chew socks
Newly Enlightened
This is my first review, so if anyone has any advice for me, I'd really appreciate it. Also I don't have a Digital SLR, so I apologize if my pics aren't as good as they could be
So here's the story, as part of the Christmas Giveaway i was the lucky recipient of a UltraFire MCU-C7 modded with a warm white Cree MC-E by CPF member Sabrewolf (thanks again). The finished product is called the Mini EDC.
And let me tell you this is one bright pocket rocket. On high the driver drives the MC-E at 1300mA with 1400mA draw from the battery. This causes the emitter to emit 300-350 lumens from the MC-E and with the optional Cool white P7, 350-400 lumens. But it in edition to going bright, it also has numerous low modes....the lowest of which provides about 50mA to the led with a 70mA draw from the battery.
Just like all other quad die lights the beam is very floody, but still manages do throw about the same as my L2D Q5 because of sheer power.
The tint of the warm white MC-E is, in my opinion, very nice. It's more white than the yellowish tint of incans, and not as harsh as the searing white as the Q5 in my L2D....here's a comparison of them side by side
on the left is the mini mag, in the middle L2D, and on the right is Mini EDC
The quality of the host light appears to be pretty good considering what some people say about DX lights. It feels very solid and has no loose shaking parts. The reflector screws into the the head. Here's a picture of it.
The head also contains a glass lens with an o-ring between it and the head. The light pill is on the main body of the light which allows the head to be partially unscrewed to change the beam shape (although i don't recommend it because it enlarges the donut hole), or the head completely removed for a totally floody beam like that of Zebralights
...but i don't recommend doing that either because it exposes the LED to the possibility of damage. I'm not sure if the original light comes with only 1 rubber o-ring on the the tail end, but Sabrewolf has swapped all the rubber o-rings for silicon ones, and has put 2 instead of 1 on the tail. The switch is a reverse clicky and comes with a GITD tail cap, although I understand that Sabrewolf also sells other color tail caps. Upon request (and for a few dollars) Sabrewolf also offers the addition of a 3mA LED in the tail cap, so that it will glow all the time. But this feature cannot be turned off due to lack of thread anodizing.
Earlier I mentioned that the light has a donut hole. Although its more like a donut X. But the lines of this X are fairly this and not inhibiting at all during normal use, and is only noticeable when shined on a white wall.
On all output settings lower than 100%, brightness is controlled by a lower frequency PWM. It does emit low drone, but I find it much less annoying then the high pitched whine of my L2D. That being said during normal use the PWM isn't visible except when you try. When I wave the light back and forth as fast as i can see a "stroboscopic" effect like the one described on Fenix's site.
The only other time I've been able to see the effect of the PWM by shining it at a stream of water and you can see the droplets of the stream.
I will admit though that the user interface is confusing and a bit frustrating at times. That being said, they managed to include an impressive amount of modes and I for one can't come up with a better way to organize them. As with many lights there are multiple modes. But then there are different groups that contain a different set of modes. Here is a chart from the manufacturer displaying the different modes and groups. It does have mode memory, but if set to come back on at a "Change Group Level", the light will always flash 3 times after 5 seconds of being on.
If your not paying attention it is possible to change groups instead of changing modes if you wait to long to change. If you end up in the Self Defined Brightness level (or choose to go there) the only way to get out is to wait for the light to ramp up to full brightness, and loop back to the low level. As soon as it gets to the low level press the switch in far enough for it to go off and wait a couple of seconds. Then release the switch so it comes back on. As soon as the light flashes 3 times, press the switch off and then on again. This should change it to the next group although it doesn't always work, and you may have to ramp all the way around again. I suggest just sitting down and playing wit it for a while until you get used to the UI, so you don't have to figure it out when you really need it.
The Mini EDC doesn't tail stand well because the tail cap sticks out a little, but it is possible on a flat and level surface.
But it is not recommended to tail stand the light or otherwise leave it laying around while turned on high because it will get VERY hot in just a few minutes (a warning to those who wish to test runtime). If held in hand though, even on high the light does not get too hot during extended use to be uncomfortable to me at least.
The calculated runtime with a RCR123 on high is about 20 minutes, and about 10hrs on low.
And here are some operational beamshots:
In this set the filing cabinet is 20 ft from the light
Camera settings are: Shutter-1/6 second Aperture: F4.5 ISO-200 Whitebalance-daylight
MiniMag 2AA-focused as tight as possible
2C Maglite-focused as tight as possible
L2D Q5-turbo
Mini EDC MC-E-100%
And here are some of my backyard, my bathroom window-distance unknown
Camera settings: Shutter 1/2 seconds Aperture-F2.6 ISO200 White balance-daylight
Control Shot
MiniMag 2AA-focused as tightly as possible
2C Maglite-focused as tightly as possible
L2D Q5-turbo
Mini EDC MC-E-100%
Something happened to my white wall beamshots, so I'll be getting those up later.
The sale thread posted by Sabrewolf is located here.
I am EXTREMELY impressed by this light and absolutely love it. In fact it is sitting in my pocket right now, and there it will sit everyday in the future. It's just too useful to not EDC. In fact the morning after I received it I EDC'd it to school and ended up using it to light up my paper since the lights were off while we were watching a movie (I was making up a test). Then throughout the day I walked around flashing all of my friends and even a teacher on high. And once they stopped seeing spots, they all agreed that it is an amazing little light.
I would like to chance to again say thank you to Sabrewolf, and to all those who donated to the Christmas Giveaway.
So here's the story, as part of the Christmas Giveaway i was the lucky recipient of a UltraFire MCU-C7 modded with a warm white Cree MC-E by CPF member Sabrewolf (thanks again). The finished product is called the Mini EDC.
And let me tell you this is one bright pocket rocket. On high the driver drives the MC-E at 1300mA with 1400mA draw from the battery. This causes the emitter to emit 300-350 lumens from the MC-E and with the optional Cool white P7, 350-400 lumens. But it in edition to going bright, it also has numerous low modes....the lowest of which provides about 50mA to the led with a 70mA draw from the battery.
Just like all other quad die lights the beam is very floody, but still manages do throw about the same as my L2D Q5 because of sheer power.
The tint of the warm white MC-E is, in my opinion, very nice. It's more white than the yellowish tint of incans, and not as harsh as the searing white as the Q5 in my L2D....here's a comparison of them side by side
on the left is the mini mag, in the middle L2D, and on the right is Mini EDC
The quality of the host light appears to be pretty good considering what some people say about DX lights. It feels very solid and has no loose shaking parts. The reflector screws into the the head. Here's a picture of it.
The head also contains a glass lens with an o-ring between it and the head. The light pill is on the main body of the light which allows the head to be partially unscrewed to change the beam shape (although i don't recommend it because it enlarges the donut hole), or the head completely removed for a totally floody beam like that of Zebralights
...but i don't recommend doing that either because it exposes the LED to the possibility of damage. I'm not sure if the original light comes with only 1 rubber o-ring on the the tail end, but Sabrewolf has swapped all the rubber o-rings for silicon ones, and has put 2 instead of 1 on the tail. The switch is a reverse clicky and comes with a GITD tail cap, although I understand that Sabrewolf also sells other color tail caps. Upon request (and for a few dollars) Sabrewolf also offers the addition of a 3mA LED in the tail cap, so that it will glow all the time. But this feature cannot be turned off due to lack of thread anodizing.
Earlier I mentioned that the light has a donut hole. Although its more like a donut X. But the lines of this X are fairly this and not inhibiting at all during normal use, and is only noticeable when shined on a white wall.
On all output settings lower than 100%, brightness is controlled by a lower frequency PWM. It does emit low drone, but I find it much less annoying then the high pitched whine of my L2D. That being said during normal use the PWM isn't visible except when you try. When I wave the light back and forth as fast as i can see a "stroboscopic" effect like the one described on Fenix's site.
The only other time I've been able to see the effect of the PWM by shining it at a stream of water and you can see the droplets of the stream.
I will admit though that the user interface is confusing and a bit frustrating at times. That being said, they managed to include an impressive amount of modes and I for one can't come up with a better way to organize them. As with many lights there are multiple modes. But then there are different groups that contain a different set of modes. Here is a chart from the manufacturer displaying the different modes and groups. It does have mode memory, but if set to come back on at a "Change Group Level", the light will always flash 3 times after 5 seconds of being on.
If your not paying attention it is possible to change groups instead of changing modes if you wait to long to change. If you end up in the Self Defined Brightness level (or choose to go there) the only way to get out is to wait for the light to ramp up to full brightness, and loop back to the low level. As soon as it gets to the low level press the switch in far enough for it to go off and wait a couple of seconds. Then release the switch so it comes back on. As soon as the light flashes 3 times, press the switch off and then on again. This should change it to the next group although it doesn't always work, and you may have to ramp all the way around again. I suggest just sitting down and playing wit it for a while until you get used to the UI, so you don't have to figure it out when you really need it.
The Mini EDC doesn't tail stand well because the tail cap sticks out a little, but it is possible on a flat and level surface.
But it is not recommended to tail stand the light or otherwise leave it laying around while turned on high because it will get VERY hot in just a few minutes (a warning to those who wish to test runtime). If held in hand though, even on high the light does not get too hot during extended use to be uncomfortable to me at least.
The calculated runtime with a RCR123 on high is about 20 minutes, and about 10hrs on low.
And here are some operational beamshots:
In this set the filing cabinet is 20 ft from the light
Camera settings are: Shutter-1/6 second Aperture: F4.5 ISO-200 Whitebalance-daylight
MiniMag 2AA-focused as tight as possible
2C Maglite-focused as tight as possible
L2D Q5-turbo
Mini EDC MC-E-100%
And here are some of my backyard, my bathroom window-distance unknown
Camera settings: Shutter 1/2 seconds Aperture-F2.6 ISO200 White balance-daylight
Control Shot
MiniMag 2AA-focused as tightly as possible
2C Maglite-focused as tightly as possible
L2D Q5-turbo
Mini EDC MC-E-100%
Something happened to my white wall beamshots, so I'll be getting those up later.
The sale thread posted by Sabrewolf is located here.
I am EXTREMELY impressed by this light and absolutely love it. In fact it is sitting in my pocket right now, and there it will sit everyday in the future. It's just too useful to not EDC. In fact the morning after I received it I EDC'd it to school and ended up using it to light up my paper since the lights were off while we were watching a movie (I was making up a test). Then throughout the day I walked around flashing all of my friends and even a teacher on high. And once they stopped seeing spots, they all agreed that it is an amazing little light.
I would like to chance to again say thank you to Sabrewolf, and to all those who donated to the Christmas Giveaway.
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