Niteowl
Enlightened
The following is a casual review of Dorcy model no.41-4295, provided by Jamie at Dorcy International. The light is expected to be available sometime in March. It uses two 123 lithium cells. I'm told it is not regulated, have not gotten an answer yet as to what, if any circuitry is in it. MSRP also unkown at this time.
The light I received is a pre-production sample. Some things including packaging were still in the works, but this may be the final look at retail.
At first glance the appearance seemed a little overboard to me. I got used to it after few days. While the exterior is anodized a gray color, the inside of the body is black. The aluminum body is quite solid and the rubber trim on the head and tailcap should absorb most shocks. The tube is also wrapped in rubber with a plastic insert bearing the brand name. There is no losing your grip on this light. The tailcap is sealed with an o-ring, I was not able to remove the head for further inspection. Machining of the tail cap area is very clean. A steel pocket clip is attached with a ring that fits between the head and body. I think the clip is too bulky/wide and not stiff enough, and would remove it if I could get the head off.
As soon as I opened it, I noticed the emitter was off-center quite a bit. It appears the emitter is not centered on the star itself and is not an assembly issue. When I say star, that is an assumption from what I can see through the large reflector opening and how other Dorcy lights I've seen are built. The plastic lense is recessed about 1/4 inch.
The button is just about flush with the trim, a hair recessed perhaps. Thumb activation with a "tactical" grip took a little practice. Action is firm with a very audible click. Once on, the switch is touchy and will flash the light easily. Tailstanding is pretty stable with the wide trim.
Here you can see how thick the body tubing is, at least an 1/8 inch.
The spring tension is just about right in my opinion. Could not see an obvious way to dissasemble the tailcap.
Down to the brass tacks.... I was dissapointed in the output of this light. I had expected it to be much brighter. My brightest 3w light, Pelican's M6 blows it away. The Dorcy's got a much larger hotspot and it's not very smooth. This could be part of the problem. The off-center emitter surely doesn't help any at all. I expressed my dissapointment to Jamie and hopefully it will be resolved before production gets rolling. The light is 9 feet from the wall and has about a 16 foot wide sidespill.
A close-up with different exposure to show the off-center emitter affect.
I'll try for better beamshots later, still trying to get a technique down. I found I had no white walls in the house and went into the basement where I had bare drywall.
Runtime is unkown at this time. I did notice the head was warm after being on about ten minutes straight for beamshots.
Overall it's a neat light, very tough. With the large spot and wide spill, the light has potential if the emitter centering/output issue is resolved. I'm just not sure it will be bright enough to live up to Dorcy's 6w/120 lumen hype. I'll post updates regarding any improvements that may occur.
The light I received is a pre-production sample. Some things including packaging were still in the works, but this may be the final look at retail.
At first glance the appearance seemed a little overboard to me. I got used to it after few days. While the exterior is anodized a gray color, the inside of the body is black. The aluminum body is quite solid and the rubber trim on the head and tailcap should absorb most shocks. The tube is also wrapped in rubber with a plastic insert bearing the brand name. There is no losing your grip on this light. The tailcap is sealed with an o-ring, I was not able to remove the head for further inspection. Machining of the tail cap area is very clean. A steel pocket clip is attached with a ring that fits between the head and body. I think the clip is too bulky/wide and not stiff enough, and would remove it if I could get the head off.
As soon as I opened it, I noticed the emitter was off-center quite a bit. It appears the emitter is not centered on the star itself and is not an assembly issue. When I say star, that is an assumption from what I can see through the large reflector opening and how other Dorcy lights I've seen are built. The plastic lense is recessed about 1/4 inch.
The button is just about flush with the trim, a hair recessed perhaps. Thumb activation with a "tactical" grip took a little practice. Action is firm with a very audible click. Once on, the switch is touchy and will flash the light easily. Tailstanding is pretty stable with the wide trim.
Here you can see how thick the body tubing is, at least an 1/8 inch.
The spring tension is just about right in my opinion. Could not see an obvious way to dissasemble the tailcap.
Down to the brass tacks.... I was dissapointed in the output of this light. I had expected it to be much brighter. My brightest 3w light, Pelican's M6 blows it away. The Dorcy's got a much larger hotspot and it's not very smooth. This could be part of the problem. The off-center emitter surely doesn't help any at all. I expressed my dissapointment to Jamie and hopefully it will be resolved before production gets rolling. The light is 9 feet from the wall and has about a 16 foot wide sidespill.
A close-up with different exposure to show the off-center emitter affect.
I'll try for better beamshots later, still trying to get a technique down. I found I had no white walls in the house and went into the basement where I had bare drywall.
Runtime is unkown at this time. I did notice the head was warm after being on about ten minutes straight for beamshots.
Overall it's a neat light, very tough. With the large spot and wide spill, the light has potential if the emitter centering/output issue is resolved. I'm just not sure it will be bright enough to live up to Dorcy's 6w/120 lumen hype. I'll post updates regarding any improvements that may occur.
