PEAK LED FR400 and El Capitan Review

Moderator please post in the review forum if applicable, thanks
Got these two lights after waiting about a week. They only ship UPS which I thought would be faster but I told them to make it ground because air to Hawaii is expensive. Ironically you can ship ground to Hawaii, go figure.
Yes their website is bad and their ordering page is not much better but I had read so many good reviews I decided to buy from the anyway. Because I wanted a different battery tube than what was listed I had to call PEAK to place my order since the ordering page doesnt seem to list much in the way of options. Bob at peak is a nice enough guy but seemed a little slow with the computerized credit card system. But hey if the light is great then i think such an inconvenience is worth it. Also as Bob generally sells certain models more than others not all options are stocked and he did not seem to know all the stats on the various options that I had questions about. He was good enough to pull out his measuring tape and find out what I asked about though which I think is good service.

So they came in a small box wrapped in bubble wrap, nothing fancy. No receipt but oh well.

So first the FR400 because its the main expensive light I wanted. Using it to replace my MRV Q2 for a duty light.
I got the adjustable version for $220.00
http://www.em-mgt.com/LED/FR400.html

1. The body is different than pictured but I wanted one that is an 18650 body as the pictured one that has the option to run off of AA batteries too is too long for my holster. Its not a usual knurling, rather a spiral sort of design. Its not the same but it feels aggressive enough to not slip. Anodizing looks basic, ind of dull, but this is not meant to be a pretty light. Its not as heavy as my MRV which can bee good or bad. Maybe the thermal ability is not as great but the PEAK has cooling fins...

2. The adjustment knob is interesting. Its simple in operation and can be turned one handed. You have to sort of reposition the light depending on your grip to reach the knob but it works. It does not offer much resistance. It does not have any wiggle room or feel cheap but if the light were to rotate in my hand the knob could be turned my my stationary pinky. Maybe not a problem. In operation I found that the entire turn is not utilized. It reaches its highest level at about half way through the turn. Maybe with 2 cells which is supposed to have 30 percent more brightness or so utilizes more of the turn? EDIT: Upon using this light at work I found that depending on how it was positioned in my holster that when I grabbed the light my finger would rub against the dial and it would turn a little bit. Since it requires almost a half turn before it goes dimmer I am not to worried, I just made sure to reset the dial. A harder to turn dial would solve this problem but would also make single hand operation more difficult.

3. The tail cap works as you would expect. It has temporary on. It cannot stand because the button protrudes slightly but in my holster the weight of the flashlight does not make it come on. It cannot tail stand. Interesting thing is that the recessed button is not actually recessed but has a removable sleeve so it can act as a protected button or an unprotected button.

4. The reflector assembly and a protecting lens are held on by some sort of black plastic ring that threads onto the head of the light. Not sure what type but it might be delrin. Surprisingly there are no o rings to seal off the head of the light. It seems like it would need 2 for a proper seal. I will check with peak to see if this is right.

5. Output seems good. I don't have much current to compare it to other than my Q2 MRV. I will use 1 18650 batter for it. Side by side the PEAK is of course brighter whit a wider hotspot but a more narrow flood.
Low is very low, sort of moon mode low. High is well high. There are some artifacts in the beam but no weird rings, just sort of spots that are lightly darker. The beam is also squarish at close range. I don't think I would notice it unless I point it up close at a white wall. The transition from hot spot to flood is not smooth and gradual, rather there appears to be the bright hotspot, a slightly larger maybe medium brightness secondary hot spot and then the dimmer flood area. Its not ugly or anything its just that up close you can see the transition area. The overall beam is a good deal more narrow than my MRV which I figured was going to happen but I accept that. It seems comparable to the Pelican 7060 but Ill have to try that later at work. Its bright right now so I cant see how well it throws.

OVERALL: I used this light at work today a few times. It compared it to thePelican 7060 and the throw distance was comparable. The 7060 with its very narrow reflector does a pretty good job at throwing. The FR400 has a little bit wider flood which is better.
This light is not going to win any throw competitions but it will still reach out and light up a target. The important note, I think, is that the hotspot that does reach out is nice and large so you can see a wider area at distance than you might with some of thrower kings right now. I will compare it to my friends M30 later this week.



Now for the EL CAPITAN:

Got the aluminum version with a stainless steel switch in a #8 power with a narrow beam
1. The body is not much to look at, a tube with some knurling. With the button it is longer than my Nitecore D10 but a little bit skinnier which is nice for the pockets.

2. The switch is easy enough to install. It was my understanding that the switch would be for temporary on and if you wanted constant on you turn the head all the way down. I don't know if mine is broken but with the head fully tightened the light doesn't come on. I will ask PEAK about this. Also it seems that when I push the bottom the light sort of flickers even with a fresh charged nimh AA. Pushed all the way in it seems to generally stay at high but anything less and it kind of flickers randomly low to high. Maybe the contacts are dirty.

3. It has a rather wide hot spot with zero artifacts. The flood is very smooth but not real bright, haven't tried it out in the real dark to see yet though. The nitecore D10 appears like it will throw farther because it has a brighter and smaller hotspot whereas the El is wider but not as bright. Advantages depend on the application. I thin if you are working on a car engine the wider hotspot will be much more useful. It should fit in my zebralight head strap. The El Capitan also seems to have a slight greenish tint whereas my D10 seems a little warmer. Maybe this is just how the R5s are?Capitan
Tried a 14500 in the El Capitan and it is much brighter, even than the hot spot of the Nitecore D10's hotspot with a NiMH AA cell.

OVERALL I am not sure what to think of the light. It handmade in America but I am not all that impressed with the beam other than its perfect shape. Maybe a wide hotspot is something I will find more useful las I use the light. Unfortunately there is no pocket clip option or keychain option with the switch installed but I knew that was going to be like that. If there is no constant on option with the switch installed then I might have to run the keychain ring but I think I will end up sticking to my Nitecore D10 as my keychain light.
I think that if I had ordered this in a low level, maybe #2 or 3 it would have been a great camping and survival light with its smooth wide hotspot, low level and long runtime.

All photos were taken with shutter speed and aperture as the photo to the side but the photos from top to bottom have different shutter speeds.

FR400 and MRV were taken on 1x18650 cell

FR400 is on the left, MRV Q2 is on the right. Top photo is about 3 feet from the wall, middle photo is about 5 feet and the bottom photo is about 8-10 inches from the wall just to show the beam profiles.
Notice how the FR400 has a much larger hotspot. I have found this very useful at work. Also notice how the MRV has a much wider spill.


FR400 and MRV


Showing the optic. Also shows the plastic retainer ring.


Shows the button and removable ring.


Looks like it would be easy to mod by replacing the LED.



For the El Capitan

El Capitan top, Dd10 bottom


Optic. Notice the interesting little clear hole in the middle of the frosted part.


El Capitan on the left, D10 on the right. Notice this nice smooth wide hot spot on the el capitan. Also the greenish tint and somewhat dim performance. I actually found the my 4th generation Inova X1 produced a brighter hotspot that would throw farther, but not as wide and not sure if overall output was brighter or not.
Note that with the 14500 cell it was a lit brighter. Maybe even brighter than the D10 with the 14500 but I didn't take a picture and only had my eyes to judge before and after not side to side.

Photos posted.

Nice review!

two things to point out the FR400 can tail stand using the removable sleeve, extended it past the clicky (just a little bit) and it will tail stand. I also had the same issue you had with the clicky on the Eiger, but on a Logan & a 2AAA Eiger, when i called Curt at Peak he told me that in the momentary switch there is a spring just extended the spring a bit and it will stay on when the head is fully tightended.

The Optic in your El Cap narrow looks different from mine which is also a #8 narrow. Mine has no "hole" in the center.:shrug:

jabe1 said:

The Optic in your El Cap narrow looks different from mine which is also a #8 narrow. Mine has no "hole" in the center.:shrug:

Click to expand...

What do you think about the beam profile and the output compared to yours?

My El Cap #8 narrow has the the small clear circle just like yours. I don't have any way to measure output between standard AA and an AW14500 but when I put in the 14500 I noticed a big difference, especially outdoors. The post below has picks comparing the difference between the AA and 14500 that I got in my El Cap.

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/255177

Mine is a slightly more defined hotspot, with a squarish spillbeam surrounding it. Right now Curt has it in for a tune-up.

I called curt and asked him about the output. He said that the #8 feeds about 190 milliamps off of a AA battery which he said should put out about 80 lumens.
To me the light seems dimmer than 80 lumens, more comparable to mr 4th generation Inova X1 which is labeled at 25 lumens but I think does at least twice that....

As for the button operation he told me that I may need to stretch the spring. Sure enough I stretched the spring a little bit and now it works as a twisty for constant on and a button for temporary on. He said if that does not solve the flickering then try cleaning the contacts which I have not gotten around to doing yet.

I guess the old adage "Perception is Reality" is true. I had no specific expectations when I ordered my SS, knurled, #8 power, narrow beam, El Cap - all I had seen was one post showing a AA vs a 14500. I was impressed with the USA made, single power light. When I received the light I was very impressed with the quality. With an AW 14500, the output was amazing. I am VERY happy with the light. The build quality is amazing and the output is outstanding, considering the size. Although this is my first Peak, I'm sure it will not be my last.

UPDATE:

I stretched the spring a little bit and the constant on works with the temporary switch so problem solved. I also cleaned the contacts. It flickers less but it still flickers.
With the 14500 the output is great though. Maybe ill stick to the higher voltage peaks.

eyeeatingfish said:

UPDATE:
I stretched the spring a little bit and the constant on works with the temporary switch so problem solved. I also cleaned the contacts. It flickers less but it still flickers..

Click to expand...

My Peak stainless steel switch flickers, too, even after cleaning. I tried it with Matterhorns and Carribeans. It remains in a drawer due to the annoying flickering.

I wonder if the stainless steel has anything to do with it? I know it is not as good for electrical transmittence as brass right?
Maybe softer brass makes a better connection?
I dont know that brass solves the flickering problem just wondering.

Update:
Today at work I dropped the light onto asphalt from about 4 feet, waist level.

I picked up the light to see if I had nicked it up and it seemed ok.
But when I looked at the business end the optic looked weird. I unscrewed the retaining bezel ring and I found that the optic was cracked.
THe think lip on the optic had multiple small cracks in it and the edges were falling off. The main cone itself was fine but the small lip that is around the end and would be touching the other lens and retaining ring was breaking off.

Now the lens doesnt seem to sit perfectly level and the beam profile seems to be a little lopsided but not real bad. There were always some artifacts from the optic but it is hard to tell whether this caused new artifacts from reflecting off the broken area.


Thing is I don't know if this happened from the fall or not. The retaining ring is supposed to be a really tough unbreakable plastic so I can't imagine that it really transfered a lot of shock to the optic.
It was not like this when I first got the light. Did I tighten the bezel too tight? I thing I would have heard a crack if that happend...


Well a little dissapointed. I will call peak about a replacement/repair.
Also I wish this threw a bit farther. I love the very large hot spot, dont like lack of wider flood and wish it would throw a little better.
I am wondering if maybe I should sell this and get the jetbeam RRT-1. I really would prefer a good american made thrower though that can fit on my belt. I am sure I could get most of my money back if I put it in the market place.

Thoughts?

I'm about to receive a Nailbender SST-50 pill for my Dereelight DBS V3. I imagine that this will be a great little compact thrower and I hear Dereelight is also releasing an SST-50 DB3 version of their own (or has already) as well. The host (Dereelight) may not be american, but the drop-in (Nailbender) is. My other suggestion is to look at Oveready.com and get one of his excellent surefire P or C series hosts and then talk to Nailbender (or go Malkoff) about a great drop in. This solution would be 100% American from the host to the custom work, on out... Sorry the Peak did not work out, they are great lights, but I also understand the need.... Either way, the above suggestions will keep you under 200.00 for some serious lightage assuming you already own all of the various batteries and chargers.

For throw vs. Flood, I think the DBv3 may be the better option for throw as the P60 reflectors just don't have the depth needed for harnessing the bigger pills, but an XP-E would work if the P60 format were needed. In the SST-50 world, the P60 is nice, but my P60 drop in is more of a wall of light vs a thrower. I'm hoping the DBv3 version will change that.

If you go Surefire host, I think Nailbender is the way to go as his drop-ins are fully customizable, from LED, to driver, regulation or not, levels (1-5 or single level of output), etc. You just don't get that with Malkoff

My 2 cents, hope this was not overkill!

Update: The SST-50 in the Dereelight is a keeper! Seriously impressively huge bright beam and great throw...

I have an update for this light. This actually happened a while ago but I am only getting around to telling about it now.

One day at work I was using my F400 and i accidentally dropped it. Well it might have been dropped more than once, but anywho the beam seemed funny. I took it apart and found that the lip on the optic had craked partially off so the optic was not sitting properly which affected throw.

Anywho i think I mentioned this in a thread somewhere but had not called the company. When I did callthe company about a spare it turns out they had heard about the problem and were already working on a new design. Curt explained that he tested the same thing on another light and found it cracked too so he was going to get me replacement parts free of charge. Great customer service to have them working on a problem before you even tell them about it. So after a little while they send a new optic, a new bezel thingy and an oring that works to absorb shock and whatnot.

On another note of good service I was explaining my dissatisfaction with the lack of flood. I found that I really needed more flood at work. I asked for designs so I could order a custom reflector. He explained that it was kind of complicated because the reflector has to be made to sit at a specifid height in relation to the LED. He told me he would send the optic that they use in teh FR600 (the P7 one) for free! He told me that it should give a floodier beam pattern and if that did not help then we could figure something else out!.

Where else are you going to find customer service like that? I am looking forward to seeing how much flood my F400 could get.

Hi, it is sure hard to beat Peak for customer service, isn't it. What a great outfit.

One thing that is under appreciated about optics is the effect of handling them on the beam. It doesn't take all that much skin oil ANYWHERE on them to reduce their output. I like optics a lot, but the reality is that you need to keep them really clean.

If you can, only handle an optic with clean, cotton gloves, similar to what you might do if you were touching the front of a lens of an expensive camera. Washing your hands carefully before putting the gloves on is also a good idea. The rim is there for glove handling, the rest is there for optical effects.

If you do happen to touch the optic, I have had some luck cleaning them using the 90% rubbing alcohol that is sold at pharmacies. Don't use hardware store stuff, as it has other oils in it.