the0dore3524
Flashlight Enthusiast
This is the first review I've done for submission to the review forums, but I'll do my best! Please pardon any formatting errors or erroneous grammar.
Official specifications from the manufacturer
I should start off by giving a little background regarding Lux-RC Labs and its owner. Lux-RC Labs is based out of Russia and run by a single individual named Serge Dolgov. As I'm sure many of you are already aware, Serge handles the electronics of Team Oveready's flashlights (such as the awesome BOSS 35) and is the creator of the venerable 371D light engine. What might be lesser known, however, is that Serge manufacturers his own flashlights unilaterally of Oveready. Prior to the introduction of the Minion R1, Serge's products were limited to the FL33 and a few other exclusive flashlights. I recall visiting Serge's website a few years ago and being blown away by the cost and exclusivity of such lights.
What sets the Minion apart from Serge's previous products is the manner by which they are sold, as well as the availability. The Minion R1 represents - in my opinion - Serge's gambit into the market that characterizes the custom flashlight world today; waves of "drops" in which lights are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. Serge's flashlights are sold exclusively from the Lux-RC website. Each time, Serge has a set amount of certain LEDs, secondary LEDS, and other options available for purchase.
But enough background information. Let's talk more about the Minion itself! There is a myriad of options with this flashlight. Here's a breakdown of the options:
TIR or Mule. TIR uses the standard Carclo optic. From the TIR alone, you have your choice of narrow clear or narrow frosted. The Mule has no optic and exposes the bare LEDs. The TIR works better if you intend to use the light in a more general-use capacity, good for short to medium-range tasks. The mule has no defined hotspot and is best for close-range tasks.
Sapphire/UCL Glass. This is a new option that Serge introduced in the first 2018 run, I believe. Pretty self-explanatory stuff. Sapphire ranks at a 9 on the Mohs scale of hardness and is the third-hardest mineral in the world. The UCL glass is, well, UCL glass. The Sapphire option adds on about $150 at the time of this review. Normally, it'd be a no-brainer to go with the UCL glass. As Henry of HDS Systems himself has said, sapphire offers little to no benefit over UCL. With the Minion, however, the glass is entirely exposed similar to some watch faces. Because the glass is not recessed, as in many other flashlights, sapphire DOES have an advantage over UCL. There have been a few reports of the UCL in Minion's breaking upon impact, although they are few. Whether the upgrade is worth ~$150 is at an owner's discretion.
Red/Amber/Yellow-Green Secondary LED. Red and amber both have their advantages and disadvantages. They are outlined here courtesy of Oveready. The Yellow-Green secondary is a new option to the first 2018 run.
XP-L HI 4000K/XP-L MDC 4200K/219C 4000K/XP-L2 5000K. These are the primary LED options at the time of this review. The brightest is the XP-L2 (2500 lumens at the LED), but I believe that it is exclusive to the Mule version because the LEDs are incompatible with the Carclo optic of the TIR. XPL-HI (1900 lumens at the LED) is the second brightest and is available in both mule and TIR. XPL-MDC (70% of HI's output) is the third brightest and has a smoother beam and transition than the XPL-HI. Nichia 219C has the best color rendition (CRI) of them all, albeit with the least output.
Leather Necklace w/ Holder or "Naked". The Minion has a magnetic tailcap that can connect to a holder for keychain/necklace carry. I highly recommend purchasing the holder; the Minion loses much of its utility "naked". Whether or not the holder is worth the $60 upcharge is debatable, but it's definitely a must.
At the time of this review, Serge is also offering a wrist-mount kit for the Minion R1 that can be purchased for an additional $400. I'm not sure exactly what it entails, but the upcharge is significant. You can also opt to 3D print a wrist-mount with an STL 3D file available on the site.
The options I chose to go with were TIR, XP-L MDC, amber secondary, and UCL. I also purchased the necklace holder. I chose the TIR because I've had mule flashlights before and they simply weren't my cup of tea. If possible, I would've preferred 219c, but unfortunately they were not an option with the TIR in this run. After briefly consulting Serge, I made the decision to go with the MDC for the better beam profile. I only chose amber because my BOSS 35 already has the red secondary and I wanted something different (lol). UCL because I'm a broke student who doesn't want to pay the $150 upcharge.
Shipping from Russia took what seemed like forever. I'm an instant-gratification type of person, so I really suck at these types of waits. I bomboarded Serge for updates constantly, which he must've hated! It should be noted that Serge also ran into some delays with production and had to design some sort of contraption to get things going again. My light shipped out after what I want to say was a little more than a month. Waiting for the light to get from Russia to the US was the worst part - according to the tracking it took almost three weeks! Once tracking updated on USPS and it gave an expected delivery date, I almost ran into another hurdle: signature confirmation. For once though, things went my way. Luckily my family has a pretty good relationship with the mailman and I've been known to chase her down to get a package that needs signature confirmation. This time, she just signed the package for me and updated the tracking with "left with individual". Yay! I almost panicked when I saw that because I was in class and there was no one at home. I ended up thanking her the next day for going to the trouble.
This is what arrived out of the packaging:
Very nice and professional. The box may not be as nice as Muyshondt's or some other customs, but the environment sure appreciates it. The packaging seems similar to Zebralights? Very eco-friendly, I like it.
This is what was inside when I opened the box.
Serge includes a very nice bi-fold card with general instructions and some specifications. I think the card is recycled plastic.
Here is everything else that is included (minus the Mini-Griptillian). Leather lanyard, magnetic holder, the light itself.
The above picture is the exact set-up I'm running with this light. I lack the knot-tying skills to use the leather lanyard, so went with a metal necklace I had lying around. The magnet on the end of the light does attract it, but it doesn't impact real-world use. In fact, it makes it much easier to get the Minion into my pocket quickly (the necklace attracts to the tailend of the light) if I need to take it off my neck.
Here is a size comparison to a few of my other lights.
As is seen, the Minion is truly tiny! I knew it would be small, but lining it up with other "small" lights really puts things into perspective. Keep in mind that the Minion is powered by an 18350 battery, so it's not much bigger than the battery on its own! On the topic of batteries, the type of battery definitely makes a difference with this light. Because of the insane tolerances, using a button top is ill-advised. With some longer button tops, the light doesn't twist far enough to close off the O-ring sufficiently, thus leaving a "gap" as well. I would highly recommend using a flat top, as such. I've had good luck with the Keeppower 750 mAh. The Efest 700 mAh is the perfect fit on mine, though, and allows for the light to turn on when it is fully twisted with zero gap. I will also note that the Keeppower 1200 fits. Battery fitment was an issue on the first run of Minions, but it seems that Serge has improved on the design of this run.
Here is a picture of the Minion with its clicky-brother, the Oveready BOSS 35. As can be seen, both share the same 371D light engine, albeit with different LEDs.
On the topic of the 371D, the 371D is simply put the most advanced light engine on the market today. And at $120 a piece it damn well better be. I won't pretend to understand all of the jargon regarding the 371D, but it has zero PWM, allows for a secondary LED, a bounce setting, and wireless optical programming: a combination that no other driver on the market encompasses. The H17f is a close favorite of mine and allows for more flexibility IMHO, but lacks the secondary LED of the 371D and some other features. A new driver that's also catching steam is CWF's Dragon driver. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "poor-man's 371D", but I do think the 371D is superior overall. Here are a few photos that shows the wireless-optical programming in action.
Here is the Minion in programming mode. As you can see, the secondary LED takes a much less-bright output to indicate it's ready.
Actually programming the light:
If I were to play Devil's Advocate, I'd say the biggest weakness of the 371D is its perceived longevity. Because it's based off of the Lux-RC website, you won't be able to program the 371D if the website goes down. It will also be outpaced by advances in driver technology, as previous versions were. The biggest advantage of drivers like the H17f and Dragon is that they operate unilaterally of a web-based program. I will say though, what a lot of people fail to realize is that you can actually DOWNLOAD the video file you use to program the 371D. The video file is literally a single pixel blown up and flashed in a sequence, so the file size is absolutely tiny. In other words, you can download programs in advance or upload them to the cloud in the event that you want to program the 371D and you don't have access to the internet or the website is down.
In terms of longevity, the Minion is made to last. The fit and finish are superb, as is the build-quality. An issue with previous runs of the light was that the contact would wear down over time or chew up the battery This has been remedied with a new (brass?) button. I think stainless steel, overall, was the right choice of material. The next best metal would be titanium I think, but that would have been far too cost-prohibitive for production. I considered aluminum, but it simply isn't as strong as the stainless steel. The benefits of aluminum would be better heat conductivity and weight. That being said, I don't think the Minion is too heavy although you definitely feel its presence (which can be reassuring in its own way). I know that Serge has released a few, limited Minions in ceramic which is quite cool. In the event that the light does break, though, Serge has you covered with a life-time guarantee. Of course sending it back is a real hassle...
Going on a little more about durability and overall longevity. The Minion has an IP68 dust/ingression rating. This is one of the highest ratings possible (I think? It might be the second. I *think* IP69 is a thing). I asked Serge and he confirmed that the Minion is fully waterproof to 10 meters. I did submerge the Minion in a glass of water for half-an-hour with zero issues. I will also confess to having worn the Minion in the shower hehe. Despite the issues that can arise from the hotter temps (pressure and steam), I've experienced no issues and could not find any evidence of moisture getting past the o-ring. Serge has also mentioned several times that he uses watch technology to get the UCL on seamlessly. I can't attest to the actual effectiveness, but it sure looks nice and and my watches have never had an issue being submerged.
Here's a few more pictures of my Minion with my Haiku and Emisar D4.
Let's talk some concluding thoughts. I think that in it's totality, the Minion is a home-run for Serge an Lux-RC. It represents some legit innovation, something that has been lacking as of late in the custom world. Even if its another triple, is there another triple this small and bright? The Minion currently holds the record for the most lumens to size ratio. In the flashlight world, lights seem to keep getting bigger and brighter. The Minion is the antithesis if there ever was one. I also think it's pretty impressive that Serge has been able to pump out as many of these Minions as he has. Similar to how Oveready has kept BOSS production up, I think it'll be interesting to see if Serge is able to do the same. In terms of the design choice, I think he made the right choice to go with a niche category. To my knowledge this is the only 18350 "neck light". The only other comparable lights in this category are lights like the Mecharmy Illuminex, which the Minion absolutely tramples. I think Gyorgy Kemene's Omicron is the only real other custom in this category. I have a good mind to pick one of his Omicrons up too, if funds allow! In essence, from both a business perspective and a product perspective, I think that Serge has done an excellent job with the Minion.
This is easily the longest write-up I've ever done on CPF and any flashlight I own at all. Sorry if it got a little long-winded, but I hope it lends some insight. Time will tell how this light holds up and I intend to update the post accordingly. Thanks for reading!
Official specifications from the manufacturer
I should start off by giving a little background regarding Lux-RC Labs and its owner. Lux-RC Labs is based out of Russia and run by a single individual named Serge Dolgov. As I'm sure many of you are already aware, Serge handles the electronics of Team Oveready's flashlights (such as the awesome BOSS 35) and is the creator of the venerable 371D light engine. What might be lesser known, however, is that Serge manufacturers his own flashlights unilaterally of Oveready. Prior to the introduction of the Minion R1, Serge's products were limited to the FL33 and a few other exclusive flashlights. I recall visiting Serge's website a few years ago and being blown away by the cost and exclusivity of such lights.
What sets the Minion apart from Serge's previous products is the manner by which they are sold, as well as the availability. The Minion R1 represents - in my opinion - Serge's gambit into the market that characterizes the custom flashlight world today; waves of "drops" in which lights are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis. Serge's flashlights are sold exclusively from the Lux-RC website. Each time, Serge has a set amount of certain LEDs, secondary LEDS, and other options available for purchase.
But enough background information. Let's talk more about the Minion itself! There is a myriad of options with this flashlight. Here's a breakdown of the options:
TIR or Mule. TIR uses the standard Carclo optic. From the TIR alone, you have your choice of narrow clear or narrow frosted. The Mule has no optic and exposes the bare LEDs. The TIR works better if you intend to use the light in a more general-use capacity, good for short to medium-range tasks. The mule has no defined hotspot and is best for close-range tasks.
Sapphire/UCL Glass. This is a new option that Serge introduced in the first 2018 run, I believe. Pretty self-explanatory stuff. Sapphire ranks at a 9 on the Mohs scale of hardness and is the third-hardest mineral in the world. The UCL glass is, well, UCL glass. The Sapphire option adds on about $150 at the time of this review. Normally, it'd be a no-brainer to go with the UCL glass. As Henry of HDS Systems himself has said, sapphire offers little to no benefit over UCL. With the Minion, however, the glass is entirely exposed similar to some watch faces. Because the glass is not recessed, as in many other flashlights, sapphire DOES have an advantage over UCL. There have been a few reports of the UCL in Minion's breaking upon impact, although they are few. Whether the upgrade is worth ~$150 is at an owner's discretion.
Red/Amber/Yellow-Green Secondary LED. Red and amber both have their advantages and disadvantages. They are outlined here courtesy of Oveready. The Yellow-Green secondary is a new option to the first 2018 run.
XP-L HI 4000K/XP-L MDC 4200K/219C 4000K/XP-L2 5000K. These are the primary LED options at the time of this review. The brightest is the XP-L2 (2500 lumens at the LED), but I believe that it is exclusive to the Mule version because the LEDs are incompatible with the Carclo optic of the TIR. XPL-HI (1900 lumens at the LED) is the second brightest and is available in both mule and TIR. XPL-MDC (70% of HI's output) is the third brightest and has a smoother beam and transition than the XPL-HI. Nichia 219C has the best color rendition (CRI) of them all, albeit with the least output.
Leather Necklace w/ Holder or "Naked". The Minion has a magnetic tailcap that can connect to a holder for keychain/necklace carry. I highly recommend purchasing the holder; the Minion loses much of its utility "naked". Whether or not the holder is worth the $60 upcharge is debatable, but it's definitely a must.
At the time of this review, Serge is also offering a wrist-mount kit for the Minion R1 that can be purchased for an additional $400. I'm not sure exactly what it entails, but the upcharge is significant. You can also opt to 3D print a wrist-mount with an STL 3D file available on the site.
The options I chose to go with were TIR, XP-L MDC, amber secondary, and UCL. I also purchased the necklace holder. I chose the TIR because I've had mule flashlights before and they simply weren't my cup of tea. If possible, I would've preferred 219c, but unfortunately they were not an option with the TIR in this run. After briefly consulting Serge, I made the decision to go with the MDC for the better beam profile. I only chose amber because my BOSS 35 already has the red secondary and I wanted something different (lol). UCL because I'm a broke student who doesn't want to pay the $150 upcharge.
Shipping from Russia took what seemed like forever. I'm an instant-gratification type of person, so I really suck at these types of waits. I bomboarded Serge for updates constantly, which he must've hated! It should be noted that Serge also ran into some delays with production and had to design some sort of contraption to get things going again. My light shipped out after what I want to say was a little more than a month. Waiting for the light to get from Russia to the US was the worst part - according to the tracking it took almost three weeks! Once tracking updated on USPS and it gave an expected delivery date, I almost ran into another hurdle: signature confirmation. For once though, things went my way. Luckily my family has a pretty good relationship with the mailman and I've been known to chase her down to get a package that needs signature confirmation. This time, she just signed the package for me and updated the tracking with "left with individual". Yay! I almost panicked when I saw that because I was in class and there was no one at home. I ended up thanking her the next day for going to the trouble.
This is what arrived out of the packaging:
Very nice and professional. The box may not be as nice as Muyshondt's or some other customs, but the environment sure appreciates it. The packaging seems similar to Zebralights? Very eco-friendly, I like it.
This is what was inside when I opened the box.
Serge includes a very nice bi-fold card with general instructions and some specifications. I think the card is recycled plastic.
Here is everything else that is included (minus the Mini-Griptillian). Leather lanyard, magnetic holder, the light itself.
The above picture is the exact set-up I'm running with this light. I lack the knot-tying skills to use the leather lanyard, so went with a metal necklace I had lying around. The magnet on the end of the light does attract it, but it doesn't impact real-world use. In fact, it makes it much easier to get the Minion into my pocket quickly (the necklace attracts to the tailend of the light) if I need to take it off my neck.
Here is a size comparison to a few of my other lights.
As is seen, the Minion is truly tiny! I knew it would be small, but lining it up with other "small" lights really puts things into perspective. Keep in mind that the Minion is powered by an 18350 battery, so it's not much bigger than the battery on its own! On the topic of batteries, the type of battery definitely makes a difference with this light. Because of the insane tolerances, using a button top is ill-advised. With some longer button tops, the light doesn't twist far enough to close off the O-ring sufficiently, thus leaving a "gap" as well. I would highly recommend using a flat top, as such. I've had good luck with the Keeppower 750 mAh. The Efest 700 mAh is the perfect fit on mine, though, and allows for the light to turn on when it is fully twisted with zero gap. I will also note that the Keeppower 1200 fits. Battery fitment was an issue on the first run of Minions, but it seems that Serge has improved on the design of this run.
Here is a picture of the Minion with its clicky-brother, the Oveready BOSS 35. As can be seen, both share the same 371D light engine, albeit with different LEDs.
On the topic of the 371D, the 371D is simply put the most advanced light engine on the market today. And at $120 a piece it damn well better be. I won't pretend to understand all of the jargon regarding the 371D, but it has zero PWM, allows for a secondary LED, a bounce setting, and wireless optical programming: a combination that no other driver on the market encompasses. The H17f is a close favorite of mine and allows for more flexibility IMHO, but lacks the secondary LED of the 371D and some other features. A new driver that's also catching steam is CWF's Dragon driver. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "poor-man's 371D", but I do think the 371D is superior overall. Here are a few photos that shows the wireless-optical programming in action.
Here is the Minion in programming mode. As you can see, the secondary LED takes a much less-bright output to indicate it's ready.
Actually programming the light:
If I were to play Devil's Advocate, I'd say the biggest weakness of the 371D is its perceived longevity. Because it's based off of the Lux-RC website, you won't be able to program the 371D if the website goes down. It will also be outpaced by advances in driver technology, as previous versions were. The biggest advantage of drivers like the H17f and Dragon is that they operate unilaterally of a web-based program. I will say though, what a lot of people fail to realize is that you can actually DOWNLOAD the video file you use to program the 371D. The video file is literally a single pixel blown up and flashed in a sequence, so the file size is absolutely tiny. In other words, you can download programs in advance or upload them to the cloud in the event that you want to program the 371D and you don't have access to the internet or the website is down.
In terms of longevity, the Minion is made to last. The fit and finish are superb, as is the build-quality. An issue with previous runs of the light was that the contact would wear down over time or chew up the battery This has been remedied with a new (brass?) button. I think stainless steel, overall, was the right choice of material. The next best metal would be titanium I think, but that would have been far too cost-prohibitive for production. I considered aluminum, but it simply isn't as strong as the stainless steel. The benefits of aluminum would be better heat conductivity and weight. That being said, I don't think the Minion is too heavy although you definitely feel its presence (which can be reassuring in its own way). I know that Serge has released a few, limited Minions in ceramic which is quite cool. In the event that the light does break, though, Serge has you covered with a life-time guarantee. Of course sending it back is a real hassle...
Going on a little more about durability and overall longevity. The Minion has an IP68 dust/ingression rating. This is one of the highest ratings possible (I think? It might be the second. I *think* IP69 is a thing). I asked Serge and he confirmed that the Minion is fully waterproof to 10 meters. I did submerge the Minion in a glass of water for half-an-hour with zero issues. I will also confess to having worn the Minion in the shower hehe. Despite the issues that can arise from the hotter temps (pressure and steam), I've experienced no issues and could not find any evidence of moisture getting past the o-ring. Serge has also mentioned several times that he uses watch technology to get the UCL on seamlessly. I can't attest to the actual effectiveness, but it sure looks nice and and my watches have never had an issue being submerged.
Here's a few more pictures of my Minion with my Haiku and Emisar D4.
Let's talk some concluding thoughts. I think that in it's totality, the Minion is a home-run for Serge an Lux-RC. It represents some legit innovation, something that has been lacking as of late in the custom world. Even if its another triple, is there another triple this small and bright? The Minion currently holds the record for the most lumens to size ratio. In the flashlight world, lights seem to keep getting bigger and brighter. The Minion is the antithesis if there ever was one. I also think it's pretty impressive that Serge has been able to pump out as many of these Minions as he has. Similar to how Oveready has kept BOSS production up, I think it'll be interesting to see if Serge is able to do the same. In terms of the design choice, I think he made the right choice to go with a niche category. To my knowledge this is the only 18350 "neck light". The only other comparable lights in this category are lights like the Mecharmy Illuminex, which the Minion absolutely tramples. I think Gyorgy Kemene's Omicron is the only real other custom in this category. I have a good mind to pick one of his Omicrons up too, if funds allow! In essence, from both a business perspective and a product perspective, I think that Serge has done an excellent job with the Minion.
This is easily the longest write-up I've ever done on CPF and any flashlight I own at all. Sorry if it got a little long-winded, but I hope it lends some insight. Time will tell how this light holds up and I intend to update the post accordingly. Thanks for reading!
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