ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond
Flashlight Enthusiast
Just this past week I purchased a used SF Titan T1A from the Marketplace for a truly bargain price. There were a couple of very tiny (barely noticeable) nicks in the ano, but as this light was going ride in my pocket I was not very concerned.
In the past two years I have owned two Titan T1A lights, both having been modded by DaFABRICATA. The first one had been modded to a Seoul P4 HiCRI LED and the second modded to a Neutral XP-G. I had loved both lights and used them for about a month or two before turning them loose back onto the Marketplace for one reason or another (can't really remember why but it was most likely to buy another light).
My modding skills have been improving constantly over the past year and I am not afraid to mod almost any light as long as I can get it open. Now, Sufefire's are notoriously the most difficult lights to get open. But, this time around I figured that I had paid so little for this light that I might as well give it a try myself. (Here's where I wish I took pictures) Opening the can on the T1a is the easy part of the job, no glue from hell that requires boiling for 10 minutes - just two simple screws. Getting the circuit board out - well that was the tricky part (along with figuring out the polarity and which way everything went back together). With the circuit board out I was able to access the LED board. I swapped it out for a T4-E5 XM-L mounted onto an 8x1mm mPCB and spaced with an extra 1mm copper slug. First time I glued it down with AA the LED was off center and that just wouldn't do. A second gluing proved to work better for a nearly perfectly centered LED. Putting the light back together took some time and patience. But patience, with a little helical grease to add some weight to the spin, payed off and everything went together just fine.
So why do I love this light? It is the perfect little companion for around the house use.
Is it better than the Sunwayman V10R Ti. In some ways yes.
The lowest-of-lows on this light is amazing. At it's lowest setting you can literally put the light right up to your eyeball and look comfortably right into the die. Some serious thought went into this lights range of low levels because the UI of the light is not fully linear. It spends about 50% of the rotation very slowly going through a very nice range of low levels. The final 50% of the range ramps up more quickly to a very nice high level for indoor use. I've calculate, with loses, that the OTF is around 150 lumens. Visually through a ceiling bounce this appears inline with a comparison to other known lights.
Something I've noticed, which I have not yet read in the many reviews on the T1A, is that the UI uses soft ramping on the power down. It doesn't change levels immediately. If you put the light on high and very quickly turn it down you will can watch the light continue to ramp down to the level you've set. Subtle yet very cool feature.
Although it can't run on RCR123 cells, it can run on LiFePO4 (3.0v) 16350 rechargeables. This is fine with me.
Well, thank you for reading if you've actually made it to this point. I know I haven't said anything really new here but it feels good to express the pleasure this light brings me.
In the past two years I have owned two Titan T1A lights, both having been modded by DaFABRICATA. The first one had been modded to a Seoul P4 HiCRI LED and the second modded to a Neutral XP-G. I had loved both lights and used them for about a month or two before turning them loose back onto the Marketplace for one reason or another (can't really remember why but it was most likely to buy another light).
My modding skills have been improving constantly over the past year and I am not afraid to mod almost any light as long as I can get it open. Now, Sufefire's are notoriously the most difficult lights to get open. But, this time around I figured that I had paid so little for this light that I might as well give it a try myself. (Here's where I wish I took pictures) Opening the can on the T1a is the easy part of the job, no glue from hell that requires boiling for 10 minutes - just two simple screws. Getting the circuit board out - well that was the tricky part (along with figuring out the polarity and which way everything went back together). With the circuit board out I was able to access the LED board. I swapped it out for a T4-E5 XM-L mounted onto an 8x1mm mPCB and spaced with an extra 1mm copper slug. First time I glued it down with AA the LED was off center and that just wouldn't do. A second gluing proved to work better for a nearly perfectly centered LED. Putting the light back together took some time and patience. But patience, with a little helical grease to add some weight to the spin, payed off and everything went together just fine.
So why do I love this light? It is the perfect little companion for around the house use.
Is it better than the Sunwayman V10R Ti. In some ways yes.
- Much nicer beam. With the XM-L it has a huge spot and a big floody spill.
- It definitely has the lowest low going out there. I think the Spys are the only other lights that can get this low.
- It is much more efficient than the V10R in the low mode. V10R has more overhead for the circuitry.
- When running in the lowest of modes it only pulls ~11mA from a primary CR123.
The lowest-of-lows on this light is amazing. At it's lowest setting you can literally put the light right up to your eyeball and look comfortably right into the die. Some serious thought went into this lights range of low levels because the UI of the light is not fully linear. It spends about 50% of the rotation very slowly going through a very nice range of low levels. The final 50% of the range ramps up more quickly to a very nice high level for indoor use. I've calculate, with loses, that the OTF is around 150 lumens. Visually through a ceiling bounce this appears inline with a comparison to other known lights.
Something I've noticed, which I have not yet read in the many reviews on the T1A, is that the UI uses soft ramping on the power down. It doesn't change levels immediately. If you put the light on high and very quickly turn it down you will can watch the light continue to ramp down to the level you've set. Subtle yet very cool feature.
Although it can't run on RCR123 cells, it can run on LiFePO4 (3.0v) 16350 rechargeables. This is fine with me.
Well, thank you for reading if you've actually made it to this point. I know I haven't said anything really new here but it feels good to express the pleasure this light brings me.
