UniVex AAA - User's Evaluation
Since there isn't much info on this light, I'll pop in my 2 cents' worth here. Besides, writing this review distracted me from spending more $$$ during CPF's down time.... just barely.
I bought this from the MP (dealer Steve Ku aka kuku427) more than a month ago. The light is made by UniVex International which, from what I know, deals mainly with industrial UV equipment. The UniVex Titanium AAA is their first venture into flashlights.
The following are the light's specifications:
- 6Al4V Titanium alloy shell
- Full length cut knurling
- 10440 Li Ion/AAA powered
- Three mode UI (H-M-L no memory)
- Forward clicky
- XP-G neutral R4 5B LED
- Smooth TIR or orange peel reflector
- 13.65mm x 80.3mm
I find the UniVex Titanium AAA to be an odd ball because it employs a couple of features I don't normally find in other AAA lights, almost like a rebel in the making. Whether these features are beneficial to the end-user is rather subjective, but I would say these would almost make the UniVex AAA different...
Rebel Feature One: Full Length Knurling
When I first saw this and upon receiving them, my initial thought was "Aurora Firesteel Firestarter", it has the same full length knurling and the consistent cylindrical design which marries the definition of tool and attitude. Knurling is the most aggressive I've handled for a AAA light, closest to match would be the custom titanium shell for LF2XT and Peaks 10440SS with knurled body. I've tried handling it with soap and water and the friction remains gripping, it also makes cigar-holding a piece of cake. The length of the light is not meant to be shortest possible due to the presence of a switch, but the up side is it can be gripped comfortably through the length of my four fingers. Another key advantage of full knurling I've experienced in the past is that it totally hides scratches (which bare Ti is so prone to). In fact, with the tailcap made of Ti, this full metal jacket (except for the lens) looks to be pretty much invulnerable to anything. Of course, the down side of it is that its abrasive nature might scratch up the stuff it accompanies in your pocket.... like your keys.
Rebel Feature Two: Switch
Underneath the titanium tailcap, it uses a forward clicky which is pretty rare for AAA lights. This is good for those momentary activation to search for key holes, ignition switch etc. The forward clicky also helps to make mode switching easier. It's strange because it is by definition a clicky switch, but it's silent in activation and there's a soft scrapping sound caused by the Ti cap rubbing against the recess. So, it's a clicky, silent, scrapping switch.After some getting use to, I find that it doesn't bother me as much as when I first played with it.
Rebel Feature Three: User Interface
UniVex AAA does not have a built-in memory feature and the light always come on high, further half clicks step it down to medium and then low. I guess I'm one of the minority who's not bothered by lights that activate on high mode because most of my tasks are not really close-up and I find it troublesome to keep half clicking or twisting to ramp it up several steps every single time. Mode switching is to be done quickly within about 0.5secs, the need for a quick switch is to minimize accidental mode switching during short intervals of momentary activations.
Rebel Feature Four: Optics and Beams
As far as I know, I've not come across any AAA light (mass nor custom) that provides options where optics are concerned. UniVex AAA comes with a choice of a LOP reflector or TIR optic. I ordered both options to check out the difference and was expecting the TIR to be throwy, but to discover it's a "diffuser" TIR, somewhat similar to Fenix E05's optic. This produces an extremely even flood with a wider-than-average angle for good close and medium range applications. The beam profile of the LOP reflector is very similar to the TIR except that it has a slightly better throw with a smooth hotspot.
TIR (Left) and LOP reflector (Right)
This is a comparison between ReVo (left) and UniVex TIR (right). The light's neutral tint is beautifully diffused which doesn't seem to bother my night vision.
The one with OP reflector provides a decent throw without compromising the smooth beam profile.
Color Rendition
Daylight
UniVex AAA
Rebel Feature Five
The candle mode, and I really mean real candle mode, not the ability to tailstand, but to be able to use it like the Maglite in the good 'ol days: just pop the head off and voila. Of course, the danger of it is that the emitter will be exposed for any accidental damage.
Here's a visual comparison to some of my other AAA lights.
L > R: LF2XT Titanium | UniVex AAA | LD01 | N-Light B3 | Ray S20 | Preon ReVo | iTP A3 EOS Upgraded
Keychain duty in action
In a nutshell:
Pros
- 2 Optic options: TIR diffuser and Reflector
- Optics changing is a piece of cake, so is emitter swapping for future upgrades.
- Smooth and neutral tint
- Forward clicky
- Ability to take li-ion
- Candle mode feature
Cons
- The split ring recess is too close to the hole, hence it requires an extremely small split ring for the light to tailstand properly.
- Protected li-ion does not fit, leaving about 1mm gap in the tailcap when screwed in. Unprotected ones fit without a problem.
Subjective
- Unique fully-knurled host
- No memory feature
- High to low UI
- Not a must, but provision of a ti clip would be great for those who wish to carry it as EDC.
Zeruel Points
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Incidentalist
It got the exact same lenght as my liteflux lf2xt, and its a bit slimmer. The side by side photo with the Ti liteflux fooled me to think it was shorter tham my stock liteflux.
But from the looks of how the light engine is screwed into the body and the reflector is secured into the head with a brass retainer ring, I wager it can take some serious abuse.
, so unless Zeruel takes some crisp shots, theese will have to do
