Well, it just arrived - my new S12, with 2 batteries and charger. Yay!
This won't be jammed full of beamshots and scope graphs I'm afraid, more like the humble musings of a flashlight user. It's also not even dark here yet and I'm still waiting for the battery to top off - that should happen around, oh, September by the looks of it.
Initial impressions - a bit mixed, I have to say. It's a good-looking light, it's well made, the quick test I did with the battery (as shipped) proved that it was bright, and when I have a fully topped cell and it's dark outside I'm sure it'll make me giggle. I love the single cell format, the tint looks good, and I'm not a throw-junkie so I suspect this will be all the grunt I'll need in a handheld light for quite some time.
But the tailcap is disappointing. It really does seem like a bit of a cop-out. I know the current is the big thing here, but by all accounts we're talking well under 10A, surely that isn't beyond human engineering?! The light could easily be an inch or so longer and still be tiny (in fact it might make it a more comfortable handful). As it is, we basically have a $150 state-of-the-art light that is turned off by partially dismantling it.
Using the dot on the tailcap, the only landmarks to align it to are the '4sevens' and 'Maelstrom' logos on opposite sides of the barrel. Done up tight, and powered on, my dot falls about halfway between the two. Undo it a quarter turn and it aligns to the Maelstrom logo and operates well enough as a momentary. There's no positive action or click of course, maybe just 1mm of free-air spring movement until the disc makes contact with the barrel. Undo it a full half-turn more so that it aligns the 4sevens logo and it still works as a momentary, just with another mm or so more travel, but the cap is becoming noticably loose at this point (although there is still a couple more turns before the O-ring is exposed).
A further half-turn is required for lockout, so the dot is aligned once again with the Maelstrom logo. From here, two more full turns exposes the O-ring, then a further 2.5 turns will see the cap off.
So it seems that the simplest way for me to 'understand' this light is to do it all the way up, then back it off half a turn or 1.5 turns depending on whether I want momentary action or lockout. Make no mistake, this is a twisty light with a kind of cheap momentary feature added.
The problem with momentary action, of course, is that it is quite an exposed button and can therefore easily be activated unintentionally. The spring is stiff, but you wouldn't want to put the thing in a bag in this condition. The holster seems to recognise this, with it's 'head down' design. Head down, the momentary button is protected by the stiff flap of the holster. Head up, the flap doesn't quite close, although it would with persistence if that was important to you - but then you'll be activating the pushbutton against the bottom of the holster. The holster is a serious, sturdy bit of kit that I'd imagine is perfect for a LEO etc. Head-down storage (and the wide mouth of the holster) make the light quite easy to grab and return with one hand, but it does make it a bit bulky for the size of the light.
So at this early stage I'm certainly not disappointed with the light, in fact I already quite like it, but it is screaming for someone (ideally 4/7) to design a decent clicky for it.
I'll post again after I've used it a bit (maybe I'll even try and take some beamshots in the Aussie bush).
This won't be jammed full of beamshots and scope graphs I'm afraid, more like the humble musings of a flashlight user. It's also not even dark here yet and I'm still waiting for the battery to top off - that should happen around, oh, September by the looks of it.
Initial impressions - a bit mixed, I have to say. It's a good-looking light, it's well made, the quick test I did with the battery (as shipped) proved that it was bright, and when I have a fully topped cell and it's dark outside I'm sure it'll make me giggle. I love the single cell format, the tint looks good, and I'm not a throw-junkie so I suspect this will be all the grunt I'll need in a handheld light for quite some time.
But the tailcap is disappointing. It really does seem like a bit of a cop-out. I know the current is the big thing here, but by all accounts we're talking well under 10A, surely that isn't beyond human engineering?! The light could easily be an inch or so longer and still be tiny (in fact it might make it a more comfortable handful). As it is, we basically have a $150 state-of-the-art light that is turned off by partially dismantling it.
Using the dot on the tailcap, the only landmarks to align it to are the '4sevens' and 'Maelstrom' logos on opposite sides of the barrel. Done up tight, and powered on, my dot falls about halfway between the two. Undo it a quarter turn and it aligns to the Maelstrom logo and operates well enough as a momentary. There's no positive action or click of course, maybe just 1mm of free-air spring movement until the disc makes contact with the barrel. Undo it a full half-turn more so that it aligns the 4sevens logo and it still works as a momentary, just with another mm or so more travel, but the cap is becoming noticably loose at this point (although there is still a couple more turns before the O-ring is exposed).
A further half-turn is required for lockout, so the dot is aligned once again with the Maelstrom logo. From here, two more full turns exposes the O-ring, then a further 2.5 turns will see the cap off.
So it seems that the simplest way for me to 'understand' this light is to do it all the way up, then back it off half a turn or 1.5 turns depending on whether I want momentary action or lockout. Make no mistake, this is a twisty light with a kind of cheap momentary feature added.
The problem with momentary action, of course, is that it is quite an exposed button and can therefore easily be activated unintentionally. The spring is stiff, but you wouldn't want to put the thing in a bag in this condition. The holster seems to recognise this, with it's 'head down' design. Head down, the momentary button is protected by the stiff flap of the holster. Head up, the flap doesn't quite close, although it would with persistence if that was important to you - but then you'll be activating the pushbutton against the bottom of the holster. The holster is a serious, sturdy bit of kit that I'd imagine is perfect for a LEO etc. Head-down storage (and the wide mouth of the holster) make the light quite easy to grab and return with one hand, but it does make it a bit bulky for the size of the light.
So at this early stage I'm certainly not disappointed with the light, in fact I already quite like it, but it is screaming for someone (ideally 4/7) to design a decent clicky for it.
I'll post again after I've used it a bit (maybe I'll even try and take some beamshots in the Aussie bush).
