MG L-Mini II review

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I got my L-Mini II yesterday. I must admit, the more I play with it, the more I like it. I got the warm version, with the turbo head. Here's what I think so far:

PRO

Beam pattern is nice. My turbo head had some funny artifacts, but after I re-seated the reflector they are gone. It does seem to produce a slight donut, but it throws so well its easy to ignore. The regular head has no such donut, and produces a larger hotspot. I like them both.

I also really like the simple design of the light. The hole for the lanyard is on the side of the tailcap, so it doesn't affect tailstanding. The knurling is nice, and the lack of ridges makes it fit well in the hand. Personaly, I really like the look with the turbo head on.

The regulated three mode driver is really nice. (thought I haven't tested the regulation personally)

CONS

My cheap 18650 cells were too long, and the light wouldn't work. This is because the cell prevented the tail cap from making contact with the body of the light. I've been looking for a reason to get some AW cells, so this is it.

The light flashes when changing levels. If I hold in the clicky a little longer, it doesn't flash. Quickly click the switch, it flashes before changing modes.

There are a few spots in the threads where the HA is missing, but lockout still works.

The glass lenses seem to be just slightly foggy. It is fairly thick though, so I'm thinking it should be strong.


In summary, the pros really outweigh the cons. Great value for the money.
 
netprince said:
My cheap 18650 cells were too long, and the light wouldn't work. This is because the cell prevented the tail cap from making contact with the body of the light. I've been looking for a reason to get some AW cells, so this is it.
Click to expand...

My 18650 cells measure 165mm exactly. I found the tailcap worked fine, but had to work at getting the threads started when changing the battery. I cut off about 5mm of the tailcap spring (a bit over 1/8 inch) and find it much easier to replace the tailcap. The tailcap pushes on and rests right at the 2nd O-ring, catching the threads easily with minimal pressure.

I removed the switch from the tailcap before cutting the spring, and bent the cut end into a coil with needle nose pliers, similar to how the original end looks.

I'm not sure what you mean by light flashes when changing levels. I don't notice any flashes, just the light momentarily going out and coming back on smoothly at the next level. If I hold the clicky for more than a second, the light remains on the same level. The mode memory works great.

The HA was flawless on mine, and the lockout works fine.

I also notice a slight haze on the glass. Removing the reflector from the head allowed easy access to the glass and O-ring, and it cleaned up just fine.

I agree, the L-Mini II is great value for the money. Thank you Bryan :thanks:
 
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My L-Mini II arrived today :thumbsup:
Bryan, whatever you are bribing the postman with, keep it up 😀

I tried both AW and TrustFire (black) 18650 cells in it and both work fine, although it takes a bit of work with the TrustFire cell to get the tailcap on.
The TrustFire cell sticks out the end of the body about 2mm whereas the AW cell is flush.
I'll lose about 18 minutes runtime on high using the AW 2200 mAh cell instead of the TrustFire cell.

I cannot find any flaw with the anodizing and the lockout works great.

I am really suprised at how much spill the light has for such a small reflector.
I was expecting it to have less spill than my SolarForce L2, but at 5 feet the spill is about 1 foot wider than my SolarForce L2.

I am very pleased with this light. Can't wait until it gets dark 😀
 
So what specific trustfire batteries are people having issues with? I believe that my 2500 Mah cells fit fine in my L-mini II. However, I have 30+ celss from laptops, so I have been using those. The runtime is probably shorter, but I have so many that It doesn't really matter.
 
The ones I have are the black 2400 mAh (dx sku 20392).

It's not really an issue, I just don't want to risk buggering up the light on day 1. I'm going to order some more of them and eventually use them in this light to get that extra 18 minutes runtime.
 
Black Rose said:
The ones I have are the black 2400 mAh (dx sku 20392).

It's not really an issue, I just don't want to risk buggering up the light on day 1. I'm going to order some more of them and eventually use them in this light to get that extra 18 minutes runtime.
Click to expand...

BR... those are the ones I just ordered from DX... I'm so eager to get these Trustie black/red "true" 2400 mAh 18650s... should be any day now.... :green:
 
DHart said:
B R... congrats! Did you get the Q5 or the Q3?

It's a great light and I'm sure you're going to love it! Looking forward to your follow up comments after tonight.
Click to expand...
I got the Q5. I prefer cooler LEDs to the warmer ones.

I sat outside in the dark for half an hour playing...er I mean testing the L-Mini II 😀

It's a very well constructed light - it feels very solid yet does not weigh that much.
Size wise, it's not much longer than my Dorcy Super 1-watt (1xCR123A).

After using it outside I am even more amazed at how wide the spill is.
Not that I'm complaining, I just didn't expect a light with such a relatively small reflector to have so much spill.

As far as the electronics go, I already had an idea of what to expect as I bought the L-Mini II driver before I bought the light, and modified one of my SuperBright R2 P60 drop-ins with it. It's a very well designed and programmed driver.
I bought another driver when I ordered the light and another drop-in is being modded this weekend.

Compared to the P60 drop-in, the spot is not as bright, but I am pretty sure that is due to the reflector designs combined with Q5 vs R2 LEDs.

I am hopefully going to order the turbo head for it next month (currently showing as not found on the ShiningBeam site 😱)

Even though I had decided I wasn't going to buy any more lights that were not P60 compatible, I am glad I deviated from that rule and ordered the light - it's definitely worth the money.
 
Black Rose said:
I got the Q5. I prefer cooler LEDs to the warmer ones.
Click to expand...

I like the slightly warmer/neutral tint, but just as much, the brightness/contrast with the cool tints... I guess I'm schizophrenic when it comes to emitters.... I want it ALL! 😉 There's probably a lux bin and tint bin that's the sweet spot for me (not too warm, not too cool, but bright too!), but I don't know what it is. :thinking: The Q3 5C tint of the L-mini I have is a touch on the warm side for me and I wouldn't mind it being a bit brighter, but it's a very nice light overall.

Black Rose said:
Even though I had decided I wasn't going to buy any more lights that were not P60 compatible, I am glad I deviated from that rule and ordered the light - it's definitely worth the money.
Click to expand...

Funny thing... as for myself, I've come to the point where I've decided I'm not going to buy any more P60 compatible stuff... :tired: I think I've got too many P60 component parts at this point... so now I'm really drawn to the new and different designs.

I'm really envious at what you're doing with driver swaps and such!
 
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netprince,
Thanks for your sharing your opinions. I'm glad you found more Pros than cons with this light. :popcorn:

trailstoride,
Thanks for your support.

Black Rose,
I told the mailman if he could deliver your package faster, I would give him the address of the pretty widow lives on your block (J/K). 😀

Anyway, glad you received the light so quickly. I'm also using Trustfire 2500, AW and others Li-ion testing the L-mini II. It seems the length of Trustfires are not very consistent. One is a perfect fit, the 2nd one sticking out the tube by 1 to 2mm. But they both work in the L-mini II.

I'm out of the Turbo head as for now. Will have more by next week. The package has already arrived in the customs, hope they don't hold it for long.
 
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DHart,
I think R2 WH tint is what you looking for. I have some Olight M20 that comes with WH R2. I believe they might be hand selected, because none of them are green but all yellowish. I like it even more than the WC tint. But again, some people might hate it because of the yellowish color.

Buy a few WH tint R2 emitters online, then select the one with best tint and install it on any light you want to test out.
 
lightbug said:
DHart,
I think R2 WH tint is what you looking for. I have some Olight M20 that comes with WH R2. I believe they might be hand selected, because none of them are green but all yellowish. I like it even more than the WC tint. But again, some people might hate it because of the yellowish color.

Buy a few WH tint R2 emitters online, then select the one with best tint and install it on any light you want to test out.
Click to expand...

Bryan... knowing where you live, I can see you're a bit of a night owl (like I am)! 😉 It's a Friday night 2:08 am in New York and you're on the forum! 😱

Ya know, I know could do those emitter swaps, but I don't know HOW to do them 🙁 otherwise, I'd probably have ordered up a few drivers and emitters from you and be messing with them. How about some sort of "emitter-swapper-newbie-tutorial" to help some of us get off the sidelines and into the real action? :shrug:
 
LOL, you got that right, I'm certainly a night owl alright. Myself is not so good with light modding either. Flashaholics like Black Rose could probably teach us more than any turtorial guide.
 
DHart said:
Funny thing... as for myself, I've come to the point where I've decided I'm not going to buy any more P60 compatible stuff... :tired: I think I've got too many P60 component parts at this point... so now I'm really drawn to the new and different designs.
Click to expand...
My original idea was that I would buy a couple of P60 hosts and then I would simply buy new drop-ins as LED technology progressed.
The idea was to stop accumulating so many lights.
Once I got the P60 hosts, I discovered that they are not really suited for EDC use like I thought they would be.

Also, by modding some of the drop-ins I have I now have what I consider to be the perfect drop-in, so now I don't have a need to buy any more drop-ins for awhile.

I'll just have to be more selective about what I buy in the future.
I'd have no problem buying more lights like the L-Mini II.

I'm really envious at what you're doing with driver swaps and such!
Click to expand...
If you saw the soldering job on the one I did last weekend you wouldn't be 😀
The tip broke off my soldering iron 😱, so I had to get creative to finish the job.

Not sure I'd be the one to show you what to do....more like what not to do 😀
 
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Black Rose said:
The tip broke off my soldering iron 😱
Click to expand...
:lolsign:

Back to the topic, my longest 18650 cells are protected Trustfire and they fit in the L-mini 2 without any problem. Unprotected Trustfire is about 1.5-2mm shorter and obviously also works fine. The springs on the driver and tailcap do their jobs well :twothumbs

I think L-mini 2 has wide spill due to its shallow reflector (compared to other lights with similar reflector diameters)
 
is anybody else getting a flash when switching modes quickly? whenever i hit the switch quickly to change modes there's a quick flash right before it changes. if i hold the switch down a little bit before letting go it doesn't flash.
 
No, I can't say that I have seen any flash. If I slightly tap the switch when the light is on, the light briefly goes out, then goes to the next mode.
 
no flash here either. Light works wonderfully as expected. Having a couple dozen or more LED flashlights (almost entirely with cool LEDs), I am stuck by the incandescent warmth my L-Mini gives out every time I turn it on. I've become so accustomed to the cool look of most LEDs that the warm incandescent look is not so expected anymore and takes me by surprise. It's a wonderful look, rendering colors beautifully, even if the contrast is softer (not so edgy as with cool LEDs).
 
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