old4570
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yes , its here at last , the Balder HD-1 .
And a nice little light it is to.
Some pictures.
Just a quick note , the Oring belongs in the front grove , and Im not sure how it ended up here , but the front grove folks , OK!
Now this is a pre-production sample , and I haven't measured anything as yet .
So lets talk about what I can for now .
This light is very well made , its small , has two modes , has a XP-G R5 emitter , looks to be bright on a single AA [ high ] , supports the 14500 [ not tested ] . Anodizing and knurl-ling are very well done , and 0 battery slop to speak off , in fact some larger AA batteries [ diameter ] may not fit as the plunger tube is some what a snug fit on a AA. Now the way the light works , it appears to maintain contact [ circuit ] and when you break the contact , the light turns on , changes modes and turns off . If you leave it off for a while you need to push the button for at least a full second to get the light back on [ feature to stop accidental activation ? ] otherwise just a quick push changes modes and turns the light on or off . Now you don't need to push the button forwards like a nutter , you only need to push forwards far enough to break contact with the back of the body, so a 1mm push should do.
So far Im very impressed , haven't taken the Multimeter to the light , or done any tests , other than simply use the light and take some pictures. So nothing negative to report so far , except to thank Balder for sending me this light , cos I really like it . Just the size , the feel , the usability , quality , what can I say , even the clip looks to have been beefed up . Its early days , and while I am impressed all to heck so far , and I really am , lets see what the Light box and Multimeter have to say .To be updated !
Ok some performance figures :
High pulls some 1.8A from a Nimh , and when the light settles with a fully charged nimh you get some 126Lumen
Low produces some 1 Lumen [ Moon mode ] and at 0.056A current draw , your looking at some 40 hours .
A fresh Alkaline returned some 113Lumen
Now with this sort of activation the first thing to cross my mind was parasitic drain , when the light is turned of , I measured some 0.007A , but within some 10 seconds the current had gone from 0.007A to 0.001A and then nothing , yep ! The light turns off . I held the MM in place till my hands got sore and detected nothing , so WOW !
The only thing I would like to see is a medium mode ( 20Lumen ) , but this is just me , I really like 20Lumen .
14500 ………….
2A Current draw in High ( thats a lot ) , output was 260+Lumen but the sag was rather serious ( heat ) .
Starting around 265L the light hit 200L within 3 seconds and continued to sag as the head began to warm , I stopped @ 170L as the head was heating up and output was dropping and there was no real slowing down in the process.
Low gave some 2L and current draw was 0.020A
I would love to see this light simply optimized for the AA as with such a small host I really cant see the point in supporting the 14500. Having a better regulated light that only runs AA would be much better. To get decent performance out of the AA you end up with a hotrod 14500 and all the associated issues such as heat and output sag . The 14500 is too much for this light , its seriously over driven and suffers for it .
Some 14500 protected batteries may be to long to function in this light . You may need to loosen the head to get the tail clicky to work .
Last Word ? …………………
Make it AA only , better regulation , and 3 mode . Now aside from personal wants [ on my part ] , this light works , it feels great in the hand , its a fantastic format . There is no mode memory , you turn it on [ High ] , then cycle to Low and then turn the light off [ no short cuts ] , You have to cycle through the modes . This is fine , I had no issue with this [ cycling through the modes – there are only two ] The light is both basic and high tech at the same time , [ basic in the sense you have to cycle through the modes , high tech as it actually turns off ] . Congratulations to whom ever at Balder for this one , as is , this is a very nice light with some serious potential . And who say's you cant build variations on this body . HD-1A , HD-1B etc with maybe different driver options [ one to please everyone ]
XP-G R5 [ Keep forgetting Pre-production has XP-E for some reason , helps explain the intolerance to 14500 ]
2 modes [ No memory – no short cuts ]
Extremely well made
Updated clip
Tailstands
Comes with defuser
Compact size
Threads are well cut and smooth
OP reflector
Glass lens
Well anodized
Knurling well cut
No parasitic drain
This was a pre-production sample , the concept is simply outstanding , It works and works well , and I am impressed by this sample , and would love to see some refinement [ drop support for the 14500 and optimize it for the AA ] , the potential is there for this light to be superb , and maybe a serious contender for the must have AA flashlight for flashaholics . If it sounds like I cant say enough nice things , well its true , I just dont know how to praise this light and not sound like a suck-up , and in no way am I trying to suck-up , but how do I express the impression this little light has left on me? Its been a very long time since Ive been this excited about a flashlight , [ Solarforce L2 ] , and this is a pre-production sample which makes me wonder what direction Balder may go with this light . As it is ATM , I would recommend it , and tell you its Good. There is room for improvement how ever [ Driver ], and I can see in my minds eye the potential this light has and I would just like to say to whom ever is listening , Make it great ! Make it legendary ! The potential is there .
Will post some beam shots tonight
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