Imon
Enlightened
Greetings fellow Flashaholics!
After recently acquiring a Leupold MX-321 I decided to share my thoughts with you guys.
The first thing that comes to mind when you see this flashlight is "That's a big head!" The second thing is "wow that's heavy" Call me skeptical but I'm hesitant to believe this thing is 6 oz like Leupold claims it is. Perhaps I'm spoiled on my other lightweight lights but the MX-321 feels substantially heavier than my 5.5 oz Streamlight sidewinder.
2AA Maglite for comparison.
Surefire E2L Outdoorsman for comparison.
The packaging.
The bezel. This flashlight is designed to accept Leupold's 32mm Alumina accessories. The name of the flashlight is determined by the parts that made the whole. This is the MX-300 head.
The MX-020 body. The threads are nice and large and came well greased. The back is double O-ring sealed while the single O-ring for the head is present inside the head. The knurling is shallow and doesn't give the user much improved grip over the body or tailcap. There is knurling under the clip area. The flashlight comes with 2 Panasonic CR123a which can be inserted through either side of the body. There is a lanyard loop hole towards the rear and the clip is attached to the body using two 1/16th inch Allen wrench screw.
The MX-001 tailcap. The spring is very strong and does not bend easily. The tailcap can be partially unscrewed to prevent accidental activation.
By now you may have noticed the multimode selector ring and the 4 different modes this flashlight is capable of. The small dot is the low setting of 10 lumens, it then goes up to 100 and 175 lumens and the final setting is a SOS mode at 25 lumens. The selector ring is turned easily and clicks into place. There is no tactile indicator to let you know which mode you're on by touch. The modes can be changed when the flashlight is turned on and I have not detected any flickering while changing modes. The tailcap switch is capable of two modes - momentary on or depressed fully for constant on. Surprisingly the tailcap switch doesn't depress far but take quite a bit of pressure to activate. Keeping the switch depressed just for momentary on requires a firm grip on the body and some pressure on the switch. I have experienced occasional pre-flashes when using the momentary on feature.
Now for some poorly done beamshots!
Indoors low mode at 5 feet. The beam is a medium spot with a large spillbeam. The hue is a neutral white that leans a bit on the cool side. By all indications I believe Leupold quotes their output fairly accurately.
At medium mode 5'. I won't bother to show you guys the high mode since both at this distance appear similar on camera.
Medium mode at 45 feet. 4 second exposure.
High mode at 45 feet. 4 second exposure.
Medium mode at 80 feet. 4 second exposure.
High mode at 80 feet. 4 second exposure.
I suppose that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed my brief review and I'll be happy to answer any questions.
After recently acquiring a Leupold MX-321 I decided to share my thoughts with you guys.
The first thing that comes to mind when you see this flashlight is "That's a big head!" The second thing is "wow that's heavy" Call me skeptical but I'm hesitant to believe this thing is 6 oz like Leupold claims it is. Perhaps I'm spoiled on my other lightweight lights but the MX-321 feels substantially heavier than my 5.5 oz Streamlight sidewinder.
2AA Maglite for comparison.
Surefire E2L Outdoorsman for comparison.
The packaging.
The bezel. This flashlight is designed to accept Leupold's 32mm Alumina accessories. The name of the flashlight is determined by the parts that made the whole. This is the MX-300 head.
The MX-020 body. The threads are nice and large and came well greased. The back is double O-ring sealed while the single O-ring for the head is present inside the head. The knurling is shallow and doesn't give the user much improved grip over the body or tailcap. There is knurling under the clip area. The flashlight comes with 2 Panasonic CR123a which can be inserted through either side of the body. There is a lanyard loop hole towards the rear and the clip is attached to the body using two 1/16th inch Allen wrench screw.
The MX-001 tailcap. The spring is very strong and does not bend easily. The tailcap can be partially unscrewed to prevent accidental activation.
By now you may have noticed the multimode selector ring and the 4 different modes this flashlight is capable of. The small dot is the low setting of 10 lumens, it then goes up to 100 and 175 lumens and the final setting is a SOS mode at 25 lumens. The selector ring is turned easily and clicks into place. There is no tactile indicator to let you know which mode you're on by touch. The modes can be changed when the flashlight is turned on and I have not detected any flickering while changing modes. The tailcap switch is capable of two modes - momentary on or depressed fully for constant on. Surprisingly the tailcap switch doesn't depress far but take quite a bit of pressure to activate. Keeping the switch depressed just for momentary on requires a firm grip on the body and some pressure on the switch. I have experienced occasional pre-flashes when using the momentary on feature.
Now for some poorly done beamshots!
Indoors low mode at 5 feet. The beam is a medium spot with a large spillbeam. The hue is a neutral white that leans a bit on the cool side. By all indications I believe Leupold quotes their output fairly accurately.
At medium mode 5'. I won't bother to show you guys the high mode since both at this distance appear similar on camera.
Medium mode at 45 feet. 4 second exposure.
High mode at 45 feet. 4 second exposure.
Medium mode at 80 feet. 4 second exposure.
High mode at 80 feet. 4 second exposure.
I suppose that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed my brief review and I'll be happy to answer any questions.
