Streamlight Megastream: lets talk

The instructions indicate that it comes on in HIGH mode and a double tap is required for LOW mode, however there is no mention of MEDIUM mode so I'm not sure that I trust them without getting hands on.

If it does come on in high it would make a great 'back up' light for duty use.
 
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By the looks of their online video, one press for high, two for medium, three for low.
Looks like a cool light.
 
Just in time for SHOT show. Probably available in March if history of Streamlight releases holds.

No ten tap option. Nope, Not for me.
I'd probably use the 150 lumen low 90% of the time.

But for its intended purpose it looks like a really good backup light option.

Hopefully it's durable. That's a lot of heat for a small light with no cooling fins. Streamlight doesn't say how long 1800 holds or how much it throttles back to. I am disappointed that they seem to want us to think it can hold 1800 lumens without thermal reduction. Either that or they have some new ingeious cooling method.
 
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I don't think it'll hold 1800 for long, measured in seconds rather than minutes I'd say before the ramp down.
Would be nice if it settles somewhere above the 500 lumen medium but then again it probably wouldn't make much difference visually if it settled to ~800 vs 500 lumens.
Looks like a TIR optic in the pics. My guess is that it'll have a decent sized spot on it.
It's getting its legs by sheer grunt for the 26Kcd high, at least 10Kcd after the step down would be nice. Does 7Kcd on medium (500 lumens).
I haven't got a guess for what LED it's using.
 
It's all been positive hasn't it?
A bit of observation and speculation.
 
I believe the short answer is 'No'.

From what I've read / seen, it does not, although I don't yet fully understand the limitation myself.

The light features in-light charging, and the 'port' (opening) in the body is inside / behind an O-ring sealed threaded collar, which is cool. It appears however that there is no USB-C connector mounted in the body, but rather the USB-C charging cable plugs through the port / opening in the body directly into the cell itself, rather than a connector integral to the light housing / body. The cell may also be charged outside the light w/ a USB-C cable.

This light uses the SL-B34 cell, which is apparently only compatible with this new light at present time. The statement about its uniqueness is: "
  • Self-keying battery ensures proper alignment of the charging port
SL also states to only use that cell in this new light, as it's not cross-compatible with any other light. Looking at the available photos I've seen I can't really tell what provides that indexing / alignment of the cell with the charge opening in the body.

I believe the current 'standard' SL 18650 is the SL-B26, which is fine in all my SL 18650 lights. This is not that cell.

A similar charging approach is implemented with the ProTac 2.0, which uses a similar SL-B50 cell, which also provides keying for alignment with the charging port in its body similar to this new light, but in photos of that cell, I can see how the keying is provided.

It appears that in-light charging through an opening in the light body, inside an O-ring sealed threaded collar, but with cable plugging directly into the cell inside, with keying providing the positioning / alignment between the cell and that opening, using a bespoke cell, is a new design solution / strategy being employed by Streamlight, and that does not bode well for new lights using 'standard' 18650 cells, as has been the past strategy (excluding Strion, which has always used a bespoke cell).

I think that's the 'long answer', based on what little I currently know;-)

Cheers!
I think the battery is basically the same as their existing (18650) battery with the USB charging port built in. This makes two ways to charge the light by either the charging port on the light or directly on the battery after removal (3 ways if you include removing the battery and placing it in a charger).
The main difference is the positive terminal which has a straight edge on one side of the circular button. The 21700 batteries that come with the HL6 have this shape also but the positive terminal on the light being flat and unshrouded means you can use any brand button top 21700 of similar dimensions.
The question is did Streamlight install a shroud around the positive terminal on the Megastream which corresponds with this odd shaped terminal?
If so this would restrict a normal circular button top 18650 from making contact.
If not, you should be able to use any similarly sized protected 18650 battery.


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I copied the above from the current Shot Show thread to include in this discussion about the Megastream.
May be of interest, just some thoughts.

If what aznsx is correct about the charging port on the light simply being a window directly to the port on the battery itself, which I believe they quite likely are, then the odd shaped positive on the battery will be used to orientate the battery in the correct position (by way of a correspondingly shaped shroud around the positive terminal).
This will result in not being able to use standard protected button top 18650 batteries.
This for me is unattractive but I'm sure will be a non issue for the average customer.
 
Just to say something positive

No ten tap option. Nope, Not for me.
The reason I only stated something "positive" here was because my main 'negative' had already been stated and I didn't want to harp on it needlessly. I agree that I would have very much liked to have seen 'Ten-Tap' included, as it would have expanded the market for the light. I like it as it is, but some would like it more if it didn't power up on 'High', and I understand that completely because sometimes I would too. I like the option very much.

We're already discussing my other 'negative' now (so far, but it's early days), which is SL's lack of support for the 'standard type' (SL-B26) cell in this light (nor backward support for the new cell (B34) in other lights)..
This light uses the SL-B34

I believe the current 'standard' SL 18650 is the SL-B26, which is fine in all my SL 18650 lights. This is not that cell.
You might have missed the somewhat painful discussions here regarding the release of the Strion 2020, with its new compatible cell / part number, with no cross-compatibility support between it and the previous generation Strion cell by SL. That discussion was very similar, and I don't really want to go through it all again this time.

I might be able to cut to the chase and simplify this. The existing B26 cell signifies 2600 mAh. The new B34 cell for this light signifies 3400 mAh. ANSI FL-1 requires that all advertised performance specifications be tested / certified with the cell provided with &/or recommended for the light. The new light most likely could not meet its advertised FL-1 specs with the older / pre-existing cell. This was also the case with the Strion 2020. Therefore, they do not support the older cell in the newer light because it would not meet its performance specifications. They also didn't support the newer cell in the older lights because the cells would also likely be 'co-mingled' at some level / point, which might also result in the older cells in the newer light, making the newer light badly underperform on run time and perhaps other specs as well, and make it appear to underperform in the eyes of the customer, when the issue might just be the cell they're using.

From the manufacturer's perspective, there's often more involved in these decisions than meets the eye of the typical buyer.

Just FYI as an aside: Yeah, dang right I am using the newer Strion 2020 cell in my previous gen. DS-HL, because I understand the backstory and know that it is technically sound.:) I've lived and worked on both sides of the fence, so I'd rather not criticize SL for their decisions (because I generally understand them), but when I do something contrary to manufacturer policy, I also like to avoid recommending that others do the same just because I choose to. Everyone gets to decide for themselves.

I'm sure someone will buy one and use a 'standard' protected 18650 in it and let us know how it works from a purely technical, practical perspective, and I'll be all ears;-) 'Buy it and try it'; that's what I did with the Strion cell. Until then, I'll simply quote what Streamlight officially 'supports' and not speculate.
 
Speculation is half the fun and half the conversation. Numerous threads on releases of new lights show that.

I recently bought an HL6, my first Streamlight so I haven't followed much of the brand in the past.

I can see why the design of the Megastream regarding in light recharging is the way it is.
I'm not criticising them for their implementation or design. Actually I think it's quite a good design and implementation.
Unscrew the cover, slide back, plug in, charge. It's a great, neat and simple system. All the charging guts built into the battery and no separation of components to fiddle around with, potentially lose or whatever.

Me being a flashlight forum type of guy I would likely never use that feature (in light charging). Even batteries with USB ports like on my HL6 and dual fuel Surefire lights, I don't use them as they're often slow and I'd just prefer to put them in a charger.
I only mention this as part of the conversation, I completely understand the design and implementation of the Megastream and target customers and wouldn't change that.

Whether a standard protected button top 18650 works or not, I doubt it's of concern to the general Streamlight market. If they require extra batteries they'll simply purchase the specified Streamlight product.
I will say that for the likes of flashlight forum type folk this may well be a consideration. Considering that we'd make a mere fraction of a percent of company sales this really has no bearing on company incentive.

I'll stick with my speculation that a standard button top 18650 won't work due to how I imagine the supplied battery keys into the positive terminal. It's possible that a very small button may fit but that's also non standard.
 
I'm putting in a guess for what LED this light is using. I'm going with SST40, possibly even an SFT40 but I'd probably expect more candela.
 
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I believe the target market for this one is a group who need max brightness right way and in cases of needing less light or more runtime there is that option too.
And as a backup to a larger light that would ordinarily be the primary light with same uses.
That is not meant as a critisism, it's just not for me.
 
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