Second ElektroLumens EDC review... Newbie post alert...

NorthAmericanMonitoring

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
21
Hey everyone on CPF, I've been reading some of the posts now and decided to join just to give a kind of "newbie review" for my new ElektroLumens EDC torch...

I will take pictures as best I can and post comparisons and beamshots for lights I haven't seen compared side by side... I think that's going to be a good offer, so in the mean time, here's my lame review.

OK, I couldn't find an exact lumen rating, but with a light like this, that's not really the main concern (IMHO), and as one forum poster said, anything over 500 is just for show (I partially agree). At first glance when I took it out, I thought, ehhh, it's not shiny and fancy looking nor does it have a feminine charm like so many other lights I've seen. There's no sharp angles or obtrusive lanyard rings or weird fins with notches and other sharp edges, etc. It's just "a light". I unscrewed it and sort of admired it for a minute, and noticed Wayne did install the smooth reflector for me and I'm not speculating, but I think he might be working on something that would allow swapping of lens reflectors and (I'm hoping - please hope with me!) lenses in various colors, filters, and even maybe a super throw lens of some sort like I've seen on other lights. It wouldn't be hard to do, and since this light already has no problems that I can see, it would be a great FUNCTIONAL and SWEET light for infra red for fog, etc. I think making them even more modifiable would be the ultimate, or offering that as an option, I can't wait to see what he does with this light, and I'm hopign it becomes a complete line of lights all in itself... No I won't correct that spelling error, I'm new, I can say whatever I want, haha.

Anyway getting back on track, my ripped apart laptop batteries I found whilst desperately trying to find 18650 batteries in my area fit great, and even though the layer of shrink wrap was too thin (one removed completely) and the batteries were charged on a hacked random AC adapter for a phone, I can't believe they fit as solid as they did... and WOW is this thing BRIGHT. I didn't notice it as much beacause I was in an LED and flourescent lighted room, but when my eyes adjusted I realized I couldn't see anymore! The dog was blind too (*cough* animal cruelty) The switch was hard to figure out for my dumb @$$ and I didn't quite gather this from the other review but it screws in to a constant on, it's a twisty switch, and the end cap switch can also be used to tap it on, which is PERFECT for what I do. I was unsure because it was a bit different, but now that I'm used to it it's PERFECT. And I like being able to dial it in, and another thing, if it's tigthened from the twisty on, the light is ROCK SOLID. Feels like a really bright carved brick which also makes me confident in it's self defense applications. This light doesn't need anything fancy or gimmicks or anything, it's just a light you grab and use, and carry, and pack, and love... I'm gonna put a piece of electrical tape on my $#!% batteries so they're even more solid in there, but the AW 18650 I ordered should be here soon, so not to worry...

I searched for every review I could find including the one where there were some serious attacks on Wayne's flashlight making abilities, as well as on his soldering... All I have to say to that moron is "what overseas company paid you to say that BS, and you obviously don't understand WHY the solder is the way it is or how the light works at all". I see it as a functional way to set it up, and though I'm a newbie, I can tell the copper has a more spread out connnection with the solder so that it dissapates the heat as well as forms a more uniified battery link... It seems to connect to the battery with a kind of thud, or like an eggshell fits the egg (and the chicken came first BTW everyone just so we have that set straight). I have no complaints. I'm going to use this light with respect, and I'm confident after Wayne's helpful and up front customer service that I won't have any problems with ElektroLumens' lights and that repairs will most likely be available (though I think I could probably throw this light on the highway and watch it get run over a few times and pick it up and it would work again).

Overall score being a newbie, I can't compare it to the experts or anything, but this light doesn't mess around. EXTREMELY BRIGHT even with l33t h4x0r batteries, STRONG and testosterone inducing, and I didn't mention this, but with my batteries the heat is almost nonexistant to me. I could flash it once every 10 seconds or so at the park and it was enough for me to see about 100 feet in front of me so I could just wait for the next time to flash it.

Wayne, I want to get some kind of a strobe switch for the tailcap, or if you know a way to mod this anyone, that would be awesome... A portable mini strobe light... That would be VERY handy at work ;).

One other note, 18650 is a great battery to use, as laptops and a few other devices seem to use these for their packs I found out, so that might be an item you could find in an extreme emergency, so if you forgot your charger in all the chaos, you can still easily make one and have batteries to spare if you can find the right laptop...

One thing though Wayne, is this light waterproof? It seems very water resistant but I was just curious if you have dunk tested them or underwater tested to any depth... Anyway GREAT light, VERY fast service and shipping, and a great first custom buy, and I'm out.

Thank you all for reading, let me know how I did, it's late, and I spent about 10 minutes on this probably, so I hope it's entertaining!

- = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -

North American Monitoring
 
I've had several of Wayne's lights over the years and enjoyed all of them, have his Blaster in my Jeep now! He makes awesome lights and has great customer service!!
 
nice first review :thumbsup:

though I'm a bit concerned out your post on charging li-ion batteries

charged on a hacked random AC adapter for a phone
could you detail on how you did that?
lithium-ion batteries are extremely extremely dangerous if charged improperly. there are 18650s with a protection circuit built in for that exact same reason. when you took the 18650s out of the laptop battery pack, you disconnected them from a PCB containing the protection circuit.

I suggest you looking towards buying a real li-ion charger. plenty of options out there, some rather cheap. take a look at the battery section for information on lithium-ion safety and proper charging.

be safe.

-- Craig
 
=)

Awesome, I feel dangerous...

I just took apart a 3.7v cell phone battery charger, figuring that they (small cell batteries) had less amps or overall current than the typical 18650 and that their corrosponding 3.7 charger would charge the battery at about 9 volts or so, or whatever the current is, I'm not sure... I didn't test it all too thoroughly.

A n45 magnet and a few alligator clips later and I'm in business!

It charges them in about 30 minutes to an hour, but I just use and I left one charging for hours as an experiment and it didn't blow up or anything...

I always charge somewhere I can keep an eye on them or in case they blow up when I'm not here I stick em in the shop. It seems to work great, though I know the cells are unprotected...

I can't wait til my AW cells get here, it's gonna be awesome.

In the mean time I want to get started on a custom 25 die RL-2088 like that one guy did... =)

MORE POWER, MORE LUMENS! MUAGHAHAHAHA!

mad newbie scientist @ NAM
 
Anyway GREAT light, VERY fast service and shipping, and a great first custom buy, and I'm out.


Hah wish I couldnt second that! I ordered mine May 24th and it still hasnt been shipped or for that matter I dont even know if its been built even though it was promised at the end of June and ive been given at least a few more misleading ETA's since then :mad:! Anyways I still cant wait to get mine since its also my first semi-custom light and my first quad-die emmiter light. Thanks for the review and quit screwin with those laptop batterys before you get hurt :drool:!
 
Also one other thing, I didn't want to make it seem as though the light was "unmodifiable", as it all comes apart quite easily, and putting a new lens in would be much easier than I initially thought. The head cap assembly (is that what it's called?) unscrewed, and the lens is right there with an O ring holding it against the reflector.

After thinking about it for more than a few minutes I realized it should be easy to find lenses and reflectors this size... It would also be really cool to have a rubber holding ring lens or a set of them to slip over the front... Mainly just for infra red. Can you get true infra red color with just a lens? Winter is coming up... =)

As proud of my Mad Max charger I am, I really can't wait for my AW to arrive. If AW has anything to do with that delicious root beer they sell in the stores, I already know we're in business.

NAM
 
Also one other thing, I didn't want to make it seem as though the light was "unmodifiable", as it all comes apart quite easily, and putting a new lens in would be much easier than I initially thought. The head cap assembly (is that what it's called?) unscrewed, and the lens is right there with an O ring holding it against the reflector.

After thinking about it for more than a few minutes I realized it should be easy to find lenses and reflectors this size... It would also be really cool to have a rubber holding ring lens or a set of them to slip over the front... Mainly just for infra red. Can you get true infra red color with just a lens? Winter is coming up... =)

As proud of my Mad Max charger I am, I really can't wait for my AW to arrive. If AW has anything to do with that delicious root beer they sell in the stores, I already know we're in business.

NAM


Ohh yea sorry I meant to comment on that also, I dont think that an IR filter would work on the light because I read somewhere on CPF that IR filters suck for LED's and are meant to be used in conjunction with an incandescent bulb.
 
Everyone has to wait for them to be hand machined and whatnot, I was just talking about the shipping time from when it was completed. It can take months as he's pretty backlogged right now, but it is well worth the wait.

I've never heard of a sure time period with stuff like this, being into custom cutlery and special edition knives and whatnot, I completely understand and I'm used to that, so the wait is no big deal. ETAs are just that... =P I wouldn't take it personally... Maybe you'd like to buy mine for more so I can make a few bucks in the meantime and I'll take your place in line! lol

gixxer: I'm going to try a Brinkman LED light filter for their K2 light (I think it was Brinkman) and see if that works. The EDC is about 1 13/32" or 1 7/16" but my tape measure sucks. I need one of those fancy digital measuring gadgets (micrometer?). I think it will just be cool if nothing else... I'm looking at HID lights right now, I now see how the "flashaholic" term started... ;)

NAM
 
Everyone has to wait for them to be hand machined and whatnot, I was just talking about the shipping time from when it was completed. It can take months as he's pretty backlogged right now, but it is well worth the wait.

I've never heard of a sure time period with stuff like this, being into custom cutlery and special edition knives and whatnot, I completely understand and I'm used to that, so the wait is no big deal. ETAs are just that... =P I wouldn't take it personally... Maybe you'd like to buy mine for more so I can make a few bucks in the meantime and I'll take your place in line! lol

gixxer: I'm going to try a Brinkman LED light filter for their K2 light (I think it was Brinkman) and see if that works. The EDC is about 1 13/32" or 1 7/16" but my tape measure sucks. I need one of those fancy digital measuring gadgets (micrometer?). I think it will just be cool if nothing else... I'm looking at HID lights right now, I now see how the "flashaholic" term started... ;)

NAM

Hah yea I hear ya. I dont min the wait he told me they would for sure be done by the end of June so thats why I expected that. If he had said they might not be done untill the end of August I would still be happily waiting not bugging him.

And man are you screwed now! HID's will eat into your wallet WAY harder than LED's will :devil: Being on the low low flashlight budget I am on now I elect to stay in my LED forum so I dont have all those high end HID lights screaming buy me! :broke:
 
Exactly... I like the look of some of the China cheapie style HIDs though, I just want to pick the right one. Seems like once you get below 200 they're all the same flashlight only from different "brands" and we all know what that means. Tactical HID has a nice looking one that's around 260 and it's got a filter, and an emergency LED battery. Looks pretty cool, but again, 250 is a lot... That's like 10 gallons of vodka!

The high end HIDs are definitely out of my budget right now... But I can keep buying lotto tickets just in case, you never know. I could be rolling with the Polarion next week, or the crazy Kong by ElektroLumens... Damn that thing looks hardcore... (note: Kong is not HID nor am I affiliated with ElektroLumens... lol - it's just the highest lumen light I've found so far...)

NAM
 
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OK, the light was a Brinkman Rebel, and it came with 3 filters all of which happen to fit perfectly (for me) on the EL EDC. They're not too snug but for just swapping them on and off real quick, they're perfect. Brinkman may also sell replacement filters for their line of lights as well. They seem to fit much snugger on their lights. I thought I might want to file down a little notch later on but whatever, they're fine, I don't want to use filtered light on this thing for much anyway, just for fun. Not impressed with the Rebel flashlight at all I might add, but no surprise there. Great gift for the kids, right?

I gotta get an OP reflector now and I'm set... =)

NAM
 
OK, the light was a Brinkman Rebel, and it came with 3 filters all of which happen to fit perfectly (for me) on the EL EDC. They're not too snug but for just swapping them on and off real quick, they're perfect. Brinkman may also sell replacement filters for their line of lights as well. They seem to fit much snugger on their lights. I thought I might want to file down a little notch later on but whatever, they're fine, I don't want to use filtered light on this thing for much anyway, just for fun. Not impressed with the Rebel flashlight at all I might add, but no surprise there. Great gift for the kids, right?

I gotta get an OP reflector now and I'm set... =)

NAM

Hey not sure how the filters work exactly (if you can post a link or a picture somebody could tell you for sure) But what alot of people do is tape a small piece of electrical tape and run it around the inside of the Surefire filters to make them fit more snugly on smaller diameter bezel's but you could probably do the same thing with the brinkman ones! Post up some pics of your setup if you can! And I may eventually have to get another reflector for my EDC-P7 so I can have a regular and an OP! Have you found any good holsters yet or do you plan to carry the light?
 
RED LENS
P1010489.jpg


AMBER LENS
P1010490.jpg


BLUE LENS
P1010491.jpg


Lens, fits snugly, but not too snug, just right for quick swapping and removal.
P1010497.jpg



My lil setup...
P1010501.jpg


A tree at maybe 50 feet or so (note that this is with a half charged hacked part of a laptop battery and isn't as bright as it could potentially be)
P1010484.jpg


My LED Lenser that I thought was really bright... Same distance.
P1010481.jpg


P1010494.jpg


Here's with the flash on... LENSES
P1010485.jpg

P1010486.jpg

P1010487.jpg


Sorry for the $#!% photography... =)

NAM
 
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And here's the EDC, I forgot to put this in the other post, but since I'm going for the most posts as possible in this thread, I might as well start another one, lol (note: I edited the other post to include this picture but won't edit this one for sheer multi posting newbie madness! muwahahahaha!!!)

P1010484.jpg


The LED Lenser barely showed up with that exposure mode... Now notice how bright the EDC is...

Also another note on the lenses, the ridges on the EDC are perfect for keeping them on a bit better as they have their own little notches. Gradually they will wear down, but whatever, it's a great cheap little bonus for me.

Thanks again ElektroLumens!

NAM
 
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Hey thanks for the pics! And I REALLY like those filters. Where did you get them again and how much was the brinkman light? I may have to make a wal-mart run and see if I cant find one.

Is this it?
 
Yeah that's the one... Though it was 15 at the store in my area.

Also I try to cycle the batteries in between what I thought might be their voltage levels, but I think I'm probably going far between, avoiding any stress on the batteries. I'm not sure how it works honestly but I probably should.

NAM
 
Regarding filters-

Cool white LEDs like the P7 emit mostly blue and green wavelengths, reds to a lesser extent and practically no UV or IR. You can expect filters to perform accordingly.
 
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