jon_slider
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I just ordered an M01 with N219b on sale
It is Unreliable, flickers, not recommended.
It is Unreliable, flickers, not recommended.
Last edited:
Astrolux M01 and M03 w N219b
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LightObsession
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
Thanks for the review.
Thanks for the review.
jon_slider
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
M01 Arrived in 14 days.
After opening the package and the light, to confirm there was a battery installed, I tried to turn the light on, and Nothing!
After that initial moment of panic I discovered the white sticky label on the end of the battery, after removing it, the light works!
The Color Temperature is much cooler than my Lumintop Tool. I actually think the M01 has a very nice natural look, not orange at all, but also not too cool nor blue.
I really like the large round consistent beam shape from the TIR (no hot spot). Gives good coverage of the palm of my hand at arms length, and also works well to illuminate a wall across the room. I really like the Color Rendering, and the modes. The Low Mode is very useable walking through a dark house, the High Mode floods a room brightly and makes it really easy to see everything.
The battery arrived charged to 3.79 volts. I tested out the modes for a few minutes around the house, it had droped to about 3.67, and then put it on the charger. The red charge LED charged to green in 20 minutes and the battery then read 4.06v.
I added a jump ring to the tail cap, none is provided. The light does come with 2 spare O rings. atm the head is not overly loose at all, in fact, I have to use 2 hands to operate the twist head. I suspect that will change as the O ring wears in. I oiled the threads lightly, wiped off the excess, and started using the M01 around the house.
I find the light, off a keychain, is very easy to hold in my mouth when I want to do something like look for socks in a drawer (with the house lights off, for fun). I could easily tell colors apart, including red. Only my really red baseball cap seemed unrealistically brownish, but I could tell it apart from my brown bedspread easily. No problem at all telling colors apart.
initial verdict, Winner! No deal breaker issues at all. Tested for PWM by waving and beamshot on printer paper, no PWM detected.
the only detail I could nitpick is the light is not built to tail stand because the keyring attachment sticks out. But honestly, though I like to know I have a tail stand option, in practice I usually prefer to put the light on its side pointing away from me. Tailstanding a light on a table, means I get the LED glare in my eyes sometimes, so I end up not tail standing. By contrast I like that the keyring connection is centered, so the light does not hang cocked sideways.. thats a pet peeve..
This light is intended as a gift to a non flashoholic college student. I wanted her not to need to learn about charging eneloops, and I wanted her not to need to buy, and I don't want her to use, Alkaleaks. She already refused to put a Fenix E01 on their keys, claiming it was too big. So far I have only succeeded in getting her to put a Pico light on her keyring. But Im expecting at some point it will be problematic to source the 4 little batteries it uses, and it will become hopelessly dim.
So the M01 fulfills the goal of not buying batteries, and I already confirmed she owns a mini usb cable to charge with.. This light is twice as heavy as a Pico light, the difference is comparable to the weight of two US Nickel coins, but the M01 is also Much brighter. (I dont have new batteries in the Pico lights either). The M01 is not much larger than the Pico, so I dont expect any resistance to it. I think most of the weight is in the cute little 10180 battery. I like it a lot!
pico light, M01, Photon:
weight:
pwm tests:
M01 w Nichia left, Tool w Nichia Right:
Charging:
finished charging:
M01 left, Pico right
beam colors, M01 left, Pico right:
ambient light is 3000k Tungsten, here is the M01 followed by a photo using it to light the color samples:
next is the 4000k N219b in a Lumintop Tool head, again ambient is 3000k Incandescent:
and the beam of the 4000k Tool on the samples:
all photos are iphone 5, auto white balance..
M01 Arrived in 14 days.
After opening the package and the light, to confirm there was a battery installed, I tried to turn the light on, and Nothing!
After that initial moment of panic I discovered the white sticky label on the end of the battery, after removing it, the light works!
The Color Temperature is much cooler than my Lumintop Tool. I actually think the M01 has a very nice natural look, not orange at all, but also not too cool nor blue.
I really like the large round consistent beam shape from the TIR (no hot spot). Gives good coverage of the palm of my hand at arms length, and also works well to illuminate a wall across the room. I really like the Color Rendering, and the modes. The Low Mode is very useable walking through a dark house, the High Mode floods a room brightly and makes it really easy to see everything.
The battery arrived charged to 3.79 volts. I tested out the modes for a few minutes around the house, it had droped to about 3.67, and then put it on the charger. The red charge LED charged to green in 20 minutes and the battery then read 4.06v.
I added a jump ring to the tail cap, none is provided. The light does come with 2 spare O rings. atm the head is not overly loose at all, in fact, I have to use 2 hands to operate the twist head. I suspect that will change as the O ring wears in. I oiled the threads lightly, wiped off the excess, and started using the M01 around the house.
I find the light, off a keychain, is very easy to hold in my mouth when I want to do something like look for socks in a drawer (with the house lights off, for fun). I could easily tell colors apart, including red. Only my really red baseball cap seemed unrealistically brownish, but I could tell it apart from my brown bedspread easily. No problem at all telling colors apart.
initial verdict, Winner! No deal breaker issues at all. Tested for PWM by waving and beamshot on printer paper, no PWM detected.
the only detail I could nitpick is the light is not built to tail stand because the keyring attachment sticks out. But honestly, though I like to know I have a tail stand option, in practice I usually prefer to put the light on its side pointing away from me. Tailstanding a light on a table, means I get the LED glare in my eyes sometimes, so I end up not tail standing. By contrast I like that the keyring connection is centered, so the light does not hang cocked sideways.. thats a pet peeve..
This light is intended as a gift to a non flashoholic college student. I wanted her not to need to learn about charging eneloops, and I wanted her not to need to buy, and I don't want her to use, Alkaleaks. She already refused to put a Fenix E01 on their keys, claiming it was too big. So far I have only succeeded in getting her to put a Pico light on her keyring. But Im expecting at some point it will be problematic to source the 4 little batteries it uses, and it will become hopelessly dim.
So the M01 fulfills the goal of not buying batteries, and I already confirmed she owns a mini usb cable to charge with.. This light is twice as heavy as a Pico light, the difference is comparable to the weight of two US Nickel coins, but the M01 is also Much brighter. (I dont have new batteries in the Pico lights either). The M01 is not much larger than the Pico, so I dont expect any resistance to it. I think most of the weight is in the cute little 10180 battery. I like it a lot!
pico light, M01, Photon:
weight:
pwm tests:
M01 w Nichia left, Tool w Nichia Right:
Charging:
finished charging:
M01 left, Pico right
beam colors, M01 left, Pico right:
ambient light is 3000k Tungsten, here is the M01 followed by a photo using it to light the color samples:
next is the 4000k N219b in a Lumintop Tool head, again ambient is 3000k Incandescent:
and the beam of the 4000k Tool on the samples:
all photos are iphone 5, auto white balance..
Last edited:
firsttothescene
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
Looks nice.
Looks nice.
jon_slider
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
thanks, its fun to play with
lumen estimate on low (spec is 8) battery has been run down from other play/use and is currently at 3.6v
high came on at 100 and dropped quickly (high spec is 100), within 10 seconds it looked like this, and was still dropping fast:
For or a LiIon, at 3.6v I think its a good time to top it off, this 10180 showed 4.06 fresh off the charge cable. I feel safe to let votage go down to 2.7 before being concerned about overdischarge.. The M01 has no overdischarge protection afaik.. Im not sure what kind of low voltage indicator it might exhibit.. loss of high mode, maybe obvious dimming.. remains to be seen..
.. I need to do some more voltemeter checks over the next day or so..
for comparison, here is a Lumintop Tool w Nichia head (spec on high is 80, my homemade meter is just approximate), on eneloop AAA)
on high mode the AAA drops about .1 per second, while the 10180 drops about 1.0 per second.. neither is really meant to do high mode for long, but the M01 can definitely produce enough light to see the ground a carlength away on High, and Low mode is enough to light the path in front of my feet.
Im supposed to give this light to my daughter tomorrow, Im not sure Im done playing with it and may have to buy another one..
I wanted to find out if there was any low battery indicator, there is not, but the light gets so dim it seems obvious to me when it is no longer bright enough to use. By the time it has dropped to 10% of initial brightness, the battery is still above 2.7v, so I dont think there is a high risk of overdischarging.
ran the M01 on high and checked it every 5 minutes
I then charged the light, the green indicator came on after 40 minutes, voltage showed 4.08 and High mode started at 115 lumens..
everything works. No overdischarge, No Overcharge, and btw, it did not get very warm on high..
to my suprise, the M01 will tailstand on smooth flat furniture and counters. Here is a size comparison to my AAA Maratac that weighs twice as much.
a note on the twisty interface.. it flickers if only turned on part way because the head has play in the threads, like most twisties. It just needs an extra half twist to get past the flicker mode to hold a steady Low.. and then a quarter twist more gives High Mode.. operation is two handed only.
The M01 is a very convenient size for my keychain.
thanks, its fun to play with
lumen estimate on low (spec is 8) battery has been run down from other play/use and is currently at 3.6v
high came on at 100 and dropped quickly (high spec is 100), within 10 seconds it looked like this, and was still dropping fast:
For or a LiIon, at 3.6v I think its a good time to top it off, this 10180 showed 4.06 fresh off the charge cable. I feel safe to let votage go down to 2.7 before being concerned about overdischarge.. The M01 has no overdischarge protection afaik.. Im not sure what kind of low voltage indicator it might exhibit.. loss of high mode, maybe obvious dimming.. remains to be seen..
.. I need to do some more voltemeter checks over the next day or so..for comparison, here is a Lumintop Tool w Nichia head (spec on high is 80, my homemade meter is just approximate), on eneloop AAA)
on high mode the AAA drops about .1 per second, while the 10180 drops about 1.0 per second.. neither is really meant to do high mode for long, but the M01 can definitely produce enough light to see the ground a carlength away on High, and Low mode is enough to light the path in front of my feet.
Im supposed to give this light to my daughter tomorrow, Im not sure Im done playing with it and may have to buy another one..
I wanted to find out if there was any low battery indicator, there is not, but the light gets so dim it seems obvious to me when it is no longer bright enough to use. By the time it has dropped to 10% of initial brightness, the battery is still above 2.7v, so I dont think there is a high risk of overdischarging.
ran the M01 on high and checked it every 5 minutes
| runtime | high | low | |
| start | 77.8 | 7.6 | 4.07 volts |
| 5 min | 70.5 | 6.8 | |
| 10 min | 56.3 | 5.3 | |
| 15 min | 40.7 | 5.5 | |
| 20 min | 18.7 | 2.3 | |
| 25 min | 5.6 | 0.9 | 2.73 volts |
I then charged the light, the green indicator came on after 40 minutes, voltage showed 4.08 and High mode started at 115 lumens..
everything works. No overdischarge, No Overcharge, and btw, it did not get very warm on high..
to my suprise, the M01 will tailstand on smooth flat furniture and counters. Here is a size comparison to my AAA Maratac that weighs twice as much.
a note on the twisty interface.. it flickers if only turned on part way because the head has play in the threads, like most twisties. It just needs an extra half twist to get past the flicker mode to hold a steady Low.. and then a quarter twist more gives High Mode.. operation is two handed only.
The M01 is a very convenient size for my keychain.
Last edited:
jon_slider
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
Received M03 Copper.. heavy little bugger
left to right
my particular M01 w Nichia is slightly cooler than the M03 w Nichia, and both are cooler than my Lumintop Worm N219b 4500k
I detect no PWM by waving, video, or photo:
fwiw, Code 2016FNL will bring the price down to about $13 at Banggood
Received M03 Copper.. heavy little bugger
left to right
my particular M01 w Nichia is slightly cooler than the M03 w Nichia, and both are cooler than my Lumintop Worm N219b 4500k
I detect no PWM by waving, video, or photo:
fwiw, Code 2016FNL will bring the price down to about $13 at Banggood
Last edited:
jon_slider
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
so, test report on the little copper 10180 Astrolux M03
I find it very difficult to get a non flickering first mode.
Sometimes I go to high first, then back off a bit to find low. Kind of defeats the purpose to blind myself with high first..
these lights are notorious for flickering on low. I think they make poor contact or something, because the design uses a springy contact to go from low to high, so the contact on low is not solid, it is springy.
I put the M03 on my light meter, and it would not give a steady reading on low, it hops around by plus or minus 1/2 lumen. Aggravating if I had to depend on it..
I was looking around boxes stored in my garage for about half an hour recently, using the M03. Low was too dim, so I used High the whole time. FWIW, high is a constantly dimming mode. This light has no flat regulation. By the time I was done, the 135 lumen high, had dimmed to 20 lumens. The 7 lumen low, had dimmed to 1 lumen. The battery voltage was 2.8v. It recharged back up to 4.1v in 1 hour. The red charge light and green finished charging light both work well.
I went to dinner with my college daughter and showed her the M03, and the Manker LAD. She was impressed with the LAD, and kept it. The M03 looked cute to her, but trying to turn it on and off I said, "don't unscrew the tail cap", you have to hold the waist of the light. She put it down in disgust, and I got to keep it
Ive put a small amount of lube on the O rings, made the Astrolux M03 considerably smoother to operate (requires 2 hands still), but it still flickers on Low..
oh and fwiw, the M03 is lacquered so it won't tarnish. It felt plasticky, and had none of the familiar aroma of copper money. I stripped it with some nail polish remover last night, and coated it lightly with dish soap briefly, to start a patina.. not sure yet if I got all the laquer off..
overall impression on the M01 and M03, I prefer the lighter weight of the M01. They are both finnicky on low, but conveniently charge through mini USB.
so, test report on the little copper 10180 Astrolux M03
I find it very difficult to get a non flickering first mode.
Sometimes I go to high first, then back off a bit to find low. Kind of defeats the purpose to blind myself with high first..
these lights are notorious for flickering on low. I think they make poor contact or something, because the design uses a springy contact to go from low to high, so the contact on low is not solid, it is springy.
I put the M03 on my light meter, and it would not give a steady reading on low, it hops around by plus or minus 1/2 lumen. Aggravating if I had to depend on it..
I was looking around boxes stored in my garage for about half an hour recently, using the M03. Low was too dim, so I used High the whole time. FWIW, high is a constantly dimming mode. This light has no flat regulation. By the time I was done, the 135 lumen high, had dimmed to 20 lumens. The 7 lumen low, had dimmed to 1 lumen. The battery voltage was 2.8v. It recharged back up to 4.1v in 1 hour. The red charge light and green finished charging light both work well.
I went to dinner with my college daughter and showed her the M03, and the Manker LAD. She was impressed with the LAD, and kept it. The M03 looked cute to her, but trying to turn it on and off I said, "don't unscrew the tail cap", you have to hold the waist of the light. She put it down in disgust, and I got to keep it
Ive put a small amount of lube on the O rings, made the Astrolux M03 considerably smoother to operate (requires 2 hands still), but it still flickers on Low..
oh and fwiw, the M03 is lacquered so it won't tarnish. It felt plasticky, and had none of the familiar aroma of copper money. I stripped it with some nail polish remover last night, and coated it lightly with dish soap briefly, to start a patina.. not sure yet if I got all the laquer off..
overall impression on the M01 and M03, I prefer the lighter weight of the M01. They are both finnicky on low, but conveniently charge through mini USB.
Last edited:
jon_slider
Flashlight Enthusiast
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
about a 4 days later the Patina has formed on the M03. Obviously I missed a few spots that still have lacquer coating.. another pass with acetone is in order
about a 4 days later the Patina has formed on the M03. Obviously I missed a few spots that still have lacquer coating.. another pass with acetone is in order
Last edited:
jon_slider
Flashlight Enthusiast
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
thanks, I change my patina often, either from carry, rubbing, or polishing
repolished after another round of acetone, not sure I got it all off yet.. fwiw I dont soak (probably more effective), I just wipe with paper towel wetted with nail polish remover.. then wait for patina to reveal where more lacquer remains.
thanks, I change my patina often, either from carry, rubbing, or polishing
repolished after another round of acetone, not sure I got it all off yet.. fwiw I dont soak (probably more effective), I just wipe with paper towel wetted with nail polish remover.. then wait for patina to reveal where more lacquer remains.
jon_slider
Flashlight Enthusiast
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
Well.. the M03 is completely unreliable on medium… it flickers like crazy
But Wait! I think I fixed it!
YES!!! I took that idea and wiped out the threads of my M03 with Acetone. Now Im getting a rock steady, NoFlicker, medium.
my "calibrated integrated light meter" confirmed, steady lumens..
update a day later
after lubricating the O ring, the flicker is back..
I think it is caused by the threads being wobbly, and a lubricated O ring lets the head wiggle a bit, which with a dry O ring happens less..
oh well.. it works on high mode
Well.. the M03 is completely unreliable on medium… it flickers like crazy
But Wait! I think I fixed it!
juaquin said:
YES!!! I took that idea and wiped out the threads of my M03 with Acetone. Now Im getting a rock steady, NoFlicker, medium.
my "calibrated integrated light meter" confirmed, steady lumens..
update a day later
after lubricating the O ring, the flicker is back..
I think it is caused by the threads being wobbly, and a lubricated O ring lets the head wiggle a bit, which with a dry O ring happens less..
oh well.. it works on high mode
Last edited:
jon_slider
Flashlight Enthusiast
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
update a week later
The Copper Astrolux M03 flicker has gotten worse, and I cannot reliably find Low mode
Im resigned to the fact Ive got a pretty little copper light that works in High mode only
since I stripped the lacquer, you can see the patina is starting
The Astrolux M02 is on sale, Copper M03 is on sale
Discount codes and link deleted, Ive been informed Im not supposed to share.. sorry.. contact Freeme and M4D M4X and Pablo and Banggood
KeyChain lights that make good gifts if you just think of them as a Single Mode light. They include the battery and are mini USB (no cable provided) rechargeable, which imo is very useful.. no need to gift batteries too
These lights come with High CRI Nichia LED option, they are on the Cool side of neutral, about 5000k
High mode starts at 135 lumens, steadily declining to about 20 lumens after 1/2 hour runtime..
update a week later
The Copper Astrolux M03 flicker has gotten worse, and I cannot reliably find Low mode
Im resigned to the fact Ive got a pretty little copper light that works in High mode only
since I stripped the lacquer, you can see the patina is starting
The Astrolux M02 is on sale, Copper M03 is on sale
Discount codes and link deleted, Ive been informed Im not supposed to share.. sorry.. contact Freeme and M4D M4X and Pablo and Banggood
KeyChain lights that make good gifts if you just think of them as a Single Mode light. They include the battery and are mini USB (no cable provided) rechargeable, which imo is very useful.. no need to gift batteries too
These lights come with High CRI Nichia LED option, they are on the Cool side of neutral, about 5000k
High mode starts at 135 lumens, steadily declining to about 20 lumens after 1/2 hour runtime..
Last edited:
jon_slider
Flashlight Enthusiast
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Re: Astrolux M01 w N219b
I received an M02. Low works without flicker! YAAAAY!!!, but, I can almost not get into High mode, I have to twist really hard. These little lights are fun, but temperamental. In any case.. here are some photos of the lights and their beams. These are all Nichia, they vary quite a lot among themselves.. but for a small keychain light, they are a nice rechargeable option.
their beams in the same order:
glamour shot
I will also say that Banggood has totally done right by me, they refunded the defective light, but let me keep it. The stainless light charger has some kind of short, it never stops charging, and once off the charger, the light heats up and the battery drains itself. For the photos of beams, I only put a battery in temporarily. I really like the Stainless form factor and lower weight, compared to the Copper.
The Copper comes coated with lacquer, it stays shiny, but wont patina. I removed the lacquer with nailpolish remover. The copper is both heavier and thicker than the stainless, and this one has pretty bad flicker on Low, unless I find just the right spot.
The rainbow stainless is very pretty, and happens to have the nicest beam tint imo. In the next photo I include my Worm w 4500k N219b on the right, for CCT and tint comparison. Its a little difficult to compare, because the Worm is at about 18 lumens and the Astrolux are at about 8 lumens, but you can get some idea of tint differences.
these are the 3 lights in the photo above, in the same order (Worm head is on my Maratac body):
I received an M02. Low works without flicker! YAAAAY!!!, but, I can almost not get into High mode, I have to twist really hard. These little lights are fun, but temperamental. In any case.. here are some photos of the lights and their beams. These are all Nichia, they vary quite a lot among themselves.. but for a small keychain light, they are a nice rechargeable option.
their beams in the same order:
glamour shot
I will also say that Banggood has totally done right by me, they refunded the defective light, but let me keep it. The stainless light charger has some kind of short, it never stops charging, and once off the charger, the light heats up and the battery drains itself. For the photos of beams, I only put a battery in temporarily. I really like the Stainless form factor and lower weight, compared to the Copper.
The Copper comes coated with lacquer, it stays shiny, but wont patina. I removed the lacquer with nailpolish remover. The copper is both heavier and thicker than the stainless, and this one has pretty bad flicker on Low, unless I find just the right spot.
The rainbow stainless is very pretty, and happens to have the nicest beam tint imo. In the next photo I include my Worm w 4500k N219b on the right, for CCT and tint comparison. Its a little difficult to compare, because the Worm is at about 18 lumens and the Astrolux are at about 8 lumens, but you can get some idea of tint differences.
these are the 3 lights in the photo above, in the same order (Worm head is on my Maratac body):
I know it's an old post, but I found a fix for mine not mentioned yet so maybe I can help an annoyed enthusiast out. I noticed a similar issue, the metal clicky plate was not properly connected electrically. The visible gold pcb part is supposed to have electrical connection to the clicky plate. I thought about trying to resolder the original solder points of the clicky plate, but I feared it might be stainless steel since it was held in place with solder firmly but made no or hardly no contact. Furthermore it was quite a tight space on the LED side. Therefore I went for a different option, a small cover "spring" to make the first low connection. I soldered a thin piece of metal strip on the gold pcb with the other side resting (not soldered!) on the clicky plate (see image below). It is made of a 0.15mm thick piece of li ion connection strip (nickel plated steel). At first I tried to make a bridge with 2 solder points but that resulted in 1 time operation of the low mode, followed by high mode, and the spring would stay on high forever. Also make sure to use very little solder as it might get too thick. It is still not ideal since you do have to rotate the flashlight back maybe a bit further, but it is no problem for me.
