that light up when the switch is in the ON position. I'm not sure if that has any function except to say "cool" when you see it. The switch does not have to be in the ON position for charging.
Current draw:
The current draw on high is 1.3 amps. That might seem low but keep in mind we're dealing with 11.1 to 12.6 volts. That 1.3 amp measurement is taken from the batteries NOT the emitter. Medium was 420ma and low was 41ma. Again, don't let the low amperage figures fool you. The higher voltage makes up for it. By ohms law this light is consuming 16.38 watts where the Eagletac M2C4 is consuming 12.6 watts. DISCLAIMER for the techy-types ready to pounce on me: Those figures are more rating or theoretical since I used the voltage of fresh off the charger cells and did not account for voltage dip under load.
In the hands of "babes:"
This is the part of the review where I take the light over to my neighbor Joe and get his "I don't care about flashlights the way you care about flashlights" opinion. He is a highly skilled mechanic and has an impressive array of tools but to him a flashlight is a good old stock Mag. I've been slowing converting him but there's no "passion" as with our group so this makes him the perfect subject. I handed him the light and the first thing he said was he liked the feel. He was referring to the weight as well as the grip. Joe liked the apparent quality too. He felt the light was very strong and stout and could take a good beating. I had to help him find the concealed mode but he managed to find the 3 levels on his own. He preferred the reverse clicky over the forward clicky of the Explorer I recently reviewed.
The beam and white walling:
The beam is pretty good. It has some tiny imperfections that only some CPF-ers would see but considering what's making the beam, a rectangular, six core emitter, it's pretty darn good. It's mostly round too, which is a little surprising. The donut hole is only obvious under 1 foot. The tint is nice and white. There are no rings as it goes right from large hotspot to spill. Nice job, Wolf Eyes. White wall hunters will be mostly pleased and good luck finding those imperfections out in the wild.
Pilot Whale left - EagleTac M2C4 right
Pilot Whale left - EagleTac M2C4 right - underexposed
PWM:
Using my highly scientific method of pointing the light into a fan, I detected no PWM at all on any level.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>*<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Now we'll move on to what you've all been waiting for . . . the BEAMSHOTS! In all pictures with two lights, the Pilot Whale is on the LEFT. Captions appear below each photo. I couldn't put the lights side by side at the longer distances because I ran out of "house." The main competitor for this light, as I see it, is the EagleTac M2C4 with the P7 emitter supposedly putting out 900 lumens. The two seem fairly close and I'm sure many of you will be studying those back and forth for a while.
Pilot Whale - 50 feet.
M2C4 - 50 feet
Pilot Whale - EagleTac M2C4
Pilot Whale 100 feet
M2C4 100 feet
Pilot Whale - M2C4 - 100 feet
Pilot Whale 150 feet
M2C4 150 feet
Pilot Whale 300 feet
M2C4 300 feet
Conclusions:
What a year this has been for new lights! They keep getting brighter and brighter and even a little smaller. You've seen the pictures, this thing is a MONSTER! I'm predicting you're going to be very happy after the UPS guy (or that UPS gal in the tight shorts, if you're that lucky) shows up with your new Pilot Whale. Congratulations to Wolf Eyes and Osram for bringing this awesome, compact and super bright light to the eagerly awaiting market.
This is no EDC but you won't care how you got it there after you turn it on! It's even impressive when it's light outside! People are going to think you ripped a landing light off of a Learjet. The price is up there (mid two fifties) but it does deliver and you won't be disappointed. It's still a whole lot cheaper than an M6 and it's all ready to recharge with its' own charger built in. It would have been great if you could plug the charger in through the tailcap but that would have made waterproofing extremely difficult.
The EagleTac turned out to be a very worthy opponent and there isn't a clear winner in some of the shots . . . but I feel the Pilot Whale edged it out at 300 feet and perhaps the underexposed shot as well. In the shots were they look tied, or if it appears that the EagleTac won, look again at the hotspot, corona and spill. These two lights are rated within 100 lumens of each other so we're talking a difference of about 10 percent and I believe the shots reflect that small difference.
So I say BUY IT! But then I always say that. Here are my ratings: Overall I give it a 9. The output is a 10 (11 if you're a Spinal Tap fan because this one does go to 11). The fit and finish gets a 9.5. The UI gets an 9. It has all of the loved (and hated) "bells and whistles" so for features I'll give it a 9. Perceived durability gets a 9.5.
There are many fine retailers for this light but I recommend www.PTS-Flashlights.com for great prices and great service. CPF members who set up an account receive special pricing on everything they sell.
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