Anything out there that can compete with the Gladius tactical UI?

[victory]

How long has the gladius been on the market now? 5 years?

I have an original and i had the LED upgraded a couple years ago to breathe new life into it. I've continued to use it, but now even the upgraded P4 emitter seems behind the times. My new quark puts out way more light and is the size of my index finger, but is clearly not suitable as a primary tactical light. In fact, my major lament is that nothing i have found comes close to the Gladius' user interface combining a momentary, strobe, and infinately variable light settings with nothing getting in the way.

Surefire looked promising with some of its new offerings which never came out.

Maybe i missed something. What's out there?

 

[Moonshadow]

I too would love to know. Still use my Gladius a lot but mostly around the house now as it's outshone by some of my newer lights.

A real shame, because as you say the UI simply can't be beaten, and I also like the way it is perfectly balanced and easy to handle. It's one of the few lights that really make you feel that you wouldn't need anything else - if only the output were brought up to date.

I have considered upgrading the LED but as you say even the P4 is looking a bit underpowered these days. Given current offerings from Quark and EagleTac we'd really be looking at bumping it up to 300 OTF lumens or so.

There was some talk a while ago about putting an XP-G in there. I've successfully done this with another light and I have a supply of nice tinted XP-G R4s on stars, but I'm not sure how they would work with the existing Gladius reflector.

 

[FLT MEDIC]

I too would love to know. Still use my Gladius a lot but mostly around the house now as it's outshone by some of my newer lights.

A real shame, because as you say the UI simply can't be beaten, and I also like the way it is perfectly balanced and easy to handle. It's one of the few lights that really make you feel that you wouldn't need anything else - if only the output were brought up to date.

I have considered upgrading the LED but as you say even the P4 is looking a bit underpowered these days. Given current offerings from Quark and EagleTac we'd really be looking at bumping it up to 300 OTF lumens or so.

There was some talk a while ago about putting an XP-G in there. I've successfully done this with another light and I have a supply of nice tinted XP-G R4s on stars, but I'm not sure how they would work with the existing Gladius reflector.

Just swap your P4 with a Cree R2 20mm star or whatever emitter your Quark has. Note that you'll need to use a Cree XR-E reflector for a Cree R2 or an XP-G reflector for an XP-G R4 or R5 20mm star.

Tried the SSC P4 mod before and it looked like double the throw compared to its stock Luxeon III emitter. With the Cree R2 and using a smooth Cree reflector, the throw looks twice as far as my SSC P4 mod with much brighter side spill. It's really worth the effort to update the emitter in our beloved Gladius. Still my favorite EDC light since I got it 4 years ago. :thumbsup:

 

[Moonshadow]

Note that you'll need to use a Cree XR-E reflector for a Cree R2 or an XP-G reflector for an XP-G R4 or R5 20mm star.

Thanks - yes, that's exactly what I'd like to do. Where would I get hold of the reflectors ?

 

[FLT MEDIC]

Thanks - yes, that's exactly what I'd like to do. Where would I get hold of the reflectors ?

DX and KD respectively. No cheap source of XP-G smooth reflectors (only sold as a Dereelight drop-in so far) so we're stuck with OP XP-G reflectors. Good luck with your mod, hope the XP-G R4's shorter throw is not that noticeable compared to the XR-E R2. If anybody knows a source of smooth XP-G reflectors only, please let us know. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Moonshadow]

Thanks again - I've had a look for the XP-G one on KD and there seem to be a few different reflectors on offer but the descriptions aren't very specific (i.e. which LED / light they are suitable for) and many of them are sold out. You wouldn't happen to have a link or an SKU for the correct part ?

 

[Justin Case]

If you upgrade to an XP-G, you might consider trying the stock Gladius reflector first. My experience has been that any reflector that works well with a Seoul P4 also works well with the XP-G. So you may save yourself some mod'ing hassle if the stock reflector is already suitable.

You also have to make sure that the XP-G die height is at the right focus point. That depends on what sort of substrate you are using -- an 8mm round MCPCB, 10mm round MCPCB, a star, etc. You want the XP-G die height to match that of the original Lux III LED that came with the Gladius.

Regarding the Gladius UI, I agree it is excellent. My main reservation with it involves changing the UI channel to select a different mode. I can do it one-handed, but it's hard for me to do it reliably with just one finger. I can reliably change channels with thumb and forefinger, but that requires that I remove my thumb from the tail button. Thus, I have to turn off the light if I'm in a momentary mode. Or I can do it two-handed, but then both hands are occupied.

The OpticsHQ reverse multifunction tailcap IMO gives the Gladius UI a run for the money. The downside for the OpticsHQ UI IMO is that finding the side button might not be instantaneous. The UI works great once you have your flashlight grip. I think that it could be better than the Gladius's UI. But acquiring the grip and getting the tailcap rotated around so that the side button falls under your index finger is the tricky part. It's fairly easy from a scabbard, where the light is held in a fixed position. But acquiring the right orientation when the light is dangling free from a lanyard is less reliable.

Another issue with the OpticsHQ tailcap (a non-UI issue) is that it has a high parasitic current draw of about 1mA. If you are using high capacity cells, it probably doesn't matter. But if you are using something like 2x16340 in a 6P, then the cells are going to get drained within about a month.

 

[victory]

If there's anyone doing a professional quality XP-G mod in the gladius, I have money and a flashlight to send to you.

 

[FLT MEDIC]

Thanks again - I've had a look for the XP-G one on KD and there seem to be a few different reflectors on offer but the descriptions aren't very specific (i.e. which LED / light they are suitable for) and many of them are sold out. You wouldn't happen to have a link or an SKU for the correct part ?

You're welcome.

I got this KD OP reflector http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=9208 and its smaller hole causes a smaller hotspot but the same sidespill as this bigger hole DX XP-G R5 drop-in OP reflector which came with my drop-in http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32953

 

[FLT MEDIC]

If you upgrade to an XP-G, you might consider trying the stock Gladius reflector first. My experience has been that any reflector that works well with a Seoul P4 also works well with the XP-G. So you may save yourself some mod'ing hassle if the stock reflector is already suitable.

You also have to make sure that the XP-G die height is at the right focus point. That depends on what sort of substrate you are using -- an 8mm round MCPCB, 10mm round MCPCB, a star, etc. You want the XP-G die height to match that of the original Lux III LED that came with the Gladius.

Regarding the Gladius UI, I agree it is excellent. My main reservation with it involves changing the UI channel to select a different mode. I can do it one-handed, but it's hard for me to do it reliably with just one finger. I can reliably change channels with thumb and forefinger, but that requires that I remove my thumb from the tail button. Thus, I have to turn off the light if I'm in a momentary mode. Or I can do it two-handed, but then both hands are occupied.

The OpticsHQ reverse multifunction tailcap IMO gives the Gladius UI a run for the money. The downside for the OpticsHQ UI IMO is that finding the side button might not be instantaneous. The UI works great once you have your flashlight grip. I think that it could be better than the Gladius's UI. But acquiring the grip and getting the tailcap rotated around so that the side button falls under your index finger is the tricky part. It's fairly easy from a scabbard, where the light is held in a fixed position. But acquiring the right orientation when the light is dangling free from a lanyard is less reliable.

Another issue with the OpticsHQ tailcap (a non-UI issue) is that it has a high parasitic current draw of about 1mA. If you are using high capacity cells, it probably doesn't matter. But if you are using something like 2x16340 in a 6P, then the cells are going to get drained within about a month.

Thanks for the stock Gladius reflector tip, will try it.

If you need to change channels with thumb and forefinger, it means your ring might have lint, fine sand or debris in it. Our group can reliably operate our channel rings using the thumb only.

We clean the Gladius switch by making sure the tailcap is tight and submerging it upside down in a bowl of clean lukewarm water while pressing and releasing the tailcap switch until the switch operates smoothly. Next is to keep rotating left and right the channel ring on all switch positions/channels while its submerged upside down in water until my thumb alone can turn it. Do not use any kind of oil, degreaser, contact cleaner, silicone lubricant, etc. to clean it as stated in the manual. Good luck and I hope this works for your Gladius too.

 

[fletch31]

I agree with JustinCase. I have another Gladius inbound specifically to mod with an XP-G and the stock reflector will do very well. As long as you get the depth of the LED in the reflector correct it will work well with SSC P4 and Lux3 designed reflectors. I will post up some pics with comparison of the
XP-G modded gladius to a gladius modded with a U2 bin SSC P4 when I get mine done.

I absolutely love the UI for the Gladius/Typhoon lights and find them very easy to change modes one handed with just my thumb. I'm curious how much the low will increase with the XP-G mod as I love the low feature as well.

I know Icarus here on the forum has modded a Gladius with an XP-G R5 for another forum member. His name escapes me but he put out a one line blurb about it making another light look like it wasn't even on.

*Edit* Stienke owned it as modded by Icarus and CDP930 now owns it.

 

[JNewell]

I also still like my Gladius (which has the SSC P4 upgrade) and find it perfectly sufficient for most uses. The UI is great. The only lick on the Gladius is the slight parasitic drain, but for a duty light I don't think that's an issue (you do check your gear frequently?). If someone's looking for a light to put in a bin for next year's hurricane season, it's probably not the best choice, but it was never designed with that in mind.

 

[fletch31]

I modded two Gladius lights with A0 bin XP-G R5 LED's mounted to 20mm stars. I posted a brief summary of how I did it in the modded lights section of the forums. I highly recommend it!

 

[Justin Case]

If you need to change channels with thumb and forefinger, it means your ring might have lint, fine sand or debris in it. Our group can reliably operate our channel rings using the thumb only.

I don't want to have to use the thumb. If I use the thumb, then I have to take it off of the tail button which turns off the light (in momentary mode, for example). I want to be able to switch channels one-handed while the light is in operation, so that I can seamlessly switch to any new mode as necessary without interruption.

IIRC, in constant-on mode, you can pre-select a new channel while still in the constant-on mode. Because it is constant-on mode, I don't need my thumb on the tail button to keep the light in operation. Then pressing the tail button switches to that new channel. Or something like that. I suppose I could use constant-on mode as my default mode and just cycle the tail cap to emulate momentary operation. Then I could use just my thumb to switch to other modes.