lightningbug
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2006
- Messages
- 190
Howdy Ladies and Gentleman,
Today I picked up this light from the Post Office, as a partial shipment of an order from Fifthunit.com.
The item was packed in a bubble bag, then wrapped in a typical bubble envelope mailer. It arrived as if it had been handed to me from the original packer.
Upon close inspection, I found a beautifully machined tiny light with a wrist lanyard attached. I noticed some comments in other threads concerning machining marks evident in the pictures of this light on Dae's website. Be assured no such marks are on my light. Rather, machine marks are highly evident but appear to be purposeful. There are four flats machined into the body, and flats machined into the end to create a six flute star pattern on the base. In the center of the base and star pattern is a 1/4-20 female thread facilitating attachment to a tripod. On all flats, machining marks are evident and recall nostalgic images of elegant automobile dashboards from the last century that employed the same machining techniques. Not only dashboards, but consoles, door panels and many other custom and expensive items used the "jeweled" technique. Perhaps the "jeweling" on the F&L J1 are coincidental rather than intentional, but nonetheless add a very nice touch for those of us that remember "jeweled" dashboards and could never afford it. Outside of the "jeweling", there are no machining marks, and fit & finish are excellent. The HA3 is flawless, with no color mismatches or uneveness.
F&L J1 is silk-screened on one of the body flats. The head has four machined rings, then two raised knurled rings. The cross-hatching is slight, and could be a bit deeper in my opinion, but is quite functional as is. It is deep enough to displace water if your hands are wet so you can gain purchase to turn the light on or off. And, speaking of that, it's a twisty. 3W is silk-screened on the head. The lens is glass, the reflector deep and mirror-like, but the emitter in my light is slightly off center by about 1/128". Fifthunit claims the light employs an emitter from the USA.
The light shipped without a battery, so I tried it with a primary cell from Ultralast. Wow! Oh my! Wow! This little sucker is bright! The tint appears white with no other distractive coloration upon first glance, but in direct comparison to a Luxogen LR-5 3W is slightly warm. The beam is nearly perfect with a medium sized hotspot (very close to the beam from the 6W 2 mode) transitioning into a lovely corona of appropriate and most useful size. Beyond the corona, a ring of darkness followed by a thin ring of light. The hotspot is bright and gives the overall appearance of a huge illuminated drop of water, that is to say, somewhat 3 dimensional much like other LEDs. With a Lith-ion CR2, this thing is crazy bright. I didn't want to perform any extensive testing with the rechargeable, as I'm not sure if the tiny light's circuit will support voltages over 3v.
In direct comparison to:
Luxogen LR-5 3W (1 x 123)
Ultrafire 602A (1 x AA)
HDS U60 (2 x 123)
HDS B42XRGT (1 x 123)
Fenix L1/L2T (1 x 123)
Fenix L2P (1 x 123)
Fenix L1P (1 x AA)
Fenix L2P/L1P (1 x AA)
Lambda/Nuwai Pocket Illuminator 3W (1 x AAA)
Ultrafire 602C (1 x 10440)
MXDL 3W v1 (3 x AAA)
Dorcy Super 1W (1 x 123)
Maglite 2D 3W LED (2 x D)
6W 2 mode (1 x 123)
and a few others, the little Jil clone holds its own. In fact, it blows away the Fenix and Ultrafire lights (except the LxT with 123), and edges out the others except the Luxogen and HDS. The Maglite is great and doesn't exactly fit into this category, but since its an LED, I compared it with its beam focused as tightly as possible. Without any spill beam, it really doesn't fit here. And when I say "blows away", I mean its brighter....and brighter enough to see the difference quite easily. In fact, its approximately the same brightness of the HDS B42XRGT on maximum. The HDS U60 is brighter, though. On a Lith-ion, its brighter than the Luxogen LR-5, and on primaries both are equal.
Obviously, at this point in time I have no data on runtime, but I'll try to exhaust a battery and also take some comparative beam shots. As bright as this is, I expect poor runtimes.
All in all, I would rate this 5 out of 5 stars as is. Price vs performance is exceptional. Future improvements I'd like to see include multiple brightness levels, included holster, included lobster claw keychain, and tritium.
I would also love to see some data on voltage tolerance, so we know if rechargeables are in order. When others receive theirs who have more knowledge of the circuitry; perhaps the rating will be downgraded. But for now, I'm happily recommending it!
EDIT:
Please note the following:
J1 current is measured @:
Primary @ 2.86v 177ma
Lith-ion @ 3.8v 200ma (approximately.....meter used only has settings for 200ma and 10A, and would quickly flash 199.8ma, then nothing)
Power considerations:
F&L J1- used Ultralast primary (the light is brighter with a lith-ion, but I don't trust extended use yet)
Ultrafire- 10440
6W 2 mode- used protected RCR123
L1P/123- used primary
L2T/123- used primary
Nuwai/Lambda Pocket Illuminator- used Nimh AAA
Luxogen LR-5 3W- new Duracell primary 123
HDS B42- used protected RCR123
HDS U60- protected RCR123, charged but shelfed for several weeks
Photos were taken with an average Digital camera, and no exposure compensation employed. The camera was handheld. The shots were taken against a Beige wall. The beamshots really don't do justice to the little light, as it certainly seems brighter than the photos would lead you to believe. I decided to limit the beamshot comparison to 3W lights only with the exception of the tiny Ultrafire, as with a fresh Lith-ion battery, it nears 3W performance.
The Lineup
Size Comparison
The J1 is dwarfed by the Fenix L0P & L1P
The F&L J1 3W is always on the left in the following photos
J1 vs 6w 2 mode
J1 vs HDS EDC B42XRGT
J1 vs HDS EDC U60
J1 vs L2T/123
J1 vs L2P/123
J1 vs Pocket Illuminator
J1 vs Luxogen LR-5
J1 vs Ultrafire AAA
If you would like to seem comparisons of other lights, please feel free to ask, and if I have one, I'll certainly do the test.
Thanks for your interest!
Today I picked up this light from the Post Office, as a partial shipment of an order from Fifthunit.com.
The item was packed in a bubble bag, then wrapped in a typical bubble envelope mailer. It arrived as if it had been handed to me from the original packer.
Upon close inspection, I found a beautifully machined tiny light with a wrist lanyard attached. I noticed some comments in other threads concerning machining marks evident in the pictures of this light on Dae's website. Be assured no such marks are on my light. Rather, machine marks are highly evident but appear to be purposeful. There are four flats machined into the body, and flats machined into the end to create a six flute star pattern on the base. In the center of the base and star pattern is a 1/4-20 female thread facilitating attachment to a tripod. On all flats, machining marks are evident and recall nostalgic images of elegant automobile dashboards from the last century that employed the same machining techniques. Not only dashboards, but consoles, door panels and many other custom and expensive items used the "jeweled" technique. Perhaps the "jeweling" on the F&L J1 are coincidental rather than intentional, but nonetheless add a very nice touch for those of us that remember "jeweled" dashboards and could never afford it. Outside of the "jeweling", there are no machining marks, and fit & finish are excellent. The HA3 is flawless, with no color mismatches or uneveness.
F&L J1 is silk-screened on one of the body flats. The head has four machined rings, then two raised knurled rings. The cross-hatching is slight, and could be a bit deeper in my opinion, but is quite functional as is. It is deep enough to displace water if your hands are wet so you can gain purchase to turn the light on or off. And, speaking of that, it's a twisty. 3W is silk-screened on the head. The lens is glass, the reflector deep and mirror-like, but the emitter in my light is slightly off center by about 1/128". Fifthunit claims the light employs an emitter from the USA.
The light shipped without a battery, so I tried it with a primary cell from Ultralast. Wow! Oh my! Wow! This little sucker is bright! The tint appears white with no other distractive coloration upon first glance, but in direct comparison to a Luxogen LR-5 3W is slightly warm. The beam is nearly perfect with a medium sized hotspot (very close to the beam from the 6W 2 mode) transitioning into a lovely corona of appropriate and most useful size. Beyond the corona, a ring of darkness followed by a thin ring of light. The hotspot is bright and gives the overall appearance of a huge illuminated drop of water, that is to say, somewhat 3 dimensional much like other LEDs. With a Lith-ion CR2, this thing is crazy bright. I didn't want to perform any extensive testing with the rechargeable, as I'm not sure if the tiny light's circuit will support voltages over 3v.
In direct comparison to:
Luxogen LR-5 3W (1 x 123)
Ultrafire 602A (1 x AA)
HDS U60 (2 x 123)
HDS B42XRGT (1 x 123)
Fenix L1/L2T (1 x 123)
Fenix L2P (1 x 123)
Fenix L1P (1 x AA)
Fenix L2P/L1P (1 x AA)
Lambda/Nuwai Pocket Illuminator 3W (1 x AAA)
Ultrafire 602C (1 x 10440)
MXDL 3W v1 (3 x AAA)
Dorcy Super 1W (1 x 123)
Maglite 2D 3W LED (2 x D)
6W 2 mode (1 x 123)
and a few others, the little Jil clone holds its own. In fact, it blows away the Fenix and Ultrafire lights (except the LxT with 123), and edges out the others except the Luxogen and HDS. The Maglite is great and doesn't exactly fit into this category, but since its an LED, I compared it with its beam focused as tightly as possible. Without any spill beam, it really doesn't fit here. And when I say "blows away", I mean its brighter....and brighter enough to see the difference quite easily. In fact, its approximately the same brightness of the HDS B42XRGT on maximum. The HDS U60 is brighter, though. On a Lith-ion, its brighter than the Luxogen LR-5, and on primaries both are equal.
Obviously, at this point in time I have no data on runtime, but I'll try to exhaust a battery and also take some comparative beam shots. As bright as this is, I expect poor runtimes.
All in all, I would rate this 5 out of 5 stars as is. Price vs performance is exceptional. Future improvements I'd like to see include multiple brightness levels, included holster, included lobster claw keychain, and tritium.
I would also love to see some data on voltage tolerance, so we know if rechargeables are in order. When others receive theirs who have more knowledge of the circuitry; perhaps the rating will be downgraded. But for now, I'm happily recommending it!
EDIT:
Please note the following:
J1 current is measured @:
Primary @ 2.86v 177ma
Lith-ion @ 3.8v 200ma (approximately.....meter used only has settings for 200ma and 10A, and would quickly flash 199.8ma, then nothing)
Power considerations:
F&L J1- used Ultralast primary (the light is brighter with a lith-ion, but I don't trust extended use yet)
Ultrafire- 10440
6W 2 mode- used protected RCR123
L1P/123- used primary
L2T/123- used primary
Nuwai/Lambda Pocket Illuminator- used Nimh AAA
Luxogen LR-5 3W- new Duracell primary 123
HDS B42- used protected RCR123
HDS U60- protected RCR123, charged but shelfed for several weeks
Photos were taken with an average Digital camera, and no exposure compensation employed. The camera was handheld. The shots were taken against a Beige wall. The beamshots really don't do justice to the little light, as it certainly seems brighter than the photos would lead you to believe. I decided to limit the beamshot comparison to 3W lights only with the exception of the tiny Ultrafire, as with a fresh Lith-ion battery, it nears 3W performance.
The Lineup
Size Comparison
The J1 is dwarfed by the Fenix L0P & L1P
The F&L J1 3W is always on the left in the following photos
J1 vs 6w 2 mode
J1 vs HDS EDC B42XRGT
J1 vs HDS EDC U60
J1 vs L2T/123
J1 vs L2P/123
J1 vs Pocket Illuminator
J1 vs Luxogen LR-5
J1 vs Ultrafire AAA
If you would like to seem comparisons of other lights, please feel free to ask, and if I have one, I'll certainly do the test.
Thanks for your interest!
Last edited:
