My flashlight has the Nichia 144a LED from the 2nd run.
Overall, I really like this light! It does what I was hoping, and that's for it to be a great light for walking on trails thought the woods / fields at night. I don't have too many lights to compare it to, but I was hoping to compliment the Hound Dog 18650 with reflector (which has awful color rendering). The MXS is great, but it still can't throw as far as the HD18650. It's close and basically good enough for what I want, but technically, the Hound dog throws farther. The MXS beam angle is wider and to me, has better spill. In an open field you can definitely see a lot more of the foreground, even way out in the field, even though you can't see those last 20 yards that you can with the Hound dog. On the trail, the wider beam angle is nice to see that extra bit to your left and right better. Sorry, no beam shots, but hopefully this helps someone imagine it good enough to make a purchase decision if needed. Color rending, fantastic. So happy with the Nichia but expected nothing less.
Here's a few other random notes I took which stood out to me.
The switch being on the side: I like it! I'll have to remember to lock it out when packing it but for using the light, it was great not to have to change grips to change modes. Maybe I normally wouldn't change modes so often but the first few uses I was playing around a lot and didn't have to change the grip once.
Electronic switch function: 2 things. 1: Initial turn on has a split second lag. It's not bad, it's just not mechanical where as soon as it clicks, it's on. Very small lag, but I notice it every time. 2) The other thing that surprised me is how the ramp up, ramp down logic works. Technically the description online is correct, I just didn't interpret it the way I should have. When you press and hold the switch, it will ramp up through the 4 modes (~5, 50, 350, 1000 lumens). If you are on high and press and hold again, it ramps down. If you are at any level, besides high, it will ramp up. Initially, I thought if you were ramping down and stopped in the middle lumen output and then press and held again, maybe it would continue ramping down. No, always ramps up, unless you're in high output.
Burst mode: Finally, a burst mode I can see working! On the Quark (QK16L) and Alpha (MCE @ 737 Lumens max), I've used burst frequently but couldn't really tell it gave me a 40% output boost for 30 seconds. The MXS goes from 1000 to 1700 lumens and it's definitely noticeable so it's been a lot of fun using that function.
LED color: I compared the MXS with Nichia 144a, 4000K color temp to the Quark with the Nichia 319A at 90CRI also 4000K color temp, and they are definitely different. I'll let the pros describe the difference better than me but the 319A is greener than the 144A. Maybe 319A is neutral and 144A is rosy, I'm not so sure but 144A was more pleasing to me than the 319A, though I enjoy both. I'm not that picky as long as they aren't very green / yellow (like the Cree XP-L in my Hound dog) and only notice when they are side by side on a white wall. Outside where I actually use them, they are both perfect for my needs. Just trying to give some feedback for those looking for information.
Finally, here's some pictures of the MXS next to the Hound Dog 18650 and the MD2. Hopefully that's a decent reference. Then, a comparison to the Quark QK16L for both size and color reference. Definitely very different anodized blues. I took some pics of the LED and reflector but they aren't that great. Including them mostly for fun.
