Awesome Kai Cree!

LEDBE
This belongs more in the "Review" section but other than that, its not one of those 'pointer' threads that just goes "Kai has a new light!!".

Although not much commentary, it has informative pictures. I don't see anything wrong with this. (but I'm not a mod, so my 2cts may not be worth much :D )

Thanks for the pics!!
 
Got two a month ago, and one proved problematic but still a rippin' deal. Its clicky stopped working in the 'on' position. Had to partly disassemble it and lube it and no problems since. The lanyard also broke on it within the first day. The other one has been 100%. Great EDC that you could lose and not cry about, yet it's plenty powerful enough to serve.

DougM
 
If you want to see how output and runtime compares to the more expensive multi-level AA lights, you can see my review thread here:
Rex 2.1, Luma 301, DX X.1, C-LE v1.2, Fenix L1DCE-Q2, DX/Kai 5-Stage Review: RUNTIMES

Not sure if mine is the P4 or Q2 version, but it is certainly very bright - in fact, it's comparable to my my Q2 L1DCE. I've only posted the runtimes for the MTE version of this light, as the output and runtime are exactly the same (same circuit, it seems). As you'll see runtimes are the lowest for the group, but still aren't bad.

IMO, main problem is overall build quality and lack of a true low. The body is basically the same style as the ever-popular "Elly", so switch problems and head thread problems are possible ....
 
I'm waiting for one 11 days now. Is the LED on a replacable star?
 
So, can you explain what you like and don't like about this light? And why do you think it is better then the L2D- CE? And is the L2D-CE better in any way? I.e. UI, Grip, Price, battery life, beam, etc.

In other words, your opinion counts :)
 
I have one of these as well.
I found that with some batteries, when the tailcap was tightened as far as it could go, the battery would short on the metal retaining ring inside the tailcap. I solved this by cutting a circular piece of PVC tape with a hole in the middle for the spring and placing that in the tailcap.

Other than that, there are the usual issues with dirty threads both on the tailcap and the head...

It's a great light.
 
PocketBeam said:
So, can you explain what you like and don't like about this light? And why do you think it is better then the L2D- CE? And is the L2D-CE better in any way? I.e. UI, Grip, Price, battery life, beam, etc.

In other words, your opinion counts :)
Click to expand...

Sure,

The beam actually seems to have a farther throw than my L2D-CE, The price alone makes it better (About 1/3 the cost of the L2D), Its not waterproof as far as i know (the L2D is supposedly waterproof), which could mean alot for some, The build quality seems excellent, it doesnt have the "regulated" brightness, but thats no biggie, it just means that as your batteries get low, the beam gets dimmer....O yeah, did i mention its $15?

Heres how i look at it, If you want a light that you can "beat up" and not worry about, get the Kai. I personally am going to order a couple more for the car and when we camp. Great for gifts too, but thats my take...
 
j3bnl said:
Could you use rechargeable AA's in this.

Brian
Click to expand...

Yes, the light works very well on NiMH, in fact on NiMH you can expect even better runtimes than on Alkalines.

The light is very good at fully utilizing the NiMH capacity, and will run the battery down to well under 1 volt (more than 98% discharged). This high level of discharge is fine in single cell lights because you can't get one cell reverse charging another like in multi-cell lights, so even 100% discharge won't damage your NiMH or Nicads.

Regulation is reasonably good, but when the battery voltage gets really low (below about 1 volt) the light output does finally drop down to a kind of lower 'moon' mode output. It will run like this for some time, but be aware that by this time the voltage may be so low that if you shut off the light you may not be able to turn it back on for a minute or two because you have to wait for the battery voltage to recover slightly. This doesn't bother me too much, because by the time this happens, the batteries are pretty much fully discharged anyway.
 
ET3 said:
I'm waiting for one 11 days now. Is the LED on a replacable star?
Click to expand...

There are some reports that some of the Kaidomain lights apparently now have the head epoxied, so if you want a light specifically to MOD with a new emitter then I would advise that you contact Kaidomain before your order to make sure that they can ship you one without epoxy.

My light did not have any epoxy, and does use a standard 20mm star board mount, so I was able to very easily get inside to replace the emitter.

If you decide to upgrade this light, you should be aware that this is the ever popular 'Elly' style battery tube and bezel head, so if you choose to MOD it yourself be prepared to do a little fiddling around to get everything lined up and locked down tight, as the threads and tolerances are a bit loose. On the plus side, the reflector in this light is not all that critical about centering compared to some I have seen, which helps a lot, so you won't have to worry about getting everything absolutely perfect down to thousandths of an inch to get a nice clean beam pattern with excellent throw.

Mechanically, the star board was attached to the internal heat-sink ring with two self tapping screws. I didn't like how the screws felt after being removed, so I used a tiny drill (about 0.8mm) to create new smaller holes to re-secure the board. If you have a pile of small self tapping screws, you may also be able to find a slightly larger screws and just reuse the existing holes.

You could also get a more solid mount by using a little thermal epoxy around the edge of the star.

On the electrical side, there were three wires that needed to be re-soldered to replace the emitter star-board, the normal Plus and Minus emitter wires, and an additional wire that was soldered to one of the plated star-board mounting screws to provide a more positive ground for the boost-converter PCB. Whatever you do to secure the star mechanically, be sure you get good metal to metal bite on at least one screw so you can reattach the ground wire and get a solid ground (I think most of the flickering issues in these 'Elly' style lights are due to grounding problems).
 
Thanks for the info on rechargeables but would really like an idea of lumen output from this light before taking the plunge.

Brian
 
ooopretty said:
The beam actually seems to have a farther throw than my L2D-CE
Click to expand...
Really?

I find that surprising, since my two $15 Kai 5-stage lights only throw 1025 and 1100 lux@1m, respectively. In contrast my Fenix L2DCE with smooth relector throws ~3000 lux@1m. Taking the squareroot of lux, that gives you a "throw value" of 33 for the Kai lights, and 55 for the L2DCE (comparable to Quickbeam's FR.com method). In fact, even my L1DCE out-throws them (1750 lux, or 42 "throw")

I bought my Kai lights when they first came out, so I presume they are P4s (yours may be a Q2), but wouldn't give you more than an extra 0-18% or so.

Don't get me wrong, it's good value for $15 ... but it's no L2DCE.

j3bnl said:
Thanks for the info on rechargeables but would really like an idea of lumen output from this light before taking the plunge.Brian
Click to expand...
Overall output on mine is about the same the L1DCE-Q2 edition. See my review thread here:
Rex 2.1, Luma 301, DX X.1, C-LE v1.2, Fenix L1DCE-Q2, DX/Kai 5-Stage Review: RUNTIMES
 
Last edited:
selfbuilt said:
Really?

I find that surprising, since my two $15 Kai 5-stage lights only throw 1025 and 1100 lux@1m, respectively. In contrast my Fenix L2DCE with smooth relector throws ~3000 lux@1m. Taking the squareroot of lux, that gives you a "throw value" of 33 for the Kai lights, and 55 for the L2DCE (comparable to Quickbeam's FR.com method). In fact, even my L1DCE out-throws them (1750 lux, or 42 "throw")

I bought my Kai lights when they first came out, so I presume they are P4s (yours may be a Q2), but wouldn't give you more than an extra 0-18% or so.

Don't get me wrong, it's good value for $15 ... but it's no L2DCE.
Click to expand...

Yes mine is a Q2. I slipped in "seems" because when i first turned it on, it seemed to have a better throw than my L2D. Ill have a side by side up by tomorrow.
 
selfbuilt said:
Really?

Don't get me wrong, it's good value for $15 ... but it's no L2DCE.

Overall output on mine is about the same the L1DCE-Q2 edition. See my review thread here:
Rex 2.1, Luma 301, DX X.1, C-LE v1.2, Fenix L1DCE-Q2, DX/Kai 5-Stage Review: RUNTIMES
Click to expand...

I agree that the new Kai 5 mode lights are on a par with a L1D-CE output wise, which is pretty surprising given the 15 dollar price.

It's not fair to compare the Kai 5 Stage to a L2DCE anyway, because that's comparing a 2 AA light with a 1 AA light. My understanding is that the head is the same on the Fenix L1D and the L2D and the only reason for the larger throw on the L2D is the greater drive available from 2 AA cells.

Kaidomain has been working hard on improving the somewhat spotty quality of the earlier 'Elly' style lights, though I would agree that the Fenix L1D still has the edge on build quality and runtimes (but for 3 to 4 times the price, it should).

I wanted a light I could tweak, and to get this kind of output and throw I would have ended up spending more than 50 bucks at the Sandwich Shoppe for a Q2 emitter, matching custom reflector, and boost converter, and then I would have still been stuck with trying to find some kind of 'host' that could be customized to hold all this custom hardware.
 
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