My Christmas gift...

Well I am now the proud owner of a new Orb Raw 3 watt courtesy of my Girlfriend Jamie. Unknown to me she has created a profile here and has been researching various lights for me....gotta love it.

Rob was very helpful to her and took time to explain the various types of options of his many nice lights. I was very suprised to see this little light and it is a work of art. I played with it for several minutes before I even realized it had a 2 stage switch. Low mode is nice but high is very impressive for such a small light.

I really do not know much about this switch however it only had low mode at first. I took it apart just to look at the construction and when I put it back together it suddenly had the high mode and low. It now works flawless and I am curious if this switch is sensative or why it did not work at first. Does PCB board have to be lined up a certain way or maybe the copper heatsink part was upside down or something. Regardless it now works great and I was just curious if I somehow had it assembled wrong at first.

I think the only addition I may get now is the keychain attatchment from FlashlightLens.

I don't think there's a special way of placing the module in. I was at Orb's website and they have a link for a review on the 2 stage switch for the Raw. It can be found here http://hellzteeth.com/reviews/orb_raw/orb_raw_two_stage.htm
In the review, no special method of placement was mentioned. Rather, it just says "drop module in" or something along those lines.

I can't wait for mine to arrive =)

Robocop said:

Well I am now the proud owner of a new Orb Raw 3 watt courtesy of my Girlfriend Jamie. Unknown to me she has created a profile here and has been researching various lights for me....gotta love it.

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Best...girlfriend...ever.

Wow, sounds like shes a keeper!
The girlfriend I mean, I wouldn't know about the light as I have never had the pleasure of fondling an Orb Raw, but then again I haven't fondled you girlfriend either...Jeez...I better shut up now...

Enjoy them both!

Robocop said:

Well I am now the proud owner of a new Orb Raw 3 watt courtesy of my Girlfriend Jamie.

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great girlfriend

Robocop said:

Unknown to me she has created a profile here and has been researching various lights for me....gotta love it.

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Marry her!

Robocop said:

I really do not know much about this switch however it only had low mode at first. I took it apart just to look at the construction and when I put it back together it suddenly had the high mode and low. It now works flawless and I am curious if this switch is sensative or why it did not work at first. Does PCB board have to be lined up a certain way or maybe the copper heatsink part was upside down or something. Regardless it now works great and I was just curious if I somehow had it assembled wrong at first.

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Merry Christmas, robocop!
Here's Rob explaning how the two-stage switch works on the Orb.

you have the best girlfriend in the world!!!

-David

That switch is indeed an amazing concept and yet it is so simple...that is why I like it.

I was really suprised at the output of the light and honestly for the first time do not have the urge to change something on it. Usually the first thing I do is look for a way to mod any new light. This one is just fine as is and I like it.

My G/F actually also suprised me as she now uses words like spill,throw, and even 3 watt. She is learning some of my hobby and does not mind my hours of piddling around with my lights.

Can anyone tell me anything about this Nano Charger and these CR2 rechargeables? I know the cells are not protected however believe the charger is protected. I have charged the cells for about an hour and the light is still red. Does it change to green when done and is it safe to charge overnight with this protected charger?

I have never used any Li-Ion cells that were not protected and I believe I should charge these at the first sign of dimming...is that correct? I need a little how to as far as getting the most from these CR2 cells. Should I cycle them often or can I re-charge anytime without fear of memory effect?

Robocop,


Yes, you should swap out batteries when the light gets relatively dim (alot of user reports this point to be about 12 minutes or so). The charger's LEDs do change colour when the charge is finished, roughly an hour or so.

Great girlfriend =D

I just got a 3W raw a few days ago as well... How would you rate the brightness of the low and high modes on yours? I'm a little disappointed in mine based on what I have read around here and on Orb's own website. Low mode is about half the brightness of my Arc AAA-P, and on high it's not quite as bright as my HDS U60 (it's closer to the 42 lumen setting). Either something is wrong with mine, or the stats given on this site: http://fident.com/sd_lummi/orbraw.htm are wildly optimstic. As far as the charger goes, I'm not sure what to tell you since mine doesn't seem to work properly (it takes 3 hours for it to charge with the supplied nano charger). I've been using the charger that came with my HDS, and it takes an hour on there.

vtunderground said:

Best...girlfriend...ever.

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Not even close That is a girlfriend that you don't want as a wife because you cannot sneak new lights by her ::

Sideman7 I will have to give my Orb credit as indeed being the brightest light I have as far as size goes. This honor was all about my FF2 until I got this Orb. It puts out almost as much light on high as my FF2 and has a little whiter tint. It is close to my Nuwai QIII (TWOK) on rechargeables with a little smaller spill.
On the low setting it is almost as bright as my old style ARC AAA and gives plenty of light for most tasks. I will say on low the luxeon shifts towards a more brown/yellow tint however on high it is nice and white.

At first I was a little dissapointed as it was daylight when I tried it out and I really could not tell how bright it was. The problem was that I was only getting the low mode and I thought it was very dim. I now thought the batteries needed charging or maybe it was just that dim. I did not realize until later that it had 2 modes and when I put it back together I was able to get both modes and man was I suprised as well as very pleased.

I was skeptical at first and assumed any good light would have to have a circuit for ultimate brightness. I now kind of like the direct drive set up as it can be almost as bright as other lights with electronics and has fewer parts to go wrong. The advancements made with Li-Ion rechargeables has allowed us all a new level of lights to play with.

Maybe you have the lottery going against you however if yours is almost as bright as your HDS thats pretty good in my opinion. If you are saying yours is close to the 42 lumen setting then I think thats a great figure for such a small light.

One more thing....I have a tritium vial on back order with Orb and my light has the slot already milled in the body for this vial. How is the best way to place this vial inside this slot?...Is it as simple as using a little super glue or is there some other method that is better?...How did the others here do their tritium vials?

I just read that link and it does claim between 77 and 100 lumens on high. I believe that may have been for the early runs that had the U bin luxeons in them.
Regardless I am very happy with mine and I would like to find a beamshot of the U-bin Raw vs the standard T-Bins.

Yeah, 77-100 lumens on high and 8-20 on low. I would say mine is about 2 lumens on low. If you say yours is about the same as an old Arc AAA, that sounds about the same as mine since I am comparing this to a new Arc which is way brighter. That being the case, I don't understand the claim of "blowing away other 5mm lights" (on low)...

As far as the tritium goes, mine was backordered as well and he said he would send it later when he got them in with a packet of epoxy. Much to my surprise, it showed up with the tritium installed. Unfortunately, one day after I got it, it appears to have already broken... I have no idea how or when it happened, but it is still glued in place, but with about 1mm missing off of the end.

I am about to compare the low directly to my ARC and will maybe try to get a beamshot later. I do believe the low setting does much better than many 5 mm lights simply as the beam itself is very nice. No artifacts and a good round spill on low thus this may be the reason for the claim of being much better than many 5 MMs.
My friend Owen has an Aleph that has a very nice low beam and he is coming over later tonight. I think the Orb will do very well against his low setting and will give the results later.
All in all I am very happy with this light. The workmanship is incredible and I like the very tight tolerances. The metal reflector is also very nice however has a doughnut void in the beam at about 2 feet from a wall. I think I may be able to cure that later however for now I do enjoy my light and may make a future purchase of some spare parts. I am considering buying a spare PCB board to attatch my own emitter for a spare or I may even buy the 1 watt version as a complete light.

Interesting. I don't see any donut further than about 10" away on mine. The beam is very nice. I like the concept and design of the light. My biggest gripe (which is the complete opposite of what you are saying) is the slop in the threads between the two halves. To make sure the light won't accidently turn on in my pocket, I have to almost completely separate the halves. Otherwise, I can either squeeze the front and back together to turn it on, or even push on one side of the head (perpendicular to the body) to activate it.

Not only does my wife support my hobby she actually has an EDC....a groovy. She has a prefrance for wide, I prefer tight beams.

yaesumofo

yaesumofo said:

Not only does my wife support my hobby she actually has an EDC....a groovy. She has a preference for wide, I prefer tight beams.

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Dang, but if that isn't a straight line... :naughty:

But I'll resist.

Ken

I just received my orb raw about two weeks ago. On low, I say I get around 8 -10 lumens. On high, I don't have much to compare it with but but it is noticeably brighter than my Q3 on rechargeables when I shine it onto a ceiling and light up an entire room.