AverageGuy
Newly Enlightened
I ordered an S18 and received it a couple of days ago. I debated between this and an Olight SR92, the SR92 doesn't have enough reviews yet and I liked that the S18 is "smaller". I wasn't so sure about the battery setup, but I went ahead anyway as I have some AW IMR16340's coming in the mail and will run it on those.
I deliberately left the word 'Problems" out of the description because for me I don't consider the issues I had with the tail-cap, problems. Like so many things I buy these days it seems that they all need some TLC and a little tweaking by ME as the end user to get it to work the way that I want. I am not saying this is right, but that is the way it is. For those that don't like messing with their stuff, or are not comfortable with it, this may be a problem.
When I got the light, I took the tail-cap off and put in some batteries, at that time I noticed that the battery holder had a little bit of movement to it. For those that don't know, the battery holder is attached to the tail-cap. While trying it out, I didn't like the feel of the tail-cap switch, it was "sticky", for lack of a better term, especially if you clicked the switch off center. Not sure if other reviewers had this issue.
As I was messing with it, taking the cap off and screwing it back on, investigating the "problem", I noticed that the battery holder was getting loose and the cap would not screw on as far. To make a long story short, I discovered that the ring that holds in the battery tube to the tail-cap was was making contact with the flashlight body and unscrewing it.
In this picture you can see the battery holder, the ring and the tail-cap. If you look closely, you can see the thin flange on the bottom of the battery holder that the ring seats against.
Here you can see the bottom on the holder, the contacts and the flange. The tabs sticking out serve two purposes, they slide into cutouts in the cap to keep it from twisting, and provide positive stops for the adjustable settings at high and low. You can clearly see the cutouts in the ring to allow assembly, this ring slides over the battery holder and screws into the tail-cap.
Here's the inside of the cap. Since I had it apart I decided to see if I could tweak my clicky switch.
Close up of the contacts, these have some stout springs behind them. You can also see the groves cut for the battery holder tabs.
Here you can see how the arrow on the cap lines up with the contacts.
With the silver ring removed, the threaded part, that screws the cap to the body, can be separated from the tail-cap.
Here is what it looks like completely apart.
In this blown out pic, you can see the inside of the tail-cap, it is one solid piece, the machining is quite nice.
Here is the other side of the forward clicky switch, it is smooth and has a nice positive click.
I tweaked the large spring that sits under the cap, put it all back together and it works great now. Only time will tell if the ring will stay tight, when I get a chance at work I will have to fab up a spanner wrench that will fit and give it proper tighten. I could see the thin plastic flange getting cracked or broken if the light is used with the ring not seated and tight.
So far I really like the light, I would best describe it as beefy. It is bright, my brightest flashlight yet. I was playing around with it after I got it back together; my girlfriend was just getting home after her long day, it was dark, she pulled up to the mailbox in her jeep and I lit her up on high, it made her heart skip because she thought it was the police turning on their spot to pull her over. Funny stuff.
If there are any questions, I will try to answer them as best I can. For anyone that has an S18, or is thinking about getting one, I hope you find this helpful.
Edit: One thing I forgot to mention, I read it somewhere else here also but just to let you know, the Olight SR51 diffuser fits on this light and works quite well.
I deliberately left the word 'Problems" out of the description because for me I don't consider the issues I had with the tail-cap, problems. Like so many things I buy these days it seems that they all need some TLC and a little tweaking by ME as the end user to get it to work the way that I want. I am not saying this is right, but that is the way it is. For those that don't like messing with their stuff, or are not comfortable with it, this may be a problem.
When I got the light, I took the tail-cap off and put in some batteries, at that time I noticed that the battery holder had a little bit of movement to it. For those that don't know, the battery holder is attached to the tail-cap. While trying it out, I didn't like the feel of the tail-cap switch, it was "sticky", for lack of a better term, especially if you clicked the switch off center. Not sure if other reviewers had this issue.
As I was messing with it, taking the cap off and screwing it back on, investigating the "problem", I noticed that the battery holder was getting loose and the cap would not screw on as far. To make a long story short, I discovered that the ring that holds in the battery tube to the tail-cap was was making contact with the flashlight body and unscrewing it.
In this picture you can see the battery holder, the ring and the tail-cap. If you look closely, you can see the thin flange on the bottom of the battery holder that the ring seats against.
Here you can see the bottom on the holder, the contacts and the flange. The tabs sticking out serve two purposes, they slide into cutouts in the cap to keep it from twisting, and provide positive stops for the adjustable settings at high and low. You can clearly see the cutouts in the ring to allow assembly, this ring slides over the battery holder and screws into the tail-cap.
Here's the inside of the cap. Since I had it apart I decided to see if I could tweak my clicky switch.
Close up of the contacts, these have some stout springs behind them. You can also see the groves cut for the battery holder tabs.
Here you can see how the arrow on the cap lines up with the contacts.
With the silver ring removed, the threaded part, that screws the cap to the body, can be separated from the tail-cap.
Here is what it looks like completely apart.
In this blown out pic, you can see the inside of the tail-cap, it is one solid piece, the machining is quite nice.
Here is the other side of the forward clicky switch, it is smooth and has a nice positive click.
I tweaked the large spring that sits under the cap, put it all back together and it works great now. Only time will tell if the ring will stay tight, when I get a chance at work I will have to fab up a spanner wrench that will fit and give it proper tighten. I could see the thin plastic flange getting cracked or broken if the light is used with the ring not seated and tight.
So far I really like the light, I would best describe it as beefy. It is bright, my brightest flashlight yet. I was playing around with it after I got it back together; my girlfriend was just getting home after her long day, it was dark, she pulled up to the mailbox in her jeep and I lit her up on high, it made her heart skip because she thought it was the police turning on their spot to pull her over. Funny stuff.
If there are any questions, I will try to answer them as best I can. For anyone that has an S18, or is thinking about getting one, I hope you find this helpful.
Edit: One thing I forgot to mention, I read it somewhere else here also but just to let you know, the Olight SR51 diffuser fits on this light and works quite well.
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