yaesumofo
Flashlight Enthusiast
Lunasol concept flashlights impression/review.
Hi guys. Recently McGizmo released for public
consumption 2 new lights. First was the Lunasol 27
and a few weeks later was the Lunasol 20.
The basic idea of these lights is very simple.
A single flashlight with 2 totally different beams.
OK simple idea but the execution is something else.
Think about it. You want to have a single light
that has both a nice smooth wide angle beam as well
as a nice "thrower" beam. In one single small
package. What a crazy idea!!
Don has been working on the Lunasol concept for
some time now. A long time in coming the Lunasol is
here.
The first light to make it out of the gate is the
Lunasol 27 with a 27mm head. It has a Cree XR-E in
the center as the heart of the high beam and 6
Nichia 310CS 3mm LEDs in a ring around the center.
The setup is based on a custom reflector which Don
created for the project.
Due to the fact that there are multiple emitters
Don has mounted two drivers. Talk about a tall
order and amazing engineering..
I don't want to get into repetitive technical
details here. This is about my subjective
observations Go to the McGizmo forum and read the
FAQ to learn about the driver details.
OK Don has worked hard to create a KISS light which
has as much pure utility as any custom flashlight
ever produced.
I received my Lunasol 27 a few days after they were
put up for sale. Don's selling system is a
fantastic model. It is fair easy and fast.
I was a little worried about the 27 mm head. I sold
off a XR27C because I did not like the 27mm head.
The head size did not have the kind of pay off I
needed to justify the larger size of the head
compared to a stock PD which I have edc'd for some
time.
So naturally I worried that the same would be true
of the Lunasol 27. (I did not know about the
Lunasol 20 at this time) I set the light up for
lanyard neck carry and found it to be just fine. I
used the light at work on a film set and came to
rely on it for all of my lighting needs. The wide
angle beam allowing for close up work, lighting of
my mix panel in the darkness of the set and is a
great light for walking around the dark areas of
the set. The high beam is great for searching for
gear at the bottom of a gear bag of tool chest any
any need for light out to twenty or thirty feet
inside and not much more than 25 feet outside.
Put these together into the same light and you have
a really cool bleeding edge flashlight.
OK some people want multiple levels SOS and other
driver features.
For me The only thing I would wish for is possibly
another level or two between the low and the high
or more dynamic range a lower low and a higher
high. That said the light levels which Don has
chosen for the Lunasol 27 are a perfect balance
between runtime brightness and utility for my every
day use.
The Lunasol's construction is amazing. The titanium
machine work is as good as any I have ever seen.
The finish is extremely smooth. The twist action is
as smooth as any titanium flashlight I have very
very nice. Don's custom reflector is a real marvel
in modern custom flashlight engineering. Nothing
happens by accident in a McGizmo flashlight the
Lunasol is no exception. It is clear that Don
invested a great deal of time and energy in the
design and ultimately the production of the Lunasol
27.
The tint of the beam is nice and white. The two
beams are remarkably similar and blend very well
when both are on while the light is in high mode.
There are two ways to activate the light one is the
Piston drive a slight push engages the LOW and a
harder push turns on the high beam. Both are
momentary.
Twisting the head does the same thing while
twisting until on engages the LOW and twisting
further yeilds the high beam.
OK. Then a couple of weeks later Don sprang a
surprise on some of us.. He gave us a seek peak at
the Lunasol 20. For many people the Lunasol 20 was
the answer to the original problem of the larger 27
head size (Which is not too big IMHO) A few days
later they were for sale. Many were excited by this
development.
The Lunasol 20 is a single cell 1 inch light with a
very nice high beam which is very white in a white
wall this high mode might be seen as being on the
cool side. Typical of the golden dragon emitter in
use in the lunasol 20.
The Lunasol 20 does just about everything the
Lunasol 27 does. the beams are cooler. Runtime is
longer there are only 3 Nichia 310DS in use vs the
6 Nichia 310CS emitters used in the Lunasol 27.
The Lunasol 20 low isn't as bright as the Lunasol's
low. It is also a cooler (tempature) soft/low beam.
The spread of the three emitters light isn't quite
as wide as the Lunasol 27's.
The fit and finish of the Lunasol 20 is equal to
and possibly slightly superior to that of the
Lunasol 27. Superior? How is that possible?
Well it is subtle The finish on the head of the
Lunasol 20 is so extremely smooth it has the
feeling of a metal which has been polished. But it
has not been polished. These parts come off the
machine like this. IMHO the tolerances are well
beyond that of just about any military
specification.Just as close to perfect as you can
get. Again the smoothness of the twist action is
very smooth and nice to operate.
Funny thing is that each of these lights is very
useful. Neither is more or less useful than the
other. Just different, and very useful.
BTW Both will tail stand which makes a ceiling
bounce mode for these lights.
OK So IMHO the ingenious design of the lunasol with
the dual drivers is in a word amazing.
The Lunasol 20 will operate on primaries only while
the Lunasol 27 will operate on rechargeable cells
as well as primaries.
I don't know what more I can say. I will post an
image of the Lunasols. Technical details can be
found in the faq.
My opinion of these is favorable. There is a lot to
like. They are very easy to operate. There are no
confusing user interface details to learn. Twist it
on and twist it off. Simple 2 levels.
The two beams allow for a very wide variety of
uses. Much more than a simple hi low setup. You
have semi mule like wide mode and a tight beam hi
mode.
I really look forward top seeing how Don further
develops the Lunasol concept. IMHO there is great
potential and I am hopeful that don will continue
to advance the lunasol to achieve it's full
potential.
Sorry about the sort of dull images I have lost my
favorite slate background so I tried this marble
and they just don't pop like I think they should.
I have not taken any "beam shots" because I don't
have the energy to make a cool out door beam shot
shooting setup. If I can see a good way to get a
good beam shot at work I will grab a couple. IMHO
white wall shots are completely useless and do
nothing to help a potential user to determine if
the light works well in the real world. opinion's
about the utility of a flashlight are subjective.
It may be great for me but suck for you.
If you find yourself needing a good utility
flashlight for edc the Lunasol may work well for
you.
Either one works very well in this capacity for me.
Thanks Don.
Yaesumofo
Hey guys I wanted toadd some real world images of the lunasol in action.
The first image is a picture of a Lunasol in held in place and off the flash is on here the picture is just to show the position of the light.
This Picture shows the lunasol 20's LOW beam illumination the work area. it is a slow exposure but shows the aproxamate illumination of the area with the light on low:
OK this image is the same area with me holding the light this first one is the area with the Lunasol OFF:
Now this shows the same area with the light ON this is the LOW level. It does a great job of illuminating the work area!!!
I hope these give yopu some insight as to how well the Lunasol 20 works on LOW!!
Hey guys Yesterday I asked our director of photography if he would bring in his color tempature meter so I could measure the Lunasol's color tempatures.
I did just that and here are my results.
My Lunasol 20 on low measured 10,000K
and on High measured 8500K
The Lunasol 27 Measured 5900k on low and High measured 6500K
The Lunasol 27 is actually pretty close to daylight especially on LOW!! IMHO that is very good.
I continue to find the Lunasol 20 a really good EDC flashlight.
It's non nonsence design and ease of use really keep it a cut above so many "Normal" flashlights.
I can't get over how nice the machine work is on these lights. Just fantastic.
Yaesumofo
Hi guys. Recently McGizmo released for public
consumption 2 new lights. First was the Lunasol 27
and a few weeks later was the Lunasol 20.
The basic idea of these lights is very simple.
A single flashlight with 2 totally different beams.
OK simple idea but the execution is something else.
Think about it. You want to have a single light
that has both a nice smooth wide angle beam as well
as a nice "thrower" beam. In one single small
package. What a crazy idea!!
Don has been working on the Lunasol concept for
some time now. A long time in coming the Lunasol is
here.
The first light to make it out of the gate is the
Lunasol 27 with a 27mm head. It has a Cree XR-E in
the center as the heart of the high beam and 6
Nichia 310CS 3mm LEDs in a ring around the center.
The setup is based on a custom reflector which Don
created for the project.
Due to the fact that there are multiple emitters
Don has mounted two drivers. Talk about a tall
order and amazing engineering..
I don't want to get into repetitive technical
details here. This is about my subjective
observations Go to the McGizmo forum and read the
FAQ to learn about the driver details.
OK Don has worked hard to create a KISS light which
has as much pure utility as any custom flashlight
ever produced.
I received my Lunasol 27 a few days after they were
put up for sale. Don's selling system is a
fantastic model. It is fair easy and fast.
I was a little worried about the 27 mm head. I sold
off a XR27C because I did not like the 27mm head.
The head size did not have the kind of pay off I
needed to justify the larger size of the head
compared to a stock PD which I have edc'd for some
time.
So naturally I worried that the same would be true
of the Lunasol 27. (I did not know about the
Lunasol 20 at this time) I set the light up for
lanyard neck carry and found it to be just fine. I
used the light at work on a film set and came to
rely on it for all of my lighting needs. The wide
angle beam allowing for close up work, lighting of
my mix panel in the darkness of the set and is a
great light for walking around the dark areas of
the set. The high beam is great for searching for
gear at the bottom of a gear bag of tool chest any
any need for light out to twenty or thirty feet
inside and not much more than 25 feet outside.
Put these together into the same light and you have
a really cool bleeding edge flashlight.
OK some people want multiple levels SOS and other
driver features.
For me The only thing I would wish for is possibly
another level or two between the low and the high
or more dynamic range a lower low and a higher
high. That said the light levels which Don has
chosen for the Lunasol 27 are a perfect balance
between runtime brightness and utility for my every
day use.
The Lunasol's construction is amazing. The titanium
machine work is as good as any I have ever seen.
The finish is extremely smooth. The twist action is
as smooth as any titanium flashlight I have very
very nice. Don's custom reflector is a real marvel
in modern custom flashlight engineering. Nothing
happens by accident in a McGizmo flashlight the
Lunasol is no exception. It is clear that Don
invested a great deal of time and energy in the
design and ultimately the production of the Lunasol
27.
The tint of the beam is nice and white. The two
beams are remarkably similar and blend very well
when both are on while the light is in high mode.
There are two ways to activate the light one is the
Piston drive a slight push engages the LOW and a
harder push turns on the high beam. Both are
momentary.
Twisting the head does the same thing while
twisting until on engages the LOW and twisting
further yeilds the high beam.
OK. Then a couple of weeks later Don sprang a
surprise on some of us.. He gave us a seek peak at
the Lunasol 20. For many people the Lunasol 20 was
the answer to the original problem of the larger 27
head size (Which is not too big IMHO) A few days
later they were for sale. Many were excited by this
development.
The Lunasol 20 is a single cell 1 inch light with a
very nice high beam which is very white in a white
wall this high mode might be seen as being on the
cool side. Typical of the golden dragon emitter in
use in the lunasol 20.
The Lunasol 20 does just about everything the
Lunasol 27 does. the beams are cooler. Runtime is
longer there are only 3 Nichia 310DS in use vs the
6 Nichia 310CS emitters used in the Lunasol 27.
The Lunasol 20 low isn't as bright as the Lunasol's
low. It is also a cooler (tempature) soft/low beam.
The spread of the three emitters light isn't quite
as wide as the Lunasol 27's.
The fit and finish of the Lunasol 20 is equal to
and possibly slightly superior to that of the
Lunasol 27. Superior? How is that possible?
Well it is subtle The finish on the head of the
Lunasol 20 is so extremely smooth it has the
feeling of a metal which has been polished. But it
has not been polished. These parts come off the
machine like this. IMHO the tolerances are well
beyond that of just about any military
specification.Just as close to perfect as you can
get. Again the smoothness of the twist action is
very smooth and nice to operate.
Funny thing is that each of these lights is very
useful. Neither is more or less useful than the
other. Just different, and very useful.
BTW Both will tail stand which makes a ceiling
bounce mode for these lights.
OK So IMHO the ingenious design of the lunasol with
the dual drivers is in a word amazing.
The Lunasol 20 will operate on primaries only while
the Lunasol 27 will operate on rechargeable cells
as well as primaries.
I don't know what more I can say. I will post an
image of the Lunasols. Technical details can be
found in the faq.
My opinion of these is favorable. There is a lot to
like. They are very easy to operate. There are no
confusing user interface details to learn. Twist it
on and twist it off. Simple 2 levels.
The two beams allow for a very wide variety of
uses. Much more than a simple hi low setup. You
have semi mule like wide mode and a tight beam hi
mode.
I really look forward top seeing how Don further
develops the Lunasol concept. IMHO there is great
potential and I am hopeful that don will continue
to advance the lunasol to achieve it's full
potential.
Sorry about the sort of dull images I have lost my
favorite slate background so I tried this marble
and they just don't pop like I think they should.
I have not taken any "beam shots" because I don't
have the energy to make a cool out door beam shot
shooting setup. If I can see a good way to get a
good beam shot at work I will grab a couple. IMHO
white wall shots are completely useless and do
nothing to help a potential user to determine if
the light works well in the real world. opinion's
about the utility of a flashlight are subjective.
It may be great for me but suck for you.
If you find yourself needing a good utility
flashlight for edc the Lunasol may work well for
you.
Either one works very well in this capacity for me.
Thanks Don.
Yaesumofo
Hey guys I wanted toadd some real world images of the lunasol in action.
The first image is a picture of a Lunasol in held in place and off the flash is on here the picture is just to show the position of the light.
This Picture shows the lunasol 20's LOW beam illumination the work area. it is a slow exposure but shows the aproxamate illumination of the area with the light on low:
OK this image is the same area with me holding the light this first one is the area with the Lunasol OFF:
Now this shows the same area with the light ON this is the LOW level. It does a great job of illuminating the work area!!!
I hope these give yopu some insight as to how well the Lunasol 20 works on LOW!!
Hey guys Yesterday I asked our director of photography if he would bring in his color tempature meter so I could measure the Lunasol's color tempatures.
I did just that and here are my results.
My Lunasol 20 on low measured 10,000K
and on High measured 8500K
The Lunasol 27 Measured 5900k on low and High measured 6500K
The Lunasol 27 is actually pretty close to daylight especially on LOW!! IMHO that is very good.
I continue to find the Lunasol 20 a really good EDC flashlight.
It's non nonsence design and ease of use really keep it a cut above so many "Normal" flashlights.
I can't get over how nice the machine work is on these lights. Just fantastic.
Yaesumofo
Last edited:
