S1801 1w Luxeon 1xCR123

[UnknownVT]

Just received this S1801 pocket 1-Watt Luxeon 1x CR123 flashlight from GoldenGadgets.com.

To cut to the chase - I like it a lot.

It is my first Luxeon - so I may not know any better - but it seems that this particular sample has turned out pretty good - with a great form factor - probably about as small as a single CR123 Luxeon flashlight can get without radical design.

The beam seems pretty even and with a pretty good "sunlight" like color, perhaps there is a very slight green hint - but only in comparison with blue-ish beams.......

I'll let the pics speak for themselves -

Size -

Head -

Compared to 9 LED 1x CR123 "Bowling Pin" -

compared to Xnova 1AA (5LED 1xAA)

compared to ArcAAA

compared to a mini-Mag 2AA incandescent

Digicam set on daylight balance, auto exposure, focussing on "+" mark on paper.

Notice how the "white" changes despite the fixed white balance - tends toward green when compared with blue-ish beams - but is a lot whiter toward almost daylight when compared to the incandescent.......

 

[UnknownVT]

The Jug-shot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

shows that the side-spill beam coverage is about 90deg - which is pretty wide - that's just wider than a 22mm ultra-wide angle lens on a 35mm format camera. The side spill is very even (surprising since the reflector is plain mirror finish without any organge-peel or stippling effect) so the coverage is very good - easily lighting up the whole staircase when standing at the top step and pointing the light at the bottom. The hot-spot is significantly brighter so it has pretty good throw.

The light is so noticably brighter than any of the LED lights I own that I did what I at first thought was silly - tried it against a 2x CR123 Xenon Streamlight Scorpion.

No, the S1801 is not as bright as as the xenon Scorpion - but it did well, and was at least in the same ballpark -

However just an observation - while outdoors and shining the lights on autumn leaves (colors ranging from red, brown to green) even when I adjusted the distance so the light falling on the leaves appeared to be about the same - I thought saw colors better and more clearly with the incandescent xenon Scorpion than this Luxeon LED - yet the Luxeon was quite obviously significantly better "white" than the noticably (in comparison) yellow of the xenon light.

Perhaps like fluorescent lights that use phosphor to shift the color - the light spectrum is not fully continuous or has some significant imbalance in wavelengths?

Comments please?

 

[RonnieBarlow]

Very nice review and pics.

Could you post more photos of the light itself?

 

[cratz2]

Yeah... and does the light generally have a slightly cheesy feel to it or if you didn't know how much it cost, would you think it might cost a bit more?

 

[UnknownVT]

[ QUOTE ]
cratz2 said:
Yeah... and does the light generally have a slightly cheesy feel to it or if you didn't know how much it cost, would you think it might cost a bit more?

[/ QUOTE ]

I personally don't like the looks that much - so there is already some bias - but having said that the light looks and feels much better than the low price might lead one to believe.

The finish is very good - it's a textured/bead-blast and probably anodized finish.

From this pic of the birds eye view of the open "insides" one can see that the gauge of the body and end cap are substantial.

The light is advertized as aluminum - despite the thick gauge used it does feel light so I would say it is aluminum (or at least an alloy of).

The Tail-switch is a typical Chinese "Clickie" in that it does not have a momentary ON - but when turned on it can be a momentary OFF - this is probably the only feature I don't like and wish the Clickie had a regular momentary ON instead.

The reason I like it so much is because even though it is my first and only Luxeon it turned out a lot better than I expected - both in light/beam quality and basic form, fit and finish.

...and if one can get a light like this for $25 - that bodes well for the future pricing of LED flashlights - as I personally prefer not to pay premium prices for something that most people consider an utility item - although I do fully understand and really appreciate the excellent work and development that have gone into the "premium" LED lights - I just prefer to wait for the technology to become commonplace/commodity.

 

[Kiessling]

Cool review and great pics! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
bernhard

 

[Brooks]

I have one of these and agree it works well. I think for the money it is hard to beat for a 1-123 luxeon light that puts out this good of light. Goldengadgets usually have these on ebay auction starting at $19.99. Their shipping is a steep $8, but it is still a good deal at $28.00 shipped. If ordering multiples you can email them and they will cut shipping to $4 for additional items. I orderd several for Xmas gifts.

 

[UnknownVT]

[ QUOTE ]
Brooks said:
I have one of these and agree it works well. I think for the money it is hard to beat for a 1-123 luxeon light that puts out this good of light. Goldengadgets usually have these on ebay auction starting at $19.99. Their shipping is a steep $8, but it is still a good deal at $28.00 shipped. If ordering multiples you can email them and they will cut shipping to $4 for additional items. I orderd several for Xmas gifts.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, the lower eBay price is made up by the higher shipping - their regular (recently reduced) price is $24.99 with $4 shipping. I took advantage of their 10% Thanksgiving discount - to get it for a total of $26.49.

The light comes with a CR123 battery
and a elastic sided ballistic nylon holster:

Here are the reference threads for the other flashlights that I compared with:

Bowling Pin 9LED (vs Xnova AA, ArcAAA)

Xnova AA vs Ultra-G, ArcAAA, Dorcy 1AAA

and the side-spill light coverage thread -

Light Coverage - spill-diameter Pics

 

[UnknownVT]

cheapness - Re: S1801 1w Luxeon 1xCR123

I'd be the first to agree that this is not an expensive 1-watt Luxeon flashlight - the fact that I am very pleasently surprised - shows that even I consider it "cheap" for what it is.

But it doesn't feel or look cheap despite the fact I don't even like the looks of it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

So where are the likely cost savings/cuttings?

Here's some guesses/speculation -

I think the metal/aluminum(?) parts are Cast as opposed to fully machined - I'm pretty sure it's much cheaper to produce parts by casting as opposed to machining the parts individually - even if the machinery is automated (also very expensive equipment and for much lower production).

The cost for making the cast may be initially much higher than setting up a CNC machine to mill the parts - but over volume it's much cheaper to produce the cast parts than having to machine every part.......

So if the metal parts are cast (and perhaps machined for the screw threads) then I think the metal probably is an alloy of aluminum rather than pure......

There seems to be a very minor (almost undetectable) imperfection that's typical of a molded part on the barrel - and look at the "fancy" decorative circles which seem void of any function and merely decorative - these all increase the cost needlessly - if machined - but cost next to nothing if it was designed into the mold.......

So I guess/think this is one of the major cost cutting to have a lower selling price,
and if I recall correctly less than a year ago this S1801 was being advertized at about $50..... it's now half that.

 

[UnknownVT]

I just receive another S1801 - bought from GoldenGadgets from their eBay auction listing at the BuyItNow price of $12 BUT +$8 shipping +$1.50 mandatory insurance - nevertheless the delivered total was $21.50 - much cheaper than before....

Here's comparison of my S1801 #1 and #2 (my notation to ID the first and this #2 I just received)

I'm a bit surprised by the tint difference in the beamshot - as in real life there is very little difference with I feel #2 being just a shade better when compared side-by-side.
However my new #2 has a very badly off centered emitter - BUT the hotspot exhibits only a slight comma tail and some internal artifacts - no where near as bad as I was expecting when I first saw the light.....
That reflector must be pretty forgiving regarding centering of the emitter.

This S1801 #2 merely confirms my partiality of the S1801
and at $21.50 it's a bargain of sorts.

 

[UnknownVT]

Price Alert! - Pricing Game?

[ QUOTE ]
UnknownVT said:
I just receive another S1801 - bought from GoldenGadgets from their eBay auction listing at the BuyItNow price of $12 BUT +$8 shipping +$1.50 mandatory insurance - nevertheless the delivered total was $21.50 - much cheaper than before....
This S1801 #2 merely confirms my partiality of the S1801
and at $21.50 it's a bargain of sorts.

[/ QUOTE ]

By searching through the completed auction items on eBay for the S1801 - I noticed it's not selling that well - many listings remained UNsold at the original listing/starting bid price of $19.99 +$8 shipping.

Then on Apr/1 one was listed with a start bid price of $2! but +$8 shipping and it sold for $12.50 on Apr/4.....
(total = $20.50 delivered) (was that an April Fool's price? or were they feeling out the pricing? since it was just one available for that low auctioned price.)

On Apr/6 another was listed with a start bid of $11.99 +$8 shipping and +$1.50 mandatory insurance (=$21.49 total delivered) it also had a BuyItNow price of $12...... but it remained unsold. This might be a hint that the previous listing may have been a feeler - to set the price for this listing?

I bought mine on Apr/12 using the BuyItNow price of $12 +$8 ship +$1.50 insure.

Another listed with the same deal on Apr/12 but remained UNsold (closed Apr/15)

I see one listed now with the same deal with just 7 hours left .

But also another new listing with a start bid of $9.99 (no BuyItNow price) BUT the shipping has gone to a Whopping $12!!! - but they will ship worldwide...... (total = $21.99)

 

[UnknownVT]

S1801 (#2) beam adjustment/centering

[ QUOTE ]
UnknownVT said: my new #2 has a very badly off centered emitter - BUT the hotspot exhibits only a slight comma tail and some internal artifacts - no where near as bad as I was expecting when I first saw the light.....
That reflector must be pretty forgiving regarding centering of the emitter.

[/ QUOTE ]

The very badly off-centered emitter bothered me enough that I attempted to open the head.

It turned out not quite as difficult as I anticipated. Using a pair of household rubber gloves and some hard twisting the head unscrewed - there was some "glue-like" stuff that held the head tightly on.

I lightly marked the body in pencil for the orientation and examined the way the Luxeon Star was installed.

One of the retaining screws was soldered - so I didn't really want to disturb it. The other however was free - so I loosened it and tried to see if the LS would move a tiny fraction needed to get better centering. It didn't seem to move - so I removed the screw altogether and sure enough the LS would budge/rotate with the soldered screw as a "pivot".

I replaced the screw lightly then nudged the LS as much in the direction as I could to get better centering -

and the results were very pleasing indeed. No, it is not perfectly centered - but visually it is a lot better - and the hotspot exhibits less of the comma tail, and the although there are still some artifacts in the hotspot - they have been reduced noticably (not that they were that bad to begin with).

Overall I'm very pleased with this quick (and easy) fix - I might also take a look at my #1 to see if I can achieve better centering by this same method.

 

[Vikas Sontakke]

I picked one of these one recently from the same ebayer for 21.50 delivered. This is my first CR123A light. When I received the box, it was so light that I thought he forgot to pack the battery. I was shocked to see how small a CR123 is next to this light!

It is one of the whitest Luxeon and I had few including Classic Lambda Illuminator, Charlie's LGI, MadMax Sammie. s1801 is also very bright. However, the LGI still beats it in terms of overall output. I am relieved that switch works. It is always a concern on cheap lights. Throw, hotspot and sidespill are all good. If you shine at wall closer than 6 inches, you can see the square die "hole" but it vanished over 12 inches.

My particular unit has blotchy reflector if you look closely. But that has not affected the beam.

I was able to get this to light up nicely even with a single AA rechargeable. As I added more AA, it became brighter and brighter. With 4AA, it was scorching! At that time, it was pumping over 1100mA through the batteries!

With the original CR123A it pumps about 500mA. I would like to see the graph on this light. Do I get at least two hours bright time on this with CR123A? How about with the RCR123A?

All in all, I believe I got an excellent bargain for delivered price of $21.50.

I do wish Charlie had not spoiled me with his exceptional LGI. It pumps between 900~1100mA depending upon the state of the rechargeable. Since it is direct driven it is effectively running at 3W. But LGI is now 2 years old and I was hoping that newer 1W would beat it.

- Vikas

 

[UnknownVT]

[ QUOTE ]
Vikas Sontakke said: I picked one of these one recently from the same ebayer for 21.50 delivered.
It is one of the whitest Luxeon and I had few
My particular unit has blotchy reflector if you look closely. But that has not affected the beam.
All in all, I believe I got an excellent bargain for delivered price of $21.50.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thank you so much for that report.

It's nice to get some corroboration on the quality of this light from someone more experienced with Luxeons - especially since the S1801 was the very first Luxeon light I bought - and although I have added quite a few more Luxeons - I still do not consider myself experienced enough with Luxeons.

The only beam that I would say was better quality in terms of eveness/smoothness than the S1801 (I now have two) would be the Nuwai Q3. I really like the Q3 sidespill.

However the Q3 coverage is not nearly as wide as the S1801 - so overall although the Q3 is a MUCH better light to impress (even myself) - the S1801 to me is much more useful.

Also although I have not had the Q3 long enough to say this for myself - I have read reports that the step-up circuitry of the Q3 sucks -

sucks batteries that is.... making a regular CR123 last about 1 hour and a rechargeable R123 last less than 1/2 hour.

[ QUOTE ]
Vikas Sontakke said:I do wish Charlie had not spoiled me with his exceptional LGI. It pumps between 900~1100mA depending upon the state of the rechargeable. Since it is direct driven it is effectively running at 3W. But LGI is now 2 years old and I was hoping that newer 1W would beat it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I doubt if any current (NON-cutom) 1 watt could beat your LGI -
which sounds exceptional.

Even the current 3watt Luxeon lights don't draw as high as 1000mA - for example the extremely popular Q3 (3watt) draws about 700mA (and about 740mA on a fresh CR123)

I just measured the S1801 it draws 500mA average and about 540mA on a fresh CR123.

 

[Vikas Sontakke]

I was very surprised to see S1801 light up nicely on single AA battery. I also had very old CR123 (expired) from an old camera. The open circuit voltage on that was less than 2 volts. I got decent amount of light from S1801 using that battery.

If Q3 is drawing 700ma from CR123, it can not be driving the LED anywhere near the 3W limit. Battery depletion is at 700x3 = 2100 mVA and with poor converter efficiency, the LED is probbably being given no more than 1600 mVA. I wonder if I would be disappointed with it if I were to put it against the LGI.

My next purchase would be rechargeable CR123 and a charger. I hope S1801 would give an hour of bright light with typical 650mAh R123.

- Vikas

 

[GarageBoy]

Wow, 1 X CR123 !

 

[Phaserburn]

Anyone have the S1802, the 2 cell version? I'm assuming it's resistored. Will the body of the S1801/2 accomodate the extra width of an 18650 li-ion cell? I'm wondering if these lights would make a good and simple mod platform for different lux stars DDed via li-ion. How's the heat sinking?

 

[UnknownVT]

[ QUOTE ]
Phaserburn said:
Anyone have the S1802, the 2 cell version? I'm assuming it's resistored.

[/ QUOTE ]
It seems that Craig/LEDmuseum may have actually tested the S1802, the 2x CR123 version of this light -
but it might be misnamed - checkout this review:

S175 Luxeon Flashlight
http://ledmuseum.thefire.us/s1705.htm

The url shows S1705 which is the other 2x CR123 1watt Luxeon at GoldenGadgets.com.

BUT the pictures that Craig showed are of the S1802 (longer 2x CR123 version of this S1801 light)

Go look at the review linked above and make up your own mind.

LEDmuseum review on the S1802 runtime looks terrible -
with a very steep drop from the initial intensity,
and only about 1.5 hours to half intensity on 2x CR123.

This does not seem like the characteristic of my S1801 - which after well over 4 months' of (admittedly intermittent) use still shows a draw of 500mA on the original supplied CR123 and looks as bright as on a fresh retail packaged Panasonic CR123 (drawing about 540mA).

So I don't know what to say about this -
as I remain very pleased with my S1801 -
even to the point of buying second one, reported above,
which merely confirmed my partiality of this light.

 

[Phaserburn]

UnVT, thanks. But, the run chart looks unrealistic. Craig has the light drawing only 217ma and with such a short runtime. Even direct drive would have a much better curve. Perhaps something was wrong with one of the cells Craig was using. It might explain the anomalous results.

 

[justsomeguy]

Hi Vincent *smile*,

I just joined and have only been looking in to CPF for a few days. Because of your posts IN RE: S1801. I ordered one from Golden Gadgets. (Bill them now)

FYI, I ordered the light from the web site, the posted price was 14.99, shipping $4, for a total of 18.99. I ordered late Sunday and got it by US mail on Thursday.

I also ordered some other lights from different sources. The S1801 is a good buy. It is lighter and smaller than the Streamlight TL-2 or TL-3. It is also less bright. My S1801 seems to be very nicely made.

The pics you showed earlier of the inside of the light show that it is simple.....just a RAW 1W led with good heat sinking and a cr123 battery with no regulation.

I wonder how hard it would be to solder in a 3W led and go to an RCR rechargeable battery? It seems pretty straight forward to me?

The weak point in the flashlight might be the switch. The one I have seems to be firm and well made.

The reflector is smooth and seems to be made of plastic. The lens seems to be made of plastic. Maybe these would need to be upgraded?

I hope my comments do not seem silly to the experienced CPF members looking in.

just steve