andrewnewman
Enlightened
So I recently got an Olight "Hiker" 2011 holiday set and it included a TC15SS light. I'm still trying to get my brain around this thing. It's super heavy (like a roll of quarters) and shinier than any light I own. The XPG emitter is nice creamy neutral white and the reflector is on par with a Quark. So far (excepting the weight) lots of stuff to like.
Then there is the control board. It's like an exercise in what not to do. The light works off of either an AA NiMH battery or 14500 (or alkaline or lithium primary I suppose).
With NiMH, the two settings are so close as to be indistinguishable once the battery depletes past 1.3V under load. They are both bright enough to have very short runtimes.
With 14500 the difference between low and high is meaningful but I would never run it on the high for more than a minute or two due to the lousy SS heat sinking.
Finally just to make it harder to love, the light has *memory*. With two brightness settings and a non-hidden strobe, it even bothers to remember the stobe setting!!!
The light is just too cool and shiny to give up on but I really need to swap out the control board with something more sensible (I'll lose the ability to use 14500, for instance, for better lumen control and no memory). Anyone know what my choices are? I want to preserve the excellent neutral XPG.
Then there is the control board. It's like an exercise in what not to do. The light works off of either an AA NiMH battery or 14500 (or alkaline or lithium primary I suppose).
With NiMH, the two settings are so close as to be indistinguishable once the battery depletes past 1.3V under load. They are both bright enough to have very short runtimes.
With 14500 the difference between low and high is meaningful but I would never run it on the high for more than a minute or two due to the lousy SS heat sinking.
Finally just to make it harder to love, the light has *memory*. With two brightness settings and a non-hidden strobe, it even bothers to remember the stobe setting!!!
The light is just too cool and shiny to give up on but I really need to swap out the control board with something more sensible (I'll lose the ability to use 14500, for instance, for better lumen control and no memory). Anyone know what my choices are? I want to preserve the excellent neutral XPG.
