900 Lumen EagleTac Megalight

[TITAN1833]

Little signs that more thought and design work should have been put into the light. A great concept, but the product itself has unnecessary weaknesses.

+1 and also a sign that some manufacturers are often blinkered by $$$$ signs and miss the little "and sometimes big" bugs :shakehead

 

[HKJ]

And try this, turn selector ring to off, turn clickie on for a second and then off. Now turn selector ring on, the light will briefly flash even thou clickie is OFF.

Not if you wait a few seconds in between. So setting the light down, even briefly, will eliminate this. So I see this one as a non-issue.

These two statements made my suspect that the light had some standby current drain, and it has. Enough to drain my AW batteries in about 4 months.

 

[neoseikan]

These two statements made my suspect that the light had some standby current drain, and it has. Enough to drain my AW batteries in about 4 months.

You mean, it is higher than 2mA?

 

[HKJ]

You mean, it is higher than 2mA?

No, my batteries are AW 18650 with 2200mAh and the drain is just a bit over 0.7 mA (Remember that the batteries are in series, the voltage get added, not the mAh).

 

[jzmtl]

Not if you wait a few seconds in between. So setting the light down, even briefly, will eliminate this. So I see this one as a non-issue.

Issue or not it's problem that should not be there. If I can find it within hours of receiving the light they should have found and addressed it in testing.

These two statements made my suspect that the light had some standby current drain, and it has. Enough to drain my AW batteries in about 4 months.

Makes sense, could also be why the light take half a second to respond when used with clicky. I've since removed the clicky because of the aforementioned problems.

I've found more problem since. The top of body tube where the 4 little screws are leaks due to no o ring, eagletac seems to have addressed it with fix kit containing additional o rings. However the OEM tail cap has bigger issues. The two slots intended to fit the screws on the battery carrier would cause the o ring to bow in and leave a big gap when screws are tightened. Clicky tail cap has no problem since it has moulded little tabs to prevent this. I don't know why eagletac foresee this problem on the clicky cap but ignored it on flat cap.

 

[HKJ]

Issue or not it's problem that should not be there. If I can find it within hours of receiving the light they should have found and addressed it in testing.

This is not really a problem, just a capacitor that is used to stabilize the input voltage.

Makes sense, could also be why the light take half a second to respond when used with clicky. I've since removed the clicky because of the aforementioned problems.

It might be a microprocessor that is a bit slow to initialize (I assume that the light uses a microprocessor, but it could also be made without one).

Both "problems" are probably because the switch was not planned from the start, but added at a later stage.

But the standby current drain is another more serious issue, and they forgot to mention it in the manual.:scowl:

 

[Kiessling]

Keeps getting better :green: ... so that it's almost funny now.
Failures like this light make me realize why I usually pay so much for my other lights.

 

[jzmtl]

After some application of RTV silicone my eagletac is now watertight. I have to say this light isn't really designed to work with clicky, even thou the first prototype pics we saw are. Without it a lot of the problems are minimized, and that's the way I'll be using it for now.

 

[mikekoz]

I did not even bother to put the clicky on mine. I want to use the lanyard, and the switch looks cheap and seems like it would break easily. Mine has "O" rings on both side of the battery tube, so maybe the other person who mentioned this got one where the factory just missed it.

 

[Lite_me]

These two statements made my suspect that the light had some standby current drain, and it has. Enough to drain my AW batteries in about 4 months.

This is not really a problem, just a capacitor that is used to stabilize the input voltage.

Both "problems" are probably because the switch was not planned from the start, but added at a later stage.

But the standby current drain is another more serious issue, and they forgot to mention it in the manual.:scowl:

So, if one were to use the clicky switch, and switched it Off when not using the light, wouldn't this stop the current drain? It breaks battery connection.

And isn't that maybe the reason for the delay when using the switch, it has to re-charge the capacitor that you speak of before initializing output?

The slight delay when using the switch doesn't bother me. And if I can easily stop the drain when storing the light with just a click, I won't be so disappointed.

 

[HKJ]

So, if one were to use the clicky switch, and switched it Off when not using the light, wouldn't this stop the current drain? It breaks battery connection.

And isn't that maybe the reason for the delay when using the switch, it has to re-charge the capacitor that you speak of before initializing output?

The slight delay when using the switch doesn't bother me. And if I can easily stop the drain when storing the light with just a click, I won't be so disappointed.

Using the switch will stop the drain, that is also the reason I am going to install the switch on my light.

But recharging the capacitor is probably not what is causing the delay, I guess that it takes less than 0.001 second to recharge it.

 

[ResQTech]

Nothing fancy, just two 6.5mm long pieces of paper clip superglued to the end of track.

See this post: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=232330 on using shims made of plastic. Maybe your metal shims are somehow interfering with the magnetic switching device? I did the plastic mod on my M2 and it switches flawlessly.

 

[Mike Painter]

Little signs that more thought and design work should have been put into the light. A great concept, but the product itself has unnecessary weaknesses.

I'm thinking maybe less should have been put in.
A key issue in managing an engineering or programming project is knowing when to stop adding things.
The single advantage the ring has over my mag light with a pot immediately in front of the switch is that it is reachable any way you grab the light. The shape, which I love, minimizes this advantage.
Flat regulation to the last second is nice on paper but today's battery does pretty well on it's own and gives some warning. In a working situation I don't want to go from really bright to really black (especially if I've just spotted the treasure)
(Almost) direct drive and resistors or a pot to select levels would give a light that is about the same and probably come in under $100.00.

 

[jzmtl]

See this post: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=232330 on using shims made of plastic. Maybe your metal shims are somehow interfering with the magnetic switching device? I did the plastic mod on my M2 and it switches flawlessly.

Doubt it, the magnet on the ring is pretty strong so even the paper clip is magnetized it's nowhere nearly as strong.

I'm thinking about replace it with something soft like foam, so the ring is only stopped initially but a firm push can still activate strobe when needed.

 

[Kiessling]

I added a plastic thingie to end the strob madness, but my wife just destroyed the plastic thingie upon inspecting the light. My modification didn't pass the test of torture 😀

Also tried to install the clickie ... but the "o-ring" was a better fighter at staying out of the groove than I was at putting it in. So another no-go. And besides, the tailcap and the clicky look flimsy.

So the light will stay as is ... strobing and sucking away. 🙂

bernie

 

[FlashlightsNgear.com]

I really want one of these, but some of the feedback here isnt looking very good. I believe Eagletac has another batch of these lights coming and hopefully all of these issues will be fixed. Has anyone contacted them about these problems? Seems the o-rings on the screws is being addressed since they are sending them to people who have already bought the light and asked for them. Would someone put their tail-clicky on and lift it over their head and drop it on a hard surface, it should withstand a 8 foot fall or so. Maybe it was made kinda flimsy so the plastic would give alittle on impact, a video of the light hitting the hard surface would be cool. Thanks in advance 😗

 

[jzmtl]

I added a plastic thingie to end the strob madness, but my wife just destroyed the plastic thingie upon inspecting the light. My modification didn't pass the test of torture 😀

Also tried to install the clickie ... but the "o-ring" was a better fighter at staying out of the groove than I was at putting it in. So another no-go. And besides, the tailcap and the clicky look flimsy.

So the light will stay as is ... strobing and sucking away. 🙂

bernie

O ring on clicky cap is a little too big, it'll take some finesse to get it to seat without popping out. I just glued it down with Permatex ultra black, liberal application of which solved all the o ring and seal problems.

 

[chrisWELD]

I'm thinking about replace it with something soft like foam, so the ring is only stopped initially but a firm push can still activate strobe when needed.

Or a tiny nub / blob of araldite in the channel in the right place might do it. The tab on the ring would initially stop when it hits the nub. Push a bit harder and it'll push over/past it - especially since the selector-ring-with-tab is sythetic flexible.

I've only just got my light but will try this. If it works ok I'll be adding even smaller blobs to mark each of the other levels for a tactile indication of level. I don't much like the idea of putting visual markers on the outside and marring the look of the light. Also I don't want to have to look at it as I'm turning the selector ring.

 

[Raymond33]

Well, I have had my M2C4 for about six months, and wanted to give an update. This has become my go-to flashlight around the house for everything from taking the dog out to lighting up distant objects on walks in the woods. Beam shape is about ideal for my general purposes. Access to very useful levels of light is quick and effortless, (after the application of some teflon lubricant).

The UI is simple, and fast. I have never even installed the clicky tail switch that came when new, though at the time, i thought that it would be essential. Maybe those who use it regularrly for tactical needs have a different opinion on this though. The flat base makes it perfect for tail standing. The oval shape of the body is comfortabe and helps with one handed adjustments of output.

Battery life is excellent in the unit with two 3000 maH 18650s. In all this time, there has never been a failure to funtion as promised. I am very satisfied with this light.

:twothumbs

 

[Phaserburn]

I would like a 3x18650 body for it, though.