csshih
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hi Everyone,
Up for review is the Solarforce skyline, a heavy duty dedicated thrower.
Here are some of the specs from Solarforce:
The light was supplied by Solarforce for review. it can also be purchased at sbflashlights:
here is the light:
The light comes in a blue gift box.
my sample included 2 extra orings, a nice heavy duty strap, and 2 Solarforce CR123A
the light has a very tough head with rather thick aluminum.
knurling is similar to tiablo's knurling used on their A10/ACE-G series
in order of assembly.
the reflector is extremely deep for throw.
the tiablo parts are actually compatible with the skyline parts.. the tube also looks extremely similar, but has finer knurling.
Comparisons:
White Wall Shots:
Comparison Beamshots:
the competition..
Outdoor Beamshots:
coming
Runtime:
runtime appears unregulated on 1x18650, but pretty long.
runtime is short on the solarforce 123s -- at the end it appears that the cells are recovering enough to allow the driver to run again -- then off, repeatedly,
Impressions
The Solarforce Skyline is built to be a "thrower", as in, the light is more concentrated in the center for spotting of objects in the distance. To achieve this, the Skyline uses an extremely deep reflector.
The Solarforce Skyline is an interesting light -- it's a dedicated thrower with an extremely deep reflector, but it didn't throw as much as I thought it would. The light outthrows the Tiablo A9, but when the Tiablo A9 is equipped with the aspheric lens, the A9 blows the Skyline out of the water. but, let's back up for a moment and look at build quality. This light feels extremely tough -- tougher than the A9, at the very least. the thick walled construction at the head left me with no doubt that the light would survive falls -- but, with its heft, I am unsure as to how large of a dent it would get when falling. The benefits of the thick aluminum walls offsets the drawbacks of the weight.
I noticed that the controlling circuitry (strobing and dimming) is all built into the tailcap -- If you missed my earlier statement: the battery tube is compatible with the Tiablo ACE/10-G series.. interestingly enough, when put on the tiablo ACE-G, the light can be dimmed(though only when using 1 18650 or 2x123A, because the tailcap does not support the voltage of 2 li-ions) and also strobed. note: a strobing MC-E LED can be quite distracting in a small room when it is completely dark. The Skyline uses the same type of square knurling with offers a very good grip and feel. (though the knurling is smaller)
On the topic of dimming -- the circuitry dims the LED through the use of PWM (pulse width modulation)-- thus, the "strobe" effect can be noticed when looking around with the light, as the PWM is of medium speed, and I wish it could be higher.
Now, as for the UI.. the light basically will always turn on in high, there is no memory mode. to dim, all you have to do is hold down the button when the light is off, and the light will ramp from high to low. for the strobe mode, double tap the tailcap when the light is off. I wish the UI were more like the nitecore UI, but as a dedicated thrower, high mode would probably be all you actually need.
So, in general, this is a decent heavy duty thrower, I just wish it would throw more for its size.
As of [11/25/09], the price of this light is roughly 100$
Up for review is the Solarforce skyline, a heavy duty dedicated thrower.
Here are some of the specs from Solarforce:
- Use 7090 XR-E WC R2 Cree Led
- 18650 3.7v – 3.5 hours, CR123A 3.0v x 2 – 1.5 hours
- Length: 47mm Head diameter: 180mm length
- "infinite output system"
- Weight: 278 g
- Length: 47mm Head diameter: 180mm length
- Includes 1x Solarforce protected 18650, 1x Solarforce Charger, and 1x LY-1 Solarforce Sling.
The light was supplied by Solarforce for review. it can also be purchased at sbflashlights:
here is the light:
The light comes in a blue gift box.
my sample included 2 extra orings, a nice heavy duty strap, and 2 Solarforce CR123A
the light has a very tough head with rather thick aluminum.
knurling is similar to tiablo's knurling used on their A10/ACE-G series
in order of assembly.
the reflector is extremely deep for throw.
the tiablo parts are actually compatible with the skyline parts.. the tube also looks extremely similar, but has finer knurling.
Comparisons:
White Wall Shots:
Comparison Beamshots:
the competition..
Outdoor Beamshots:
coming
Runtime:
runtime appears unregulated on 1x18650, but pretty long.
runtime is short on the solarforce 123s -- at the end it appears that the cells are recovering enough to allow the driver to run again -- then off, repeatedly,
Impressions
The Solarforce Skyline is built to be a "thrower", as in, the light is more concentrated in the center for spotting of objects in the distance. To achieve this, the Skyline uses an extremely deep reflector.
The Solarforce Skyline is an interesting light -- it's a dedicated thrower with an extremely deep reflector, but it didn't throw as much as I thought it would. The light outthrows the Tiablo A9, but when the Tiablo A9 is equipped with the aspheric lens, the A9 blows the Skyline out of the water. but, let's back up for a moment and look at build quality. This light feels extremely tough -- tougher than the A9, at the very least. the thick walled construction at the head left me with no doubt that the light would survive falls -- but, with its heft, I am unsure as to how large of a dent it would get when falling. The benefits of the thick aluminum walls offsets the drawbacks of the weight.
I noticed that the controlling circuitry (strobing and dimming) is all built into the tailcap -- If you missed my earlier statement: the battery tube is compatible with the Tiablo ACE/10-G series.. interestingly enough, when put on the tiablo ACE-G, the light can be dimmed(though only when using 1 18650 or 2x123A, because the tailcap does not support the voltage of 2 li-ions) and also strobed. note: a strobing MC-E LED can be quite distracting in a small room when it is completely dark. The Skyline uses the same type of square knurling with offers a very good grip and feel. (though the knurling is smaller)
On the topic of dimming -- the circuitry dims the LED through the use of PWM (pulse width modulation)-- thus, the "strobe" effect can be noticed when looking around with the light, as the PWM is of medium speed, and I wish it could be higher.
Now, as for the UI.. the light basically will always turn on in high, there is no memory mode. to dim, all you have to do is hold down the button when the light is off, and the light will ramp from high to low. for the strobe mode, double tap the tailcap when the light is off. I wish the UI were more like the nitecore UI, but as a dedicated thrower, high mode would probably be all you actually need.
So, in general, this is a decent heavy duty thrower, I just wish it would throw more for its size.
As of [11/25/09], the price of this light is roughly 100$
Last edited:
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