firelord777
Enlightened
Sometimes, I really wonder how I lived for years without high end flashlights. It literally shocks me. It's not that I am dependant on them, but the sheer joy of having something that blasts the dark with light.
Today, we have here a new light from Yi Light. I bet many of you are saying, who the heck is Yi Light? Personally, I would have gone with maybe Yo light, get it, yo' light? I'm not much of a comedian…
Anyways, they are the new "brand on the block". They have been around since 2006, though the flashlight department recently was founded. The company basically made auto parts, plastic products, and now, well, flashlights. Maybe it was an attempt to provide light to mechanics or something but accidently decided to dive in the flashlight world. Whatever the case, they sent me a sample of the AK21. Check it out:
The AK21 has some familiar marketing designs as Fenix, one of the aspects that impressed me the most. The AK21 is quite versatile, right off the bat I can tell you that you can put on various diffusers, color filters, remote pressure thingies, and even set the light securely onto a tripod. Sold separately of course...
Here are some more pictures:
White Wall Beamshots:
All reduced exposures are in equal increments, but first, some dramatic pictures to build suspense…
The four competitors are:
1. Yi Light AK21
2. Nitefighter F30C
3. Crelant V6CS (Full review coming up)
4. Fenix LD41
Before we start the white wall beamshots, let's take a look at the three output levels of the AK21. The AK21 has PWM on low and mid, but it is current controlled on high,
Low:
Mid:
High:
Now we start the competition, starting with the AK21. You already saw the high mode, the rest are reduced exposures:
Nitefighter F30C
Crelant V6CS:
Fenix LD41:
Swim Class
HEY!!! That's not how you do the breast stroke you dumb flashlight!!! You call yourself fit for human use? You're going to have to replace your o-rings with some flotation rings if you wanna live!!! Plan on ending up stuck on the ocean floor forever?
All joking aside (again, I'm a bad joker), the AK21 passed the real test with flying colors. It is confirmed waterproof, though I would heed caution SCUBA diving with it.
Everything About the AK21:
The AK21 incorporates a magnetic ring that revolves around the neck of the head. It is exactly 180 degrees. The three main modes: low, mid, and high, are all within a 90 degree turn of the ring. Strobe is farther, at a full 180 degree twist or 90 degrees from high. Thankfully, Yi Light has these dots to tell you which mode you're in, so you don't have to guess where you are. An advantage of this is that you can set the mode you want the light to turn on from, before you even turn it off.
This ring system is also much smoother and easier to twist than the Fenix TA21, which requires almost 80% of your total hand muscles if you want to turn it one handedly. The AK21 can very easily be used by one hand, almost effortlessly.
Now, the ring does produce some noise in the forms of clicks whenever you switch modes, which may be a disturbance with those that have a "tactical" mindset.
The stainless steel crenulated bezel on the light can simply be unscrewed off, yet, Yi Light managed to design it so that when you put it back on, it stays on without play. Furthermore, removing the bezel doesn't affect the flashlight performance wise, so you can choose to keep it bezel free without worrying about it, it doesn't even affect waterproofing in anyway.
One nitpick with the AK21 is that to me, it sometimes appears slightly underdriven compared to other lights I have. It's still more than bright enough, but if you already have a few lights in this class, it may not seem impressive. The tint also leans onto the neutral side, so on my sample it seems a bit yellow compared to the cool white tint of my other lights.
No matter how I try, I cannot get the light to tailstand on its own. The grip ring is metal and does a fantastic job at holding the light. Seriously, it's by far the most comfortable grip ring design yet, for me, even though in the pictures it may seem a bit strange and uneven. Trust me, don't worry about it, you'll learn to love it.
The clip is very strong and secure. No problems here.
If you would like to check out Yi Light, here is their site:
Link removed per this policy.
As always, if you have any questions and requests, I would be happy to help you out, just post it here or shoot me a PM,
Cheers,
Alain
Today, we have here a new light from Yi Light. I bet many of you are saying, who the heck is Yi Light? Personally, I would have gone with maybe Yo light, get it, yo' light? I'm not much of a comedian…
Anyways, they are the new "brand on the block". They have been around since 2006, though the flashlight department recently was founded. The company basically made auto parts, plastic products, and now, well, flashlights. Maybe it was an attempt to provide light to mechanics or something but accidently decided to dive in the flashlight world. Whatever the case, they sent me a sample of the AK21. Check it out:
The AK21 has some familiar marketing designs as Fenix, one of the aspects that impressed me the most. The AK21 is quite versatile, right off the bat I can tell you that you can put on various diffusers, color filters, remote pressure thingies, and even set the light securely onto a tripod. Sold separately of course...
Here are some more pictures:
White Wall Beamshots:
All reduced exposures are in equal increments, but first, some dramatic pictures to build suspense…
The four competitors are:
1. Yi Light AK21
2. Nitefighter F30C
3. Crelant V6CS (Full review coming up)
4. Fenix LD41
Before we start the white wall beamshots, let's take a look at the three output levels of the AK21. The AK21 has PWM on low and mid, but it is current controlled on high,
Low:
Mid:
High:
Now we start the competition, starting with the AK21. You already saw the high mode, the rest are reduced exposures:
Nitefighter F30C
Crelant V6CS:
Fenix LD41:
Swim Class
HEY!!! That's not how you do the breast stroke you dumb flashlight!!! You call yourself fit for human use? You're going to have to replace your o-rings with some flotation rings if you wanna live!!! Plan on ending up stuck on the ocean floor forever?
All joking aside (again, I'm a bad joker), the AK21 passed the real test with flying colors. It is confirmed waterproof, though I would heed caution SCUBA diving with it.
Everything About the AK21:
The AK21 incorporates a magnetic ring that revolves around the neck of the head. It is exactly 180 degrees. The three main modes: low, mid, and high, are all within a 90 degree turn of the ring. Strobe is farther, at a full 180 degree twist or 90 degrees from high. Thankfully, Yi Light has these dots to tell you which mode you're in, so you don't have to guess where you are. An advantage of this is that you can set the mode you want the light to turn on from, before you even turn it off.
This ring system is also much smoother and easier to twist than the Fenix TA21, which requires almost 80% of your total hand muscles if you want to turn it one handedly. The AK21 can very easily be used by one hand, almost effortlessly.
Now, the ring does produce some noise in the forms of clicks whenever you switch modes, which may be a disturbance with those that have a "tactical" mindset.
The stainless steel crenulated bezel on the light can simply be unscrewed off, yet, Yi Light managed to design it so that when you put it back on, it stays on without play. Furthermore, removing the bezel doesn't affect the flashlight performance wise, so you can choose to keep it bezel free without worrying about it, it doesn't even affect waterproofing in anyway.
One nitpick with the AK21 is that to me, it sometimes appears slightly underdriven compared to other lights I have. It's still more than bright enough, but if you already have a few lights in this class, it may not seem impressive. The tint also leans onto the neutral side, so on my sample it seems a bit yellow compared to the cool white tint of my other lights.
No matter how I try, I cannot get the light to tailstand on its own. The grip ring is metal and does a fantastic job at holding the light. Seriously, it's by far the most comfortable grip ring design yet, for me, even though in the pictures it may seem a bit strange and uneven. Trust me, don't worry about it, you'll learn to love it.
The clip is very strong and secure. No problems here.
If you would like to check out Yi Light, here is their site:
Link removed per this policy.
As always, if you have any questions and requests, I would be happy to help you out, just post it here or shoot me a PM,
Cheers,
Alain
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