Maratac 26650 / First Impressions.

[DaveTheDude]

I purchased one of Maratac's new 26650 lights for a work assignment that requires me to inspect machinery spaces at a distance. The 26650 format met my requirements. First impressions follow.

The beam is a tight circle of light, almost identical to the beam patterns of Nitecore's MH20GT; the Fenix TK9; and the Emisar D1. Color temperature on my light is about 6000k. Lux is at least 22,000 on the turbo setting, slightly exceeding all of the reference lights, although this minor difference won't be detectable in real world use. Switch operation is crisp and clean: no wonky or unexpected mode shifts. The light is surprisingly compact, and has a good "hand feel". The longer runtime offered by the 26650 cell may or may not be useful for your purposes, but it's nice that the extra power is available.

If you already own a reliable thrower this light would probably be redundant, but that's rarely stopped members of this forum before. And with the asking price around US$50, it won't break the bank. The light does not come with a holster, but includes a lanyard, spare O-rings, and that nifty rectangular clam-shell protective sleeve that Maratac lights are known for.

All things considered, if you want a reasonably priced compact 26650 thrower, this light is worth considering. It would also make an excellent pre-flight inspection light.

 

[Vermiform]

Broke mine today. Dropped it on a very hard floor and the charging port detached and now rattles around inside the head. I can still manually take the battery out and charge it and the light still works. Just can't use the built in charger any longer.

Forgive me for Zombieing this thread, but have you had any similar trouble with yours?

Any idea how to take the head apart to do a self fix?

 

[DaveTheDude]

Vermiform...I'm not experienced enough with the kind of issue you reported to offer any repair guidance (thankfully, mine has not been abruptly introduced to a hard floor). At least the light still functions, which I suppose is a small mercy. I recommend asking the modder's forum about this...their recommendations are likely to be more useful to you. You might also contact the Maratac folks to learn if they consider the damage a warranty item. Finally, if they decline to cover the repair, you might want to carefully disassemble the head to see what might be learned (although I suspect this should only be undertaken if you're prepared to sacrifice the light if reassembly isn't possible).