pilot whale, m30, or boxer 24w?

[junmae]

Hi hi . I'm planning on getting a new (toy) but can't decide. Right now my choices are the new wolf eyes pilot whale, the olight m30, or the boxer 24w. I am looking for a very bright, long battery life, pretty good throw flashlight... and of course great quality. Can anyone recommend one of those 3 I should get?

 

[rourtex23]

i went with the m30 and im very happy with it plenty bright you cant go wrong with it:twothumbs

 

[hivoltage]

I had a Boxer and for an HID I expected it to be brighter so I sold it. Never seen an M30 but I just ordered a Pilot Whale yesterday....hope I like it!!

 

[applevision]

I ordered the Pilot Whale and I'm excited about it!

Wattnot did a great review of the PW and compared it to the EagleTac M2C4 series here: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=236315

I mention this because I already have an M2C4 and I love the light; it is comparable to the PW beam-wise and brightness wise but a bit cheaper.

I do think that from all signs the PW is better built--not a dig on the M2C4, but there were some issues on the initial run, hopefully these are all set by now.

I know that HKJ (a member whose opinion I greatly respect) has stated that the M30 is his light of choice on several occasions and he owns many lights. I know that he is sadly skipping the Pilot Whale as it is so similar to the M2 series...

Anyways, I hope this helps.

I will post my comparison between the M2C4 and the PW as soon as she surfaces!

 

[junmae]

thanks guys! great reviews! It does seem like you can't go wrong with the pilot whale. Especially with the runtime and price XD. I was also THINKING about maybe getting the surefire m6 guardian....but that thing is just too pricey for a 20 min runtime 500 lumens. I like the looks of the m6 a bit more than the PW too but i'm gonna have to think about it before I order one. Once again, thankyou very much for the help

 

[junmae]

oh and I also heard about a buzzing noise coming from the tailcap of the m30 which makes me not wanna get it a little more. Though it seems like a great light for the price. -_-...idk though...

 

[liam_995]

i went with the m30 and im very happy with it plenty bright you cant go wrong with it:twothumbs

I agree the m30 is nice and bright - but I really couldn't stand the way you have to actually LOOK at the rear switch assembly to orient your fingers to allow you to be in the CORRRECT position to allow you to be able to use the push button to change modes...:mecry:

I MUCH prefer an arrangement that allows you to orient your fingers by FEEL only (quickly and easily) - much better for night time use...IMHO.

The M2 series allows this; as (hopefully) does my soon to arrive TK40...

 

[Patriot]

thanks guys! great reviews! It does seem like you can't go wrong with the pilot whale. Especially with the runtime and price XD. I was also THINKING about maybe getting the surefire m6 guardian....but that thing is just too pricey for a 20 min runtime 500 lumens. I like the looks of the m6 a bit more than the PW too but i'm gonna have to think about it before I order one. Once again, thankyou very much for the help

If you're looking to capitalize on great run-time the 24W Boxer and M6 are in completely different categories from the PW. The PW seems to make for sense for you on that point alone. Of all the multi-die emitters available right the PW looks very attractive in both design and function.

 

[Wattnot]

The three lights in your thoughts for this thread seem very different. I'm not familiar with the M30 but after reading about it I decided it wasn't for me. I remember thinking the newer Jetbeam was more my taste. The use of PWM on HIGH was the straw.

However, I'm familiar with the Boxer and the Boxer is the exact opposite of the PW. the Boxer is all throw and the PW is just about all flood. Perhaps you should consider the Eagletac M2XC4.

Here is a shot that I didn't put in the PW review. The reason is because of what I'm talking about above. The lights are opposites. Also, I didn't want people to look at the photo and mistakenly believe the PW had less output, it doesn't. It's all about the reflector(s) and the beam. I could have included the Tiablo A9 vs. the M2XC4 and some people would think the Tiablo was "brighter" because the hotspot would be brighter. Of course the A9's hotspot wouldn't cover a manhole cover at 100 feet where the others are covering a house.

Now just in case some of you just thought "wow, the M2XC4 SMOKED the PW!!" That is simply not the case. Virtually all of the spill you see is coming from the PW. Here, look at this next one:

Now here is the M2XC4 by itself at 150 feet. FIFTY PERCENT further away yet and you can see how the beam is concentrated on the house but the periphery is dark.

To me it doesn't seem natural to be deciding between the these two lights. They should be mutually exclusive because they're so different in what they do.

Maybe you should add a TK40 to the list because it seems to compromise a bit more yeilding a better mix of throw and flood (but at a cost, as with all compromises).

 

[UlrikJ]

I have a Wolf Eyes Boxer HID 24W and it is very bright (1800 lumens). The Boxer is focusable so it is possible to change from flood to throw as you like. The WE Boxer HID is very cool and I like it alot. The only problem is that is a HID and the bulb has to warm slowly up. That means full power is after 20-30 seconds.

I also own a Elektrolumens EDC P7 which is also very cool. The instant on of a LED light is nice to have but in throw and flood it does not beat the WE Boxer - obviously. Thats 1800 lumens vs 700 lumens.

 

[junmae]

thanks so much guys! you guys are really really helpful .. Although the tk40 is really tempting because of the AA batteries and power, I think I'm sorta heading towards the PW ...not toooo expensive and very powerful so i hear. I'm just wondering though...does the PW go to full brightness right away? or does it take some time to warm up?

 

[Wattnot]

The Pilot Whale comes on HIGH first and as far as I know, LEDs need NO warm up time at all so it's instantanious. In fact, I believe LEDs reach full intensity faster than incandescents.

 

[applevision]

Not to be a rabble-rouser, but I just wanted to point out that 4sevens in his marketplace thread specifically noted the high rate of returns on the Fenix TK40. I am a BIG Fenix fan, but realize that this is a tight market for many: the EagleTacs, the Olight M30, the Pilot Whale, the Legion II and the TK40 being just SOME of the big-guns that many of us are considering right now.

I very much agree with Wattnot that the beam characteristics should separate these guys out a bit at least... but the reality for me (and I suspect for others too) is that these 600+ lumen hand-cannons are all being considered together... So that even little differences count! In this case, the issue with the TK40 seems to be related to running 8 AAs together with a very high load... this seems to be more than they are engineered for (especially the poor old alkalines!) and is resulting in some issues... Note: some of these may be USER ERROR (like reversing polarity!) but it is notable that a large dealer has commented on this.

While on my soapbox (and while ignoring the pile of work I'm supposed to be doing...) I wanted to point out that the Legion II (a light that I LUST for!) is also saddled with some serious production and quality issues making it currently a no-go for me. I am hopeful that things will get sorted out quickly and it will rise as a hero, but now must be a doubting Thomas until I can see it with my own eyes!

So that leaves the EagleTacs which I can vouch for as superb lights, but with some early issues: waterproofing, loose screws, touchy selector ring that goes into strobe much too easily; some of this has been fixed with the newest run.

We also have the Olight M30, which gets the unofficial endorsement of HKJ; it's more of a thrower, it has a donut in the beam, and it has a little bit of a non-traditional tail switch operation.

Then we have the Pilot Whale, a big, meaty light, with what appears to be top-o-the-line build quality (thus far) and a good strong floody wall of light from the Osram 6 die LED. My beefs on this light (without having yet received it...) are two: 1) It's a bit pricey compared to the competition; 2) Boy do I wish it were dive ready. The joke of course being that I'd probably never dive with it, but it would just be cool to have such a light!

There is also the Ultrafire RL-2088 light that is mentioned in a few threads (and below!) and can be obtained at DX or via ebay; it does look POTENT and seems to be driven harder than the lights mentioned here. I'm interested in it, but I'm hesitant to use lights that aren't carried by our regular dealers and such... but at the very least this is something to consider for some.

Sorry to be super-redundant, but I just wanted to summarize things so far. Thoughts? What else did I miss? These are the lights I'm obsessing over right now.

 

[strinq]

Do take this into your consideration,

Ultrafire RL-2088

Links here:

Review and Beamshots:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=236451

More Beamshots:
http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=235153

About the same shape as the PW and the owners seem pretty happy with its performance and build quality. It's also cheaper and in comparison should have more output than the PW.

 

[junmae]

cool, the ultrafire power is very sexy indeed but only 1 hour battery life compared to the 1 hour 40 min battery life of the pw .

I was just wondering why is the surefire m6 guardian so expensive for only having 500 lumens with 2 hour batt. life on high output. Sorry it may be a silly question but I am kind of a new flashlight enthusiast .

Would you chose the pilot whale over the m6? because of price and power.

 

[junmae]

ok sorry, I was just reading a another thread I posted on about a similar subject and patriot already answered it . Thanks again guys! lovecpf

 

[Painful Chafe]

oh and I also heard about a buzzing noise coming from the tailcap of the m30 which makes me not wanna get it a little more. Though it seems like a great light for the price. -_-...idk though...

No buzzing on mine, and the PWM is not an issue with me. Others are bothered by it, possibly more sensitive to the effect. I don't notice it at all.
As for the light, I love it. There is also the Ultrafire RL-2088 to give a look see.

 

[junmae]

I think i've made my decision! The M6 guardian it is . I am having a hard time finding a good deal for the none bezel one though . I may just have to buy from surefire.com but it should be worth it! i hope..

 

[junmae]

haha sorry I just realized that chosing the M6 is kinda random because I've been talking about the pilot whale most of the time. I just think the M6 is a must for most flash light collectors XD

 

[HKJ]

My take on the lights:

M30 is rather small (on 18500), it has memory (i.e. output can be preselected) and the level selection is isolated from the on button (i.e. it is possible to do fast flashes with it), it can be a bit difficult to find the level change button. As a general purpose light I like it very much, especially due to its small size.

M2C4 is a fat light, the best way to carry it is in a holster (one is supplied with the light), it is very easy to use one-handed, due to the ring. It has one serious disadvantage: It can drain the batteries even when off.

Pilot Whale, I do not want to buy this light, because it does not look to very different from my MC-E/P7 light, the big led will make this a flood light, but it looks like a good light and with 3 batteries it probably has a very good runtime.

A HID light can not really be compared to led lights, they are very slow to turn on, but a 24 watt will have higher output and might also have a better throw.