*NEW* Maratac AAA Titanium

Mine is out for delivery, I'll be sure to upload some pics once it arrives! Anything specific you guys want me to get pics of? Threads, beam shots, circuit, etc? I'm curious to see how the threads will be since I've read that titanium can often have rough/gritty threads. Not sure if that's part of getting a titanium light or just specialized equipment needed to produce smooth threads with such a hard metal?
 
Will post some pictures later tonight when it gets dark for some beam shots. For now I'll give my initial impressions. This is my first Maratac light and I went with the titanium for the reduced weight and strength. Upon opening the package it certainly was much lighter than I anticipated, never had a titanium light before and this thing is super light. The threads are a bit gritty, I've read this is characteristic of titanium lights but not sure why. However after putting a little lubrication on the threads and tightening/loosening the head some the threads are much better now. Certainly not buttery smooth like some lights but good enough. Don't expect to be able to turn it on/off with one hand though, I'm not able to and it would be quite difficult to do.

UI is good but took a little getting used to. When switching the mode order is M, L, H. Beam profile is nice, tint is a 6300-6400k cool white. There is a hint of purple surrounding the hot spot, nothing too bad. I plan to replace the LED with a Nichia 219 at some point anyways so not a big deal. PWM isn't noticeable for me and I can't detect any high pitch noise, I've had a few lights with PWM which exhibited that but this one doesn't.

Overall it's a great little light, super light with good brightness. The 40 lumen mode is what I'll use most often and I'm glad that's what it always starts in. Only thing I think that would make this light better is a mode memory. That way if I turn it off on high I can turn it back on in high a few hours or days later. This would be a great feature to have, but starting in medium works well enough!
 
snowlover91 said:
Will post some pictures later tonight when it gets dark for some beam shots. For now I'll give my initial impressions. This is my first Maratac light and I went with the titanium for the reduced weight and strength.
Click to expand...

Congratulations! Thanks for the comments. My copper Maratac threads are smooth, but when I first got it I could not operate it one handed, unless I removed the O ring. I removed the O ring, and the battery, and spent a bit of time twisting the light tight and loose, to break it in a bit. Dont overtighten btw, in some cases it will rotate the pill deeper. Removing the battery will eliminate one source of gritty action, so you can feel what the threads are doing..

I have also used jewelers polishing cloth on titanium threads, to try and make them smoother.. it did not help with my Thrunite Titanium, but Ive never tried the Maratac Titanium.. I really like the light weight of Titanium, enjoy!

Like you, I actually Like the MLH Maratac modes, it means I get useful light on first twist when not in full darkness, and still get a nice low 1.5 lumen moonlight, when needed (less frequently). And the high on the Maratac is impressively bright… all good. (Note with N219 the moon will drop to about 1 lumen, which imo is even better).. The PWM is not necessarily a deal breaker, it has the advantage of keeping constant color, more consistent tint, on medium and low.

The only thing I found disturbing about the PWM, was when looking at a fan belt on a running car motor, the belt looks like its not moving.. For safety, best not to be looking into a running engine bay anyway.. 🙂

fwiw, here is a Prometheus Beta on 80lumen high, left, and a Maratac Rev 3 like yours, 138lm high.. I had the LEDs tested for actual CRI and Kelvin. Im a huge fan of N219. I dont care that the brightness drops by 30% compared to Cool White. You can expect about 96 lumens if you put an N219 in place of the XP-G2.
IMG_7711.JPG


and the spectrometer plots, courtesy of Prometheus Lights
Beta with N219a that I love
IMG_7710.JPG


Maratac with XP-G2
IMG_7709.JPG
 
Wow those are some excellent results, did you also have the lumen output of your lights tested or just the color temp/CRI? I've attached the titanium Maratac to my keychain and will test it out tonight, pictures to come! One thing though, if I replace the XP-G2 with the new Nichia 219c emitter the drop in output should be much less than 30% if I remember correctly? The 219c is supposed to be more efficient and similar to the XP-G2, maybe a 5-10% reduction in output due to the higher CRI? The emitter I'm looking at is a 5000k 219c emitter on a 10mm copper board.
 
snowlover91 said:
… did you also have the lumen output of your lights tested… The emitter I'm looking at is a 5000k 219c

No, I derived the percentage from stated XPG2 and N219 offerings from various sources. YMMV

let me add that the drop in brightness is actually more specifically due to the phosphor coating that raises CRI.. so the more CRI, the less bright

for example, my 71 CRI Maratac XPG2 compared to my 87 CRI Prometheus Beta with N219a rated 4500K and 90CRI has 27% more CRI. So I would expect a 27% drop in brightess.. thats my rule of thumb, I have no data to confirm the hypothesis that the relationship is inversely proportional, just a guess fwiw, the beta has a max of 80 lumens, 42% lower than the Maratac..

note your 219c is 500K higher than my 219a, a difference of 11%, and as you know, the highest CRI presently available in 219c is 80CRI.. I dont think you can buy a 90CRI N219c yet.. I believe you can get 90CRI XPL btw, and I like the wider flood they give.. Personally, Im a fan of the N219a, not so much of the brighter revisions with lower CRI.. personal preference for warm tints..

but, Im not experienced with doing LED swaps, much respect for your skills.

BTW, I still think your Titanium Maratac is awesome, congrats. fwiw, it will lego with a copper Maratac, and then the threads dont gall, they will be smooth..

I found that out during this stage of my explorations, all these headswaps were very smooth threads, only the Titanium on Titanium was gritty (and thats with no battery which adds its own friction..)
IMG_8096.JPG


IMG_7829.JPG


IMG_7404.JPG


note, not all Lego head swaps work, the Maratac head would not light on the Beta body, but the Beta head with N219 worked on all 3 bodies.. depends on the depth of the pill I think.. ymmv
Click to expand...
 
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Excellent photo! It really is a nice little light, loves it's new home on my keychain. After putting some lube on the threads and working the action a little the threads are now even better than my last post. It's good enough I can turn it on one handed now, a significant improvement from the initial state of super gritty/high resistance. The "superlube" seems to work quite well on titanium.
 
Here are two pics of my new light, one with its new home on my keychain and the other a closeup of the emitter.
DSC_1361_zpsyj9lyqzt.jpg


Emitter close up
CSC_1371_zpswvibifxy.jpg
 
jon_slider said:
looks great! Nice light Light..
if possible, can you tell me how much it weighs, grams, empty?
so glad the threads are improving..
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't have anything to weight it with. It's definitely the lightest light I own though and I don't even notice it on my keychain. I see now why people often go for titanium lights, while the threads may be a little gritty at first the reduced weight is certainly worth it. The threads are still improving on it such that I can now use it one handed with either my right or left hand now. I had read where some had good results with superlube and I had a big bottle of it so decided to try it out. It seems to really prevent the galling and there is very little grittiness now. Enough that you can still feel it but not enough to make it hard to use like it was initially. I've also heard some use anti-seize compound which is specifically designed to prevent galling, but unfortunately I don't have any to try.
 
snowlover91 said:
the reduced weight
Click to expand...
I agree a Titanium aaa makes a great lightweight keychain light.
Titanium is only about 1/3 heavier than alum while copper is more than double the weight of alum.

You may also find wiping old lube off with alcohol, especially after it gets black, can also help remove some of the initial grit suspended in the lube.

Very glad your TiTac is working one handed now, sounds like it smoothed out nicely. Great looking light.
 
No PWM, that is a bonus. I guess. Only a few lights have a PWM frequency that my eyeballs and brain can detect. But for some, they seem to be able to detect it no matter. Such a nice looking light. It really looks sporty on that key chain.
 
Hmmm interesting. So it's possible my Titanium may not have PWM either. What's the best way to test for it? I'll have to check it out and see if it does or not. If not that's great because it would mean it's now using a regulated circuit. All I will need to do then is swap the LED to a Nichia 219c and I should be all set.
 
Just checked my titanium Maratac.. I can confirm it has no PWM on any level! Did the camera test and it showed constant output throughout! This is good news since older circuits I heard used PWM. Now all I have to do is put a Nichia 219c in it to give me better CRI and tint!

Threads also continue to smooth out with the addition of the superlube I used, man that stuff really works well for titanium also! I can now change modes one handed as well. When I initially got it I could barely screw the head on or off, it was extremely difficult. Then using the lube I was able to get it somewhat easier. After working the action some I could operate it one handed but not smooth enough to change modes. Now I can change modes one handed and it's comparable to many of my other light as far as the feel of the threads.
 
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Aha! I though as much, I could not detect any PWM on the Cuprics. Glad to know the Titanics are also PWM-less. Wait, I could have found out for myself! :ohgeez::crackup:
 
Nice with no pwm. Got to go threaten a friend to buy me one. He lost my rev 2 cu on a fishingtrip this year. And i told him it was unreplaceble cause all the new ones got pwm. YOU CANT LOOSE MY BABY.. But he did....
Funny thing, the water he dropped it at is called kopperfjellsvannet. Meaning "copper mountain lake" when translated.
 
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Another possible way to tell a PWM Maratac from the latest No PWM version. Look for a ring around the LED.


Note the LED ring on the right, this is on a No PWM Just Received Rev 3 Maratac Copper aaa from the latest run.
IMG_9913.JPG
 
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