Looking forward to new ArmyTek lights - Armytek order experience

barrybluejeans

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Nov 25, 2017
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Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I ordered an Elf C2 and Prime C2 directly from armytek.com yesterday on the recommendations of several YouTube videos and the spectacular specifications claimed on the ArmyTek website. I spent some time today reading about other forum members' experiences with Armytek, and decided I would make a new thread to track my own experience with Armytek. Hopefully I can erase some of the negative reporting bias, or if not, have some secondary access to customer support ;) I am looking forward to reporting back soon!
 

barrybluejeans

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Nov 25, 2017
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7:25am ET this morning received an email from ArmyTek stating that my order is "packing in Canada"
 

barrybluejeans

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Nov 25, 2017
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4:55 ET today, received email notification that my order has shipped. DHL tracking number provided.
 

barrybluejeans

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Nov 25, 2017
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Received my lights today! I live in Atlanta, GA which helped the shipping speed, I'm sure. Still, surprisingly quick. Packaging was adequate, with a large manila envelope containing the retail boxes

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The Elf first:
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I really liked the matte finish, everything felt nice and solid. The battery shipped at 3.56V which is a little less than I was expecting, but I guess is fine.

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Plugged in for charging. The only thing I don't like so far about this light is the usb port protector, it is flimsy and I am a little worried about it breaking/tearing off:

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Up next was the Prime C2, which came wrapped in an extra cellophane wrapper.

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Battery came charged at 3.57V:

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Charging the Prime with the included magnetic charger:

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To charge, you have to turn the tail cap 1/4 turn open, otherwise the charger will flash red at you. But the magnet snaps right in.

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So far, so good! I'm impressed with the build quality, the shipping time, and the onboard charging options. I'm less impressed with the protective tongue over the usb port, and frankly have a hard time believing it is actually waterproof to 10m per the provided manual. Both lights shipped with Armytek branded 3200mAh batteries. I will update again after they are done charging, probably late tonight. Both manuals state the batteries need about 6-8 hours to charge from empty, though I'm not really sure what voltage corresponds to "empty" for them.
 

JimTokle

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Aug 6, 2015
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Regarding the usb flap, I believe Armytek has stated that the port itself is waterproof and the flap is just to keep debris out. Obviously you'd want to take care not to leave moisture in the port to rust.

I also received my two orders yesterday and the day before. My new warm Wizard Pro USB is probably my new favorite EDC light after carrying my sc62w for three years. My new warm Viking Pro XHP50 is a little bit warmer than the Wizard, but it's nice once I got adjusted to it. Both of these lights really crank out some power. I hadn't bought a new light in two years and had no idea what I was missing out on.

I'd also like to say that I'm really happy with the new Viking beam profile. My Viking Pro XP-L is a great light but I always wished it had more spill instead of throw; it seemed confused as to what it wanted to be in relation to the Predator. The new Vikings have oodles of spill while still throwing plenty for a tactical light. I don't think you can beat the Wizard/Viking combo for exploring the woods.
 

barrybluejeans

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Nov 25, 2017
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The lights charged about 8 hours overnight before both indicators turned green. Voltage readings showed 4.11V on the battery charged in the Prime
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and 4.16 on the one charged in the Elf:
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While I was a big fan of the matte finish at first, it scratches very easily. This is from my attempts to put the clip on the Prime:
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Now for some beam comparison. I purchased the warm versions of each Armytek light. Prime on the left, Elf on the right, Glaree e03 (aaa CREE LED light that has always looked blue to me) in the middle for reference. This is moonlight 1 for the Armyteks and the only moonlight setting on the Glaree. Incredibly low output from the Armyteks, spec'd at .4 lumens OTF.
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Moonlight 2 (2.5 lm) / Moonlight / Moonlight 2 (2.3 lm). You can start to see the beam pattern differences emerge here between the Armyteks. The Prime has a much more narrow, focused beam compared to the floody Elf. More to come on this later.
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Here we have Main 1 (32 lm) / Low / Main 1 (30 lm):
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Main 2 (190 lm) / Low / Main 2 (150 lm):
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Main 3 (410 lm) / High / Main 3 (340 lm)
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Turbo (1050 lm) / High / Turbo (900 lm). Turbo doesn't look like much difference from Main 3 in the photos, but looking directly at the hotspot is actually painful at this short distance when the lights are in Turbo. High is bright, but still comfortable to look at in extreme short range like this.
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Just to emphasize the beam pattern differences, I stepped back a few feet with both lights on Main 3:
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The lights stayed fairly warm but at a comfortable level in Main 3. On Turbo, I only had a few minutes until the heads started to get decidedly hot. Still very usable when held by the body, however. Overall, I'm very happy with how these turned out. I picked both of these up for around $80 US shipped with the black friday discounts + reddit coupon code. I'm planning on modifying one of the 12v ports in my car to fit the magnetic charger for the Prime, as it is just a tad large to pants pocket carry. It fits well on the inner pocket of my jacket, though. The Elf will be used mostly for auto repair, and I'm happy that the beam profile fits my predicted usage pattern. I love the magnetic bases, they feel rock solid and I have no fear about them falling off a metal surface like I do with some of my other task lights.

The onboard charging IS slow, but the light stays cool when charging and the termination voltage seems conservative which I feel is both safer and will prolong the life of the battery in the long run. I ordered a proper 18650 charger (Liitokali Lii 202) from Gearbest over Black Friday as well, and I suspect I'll end up using that more often when using the lights more regularly and needing more frequent charges. Spec'd runtime on Main 3 is right around 4 hours for both lights, plenty of time for my purposes, and bumping down to Main 2 would gain me an extra 6 hours of battery life.

A few other nitpicks: I wish the pocket clip on the Prime tapered on the light side. I'm not worried about it falling out of my pocket, but it would sit a little lower if it didn't get stuck on the fabric. I wish I could have gotten them with a Nichia 219b/c LED but I am content with the color temperature of the CREE XP-L LEDs they shipped with.

My impressions with Armytek have been incredibly positive so far. Both of my lights have worked flawlessly out of the box, they got to me in a very reasonable amount of time, and they have some great features (warm light, rechargeable using standard 18650 cells, magnetic bases, sub-lumen moonlight mode) that were exactly what I was looking for.
 

barrybluejeans

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Nov 25, 2017
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Regarding the usb flap, I believe Armytek has stated that the port itself is waterproof and the flap is just to keep debris out. Obviously you'd want to take care not to leave moisture in the port to rust.

Thanks Jim, that's great to hear. That definitely makes me more willing to take the light out on the rain now.

I too was impressed by the output of these smaller lights!
 
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