Re: Review - OVEREADY Custom Hosts and Accessories
I have fallen way behind on adding reviews to this thread so I will start catching up with one I finished tonight on the bored Elzetta bodies from OVEREADY. I bought a bored Charlie body for my personal use a few months ago and Dan was good enough to let me borrow a bored Bravo body for use during the review.
OVERVIEW
KeeblerElf already did a fine job of describing his experience with the bored Bravo body so I won't go into all the same details. Suffice to say that these bored tubes are just like everything else I have received from Elzetta or OVEREADY with quality machining throughout. You can go to my site to read the
full review if you want all the boring details, no pun intended!
Everything fits together like it should and the bored bodies work with all of the other stock Elzetta parts with the exception of the Rotary tailcap (press for momentary, twist for constant-on). This is due to the fact that the Rotary tailcap uses a narrower contact disk than the click-type tailcaps and the narrower lip of the bored body (shown on left) will not allow reliable operation.
The battery compartment has been enlarged to 18.75mm versus the 17.33mm of the stock Elzetta body and AW 18xx0 cells fit with ease. The Bravo can now be used with 1x18650 or 2x18350 and the Charlie can handle 2x18490 cells comfortably. Protected AW 18500 cells are a bit longer than 3xCR123 and make for a really tight fit (lengthwise) in the Charlie. Everything will go together but, in my opinion, it's too tight and really compresses the springs all the way.
As with other custom bored hosts from OVEREADY, the Elzetta bodies incorporate a retention lip near the head that will keep the batteries in place when changing heads.
PERFORMANCE
Of course the big motivator for boring a flashlight body is to use larger and more powerful batteries so performance is a key consideration. To start off let's take a look at some baseline tests with some rechargeable options that can be used with a stock Bravo body.
These results are a little bit disappointing as I expected better results from the 16650 and 17670 batteries. The K2 Energy LFP123 cells did well but only ran for about 35 minutes before they crashed. So what happens when we try some bigger batteries?
Now this is more like it! The AW IMR 18650 and protected 18650 (3400mAh) made a noticeable difference in both regulated and total runtime. The big 3400mAh 18650 pretty much stole the show with its good regulation at full output followed by an extremely long taper as the battery was depleted. Although it's not shown on the chart, the 3400mAh 18650 ran for over 3.5 hours before output dropped to 10% . . . That's just crazy.
Of course when the Bravo is used with two lithium-ion cells (16340, 18350, etc) output jumps up to the full 900 lumens but these small cells can't maintain that level for long.
Stepping up to the Charlie body allows the use of some larger batteries with a corresponding increase in runtime.
The 18490 and 18500 cells did a terrific job, much better than the CR123 batteries, and maintained the maximum output level for about an hour. The overdischarge protection circuit tripped on one of the 18500 cells after about 68 minutes of operation. With the 18490 IMR cells I ended the test soon after output dropped to the "lower" 650 lumen level. The 18490 cells measured 3.20V at this point (with no load) so they could have likely powered the light for a bit longer.
CONCLUSIONS
These bored bodies work exactly as advertised and really expand the capabilities of the Elzetta lights. I was particularly impressed with how well the AW 18650-3400 worked in conjunction with the Bravo body and AVS head. Although its output dipped slightly below that of the CR123s for about 30 minutes, the overall increase in runtime more than makes up for the difference. As far as the Charlie body is concerned, you can't beat the performance of the AW 18490 cells with the way they maintained the full output for almost an hour. The downside to the multiple cell set-up is that output drops really fast, without much warning, when the light drops out of regulation. As I mentioned earlier, the protected 18500 cells can be made to work but I wouldn't really recommend them due to their length.
As happy as I am with the performance of the rechargeable batteries, I feel obligated to point out that Elzetta specifies the use of CR123 cells for a reason (or even multiple reasons) for use in critical situations. Rather than type it all again, I have copied and pasted what I wrote in my review . . .
This is why Elzetta specifies the use of quality USA made CR123 cells for critical use. It's not because they make their own batteries (they don't) or because they are stuck in the past (they aren't) but rather for the advantages these batteries offer. For one, quality is more consistent across the USA made brands which introduces very little variation in performance. Also, the CR123 battery format is well established and has proven itself to be reliable in hard use situations. Add in their long shelf life and gradual decline in output as they are depleted and the primary batteries have a lot going for them. These are all things to consider before making the switch to rechargeable batteries.
I agree with their reasoning but for the more mundane uses that I normally encounter, the bored bodies are just what I needed and I love 'em! Aside from that I believe the Bravo body with an unprotected 18650 would be about as reliable as you can get with a rechargeable battery.
If you want to get caught up on reviews of other OVEREADY products (until I get them posted here) you can check out the
OVEREADY Reviews section on FlashlightGuide.com
Thanks for reading! :wave:
