Wave of Makai 6V (2x123)

[Light11]

Great pics!cant wait to get mine...ok time to go check the mailbox.

How About Some Eye Candy..

[~Deicide~]

Great pics!cant wait to get mine...ok time to go check the mailbox.

Thanks!

You Will NOT Be Disappointed.

[nfetterly]

This Thing Runs Perfectly Off Of An AW 17670. You Have To Take The Outer Label Off Though. I Have Ran It About 45 Minutes Now With No Reduction In Brightness.

I've got 2 2-pak McClickies & all my AW 17670s have no silver labels anymore.... FWIW the trustfire 17670s are considerably larger diameter.

[~Deicide~]

I've got 2 2-pak McClickies & all my AW 17670s have no silver labels anymore.... FWIW the trustfire 17670s are considerably larger diameter.

Do Your AW Batteries Have A Tight Fit?

Is There Any Reason To Worry That These Might Get Stuck?

[McGizmo]

This Thing Runs Perfectly Off Of An AW 17670. You Have To Take The Outer Label Off Though. I Have Ran It About 45 Minutes Now With No Reduction In Brightness.

Will it shift through the three levels Ok?

[~Deicide~]

Will it shift through the three levels Ok?

I Went Ahead And Recharged The Battery, But At The 45 Minute Mark, Everything Was Functioning As Intended.

I Was Using A Combination Of Medium And High.(Mostly High )

EDIT: I Have A Feeling That It Will Run Much Longer With The 17670 Battery, No Idea How Long, But It Is A Nice Alternative To RCRs Or Primarys.

[nfetterly]

Do Your AW Batteries Have A Tight Fit?

Is There Any Reason To Worry That These Might Get Stuck?

Don makes no guarantee that they will fit. In mine they are a tight fit. To remove them I hold the light in my hand with the open end outwards, the light held so that when the battery starts to move it won't fly out but hit my cupped fingers. I then swing my arm - usually the 17670 moves ~1/2 inch, I then grab it and pull.

Yeah it's a tight fit. I'm not concerned about it getting stuck, you can always remove the clicky and push it out.

If your not forcing it in, it will come out.

[Codeman]

Glad to see the 2x123 "swell" body back, Don! It wouldn't make sense on the 2xAA body, but for reasons not related to logic, I missed the swell on it nonetheless.

[Obijuan Kenobe]

Glad to see the 2x123 "swell" body back, Don! It wouldn't make sense on the 2xAA body, but for reasons not related to logic, I missed the swell on it nonetheless.

Wow, I didn't see that. Thanks. Suddenly I like the 2x123 body a little more than I did.

obi

[Codeman]

We have touchdown in Tennessee. Man, this big ol' chuck of machined Ti is beeuuuteeeful!

Initial comments posted here and here.

[LumensMaximus]

Eagle has landed... waiting for dark...thanks Don

[Light11]

The Makai has landed in the Pacific Northwest,here are some pics of my beauty...



With a friend

[coloradogps]

Mine landed yesterday in Colorado.

Beautiful!

[fyrstormer]

The Makai definitely looks best on a 2x123 body. Much more proportional that way.

Has anyone put one of these on a 2xAA body yet?

[Obijuan Kenobe]

The Makai definitely looks best on a 2x123 body. Much more proportional that way.

Has anyone put one of these on a 2xAA body yet?

Definitely for you. I love the 1x123, and I have since I first saw the Makai thread. In my hands, it just fits like it was designed for me. Luckily, what I think doesn't matter a whole lot.

obi

[karlheinz3]

Forget all about the 17670 idea....been there...done that with the original 3v light engine! Donn finally came up with the perfect light engine here! I am running the 2 x123 pak with two AW RCR123's and the 2xAA pak with a pair of AW 14500's and this is the cat's meow!!! This is it!!!! Exactly what we've all been waiting for! The "man" came up with the plan. A lot of guys keep asking for the old stuff which I too have a collection of. All I can say is get on the list or go for the 2 xAA Pak.....REMEMBER>>>> Don said maximum input up to 9v....why waste time on the 17670 with the label removed (unless you are running the original 3v LE).....Go for the GUSTO! I also used the 3v LE with an AW 14500 and a dummy spacer or two Powergenix NiZn rechargeables which carry a higher voltage than the Eneloops (I got this HOT tip from BigChelis in one of his reviews....thanks Jose) I am MOST pleased with the performance of this new light engine and endorse it with the utmost support and recommendation! Thanks Don! OUT OF THE BALL PARK HERE!!!!

[sledhead]

Well, Karl's last post put me over the edge! Email sent, put me on the list. Hopefully won't be too long before the new pacs come in.
So much for saving some money for the NYCKS!

[McGizmo]

sledhead,

Sorry but I don't keep lists on future available stuff. I have not received an ETA on the balance of paks on order and I have no idea how long it will be until I can offer the complete light again. If it was just a week then I might be willing to attempt a list feeling confident that I could just process the requests once I could and just ship the lights with postage notification. However if it took longer which is likely, I would feel inclined to first contact anyone on the list to see if they were still interested and confirm nothing had changed in mailing address. This adds more communications and more chances for me to screw something up. .

As soon as I can again offer the Makai 6V (2x123) I will post so on this thread. I believe that is the only safe and fair way to approach this. I hope you understand. I know there are others who do understand and they might have sent me a request to be on the list if I worked that way. Sorry!

[dradee1]

Forget all about the 17670 idea....been there...done that with the original 3v light engine! Donn finally came up with the perfect light engine here! I am running the 2 x123 pak with two AW RCR123's and the 2xAA pak with a pair of AW 14500's and this is the cat's meow!!! This is it!!!! Exactly what we've all been waiting for! The "man" came up with the plan. A lot of guys keep asking for the old stuff which I too have a collection of. All I can say is get on the list or go for the 2 xAA Pak.....REMEMBER>>>> Don said maximum input up to 9v....why waste time on the 17670 with the label removed (unless you are running the original 3v LE).....Go for the GUSTO! I also used the 3v LE with an AW 14500 and a dummy spacer or two Powergenix NiZn rechargeables which carry a higher voltage than the Eneloops (I got this HOT tip from BigChelis in one of his reviews....thanks Jose) I am MOST pleased with the performance of this new light engine and endorse it with the utmost support and recommendation! Thanks Don! OUT OF THE BALL PARK HERE!!!!

Are these AW 14500 batts the exact same length as standard AA batteries?

[Light11]

Are these AW 14500 batts the exact same length as standard AA batteries?

Yes.

[brighterisbetter]

Any possibility of a high CRI version?

[fyrstormer]

With as much space as that reflector offers at its rear aperture, there should be no problem having the light engine modified to use an SSC P4 Hi-CRI, or even a Luxeon Rebel Hi-CRI. Cree doesn't make Hi-CRI emitters, though.

[blackbalsam]

Just received a beautiful makai 6v head today. Waiting on nightfall to try it out. Wish i had just a portion of Dons talents. Another great creation by an incredible CPF member.

[McGizmo]

Any possibility of a high CRI version?

Yes, a very real possibility. I now have some Nichia 119 High CRI LED's that are real nice. I am sorting out their use in a planned Haiku High CRi as well as titanium Mule but they would also work in the Makai. It seems the sweet spot for them is driving them at 500 mA (700 mA max) and From samples tested I would expect 90 lumens out the front end of the Haiku and probably Makai. Note this is half the flux of the XPG but then a bit more run time as a bonus.

What is real nice with these LED's is their obvious superiority in color rendering. There is also no noticeable (to me anyway) tint variation between spot and spill. The 119 is a single die and the package is about the same size as the XPG. Units I tested had CRI of ~94 and CCT of 4700K which is right in line with their binning.

I don't know if many would benefit with a Makai High CRI given the reduction in flux but I guess it depends on the application.

[fyrstormer]

Seoul Semiconductor is making XP-sized emitters with Hi-CRI now. Another option to consider if you don't want to have to worry about different radiation patterns, since the die is the same as what you're using now.

[McGizmo]

Thanks but the Nichia 119 works well with the XPG optic platform I am using and I already have the LED's and custom MCPCB's to host them. I've already committed to them as it were.

[McGizmo]

Back to the Makai 6V 2x123, I edited the first post noting the suspension of offering the complete light until I get more of the paks in. I am hoping this will be within a couple weeks.

[Henk_Lu]

I just got my Makai 6V this evening!

WOW! I really missed a titanium thrower, here it is! The beam is flawless as expected. On Low already you see that the Makai has throw. Medium is good for normal operation, High is... high! I don't know what 200mA more could have done, but this is enough to my gusto. Unfortunately, my other throwers are currently out of the house, so I can't do direct comparisons, but it seems quite throwy, enough to my gusto again.

The beam is a dream. Small and bright hotspot, surrounded by a large and very bright corona, which goes into a bright enough spill. This light is surely perfect for forest walks, there's very good throw and a well-lit spill. It's exactly like I imagined and together with a Haiku you have a perfect combination that's good from close-up works to enlighten far away objects.

Now I just need my Haiku XP-G back, it was on holiday at the beauty-doc, to get big... trits!

Thanks very much Don!!!

[Codeman]

... I don't know what 200mA more could have done, but this is enough to my gusto...

The beam is a dream. Small and bright hotspot, surrounded by a large and very bright corona, which goes into a bright enough spill. This light is surely perfect for forest walks, there's very good throw and a well-lit spill. It's exactly like I imagined and together with a Haiku you have a perfect combination that's good from close-up works to enlighten far away objects.

Exactly my thoughts as well, except that I would add a Sundrop 3S to the perfect combo formula.

I can't imagine a use that I would have for a high CRI version, given the significantly lower output of today's CRI sources. My Makai 6V is so close to my CIE D65 backlight that I wouldn't be able to tell them apart unless they were side by side. Of course, D65 is a video standard, but I have noticed that any lights which approach it's specs tend to provide my eyes with reasonably good coloring. Unless the technology progresses to the point to where high CRI sources have roughly the same output as "normal" LEDs, I think their real value is much more apparent in short range flood lighting such as the Sundrop 3S.

I'm much more interested in seeing a high output, high CRI replacement for standard incandescent bulbs. But, somehow, I don't expect to see a McGizmo wave of these.

Don, is the 119 not a good fit for the Sundrop?

[dradee1]

So no more 6V makai until more 2x123 bodies are made? Is just the head available? I have a 2xAA body so coupled with 2 AW 14500s I would be good to go?

Any downside to this combo compared to the 2x123 body?