Got My Illuminati!

Sorry, my camera sucks and I'm not much of a photographer.
More to come....

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:
-As we already knew, this light aesthetically looks stunning.
-The crab claw chain is really nice, matches the light perfectly and closes very firmly. I do not think this will be falling off by accident.
-The threads do come very tight. Will definitely have to lube them and work them a bit.
-The "low" is much higher than stated(at least on this one). Compared to my LOD, they are almost the same on low. The Illuminati is then of course brighter on medium and much brighter on high.
-The beam is quite nice. The tint is a cool white, maybe a little too cool. It looks great on its own but it seems a bit blue compared to the LOD which it makes look a bit green yellowish. They are both very nice whites though IMO. The OP reflector is very nice, I can maybe make out a little ringy-ness, but for the most part the beam is totally smooth from hotspot to spill.
-This light has a lot of spill and the spill can be quite bright.
-The light is much lighter than I thought it would be, seems about the same as the LOD even with the large keychain. However maybe my hands cant distinguish the minute differences in weights.
-has a spring to protect the battery.
-When the light is on, it gets warm very fast which worried me, but after running it for a few minutes it didn't seem to get any warmer, which seems like a good sign. I think it might just be running the Energizer L92's, since the LOD gets warm on them as well.(I've never really used lithiums before besides cr123's).

Overall, seems like a great upgrade to me. If I had to be critical the only real complaint I have is the threads. It is so tight that sometimes I can't get it to come on in the right mode. I am confident though a little work will fix it up.

EDIT: On further use, the threads have loosened up considerably and the tint is actually quite perfectly white. It is really silly sometimes trying to compare various shades of white. Both the illuminati and the fenix are very nice white tints.

BEAMSHOTS:

Illuminati(left), Fenix LOD-CE(right) - both on high

Looks nice. Nice packaging.

Just like the Maratac AAA and the iTP A3 EOS, I think the keychain attachment is too big for the light.

Clean and re-lube the threads after a few dozen twists. When you do, you'll see they are beautifully cut (assuming they are like mine). :thumbsup:

I've never really needed to clean the threads of any of my lights before, how should I do this?

Black Rose said:

Looks nice. Nice packaging.

Just like the Maratac AAA and the iTP A3 EOS, I think the keychain attachment is too big for the light.

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I could see that, and honestly I too may ditch the keychain to save space on my keychain at some point. I do want to emphasize that it is a really nice attachment though. The clasp is really well made.

sol-leks said:

I've never really needed to clean the threads of any of my lights before, how should I do this?

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Remove o-ring and clean it. Use rag which is damp with isopropyl alcohol.

wipe off all grease with a rag, using fingernail through rag into threads.

Remove grease from head with q-tip, and round wooden toothpick around in the threads while you turn the head. Repeat until q-tips come clean.

Re-lube (with something recommended at CPF) in the o-ring slot. Install o-ring, apply new lube to outside of o-ring and tube threads.

Thanks! Anyone want to recommend a lubricant to me so I can be lazy and not use the search?

Nice, now bust out the Mothers polish and make it shinier.

sol-leks said:

Thanks! Anyone want to recommend a lubricant to me so I can be lazy and not use the search?

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I use Nyogel 760 and Nano-Oil 10w. They both work great together. After cleaning the threads I apply Nyogel first and a bit of Nano-oil on it. This helps a lot to smooth the twist action.

The biggest help to all of my ti aaa's has been to use the head and body of my ano'ed itp aaa, after all the ano'ed surface is harder than the ti and it cleans and polishes the ti threads and speeds up the break in process. My one gripe is that the attachment hole is so small that the split ring barely fits and doesn't move much at all. I like all of the ti aaa's other than some emitter and cosmetic differences they are the same.(probably came out of the same factory)This is a cool time to be into lights.
Chris

sol-leks said:

Thanks! Anyone want to recommend a lubricant to me so I can be lazy and not use the search?

Click to expand...

Comprehensive Grease and Lube Thread

EngrPaul said:

Comprehensive Grease and Lube Thread

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Thanks, that is awesome. I am going to go out today and take care of my new baby.

more pictures, don't be a tease

Ok I'll try. I took some white wall shots last night but they are hard to do, especially with my limited skills and shoddy camera. I will try again tonight tho.

Btw, thanks for the tip about switching the heads of my lights, the lod and the illuminati's heads actually fit on the others bodies pefectly. The illuminati works perfectly, actually better really, on the LOD's body, but the LOD head is too big for the illuminati body, but the threads fit either way.

A little toothpaste has also been suggested before as a lapping agent for breaking in tight, grinding Ti threads.

Remove the o-ring and wipe off the existing lube. Then apply a little toothpaste and twist clockwise and anti-clockwise a couple of dozen times.

Then clean it up again. Re-attach the o-ring and apply some good lube for Ti such as the 50-50 Krytox blend.
(It might still be available from the Sandwich Shoppe)

Sol-lex,

Looks like a very nice light. My guess is, the Illuminati is on the left? I may be looking into this one as an upgrade to my LOD.

sol-leks said:

Illuminati(right), Fenix LOD-CE(left) - both on high

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DoubleDutch said:

Sol-lex,

Looks like a very nice light. My guess is, the Illuminati is on the left? I may be looking into this one as an upgrade to my LOD.

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lets hope so (so I can justify replacing my L0D)...definitely looks brighter. the text says the Illuminati is brighter, which would affirm your guess

Haha, you are right I mixed them up, the Illuminati is definitely on the left and the brighter one. The picture doesnt even do it full justice.

thanks! i think you just cost me $50 :twothumbs

Theres one available in MP with XPG as of "now" (no affiliation with seller)