AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode) *UPDATED* w beamshots, added AK-16, pic heavy!!!

RepProdigious

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Messages
660
Location
the Netherlands
Hi all, this will be my first review here and English is not my native language so please be gentle! I'm also aware that this tiny light has been reviewed before but since all those different reviews helped me choose i figured one more couldn't hurt :candle:

I recently bought two different versions K-109 (3 and 5 mode) at KD/DX resp. to compare the lights and shipping times.... Unfortunately i forgot about the whole new-years thing over in china so there was no real way to compare shipping but here's my little review on these two lights!

1) K-109 - bought at KD, JAN 2010 - ID 6975-SKU S006968, 3-mode orange rings/clicky - $19 - right light in pics w orange accents
2) K-109 - bought at DX, JAN 2010 - SKU 28545, 5-mode GITD rings/clicky- $13 - left light in pics with green accents
3) *UPDATE* AK-16 - bought at KD, MAR 2010* - ID 6671-SKU S006734, 3-mode orange rings/clicky - $23 - The pics with black backdrop sometimes next to the 3-mode

*) Note; On KD this light is labeled as "PDC AK-16" and not AKOray. Also, like my other AKOray ordered from KD this one took its time; from order placed to actually shipped took 1 month (and then another 5 days from hong kong to the Netherlands)! It is however worth the wait!!!

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1) 3-mode Overall experience; Wow! What a great light for this kind of money! Very nice machining on the entire light, nice surface treatment and a good amount of O-rings! A 20 buck light that feels like a $50 worth!

HEAD: Shell - 9,5/10! Mine came with just the slightest scratch and thats why it didn't get a 10 for me. The head is completely anodized (or whatever it is), including the threads so those are not good for conductivity (but they don't have to).
Reflector/Lens - 9/10. Lens is just simple, no nonsense lens. The reflector seems to be chromed aluminium, there's some roughness on the bottom that looks like a solder blob but it isn't... Doesn't hurt performance tho. There's a nice O-ring where the lens meets the head shell.
LED pill - GREAT! 10/10. Nice machined aluminium puck to hold the guts and LED, great deep square threads and two o-rings on the LED side (top) that meet with the flat end in the head after the threads! The terminal to connect to the battery looks like brass placed in a thick plastic base. I have not opened up the pill.

BODY: Battery tube; 10/10, machining just as perfect as the head, beautiful deep square threads and two o-rings where the body meets the head. These two O-rings however are not thick enough for a good tight seal! The inside dimension is somewhat large for a primary (slight rattle), protected cells should not be a problem. The whole body has the same treated surface as the head, the top of the tube has been machined clean to provide good conductivity for the LED pill, as are the threads on the bottom where the body meets the clicky-housing. There's also two little notches for the clip in the body.
Markings front/back: AKOray / P.D.C. 0.7-4.5V DC K-109

BOTTOM: Clicky housing; 10/10, same great quality as the head and body. Only the part that's visible when assembled has surface treatment, the threads and inside are bare metal. There's one O-ring where it meets the body.
Clicky; 6/10 The clicky is of low-ish quality and this in combination with the flat/stiff rubber button makes it slightly hard to operate. The clicky is squeezed in place by a plastic ring (no soldering here) that ring also holds the somewhat flimsy spring, but its all stiff enough to do its job.

CLIP: 7/10. I don't really like the thing but its pretty OK i guess, even has a rubber on it so not to damage the light's body.

All the threads and o-rings came untreated, even a bit dirty! After a quick clean and lubejob it was all incredibly smooth!

FUNCTIONALITY:
-3 Programmable modes with memory (0-100% - two speed blink - strobe with adjustable speed - SOSOSO)
-White light, bright for a cr123 light, nice throw
- 880mA @ 100% brightness on fresh AW 16340
- 14mA @ lowest low on fresh AW 16340

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2) 5-mode Overall experience; Disappointing. It's all just less quality than the 3-mode. I know its cheaper but only by like $5 dollars it feels way cheaper than that however! I took it out of the package, put a battery in and turned it on; No light :S Threads were incredibly dirty....
A 13 buck light that feels like a $9,99 light from the discount bin.

HEAD: Shell 7,5/10. The head has been surface treated but it appears the threads has been cut after that because they are bare aluminium. The threads are also not cut as deep and clean as the 3-mode. The heads inside diameter feel to wide for the LED-pill, its sitting loose in there when not screwed down tight, and it feels all wobbly on disassembly.
Reflector/lens - 8/10. Lens is quite a bit thicker than on the 3-mode. The reflector diameter appears smaller than on the 3-mode and the outside its tapered in stead of straight like on the 3-mode so its also wobbly. There's a very thick O-ring between the glass and the head-shell.
LED Pill - Horrible! 5 /10. The pill-housing is made from the flimsiest thinnest aluminium they could find and the machines threads are as flimsy as the material. The LED sits in a plastic ring with too small dimensions and the bottom has nothing at all, just exposed electrical board with a circle and a ring on it, the inner circle makes the connection to the battery and the outer ring is soldered to the outside pill housing. Because of the thinness of the housing its a sh!tty job to take it out because you cant get a nice thick tool in there to turn it out. Not a friendly design!

BODY: Battery tube: 7/10. Same rough sharp but not deep enough threads as the head again without any surface treatment. The head screws on horribly bad, there's a lot of play between the threads and all feels rough! The two GITD O-rings that mate up with the head however are great, nice and thick! The inside diameter is just right for a primary, might not fit all protected cells. The threads are the conducting parts here and not the top of the tube. There's two notches in the body for the pocket clip.
Markings front/back: AKOray K-109/CREE LED

BOTTOM: Clicky housing; 9/10, better in quality than the head and body. Only the part that's visible when assembled has surface treatment, the threads and inside are bare metal and rough. There is a single GITD O-ring where it meets the body.
Clicky; The clicky is of low-ish quality and this in combination with the flat/stiff GITD rubber button makes it slightly hard to operate. The clicky is squeezed in place by a plastic ring (again, no soldering here) that ring also holds the somewhat flimsy spring, but its all stiff enough to do its job. This bottom is harder to disassemble than the 3-mode.

CLIP: 5/10. I don't really like clips anyways but this one is crappy for any clip. Flimsy steel, no rubber to protect the body

The GITD O-ring actually were lubed on this one but unfortunately everything was so dirty that the light wouldn't even turn on at first. Everything was covered in a thick layer of aluminium chips/powder and excess solder.

FUNCTIONALITY:
-5 permanent modes without memory (high, medium, low, medium strobe, SOS)
-Very ugly green light, about 60% brightness of the 3 mode [*edit* this green tint only becomes visible if powered with anything under 3.3 volts give or take]
- 310mA @ 100% brightness on fresh AW 16340
- 15mA @ lowest low on fresh AW 16340

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3) AK-16 Overall experience; Quality wise exactly the same as the 3-mode 109 so this is another keeper!!! Inserting a CR123a sized cell is just as easy as in the other lights, inserting a AA sized cell however is a bit fiddly so if you're planning on running this primarily on those i suggest you try the 106! But if you like me intend to run it 99% on 16340's and only see the AA as a nice backup feature in case of emergencies this is recommended 101%

HEAD: Shell - 10/10! Exact same part as 109 3-mode.
Reflector/Lens - 9/10. Exact same part as 109 3-mode.
LED pill - GREAT! 10/10. Same story as the 109 3-mode, with one obvious exception; The bottom of the pill (where it meets the battery) has a sleeve and a spring to compensate for different size batteries.

BODY: Battery tube; 10/10, again basically the same as on the 109 3-mode but then 16mm longer.
Markings front/back: AKOray / P.D.C. 0.7-4.5V DC AK-16

BOTTOM: Clicky housing; 8/10, same part as on the 109 3-mode, however the plastic part to hold everything in place has a sleeve like the head and the spring is a bit weaker and tapers more heavily (so it can flatten a bit better i guess). This 'new' plastic part however also has a disadvantage: The lip running around the outside of the part (to prevent it from slipping into the bottom-part completely) is too thick and because of this the bottom wont screw in all the way! Functionality-wise this is no biggy (the o-ring still meets up with the wall like its supposed to do, so its still waterproof) but it just doesn't look right hence the lower rating.......
Clicky; 6/10; See 109 3-mode

CLIP: 7/10. See 109 3-mode

All the threads and o-rings came untreated an dirty as suspected! After a quick clean and lubejob it is now all incredibly smooth!

FUNCTIONALITY:
-Above all; Able to run on all AA and CR123a sized cells and alike (heck, i even managed to get a AAA in there and the AK16 even ran good on that one.... however i highly doubt 1.5A+ will do the little cell any good)
-3 Programmable modes with memory (0-100% - two speed blink - strobe with adjustable speed - SOSOSO)
-Nice white light, bright on li-ion secondary - dims fast on 1.2-1.5V cells
- 830mA @ 100% brightness on fresh AW 16340
- 13mA @ lowest low on fresh AW 16340
- 1.4A @ 100% brightness on fresh eneloop
- 60mA @ lowest low on fresh eneloop
- 1.3A @ 100% brightness on out-of-the-box exp. 2017 Panasonic ESSENTIAL power Alkaline
- 55mA @ lowest low on out-of-the-box exp. 2017 Panasonic ESSENTIAL power Alkaline


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Moral of the story *REVISITED*
If your in the market for one of these, its 101% worth it to break the bank :)p) and get one of the more expensive programmable versions because the only thing the 5-mode has over the programmables are the GITD goodies (if you're into that kind of thing). So if you're looking for a CR123a only sized light i suggest the 3-mode, if you'd like the AA as a backup feature you can also consider the AK-16 but DONT buy the latter for running primarily on AA-sizes because fitting those cells is a fiddly business!

Here's alot of pics, apologies for the lube on the 3-mode:

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Here you can see the quality a bit better on the 3-mode, nice and clean:
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Result if you put the best bits of both models together;
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[Update 5 march 2010]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I received my rechargeable batts today and immediately ran some tests with the 3-mode, beamshots will follow shortly;

-The AW's cells will fit with room to spare!!
-On full power given enough time the 'head temperature' will rise up to as much as 45 degrees Celcius at ambient 15 °C! So these will double as nice hand-warmers during winter-times! I did some heavy duty heatsinking and thanks to this the lights temperature protection didn't kick in (without this little mod it would kick in under 5 minutes). The battery tube also warmed up quite a bit but not even close to the temperature measured at the head so in my book its still safe enough for the Li-ion cells (this temperature could shorten lifespan in the long run tho)
-It will drain a fully charged battery (750mAh @ 3.7V nominal new generation protected AW) in about an hour at 100% output, so that would be about 1C so the batteries can handle this light OK.
-If the light is set to run on 'unprotected cell' mode the lights protection (i guesstimate 2.5V under load) will kick in before the battery circuit (2.45V) by lowering output and blinking twice on a 5 second interval or so(and in minutes the cells undervoltage protection will kick in and kill the light)

[Update 8th April 2010]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I promised you guys some beamshots, here they are! My apologies for the quality (and the un-ironed drapery sheet) but this is my first go at this kind of thing!

The setup:
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FLRT: TK11 - AK-16 - 5-mode - 3-mode - fresh AW 2600mAh 18650 - fresh eneloop - new Alkaline - 3x fresh AW 750mAh 16340

Shots are taken from 1.4meters from the sheet, lights were placed 1.2m from the sheet, hight visible in pics (top-bottom) is roughly 1m.

All single beam beamshots were taken at the same aperature/shutterspeed (F4.0 1/8 ISO50 for those interested :p ), the multishots vary because the brightness produced was too high for that same setting so only use the multi-shots to compare the beams/brightness you see in that single pic.... and i kinda 'eyeballed' the white-balance on the camera so the beam tints look like i felt like they should look ;) I added the TK11 as sort of a comparison/control piece.

Light tint/current wise the AK16 and the 3-mode are very very similar (this confirms my hunch that the internals are exactly the same but ill have to open em up one day to be 100% sure) so when comparing the primary cells in the AK16 i measured that one up to my 3-mode.

TK11 @ high
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TK11 @ low
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AK-16 16340 @ high (830mA)
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AK-16 eneloop @ high (1.4A)
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AK-16 16340 @ low (13mA)
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5-mode @ high (310mA)
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5-mode @ low (15mA)
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3-mode @ high (880mA)
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3-mode @ low (14mA)
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FLTR TK11 @ low - AK-16 @ high (830mA) - 5-mode @ high (310mA) - 3-mode @ high (880mA)
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FLTR AK-16 @ low (13mA) - 5-mode @low (15mA) - 3-mode @ low (14mA)
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FLTR AK-16 eneloop @ high (1.4A) - 3-mode @ high (880mA)
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FLTR AK-16 Alkaline @ high (1.3A) - 3-mode @ high (880mA)
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Oh, and ALL of these lights have the same outside dimensions on the head part, so all fit my 'gynecologists-tool' (i cant help it, thats how my lady calls the thing)


Click the pic for more info!
 
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Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Nice review. I think the same can be said about the AA models. My K-106 is just like your K-109 programmable (but with AA instead of CR123, of course).
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

And there is also the AK-16, with the same programmable UI than 106 & 109, but can be powered either by CR123/RCR123 or AA/14500. Outstanding quality as his brothers and one of the best budget flashlights I've seen.

BTW: Nice review!
 
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Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Nice review, another member gave me a K109-DX version. Its an OK light, for the $13. Too many flashy disco modes though. I EDC it every once in a while.
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

I've got the programmable one from KD and the 6 mode from DX and they look exactly the same. The only difference is the driver. I even paid about the same for them. I enjoy them both. Only time will tell which lasts longer.
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Nice review. And from the 5-mode's logo I can see why it is sometimes called Nkoray. I'm not liking that logo. Thanks for getting both and doing the comparison.
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Hello All,

I received the Akoray 106 from DX the other day (sku.16607) and I can not get the light out of the 2 blink beacon mode. I've tried many different soft press combinations but I can't get the light to anything except blink twice. I think I have bad light but any of you with experience with this type of light knows anything I can try, I'm all ears.

Thank you!!!
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Thanks all for the compliments!

I hope this review will be of use to anyone but the consensus is that you should away from the 5 mode and get the 3, its really a world of difference!

Hello All,

I received the Akoray 106 from DX the other day (sku.16607) and I can not get the light out of the 2 blink beacon mode. I've tried many different soft press combinations but I can't get the light to anything except blink twice. I think I have bad light but any of you with experience with this type of light knows anything I can try, I'm all ears.

Thank you!!!

What battery are you running in there? An alkaline perhaps? If i remember correctly the light will do something like blink when its working on a battery below the voltage cut-off point if set in protected mode.

Turn it on and almost immediately soft-press 3x (so press, tap-tap-tap). This should change the protection setting (but of course don't do this when running a non-protected lithium rechargeable, it will destroy it)

Also, and this may sound stupid, clean the light! Completely disassemble, set the LED pill aside and use an old toothbrush and dis-washing liquid to clean the heck out of every little notch and especially the threads. My 5 mode didnt turn on out of the box and after some fiddling worked intermittently and blinked and stuff, and that was all due to dirt.

-edit-

Another point worth mentioning is that the clicky isn't soldered or anything. One of the two connectors is sandwiched HARD between the plastic ring and the clicky-housing and isn't going anywhere but the other lip is just folded over and should meet up with the little metal plate behind the spring and thats where things can go wrong (happened to me twice after disassembly). If you want to permanently fix this disassemble the clicky completely, then take the click-button and place the thin metal plate behind the folded over lip and press the plate and button together back in the plastic housing AFTER you put the spring back in (this will now be hard so take your time). This will guarantee a proper connection.
 
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Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

RepProdigious, WOW...thanks for all these suggestions!! I'll give them a try tonight.

Also, thanks for the great review...it really makes me want to get my light working.
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Hello All,

I received the Akoray 106 from DX the other day (sku.16607) and I can not get the light out of the 2 blink beacon mode. I've tried many different soft press combinations but I can't get the light to anything except blink twice. I think I have bad light but any of you with experience with this type of light knows anything I can try, I'm all ears.

Thank you!!!

You might wish to add your experience to the mini survey:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=260148

As you can see, whilst most are fine, a significant number have issues.
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Well, my nice 3-mode actually started acting up tonight! I was just walking outside playing with my light and all of a sudden when on max it would all of a sudden dim.... After turning it off for a minute or two i could put it back on full but after a while it would lower output once again! Battery was still fine, so i guess is has temperature protection! Thats a good thing! Only imho it kicked in way too soon (head didnt feel even a bit warm) so my guess was that it had problems getting rid of the heat so here's what i did:
I removed the pill from the head and worked quite a substantial bit of CPU thermal grease into the threads and i then did the same with the threads on the led pill. I put it back in, removed excess thermal grease and now i can feel the head warming up so i guess its working! I haven't had the temp protection kick back in since but not enough burntime yet to call it fixed, but im pretty sure its way better than before :twothumbs
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Regarding the 3 mode version...can you describe the programming in a bit more detail? It says infinite levels 0-100%. This isn't ramping though I don't believe right?

It has 2 fixed modes I guess for the strobes and SOS so does this mean there is only one programed mode or is there still 3 programed modes?

I'm guessing that there's 3 and that you can set each of them anywhere between 0-100%.

So in other words you could set the 3 mode version to be exactly like the 5 mode version...is that correct?

Also, did you say that the 3 mode version on high is a lot brighter than the 5 mode version on high with both using CR123's?
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

In the programmable version you have 3 slots. In every one of them you can put whatever you want. I have low, med, max. No disco modes at all. You can, if you want, put the SOSOSOSO... signal in each slot.

@Ky70. I saw your problem in DX forums (I think it was you) but didnt have a clue until RepProdigius mentioned the protection. This light have a low voltage warning, so when your 14500 lithium cell reachs a 3V (I think it was 3V) the light will start blinking to warn you about this to not to damage the cell from overdischarging. With 3 taps it will blink twice and the warning should be disabled. Tap 3 times again and it will blink once and the warning is enabled again.

Of course it can be too that all 3 slots are set in a disco mode. Using 6 taps you will enter in programming mode. The light blinks once and then shut off. After a second or so it will start ramping from off to full brighness in a somewhat fast way, then it will cycle between disco modes and starts again. Just tap once when you reach your desired output and it will blink twice to mark "slot 2". Repeat for slot 3 and this time switch off the light instead tapping (or you will be in slot 1 again). Let it rest for a few seconds to save the selection.
 
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Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Thank you RepP and Vali for all the suggestions. I've got good news and bad news. I "made" this light work by taking everything apart and putting it back together over and over and switching batteries back and forth (Nimh and alkaline). I screwed the pill down tighter, then not so tight and then tight and then not so tight...finally the light started working as it grew weary of my abuse (Thanks folks for chiming in with advice, it's the only reason I kept at it).

The bad news is I broke the glass lens cover during my tighten/untighten excercise. I can confirm that my light is not programable but my dissapointment is lessened by the lights last mode memory feature.

Now, can anyone tell me where to get a replacement glass lens cover the Akoray 106? Thank you!
 
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Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Regarding the 3 mode version...can you describe the programming in a bit more detail? It says infinite levels 0-100%. This isn't ramping though I don't believe right?

Lke vali said, its 3 slots that you can set to whatever you want!

So in other words you could set the 3 mode version to be exactly like the 5 mode version...is that correct?

No, its still only 3 selectable slots! Maybe this nice manual will help understand it a bit better:

1) Turn light on.
2) Quickly tap the switch 6 times. A tap is a half press something short of clicking it on and off.
3) The light will flash ONE time and then cycle through the following 6 modes:

0->100% gradual ramp
100%
slow blink
fast blink
slow->fast strobe gradual ramp
SOS
4) When it gets to the mode you want, tap the switch once. This locks in your selection for mode ONE.
5) The light will flash TWO times indicating that you are about to choose mode two.
6) Wait for the light to reach the mode you want for mode TWO and tap the switch once.
7) The light will flash THREE times indicating that you are about to choose mode three.
8) Wait for the light to reach the mode you want for mode THREE and tap the switch once.
9) Turn off the light. Then wait a few seconds for it to get out of mode selection.

You can program any combination you want, e.g., if all you want is an on/off light that is always at 100% brightness simply program all 3 modes to 100% brightness. If you want a light that is always in strobe mode simply program all 3 modes to strobe.


It will remember the last mode you used if you wait a few seconds before turning it back on. If you turn it back on too quickly it goes to the next mode. I like to leave it on Medium with Medium set to the level I use most often.

Setting Low is difficult because it ramps up very quickly. To catch the lowest possible level you have to be very fast with your tap. Try the tap before it even begins to ramp and you will be at the lowest setting.

3 half-press or tap for battery protection (4 taps seems to the same thing)
Turn on, tap 3 times. Goes dark for a second then flashes once or twice. One flash means no protection and two means protection on. If you are using protected batteries you can just leave this off and it is a no brainer when changing to primaries. Comes with Protection off so if you are using unprotected 14500 battery you need to turn this on. With Protection on AA batteries will not work. It will turn on for a second then go off. Light is not broken, just tap three times as soon as it goes on, get one flash and protection will be off. Now 1.2, 1.5V primaries will work fine.

Akoray K-106 and Akoray P.D.C. AK-16 reset to factory settings (Hi-Med-Strobe):

Go into programming mode (5 or more half press), as soon as the light blinks once (mode 1 programming) half press 3 times. The light goes immediatly to the max intensity indicating it has been reset to the default factory settings.

The 3 taps can be done in any of the 3 programming modes just after the blinking sequence indicating the mode (1 blink for mode 1 as described above, 2 blinks for mode 2, 3 blinks for mode 3) and before the light starts increasing its brighteness.

The reset was first discovered by Wonwuster of CPFItalia in a raw form, 4 or 4+4 taps, which sometimes worked but often did not. I perfectioned it in the 5+3 form which works always 100%.




Thank you RepP and Vali for all the suggestions. I've got good news and bad news. I "made" this light work by taking everything apart and putting it back together over and over and switching batteries back and forth (Nimh and alkaline). I screwed the pill down tighter, then not so tight and then tight and then not so tight...finally the light started working as it grew weary of my abuse (Thanks folks for chiming in with advice, it's the only reason I kept at it).

The bad news is I broke the glass lens cover during my tighten/untighten excercise. I can confirm that my light is not programable but my dissapointment is lessened by the lights last mode memory feature.

Now, can anyone tell me where to get a replacement glass lens cover the Akoray 106? Thank you!

Great to hear you got it all working! Too bad about the little lens, unfortunately there's no real cheap way to replace it (compared to the overall price of the light itself) but for a couple of dollars you should be able to get one (of five ;) ). Measure up the diameter exactly, i could tell you mine but even between the two light is have the size is so different that i cant interchange between the two so the only sure way is to measure yourself.

I sure hope that yours has a 18mm lens, in that case you can get a couple cheap at kaidomain (sku 1653), if you need a dramatically different size you can check out flashlightlens dot com if they have you size (but they are way more expensive than KD).
Hope this helps!
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

thanks for the review, that was excellent. I Have akoray AA and i loved it.
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Great to hear you got it all working! Too bad about the little lens, unfortunately there's no real cheap way to replace it (compared to the overall price of the light itself) but for a couple of dollars you should be able to get one (of five ;) ). Measure up the diameter exactly, i could tell you mine but even between the two light is have the size is so different that i cant interchange between the two so the only sure way is to measure yourself.

I sure hope that yours has a 18mm lens, in that case you can get a couple cheap at kaidomain (sku 1653), if you need a dramatically different size you can check out flashlightlens dot com if they have you size (but they are way more expensive than KD).
Hope this helps!

Thanks Again!!! 18mm would appear to be the size. Oddly enough, the lens appears to be the exact same size as the one on my Quark mini 123.

Edit: I bought a 17mm and a 18mm acrylite lens from flashlightlens. But now I have my eye on the KD progammable Akoray from your review...my positive impressions of my Akoray combined with your review, really make me want that light too.

Your help has truly been appreciated :thumbsup:
 
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Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Even though I already have the nonprogramable K-109 thanks to this review I've just ordered the programable one as well.

The extra brightness could come in handy but I'm more interested in being able to just not program in the strobe modes as well as being able to program in the exact output levels that I like.

I'll probably set up something like 100%,25% and whatever the lowest level can be.

I hate clicking through the levels and not being sure if you are on the lowest so you click again and get STROBES!

I think I'll set it up as low, medium and high in that order.
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Nice review....now where are the beamshots....lol. Which one is brighter to the eye.
 
Re: AKOray K-109 review (3 vs 5 mode versions)

Thanks Again!!! 18mm would appear to be the size. Oddly enough, the lens appears to be the exact same size as the one on my Quark mini 123.

Edit: I bought a 17mm and a 18mm acrylite lens from flashlightlens. But now I have my eye on the KD progammable Akoray from your review...my positive impressions of my Akoray combined with your review, really make me want that light too.

Your help has truly been appreciated :thumbsup:

If memory serves me right acrylite is some sort of plexiglas right? Keep in mind that even tho this stuff is great at taking a beating and not breaking it is still a thermoplastic compound, so it could melt. I doubt that it would happen in something like a cr123 powered LED light but do keep this in mind if you experience a color change or something in the lens, that would be an indication to go back to glass (like the KD lenses i suggested earlier).

And if you're thinking about getting a 3-mode, dont... think about it that is, just GET ONE! Its a great light, WAY better than the 5-mode and you can use your old light for spare parts and stuff (like the GITD stuff, i love that)

Even though I already have the nonprogramable K-109 thanks to this review I've just ordered the programable one as well.

The extra brightness could come in handy but I'm more interested in being able to just not program in the strobe modes as well as being able to program in the exact output levels that I like.

I'll probably set up something like 100%,25% and whatever the lowest level can be.

I hate clicking through the levels and not being sure if you are on the lowest so you click again and get STROBES!

I think I'll set it up as low, medium and high in that order.

You can set it up any way you'd like, and it has memory so if you turn the light off on moon-mode it will get back at that mode when you pick your light back up! Its great!

Nice review....now where are the beamshots....lol. Which one is brighter to the eye.

Beamshots? Erm... i could do a couple of those, but to the eye the 3-mode beats the heck out of the 5-mode!

Output wise the 3-mode on new primary cell even comes close to my TK11 on fully charged 18650 at low setting, just a little less throw..... I have a couple of rechargeable cells on route to check if that does anything output wise but we'll have to see about that.
 
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