My elite xray review

I went camping for a night this weekend and took with my opalec and elite xray. I've been trying to decide which one I like better. The xray has some unique features to it. its as simple as a mouse click to turn it off and on( kind of). The beacon light is one of the neatest features I've ever seen in a flashlight. However I think the xray has several drawbacks. It was a very dark area and the only light came from stars and the moon so my eyes became adjusted to the dark. I was using my xray to walk around and it didn't take me long to become annoyed with it. The led's sticking out are not a durability problem but they make a very annoying and bright glare in the bottom of your eyes. the clear case makes it worse because they shine through that too. This is the main reason I got rid of the attitude. Another big complaint about this light I have is the dimming mode. the second mode is great for most uses. almost as bright as the first yet you get much better run time. so why cant you set that as the regular on off button? i know 3 clicks arent a big deal to use that mode but it takes away the finesse of just being able to use 1 button and turn it on. It does have a lot of good things about it. you can set it on a table or whatever to light up a room where the opalec would just roll away unless you held it in place with something. For the high price you would think there might be some kind of regulation also and the advertisement of the most advanced flashlight made. I really love the style of this light and the buttons but I think I will go back to the opalec for now. even on the highest setting the opalec still puts up a good fight without overdriving its led's and its regulated! amazing its all done with 2 batteries which could be alkaline, lithium or rechargeable and you still get the same brightness and even output. i could only stand to use lithiums in the xray. I think the magnet was a terrible idea. it cold be useful but for most people it would be better off without it. I'm just stating my opinions on this light. I was amazed at first but I will end up going back to the opalec until the eternalights are improved.

Chris

I have the X-Ray w/beacon, but not the Elite. Didn't feel like I needed the magnet & prefer the $35 price tag. I don't have an Opalec, but my X-ray is as bright or brighter than my Inova X5. I like the ability to be able to dim to the conditions at hand. Having to click to dim it doesn't bother me. If I'm just going to use it for a short time, I don't bother to dim it. If I going to use it for a long enough period that dimming it will matter to save battery, the 3-4 seconds to dim it doesn't seem like that big a deal. I like the beacon for finding it in the night. If I put the beacon on steady, it's plenty of light to get around the house at night, without even turning on the main lights. I generaly don't need the blinker functions, but they could be handy camping or parking your car in a very large parking lot. The only thing I'ld really like to see them add would be some kind of clip on shield for when you wanted to cut down on the light emmited from the side. Other than that, I would say it's one of my favorite lights, other than my E2, ARC LS, & ARC LE, which are my EDC lights. TX

maybe you were the one that suggested the shield on the techass website. that would really improve this light. I would just like something to hang over the top of the leds so I don't get all the glare. I have a piece of glow string on my opalec and it works great for finding it in the dark. doesn't drain my batteries either.

I find that holding the light in my palm at my side with my thumb extending forward is very comfortable & blocks most of the light that would distract me. The battery drain in the beacon blink mode doesn't bother me. They project 2.5-3.5 years running in this mode, with alkalines. I'm useing lithiums.
Tex

I keep finding more things to like about my Xray, and am becoming increasingly annoyed at the things I don't like. I've gone on and on about how much I like the dimmer mode. My one suggestion there -- and it's a minor one, no big deal -- is that it would be nice if the light would "remember" where I left the dimming mode the last time I shut the light off. I tend to always use the dim mode on the exact same level.

Also in the realm of positives, I already like the multiple modes, and somebody here suggested that his child enjoyed the "dazzle" mode. Sure enough, my infant son loves it. So now, aside from being a primary light, night light (dimmer mode), instant-on light (pulse mode), it's another toy for my baby!

Now, the things that really bother me: The Xray is starting to bother me the same way the Photon lights did (and which prompted me to switch the Photon to an Arc), that is, a little time with very bright light, followed by an excruciatingly long time of fair-to-middling light. After about the first month, the high mode wasn't bright enough to let me use the Xray as a primary light anymore. So count me in as another vote that regulation is what the Xray needs most. That's my #1 request.

My #2 complaint is that even when the batteries are fresh, I sometimes need more light in a flashlight. Get rid of one of the sillier modes and stick in a turbo overdrive mode to get 20% more light or something. Yes, it'll burn out the batteries fast, and yes it'll sacrifice LED life. I would use this mode rarely, but sometimes I need it. That's my #2 request.

#3 request is to remember the last level set on dimming mode, as outlined above.

Joe

I was reading through the message board at techass and some sort of clip on guard looks promising. also the feature to remember what mode it was left in. I'm really looking forward to these improvements if they become real. Until then look for my elite xray in the buy/sell section.