CPF's opinion on the light I just Kickstartered

TDSP · Jun 21, 2013

Long time listener, first time poster. I actually discovered this forum when I was looking for information on the Helioslight debaucle.

Which brings me to my question: I just kickstarted The Apollo by CRL. I already own their caches/whistles and am waiting for the pen that they recently offered. All of their stuff has been of good quality as far as I can determine. What does CPF think of it? From the specs, is this a good light for the money? Can anyone tell me who made the host? I already own a Fenix TK-35, so I keep quality 18650s and Battery Junction 123s.

Norm · Jun 21, 2013

Nothing new to bring to the table unfortunately.

Norm

Grmnracing · Jun 21, 2013

Reflector looks like the Alpha style.

Is this a CPF users creation? (Obviously it's not Jason's. just pointing out my first observation.)

badtziscool · Jun 21, 2013

Seems like it has all of the features to be a practical use light, but I'd like to see how the heatsinking is handled. It's easy to get 1000 lumens these days, but how long can it maintain that output for is what really counts.

Brasso · Jun 21, 2013

A little too "tacticool" for my tastes. It seems that too many companies are trying to make "tactical" lights who have no idea what tactical really is. 1000 lumens? Really? Is that tactical? Scalloped bezel for "bashing"? Come on.

Tactical is single mode output of about 200 lumens max. Anymore than that and you are blinding yourself. If it has a secondary mode at all it should be hidden or at least not part of the max UI. And a single 18650 battery? Who except cpf'ers have those?

Look to what Surefire puts out for a true tactical light.

Z-Tab · Jun 21, 2013

It depends on the build quality. If it is a well built light, the price is decent, though unimpressive. You can build a light with similar specs for $30.

They claim that it is manufactured in Arizona, which has some value if you care about that. It certainly looks like a lot of generic DX hosts.

mvyrmnd · Jun 21, 2013

Norm said:
Nothing new to bring to the table unfortunately.

Norm

+1. It has not one feature that makes me want to buy it. "Tacticool" is passe, and it's just another 1x18650 XM-L light - one in a large and ever-growing crowd. The boom reflector is slightly left-field, but that's about it for me.

TDSP · Jun 21, 2013

Z-Tab said:
It depends on the build quality. If it is a well built light, the price is decent, though unimpressive. You can build a light with similar specs for $30.

They claim that it is manufactured in Arizona, which has some value if you care about that. It certainly looks like a lot of generic DX hosts.

Mind pointing a newbie in the right direction?

Norm · Jun 21, 2013

TDSP said:
Mind pointing a newbie in the right direction?

That would be beyond the scope of this thread. PM Z-Tab to see what he has in mind. - Norm

EDIT: you need just one more post to have PM capability.

Derek Dean · Jun 21, 2013

Howdy TDSP, and welcome to CPF.

I'll have to agree with the others. Nothing new, and personally, I'm not a fan of scalloped bezels. There really are quite a few lights in this category, so it would take some unusual feature to set this light apart from the rest. However, being made in the USA is a good start.

ledmitter_nli · Jun 21, 2013

My 600 lumen Klarus XT-11 can light up a highly reflective retro-reflective street sign at that distance as well.

These are road signs. They are *designed* to be highly reflective for a reason.

Search · Jun 22, 2013

ledmitter_nli said:
My 600 lumen Klarus XT-11 can light up a highly reflective retro-reflective street sign at that distance as well.

These are road signs. They are *designed* to be highly reflective for a reason.

I bet my 200 lumen lights could achieve this.

That part of the movie was entirely done to impress people that haven't actually tried that before.. with any light. To us it's just something to laugh about.

I'm with Norm. If this light was 30 bucks I'd still pass.

ledmitter_nli · Jun 22, 2013

TDSP said:
Long time listener, first time poster. I actually discovered this forum when I was looking for information on the Helioslight debaucle.

Which brings me to my question: I just kickstarted The Apollo by CRL. I already own their caches/whistles and am waiting for the pen that they recently offered. All of their stuff has been of good quality as far as I can determine. What does CPF think of it? From the specs, is this a good light for the money? Can anyone tell me who made the host? I already own a Fenix TK-35, so I keep quality 18650s and Battery Junction 123s.

TDSP your efforts are commendable, but how can you possibly believe you'll be able to market this thing in a sea of lights made by a long list of manufacturers who've been in this game a lot longer? Not to mention all the cheap chinese lights and clones?

Norm · Jun 22, 2013

TDSP said:
I just kickstarted The Apollo by CRL. I already own their caches/whistles and am waiting for the pen that they recently offered. All of their stuff has been of good quality as far as I can determine. What does CPF think of it? From the specs, is this a good light for the money? Can anyone tell me who made the host?

ledmitter_nli said:
TDSP your efforts are commendable, but how can you possibly believe you'll be able to market this thing in a sea of lights made by a long list of manufacturers who've been in this game a lot longer? Not to mention all the cheap chinese lights and clones?

The OP isn't running the kickstarter, He's just telling us he has subscribed.

Norm

Overclocker · Jun 22, 2013

agree it doesn't bring anything new. in fact it's a lot worse than existing lights that are much cheaper!

nanjg cheapo driver that's inefficient, uses PWM, and changes modes through the tail switch? aka "budget light interface". you really wanna use this driver? why don't you build a buck/boost 1000-lumen thermally-regulated flashlight instead? now that would be interesting...

as mentioned it changes modes as you repeatedly press the tail switch. that interface is NOT TACTICAL at all. so please don't call it a tactical light

attack bezel made of alunimum? will surely get bent out of shape the first time you drop it

thumb indentation doesn't really help because chances are your thumb isn't gonna be there when you press it

sorry for being frank but that is really just a budget light you could get from dealextreme really really cheap

ledmitter_nli · Jun 22, 2013

@ Norm. Ah, I stand corrected.

Anyway, either the project kickstarter is naive about the market and didn't do his research or this kickstart is a sleazy money grab. My money is on the latter seeing how they misrepresent the lights true throw capability by bouncing off a retro-reflective street sign.

As for the investors .... <seinfeld>Yeah, too bad.</seinfeld>

Z-Tab · Jun 22, 2013

You can cancel your pledge and withdraw your support, so it's not totally hopeless. The project seems to be way over the funding goal, so no harm done by backing out.

TDSP: If you want suggestions of lights, check out the Recommendations forum.

verysimple · Jun 22, 2013

Looks like I'll pass on the offer... A well established vendor would be my preference when it comes to lights...

Fireclaw18 · Jun 22, 2013

Overclocker said:
agree it doesn't bring anything new. in fact it's a lot worse than existing lights that are much cheaper!

nanjg cheapo driver that's inefficient, uses PWM, and changes modes through the tail switch? aka "budget light interface". you really wanna use this driver? why don't you build a buck/boost 1000-lumen thermally-regulated flashlight instead? now that would be interesting...

as mentioned it changes modes as you repeatedly press the tail switch. that interface is NOT TACTICAL at all. so please don't call it a tactical light

attack bezel made of alunimum? will surely get bent out of shape the first time you drop it

thumb indentation doesn't really help because chances are your thumb isn't gonna be there when you press it

sorry for being frank but that is really just a budget light you could get from dealextreme really really cheap

I actually like the Nanjg 105c driver. It uses PWM, but it's very high frequency so isn't noticeable when looking at the light output. Personally, I prefer high-frequency PWM over current control. Battery life is shorter, but on the other hand high frequency PWM won't tint-shift at lower power settings.

That said, the stock Nanjg 105c driver's interface is very unimpressive. I'd be much more impressed if they used a 105c with a custom-programmed interface and electronic switch. I've seen custom programmed 105c's with interfaces equivalent in ease of use to Zebralights or the Olight S20.

As-is, the light they are marketing really does look like it would get lost in the sea of generic lights with very similar specifications. About the only thing that stands out about it is the unusual texturing on the reflector.

tarrow · Jun 22, 2013

Not very impressive overall. Plenty of similar product available for the same or less. I thought kickstarter things were supposed to be innovative at least. It is a crowded field and the light mentioned odes not really stand out.

CPF's opinion on the light I just Kickstartered

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