My DealExtreme.com light arrived today, the DX-named "U2-Style 3W CREE 1x18650 Flashlight"; Don't you miss their Swedish names? Old favorites like the LILL, the GLIMT, the ELLY? A few of them (ok, many of them) were goofy, but at least there was no doubt about what light you were talking about. It would be easier if this was just called something like the MOFO. This light is sku 1285, and manufactured by EastwardYJ: EastwardYJ claim 180-200 lumens of luminous flux, and a P4-bin Cree driven at 1200 mA, though DX only states the 1200 mA; I ordered it on 1/25/07, so it is probably the regulated model.
Unfortunately, there is a bit of confusion as to the various versions of this light. As far as I know, there was a prototype 800 mA version with a smooth reflector which was never shipped, there is this 1200 mA regulated version with a textured reflector, and there was for a brief time a "Lunar New Years special edition" UNregulated version that was $25.95 (cheaper due to lack of regulation, according to DealExtreme). This review covers the $26.95 regulated 1200 mA version with textured reflector. I forgot to take a pic of the body, so here's the DX pic:
The new textured reflector...
Inside the mediocre tailcap...
Starting on the outside...
Just to start off, I was pleasantly surprised that there were no Surefire trademarks anywhere to be found. Upon close examination of the light, it's pretty clear that this is not the same light as the old ripoff K2 U2 copy reviewed on CPF. The grip on the body is quite different, and the decorating ring is actually one-piece with the head and made out of aluminum. On the body, it says EastwardYJ and CREE POWER. To be safe, they should make sure they have permission from Cree to use its name. It's good to see that EastwardYJ is labeling the light with its own brand. After all, it seems to be a good product, and why not start building brand recognition now rather than later? Anyways, props for doing the right thing. While you're at it, you could alter that selector ring. It doesn't turn, so what's the point of the U2-style ring? Why not make it useful and machine it to have heat sinking fins or something? Ok, I digress.
The body is very sturdy. I have lots of lights made out of aluminum, but this one seems to be made out of THICK aluminum, and the construction is of surprisingly high quality. I certainly prefer it to m@glite quality, and it appears to be similar to Fenix, but thicker. The anodizing also appears to be much harder than the m@glite stuff.
The light tailstands pretty well, especially with the included lanyard removed. The crown is crenulated, which is nice for telling you when the light's been left on. The crenulations aren't very sharp/aggressive, though, so I don't think it would do as well as it could have in a fight
I don't think we need shark teeth necessarily, but if you're going to crenulate, you might as well make it useful. Oddly, some of the machined rings on the body next to the EastwardYJ logo are quite sharp. It probably won't cut you in normal use, but it's something they could address in a future revision.
Water resistance seems to be there. There's a solid o-ring seated in front of the threads with plenty of extra length on the tailcap so that you can run the light with the tailcap unscrewed many turns and still have water protection. doc_felixander has confirmed that there is an o-ring between the lens and the bezel, and that the "head" after the bezel is actually one single piece with the body.
There are tons of threads for the tailcap. Another nice touch. I was actually surprised at how many turns it took to open the back. Very sturdy, and well machined. Since most of the threads aren't anodized, you can run the light with the tailcap in various amounts of twistage; this lets you easily compensate for protected and unprotected 18650's of various lengths without overly compressing the spring in the head.
Features...
The switch is a reverse two-stage clicky. The switch and boot work decently well together, and I definitely like its action better than the LILL switch. It could definitely use a lot of improvement, though, and a few users have reported issues with the switch. I always wondered about why manufacturers bothered to cheap out on switches on some of the other lights (not this one)... I'm pretty sure people would be willing to pay an extra $1-$2 for a much better switch that they can rely on.
The model I got is the "regulated" model. doc_felixander (see post below) discovered that the emitter is mounted on a star which itself is mounted on a brass or copper heatsink slug. This slug is threaded and screws into the body. Underneath the slug is a Zetec-like boost circuit which does confirm the existance of a regulator circuit. Performance of this boost circuit will need to be proven through an independent runtime test.
Performance...
The aluminum reflector now has a light texturing to it; I guess the original rings were too much, and the white wall watchers should be happy with this one; I was hoping for a smooth reflector for more throw, but it's still quite powerful in the hotspot. The spot is tight, and the spillbeam is quite smooth. Tint is pretty good; definitely better than a lot of my luxeon lottery winners.
Even with the reflector now textured, it seems to womp on my P1D-CE for both throw and overall output. Obviously they serve different purposes as the EastwardYJ light is like 4 times bigger than the P1D-CE and has a clicky + huge reflector, but I figured so many CPFers have the P1D-CE that it would be a worthy comparison. CPF user wmpwi has a beamshot below which shows it next to the well-regarded D-Mini: the DealExtreme light is clearly brighter in the spillbeam, and the spillbeam is also much larger than the D-Mini's. The hotspot of this light compared to the D-Mini using a smooth reflector is not as bright.
Low mode is surprisingly low, which is great. Sounds like DealExtreme is relaying user wishes to the manufacturers.
My 18650 cells are still somewhere over the Pacific or languishing in US Customs, so I used an unprotected 3.7v CR123 with a ghetto handmade spacer cell. Don't try this at home!
Two independent users (thanks, Randy555 and ProteinMan!) have measured the current draw at the battery to be 1620 and 1500 mA on high. Low appears to be around 350 mA. After regulator efficiency losses (10-25%), I suppose that could be close to 1200 mA to the actual CREE led. It's hard to say exactly without measuring it at the LED.
Two other users (FengLock and WindScale) have tried the regulated version (NOT the Lunar New Years special non-regulated version) of this light with two 3volt CR123a and 3.7volt RCR123a cells and reported that brightness is the same or slightly higher than the brightness with a single 18650. This implies that there is some kind of regulating circuitry in there, otherwise we'd have lots of magic smoke if it was direct drive to the Cree LED at 6-8.4 volts. ProteinMan put in a dying 2.85 volt 18650 into the light and still measured the draw at 1250 mA. However, doc_felixander tried using 2 RCR123a's and it cooked the LED, so it seems that if you decide to run it on 2 cells, it's running the risk of seriously over-volting the LED. This seems fair as DealExtreme has made it clear that the light is designed for 1 18650 cell, and not 2 CR123 cells.
Beamshots...
So the P1D-CE is running a fully charged and rested Tenergy 3.0v RCR123a. The EastwardYJ is running a fully charged and rested DealExtreme 3.6v RCR123a. I know the P1D-CE can run a 3.6v RCR123a, but the 3.0v RCR123a's actually run a bit high anyways (around 3.4-3.1 volts), so I'm trying to keep it to spec (as much as possible, anyways). Just like I could overvolt a G2 or Maxfire, but that's not what most people would do with the stock bulb. Uh, plus I only have one 3.6v CR123a
so the Fenix is stuck with the 3.0v RCR123. The specified battery for the EastwardYJ is 3.6 volts.
Left: P1D-CE running on Max Right: EastwardYJ CREE light on High
Holy cow, look at that spill beam. So the EastwardYJ has a smoother beam, a brighter spot, and a MUCH brighter spillbeam. I can only imagine what the spot was like before they nerfed...er, textured the reflector. :laughing:
Same as above, stopped down two stops. The EastwardYJ is definitely hotter on the hotspot.
Here is another shot taken a day later (the EastwardYJ's battery is only a RCR123a instead of an 18650 [still in the mail!] and is not 100% fully charged, but you get the idea):
P1D-CE on the left, EastwardYJ on the right.
Left: Maxfire Right: EastwardYJ on high
Again, this time against a familiar foe: the Brinkman Maxfire. Color temp aside, the Maxfire has a dimmer hotspot and a much dimmer spillbeam.
Same as above, stopped down.
Right: P1D-CE on low Left: EastwardYJ on low
I wouldn't call it super-low, but I'm pretty sure it's lower than the 350mA @~3.5volts spec'ed on the DealExtreme page. Which is a good thing I don't have my meter here so I can't do power measurements.
After several minutes on high, the head was just slightly warm, and somewhat cooler than the P1D-CE next to it. This doesn't mean much, though, as it could either mean 1. the bin is indeed a decent bin (they claim a P4) and it's transferring heat well into the body or 2. the die isn't heat transferring properly, which is a sad manufacturing problem that affects a few cheaper lights due to insufficient thermal compound or lack of thermal conductivity to the body. However, since the light didn't cook itself/smoke/change tints over the test, I'm guessing it is seated properly and thermal compound has been applied sufficiently.
To the vendor or manufacturer...
Actually, I'd buy another right now, but it's lunar new year, and I guess most people on the other side of the globe are on vacation.
Given the ease of swapping reflectors, it would be great if it came with a smooth and a textured reflector. Either that, or they could sell another reflector for a few bucks. A snap-on diffuser lens (like the Petzl Myo XP's) would be hawt. A snap-on aspheric optic lens would be incredible for newbie's "white laser" action. I can buy one on ebay for $5, but why not make one that fits this light (and fattens the manufacturer's wallet)? Of course, we'd rather not have a bunch of proprietary parts, so keeping a certain design around for a few generations (ahem, Fenix!) would be appreciated. At least keeping the head shape and clicky threads the same would be nice.
I'm sure many would also like a true non-reversed tactical clicky. Half-press turns it on full blast, and a full press keeps it on until you full-press again. Just like the Maxfire's switch. But I also like having two stages! Suggestion to DX or EastwardYJ: include both, or sell an option.
Full regulation would be nice. I don't have runtime charts, but DX's show that it drops pretty predictably.
Not that the vendors read these reviews but we can always hope...
Conclusion...
Wow, I didn't expect this light to kick so much butt. Given that it cost me $26.95 including shipping, or roughly the price of one P61 replacement bulb, I wasn't sure what to expect.
I'm very happy with this purchase. Kudos to DealExtreme and EastwardYJ. For its size, this is a very bright, smooth outputting light. For my purposes, I could have gotten a D-mini, but I was hoping the uber-output of this light would be for real. I've read EastwardYJ claims of 180-200 lumens, and judging by the beamshots compared to the powerful 110-120 lumen P1D-CE, it's probably somewhere up there. There's room for improvement, especially in those balky switches, but at under $27 I'm a happy camper.
For outdoor workers or officers on duty, this could be a great light. Only a Hamilton more than a mag, not a whole lot of electronics to go bad, and the laptop-derived 18650 cell is a monster in terms of capacity. As long as that switch holds up and you don't dunk it, it should be good.
Unfortunately, there is a bit of confusion as to the various versions of this light. As far as I know, there was a prototype 800 mA version with a smooth reflector which was never shipped, there is this 1200 mA regulated version with a textured reflector, and there was for a brief time a "Lunar New Years special edition" UNregulated version that was $25.95 (cheaper due to lack of regulation, according to DealExtreme). This review covers the $26.95 regulated 1200 mA version with textured reflector. I forgot to take a pic of the body, so here's the DX pic:
The new textured reflector...
Inside the mediocre tailcap...
Starting on the outside...
Just to start off, I was pleasantly surprised that there were no Surefire trademarks anywhere to be found. Upon close examination of the light, it's pretty clear that this is not the same light as the old ripoff K2 U2 copy reviewed on CPF. The grip on the body is quite different, and the decorating ring is actually one-piece with the head and made out of aluminum. On the body, it says EastwardYJ and CREE POWER. To be safe, they should make sure they have permission from Cree to use its name. It's good to see that EastwardYJ is labeling the light with its own brand. After all, it seems to be a good product, and why not start building brand recognition now rather than later? Anyways, props for doing the right thing. While you're at it, you could alter that selector ring. It doesn't turn, so what's the point of the U2-style ring? Why not make it useful and machine it to have heat sinking fins or something? Ok, I digress.
The body is very sturdy. I have lots of lights made out of aluminum, but this one seems to be made out of THICK aluminum, and the construction is of surprisingly high quality. I certainly prefer it to m@glite quality, and it appears to be similar to Fenix, but thicker. The anodizing also appears to be much harder than the m@glite stuff.
The light tailstands pretty well, especially with the included lanyard removed. The crown is crenulated, which is nice for telling you when the light's been left on. The crenulations aren't very sharp/aggressive, though, so I don't think it would do as well as it could have in a fight
I don't think we need shark teeth necessarily, but if you're going to crenulate, you might as well make it useful. Oddly, some of the machined rings on the body next to the EastwardYJ logo are quite sharp. It probably won't cut you in normal use, but it's something they could address in a future revision.Water resistance seems to be there. There's a solid o-ring seated in front of the threads with plenty of extra length on the tailcap so that you can run the light with the tailcap unscrewed many turns and still have water protection. doc_felixander has confirmed that there is an o-ring between the lens and the bezel, and that the "head" after the bezel is actually one single piece with the body.
There are tons of threads for the tailcap. Another nice touch. I was actually surprised at how many turns it took to open the back. Very sturdy, and well machined. Since most of the threads aren't anodized, you can run the light with the tailcap in various amounts of twistage; this lets you easily compensate for protected and unprotected 18650's of various lengths without overly compressing the spring in the head.
Features...
The switch is a reverse two-stage clicky. The switch and boot work decently well together, and I definitely like its action better than the LILL switch. It could definitely use a lot of improvement, though, and a few users have reported issues with the switch. I always wondered about why manufacturers bothered to cheap out on switches on some of the other lights (not this one)... I'm pretty sure people would be willing to pay an extra $1-$2 for a much better switch that they can rely on.
The model I got is the "regulated" model. doc_felixander (see post below) discovered that the emitter is mounted on a star which itself is mounted on a brass or copper heatsink slug. This slug is threaded and screws into the body. Underneath the slug is a Zetec-like boost circuit which does confirm the existance of a regulator circuit. Performance of this boost circuit will need to be proven through an independent runtime test.
Performance...
The aluminum reflector now has a light texturing to it; I guess the original rings were too much, and the white wall watchers should be happy with this one; I was hoping for a smooth reflector for more throw, but it's still quite powerful in the hotspot. The spot is tight, and the spillbeam is quite smooth. Tint is pretty good; definitely better than a lot of my luxeon lottery winners.
Even with the reflector now textured, it seems to womp on my P1D-CE for both throw and overall output. Obviously they serve different purposes as the EastwardYJ light is like 4 times bigger than the P1D-CE and has a clicky + huge reflector, but I figured so many CPFers have the P1D-CE that it would be a worthy comparison. CPF user wmpwi has a beamshot below which shows it next to the well-regarded D-Mini: the DealExtreme light is clearly brighter in the spillbeam, and the spillbeam is also much larger than the D-Mini's. The hotspot of this light compared to the D-Mini using a smooth reflector is not as bright.
Low mode is surprisingly low, which is great. Sounds like DealExtreme is relaying user wishes to the manufacturers.
My 18650 cells are still somewhere over the Pacific or languishing in US Customs, so I used an unprotected 3.7v CR123 with a ghetto handmade spacer cell. Don't try this at home!
Two independent users (thanks, Randy555 and ProteinMan!) have measured the current draw at the battery to be 1620 and 1500 mA on high. Low appears to be around 350 mA. After regulator efficiency losses (10-25%), I suppose that could be close to 1200 mA to the actual CREE led. It's hard to say exactly without measuring it at the LED.
Two other users (FengLock and WindScale) have tried the regulated version (NOT the Lunar New Years special non-regulated version) of this light with two 3volt CR123a and 3.7volt RCR123a cells and reported that brightness is the same or slightly higher than the brightness with a single 18650. This implies that there is some kind of regulating circuitry in there, otherwise we'd have lots of magic smoke if it was direct drive to the Cree LED at 6-8.4 volts. ProteinMan put in a dying 2.85 volt 18650 into the light and still measured the draw at 1250 mA. However, doc_felixander tried using 2 RCR123a's and it cooked the LED, so it seems that if you decide to run it on 2 cells, it's running the risk of seriously over-volting the LED. This seems fair as DealExtreme has made it clear that the light is designed for 1 18650 cell, and not 2 CR123 cells.
Beamshots...
So the P1D-CE is running a fully charged and rested Tenergy 3.0v RCR123a. The EastwardYJ is running a fully charged and rested DealExtreme 3.6v RCR123a. I know the P1D-CE can run a 3.6v RCR123a, but the 3.0v RCR123a's actually run a bit high anyways (around 3.4-3.1 volts), so I'm trying to keep it to spec (as much as possible, anyways). Just like I could overvolt a G2 or Maxfire, but that's not what most people would do with the stock bulb. Uh, plus I only have one 3.6v CR123a
so the Fenix is stuck with the 3.0v RCR123. The specified battery for the EastwardYJ is 3.6 volts.Left: P1D-CE running on Max Right: EastwardYJ CREE light on High
Holy cow, look at that spill beam. So the EastwardYJ has a smoother beam, a brighter spot, and a MUCH brighter spillbeam. I can only imagine what the spot was like before they nerfed...er, textured the reflector. :laughing:
Same as above, stopped down two stops. The EastwardYJ is definitely hotter on the hotspot.
Here is another shot taken a day later (the EastwardYJ's battery is only a RCR123a instead of an 18650 [still in the mail!] and is not 100% fully charged, but you get the idea):
P1D-CE on the left, EastwardYJ on the right.
Left: Maxfire Right: EastwardYJ on high
Again, this time against a familiar foe: the Brinkman Maxfire. Color temp aside, the Maxfire has a dimmer hotspot and a much dimmer spillbeam.
Same as above, stopped down.
Right: P1D-CE on low Left: EastwardYJ on low
I wouldn't call it super-low, but I'm pretty sure it's lower than the 350mA @~3.5volts spec'ed on the DealExtreme page. Which is a good thing
I don't have my meter here so I can't do power measurements.After several minutes on high, the head was just slightly warm, and somewhat cooler than the P1D-CE next to it. This doesn't mean much, though, as it could either mean 1. the bin is indeed a decent bin (they claim a P4) and it's transferring heat well into the body or 2. the die isn't heat transferring properly, which is a sad manufacturing problem that affects a few cheaper lights due to insufficient thermal compound or lack of thermal conductivity to the body. However, since the light didn't cook itself/smoke/change tints over the test, I'm guessing it is seated properly and thermal compound has been applied sufficiently.
To the vendor or manufacturer...
Actually, I'd buy another right now, but it's lunar new year, and I guess most people on the other side of the globe are on vacation.
Given the ease of swapping reflectors, it would be great if it came with a smooth and a textured reflector. Either that, or they could sell another reflector for a few bucks. A snap-on diffuser lens (like the Petzl Myo XP's) would be hawt. A snap-on aspheric optic lens would be incredible for newbie's "white laser" action. I can buy one on ebay for $5, but why not make one that fits this light (and fattens the manufacturer's wallet)? Of course, we'd rather not have a bunch of proprietary parts, so keeping a certain design around for a few generations (ahem, Fenix!) would be appreciated. At least keeping the head shape and clicky threads the same would be nice.
I'm sure many would also like a true non-reversed tactical clicky. Half-press turns it on full blast, and a full press keeps it on until you full-press again. Just like the Maxfire's switch. But I also like having two stages! Suggestion to DX or EastwardYJ: include both, or sell an option.
Full regulation would be nice. I don't have runtime charts, but DX's show that it drops pretty predictably.
Not that the vendors read these reviews
but we can always hope...Conclusion...
Wow, I didn't expect this light to kick so much butt. Given that it cost me $26.95 including shipping, or roughly the price of one P61 replacement bulb, I wasn't sure what to expect.
I'm very happy with this purchase. Kudos to DealExtreme and EastwardYJ. For its size, this is a very bright, smooth outputting light. For my purposes, I could have gotten a D-mini, but I was hoping the uber-output of this light would be for real. I've read EastwardYJ claims of 180-200 lumens, and judging by the beamshots compared to the powerful 110-120 lumen P1D-CE, it's probably somewhere up there. There's room for improvement, especially in those balky switches, but at under $27 I'm a happy camper.
For outdoor workers or officers on duty, this could be a great light. Only a Hamilton more than a mag, not a whole lot of electronics to go bad, and the laptop-derived 18650 cell is a monster in terms of capacity. As long as that switch holds up and you don't dunk it, it should be good.
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