ORACLE 24W HID Flashlight

[Richie086]

Hi folks,

I'm sure you recall I recently purchased a 9" 24w HID from Tactical HID, one of the newer dealers here on the forum. I love it and it's a keeper for sure.

Several days ago I made a new contact with another retailer called, Advanced Automotive Concepts, a brick & morter located in Los Angeles, and marketing their version of the same 24w HID under the name, Oracle 24X-9 Xenon Flashlight.

My review here is likely the most comprehensive review you'll find to date on this HID. Unless I'm mistaken, this line of HID flashlights is a new venture for this retailer and was just released by them merely days ago. So nothing of relevance has actually been written about it. If you do a search for this flashlight, you'll only come up with some posts from the retailer advertising in numerous forums and vague comments from buyers.

This version, although looks the same as the Tactical HID and has all the same features, it boasts a few extras noted below:

4300k Bulb (Update: After further testing, indications are the color temp may be 5000k+)
2200 mAh Lithium-Ion Battery (3x 18560)
Phosphorescent Bezel Ring
Full One Year Warranty in Writing
Brand Name Plaque on Case (Single Side Only)
Brand Name on Flashlight Flat Grip
Price - $149.00 + $8.00 UPS Ground Shipping


Obviously the one feature that's important here is the 4300k bulb, which I was guaranteed in writing it would have. From the ceiling bounce photos below, clearly it has a much warmer beam than my other 24w. Whether it's 4300k, I can't say, but I've been leaning more towards 5000k. However, it's sure warmer looking to my eye and much warmer looking than beam shots I've seen of the Wolf Eyes-Boxer 24w, which is twice the price.

The only visible difference between the bulbs in the two otherwise identical flashlights is the Oracle bulb has a thin return-wire and the Tactical HID has an insulated return-wire. The following photos speak for themselves, but you know I just can't resist and have to add my captions.

Came with the same nice lockable case, only this manufacturer
puts their brand name on it. Great touch and looks excellent.

No instructions came with this brand, but it did
come with the warranty card, Advanced Automotive
Concepts full catalog, several Oracle Lighting
Technology stickers, several brochures, and business
cards.

The brand name neatly stamped on the flat of the grip.

A ceiling bounce showing the color temp. The left is the Oracle 24w
and the right is the Tactical HID 24w.

This is a really interesting beam shot for comparison. From left to right;
AE Xenide 25w, Oracle 24w, Tactical HID 24w. Also, the Oracle
and Tactical flashlights clearly have different beams. Each flashlight is
adjusted to have the tighest beam each can produce. The Oracle has
a hot spot slightly larger than the AEX-25, and cleaner and more defined
than the Tactical HID.

The Oracle on the left and Tactical HID on the right. The Oracle also
comes with the phosphorescent bezel ring as seen in the photo.

 

[NeSSuS-GTE]

Excellent info, my friend! Your review is much appreciated. :thumbsup:

Looks like improvements are continuing to be made. This is good news!

 

[AlexGT]

Also the reflector on the oracle seems brighter than the other one

 

[Richie086]

Also the reflector on the oracle seems brighter than the other one

Hi Alex,

Yes, it does have a higher luster to it.

 

[dudemar]

It's hard to tell by photos alone, but I get the feeling I like the Oracle's color temperature a lot. Very warm, but I'd have to see it in person in order to judge whether it's 4300K. It appears the Tactical HID has insulation on the return wire, thus giving it a thicker look.



I do have a few questions:

-Is it possible to give us an idea of what the different price ranges offer?

-About how long does it take to get to full brightness?

-...and of course, how much was the unit you tested?



Very cool review BTW, Thanks!lovecpf Now you've tempted me to buy one, but I have to save my money.

 

[Patriot]

Holy cow! This is big news since it's the only compact aluminum HID light utilizing a 4300K bulb. I have to say, I'm impressed with the pics of the light and the beamshots. Thanks for showing this to us.

 

[Richie086]

Hi,

It's really cold here, but my wife was able to hold the Oracle and the Tactical HID long enough for me to snap this one photo.

Tactical HID 24w on the left, Oracle 24w 4300k on the right at 30 yards.
I know HID's are not that efficient below 30w-35w. It sometimes looks
5000k to me, but clearly the Oracle has a better and brighter hot spot.

Regardless what the color temp actually is, I'm loving both these HID's
and they'll remain a permanent part of my collection. I'll have to assemble
another lanyard for it.

 

[Parker VH]

Thanks for the review Richie. You better watch out or you're going to have to add another line to your signature with all the lights you're buying:twothumbs. I'd like to try the Oracle beside my Xenide 20W. If anyone else does this comparison please post pics.

 

[Richie086]

I do have a few questions:

-Is it possible to give us an idea of what the different price ranges offer?

-About how long does it take to get to full brightness?

-...and of course, how much was the unit you tested?

Hi Dudemar,

The price of $149.00 was a short time special they had on some other automotive forum. The regular price this retailer is shooting for is $279.00, which I don't think will fly to well these days. When I tried to purchased mine the sale price was over. I contacted them from their website and asked for the sale price and received it without a problem. The regular price was to expensive for me and I wouldn't have purchased it.

Here is the direct link to their website showing exact units simply with different prices. Just disregard the specs for it. Clearly they are way out of line and why I was a bit concerned as to exactly what I was going to receive. I paid $149.00 and went for the more expensive 3 day UPS shipping for $24.67, totaling $173.67. The ground shipping was only about $8.00, but I wanted it faster than 8-10 days. I made that mistake with my AEX-25 and I'll never do it again.

[advertising link removed - DM51]

In spite of the exaggerated specs and runtime, the seller came through with everything promised including on time delivery. As for time to full brightness, about 2 seconds longer than my AE Xenide 25w. More than adequate IMHO.

 

[Richie086]

Thanks for the review Richie. You better watch out or you're going to have to add another line to your signature with all the lights you're buying:twothumbs.

ROFL Bob :laughing: This is the last flashlight for me for a while. Damn, I actually need a diving light to do some scuba diving with my friend here on Long Island this summer. Okay, just one more in the coming months...LOL

 

[BVH]

Thanks Richie! Sure looks like it's a lot lower color temp than 6000K. I went ahead and ordered one - the "forum special" for the $149.00 price. I signed back in and viewed my order and it has an order number so I think it went through. Even if it's 5000K, it will be a vast improvement over anything else in this configuration that's out there. I really love the color of my original Costco HID @ 5000K. Great find!

 

[Richie086]

I went ahead and ordered one - the "forum special" for the $149.00 price. I signed back in and viewed my order and it has an order number so I think it went through. Even if it's 5000K, it will be a vast improvement over anything else in this configuration that's out there. I really love the color of my original Costco HID @ 5000K. Great find!

Hey BVH,

That's excellent :thumbsup: I'm glad someone ordered one here with much more experience than I have to evaluate it better. Yep, if it accepted the order, you're good to go.

I also contacted them asking them to apply for a dealership here on the forum. Should be interesting.

 

[Phaserburn]

I have the 25W Xenide; how does the Oracle compare for total output and throw?

I'm assuming the smaller Oracle has 3x18650s instead of the Xenide's 6?

 

[Patriot]

I have the 25W Xenide; how does the Oracle compare for total output and throw?

I'm assuming the smaller Oracle has 3x18650s instead of the Xenide's 6?

Judging from the pics the output is similar but it's not going to throw quite like the Xenide. It's a "given" considering the OP reflector.

 

[Richie086]

Judging from the pics the output is similar but it's not going to throw quite like the Xenide. It's a "given" considering the OP reflector.

I agree 100% Patriot. The AEX-25 can't be compared to an OP reflector type 24w. Not to mention the Xenide series of HID's has double the battery power rather than just 3x18650s. Also, the AEX-25 was only included in the photos to show color temp comparison, and not meant as a comparison in any other way.

Hey PhaserBurn...the one feature this Oracle has, which took me totally by surprise, was last night I was taking quite a long time to set up the ceiling bounce shots between the AEX-25, Oracle, and Tactical HID in order to show the difference in color temp. All three flashlights were starting to get pretty hot just sitting on the floor standing on their tail caps for nearly 40 minutes. Suddenly the Oracle turned off. I figured the battery died a bit sooner than the 50 minutes it should have run for, so some cycling I thought was in order here to get battery capacity up a bit more.

I tried to turn on the battery LED's and they didn't work. Using my multi-meter, the battery had absolutely NO volts whatsoever, and I did manipulate the On/Off switch to confirm the battery was on. I had forgotten to turn the LED switch off, and after about 2 minutes, the LEDs came on. I then checked the volts again with my multi-meter and now it read 9.25 volts (fully charged is 12.15 volts) The point I'm trying to make here is that apparently the Oracle battery seems to have some sort of Thermal-shutoff or "Cutoff" preventing it from overheating. There is no other explanation I can think of as to why the battery completly shut down as it did.

I was very happy about this, and I don't think the retailers are aware of such a wonderful safely feature built into the battery, not to mention it actually performed its job perfectly.

Whether the AEX-25 or the Tactical HID have this feature, I don't know, but as I said before, all 3 HID's got pretty darn hot by the time I was finished taking the photos in my house. I should also point out that as far as I know, these Oracle flashlights were recently built and are about as fresh as you can get. So perhaps this is some type of new safely feature, and a very welcome one at that.

If anyone has an opinion on this, please post it.

 

[dudemar]

The point I'm trying to make here is that apparently the Oracle battery seems to have some sort of Thermal-shutoff or "Cutoff" preventing it from overheating. There is no other explanation I can think of as to why the battery completly shut down as it did.

It's very possible a thermal cut-off was engaged. Very handy feature.:thumbsup:

 

[Patriot]

I then checked the volts again with my multi-meter and now it read 9.25 volts (fully charged is 12.15 volts) The point I'm trying to make here is that apparently the Oracle battery seems to have some sort of Thermal-shutoff or "Cutoff" preventing it from overheating. There is no other explanation I can think of as to why the battery completly shut down as it did.

I was very happy about this, and I don't think the retailers are aware of such a wonderful safely feature built into the battery, not to mention it actually performed its job perfectly.

More than likely the light shut off due to low voltage since 9.25V static is very low. Li-ion should never drop below 3.0V per cell at any time. The light probably shut off when the pack hit 9.0V and then bounced back slightly after the load was off. It's possible that it dropped below 9.0V but lets hope that's not the case since that will take it's toll on the batteries over time and it's also potentially dangerous upon recharging the cells.

 

[Richie086]

More than likely the light shut off due to low voltage since 9.25V static is very low. Li-ion should never drop below 3.0V per cell at any time. The light probably shut off when the pack hit 9.0V and then bounced back slightly after the load was off. It's possible that it dropped below 9.0V but lets hope that's not the case since that will take it's toll on the batteries over time and it's also potentially dangerous upon recharging the cells.

Hey there Patriot,

Unless I'm making a runtime test on one of my HID's, I don't normally keep track of how long it's actually been running or how much power is left in the batteries. Even on my AEX, I depend on the automatic shutoff to tell me it's time for a recharge when I've been using it for an extended amount of time.

The other reason I felt the Oracle must have a thermal cut-off was because the several times my Tactical HID turned off due to low battery power, the emergency LED's always worked, which I thought is exactly the situation when they'd be needed. Or more specifically, that is actually their purpose.

That's the reason I felt some type of thermal breaker shut the battery pack down as it did. Now I'm scratching my head on this one. :shrug:

 

[dudemar]

It's hard to say exactly what it is, unless the manufacturer discloses a thermal cutoff or it was confirmed by taking apart the battery.

I'm betting on the thermal cut-off, but Pat36 could be right as well.

 

[Patriot]

I sometimes run my HID's until they turn off also. This it ok as long as they're designed to shut off before draining an individual cell below 3.0V or 9.0V for the pack. This appears to be exactly what occurred.

If the light shut off due to thermal reasons it would switch back on and run for the remaining 10 minutes after letting it cool down. Since Richie's battery pack was at 9.25V static, that means that it was at 9.0V or less under load. At 9.25V there isn't enough remaining capacity to start and run the light for 2 minutes never mind 10 more minutes.

Also, it's not surprising that the LED still worked after the HID lamp shut off. Those little LEDs put next to zero load on those 3 18650's. They could be powered for dozens of hours still.


Richie, if you perform a run-time test I think you'll find that the same thing occurs whether it's tailstanding on the floor in your house or sitting out on a chilly patio table. Judging from the output 40-45 minutes is probably just about right for this light on those batteries. The Wolf Eyes Boxer 24W ran for about 50 minutes on the same batteries and this light seems to be noticeably brighter.