CMG Reactor First Impressions

Picked this up at the local (Burlington MA) EMS for $32. There are four left on the shelf.

Ok, first and foremost it is definitely a Luxeon. I don't see any "special optics" though just a piece of plastic covering the standard Luxeon collimator. It has an aluminum body with a plastic, excuse me "polycarbonate" head. While not horrible, the fit and finish is not near that of the Arc or Surefire. You feed the batteries by untwisting a tail piece, easy enough to do. The body is about the same size as the Arc LS 2AA body but the head is much longer and somewhat wider then the Arc. My biggest disappointment thus far is the switching mechanism. It is a rotary type of switch that you activate by turning the head. On again, off again and repeating itself continuously each quarter turn or so and is bi-directional. The problem is there is no locking mechanism either off or on and it is much easier to leave the light in the on position then in the off position. If this was to jostle around in a backpack or in a similar environment, it could very easily turn itself on. I like real switches but in this case I would much prefer a regular Arc style of tightening the head to turn in on. I have just now found a way to create a lockout of sorts. If you loosen up the battery retainer tailpiece by half a turn or so, it effectively locks out the light from engaging. Even shaking it vigorously does not make it illuminate so this may be an effective workaround. Also there still isn't any battery rattle when doing this.

Now about the beam. I loaded both it and the Arc LS with reasonably fresh lithiums batteries and did a comparison. Surprisingly they were very close in brightness. I have an original Arc LS, run #10, and I now know that it is one of the violet Luxeons. The Reactor color is more white in the center but has a very greenish corona. Is this what people are talking about when they mentioned the pea green Luxeons? The characteristics of the beams from both lights are fairly similar to each other. The Arc may have a slightly more tighter hotspot while the Reactor has a slightly more wider hotspot but very close just the same. The Reactor LED is much more centered then that of the Arc LS. I cannot tell if the optics of the Reactor are the new style or old style as there is a plastic lens protector covering them.

Well that's it in a nutshell. I consider it a good value for the money and would consider it a very good value if it had a better switching mechanism. I can try to answer questions people might have.

Sounds nice! Is there any way you can see the inner workings (electronics...if any? I think I would like the wider beam than the narrow beam. For 32 bucks I would say it`s a bargain.

Edit: are you running 3.4 volts through both lights (2 AA lithiums or are you powering the Arc with a 3 volt 123? If so can you run aa alkilines in both so all things are equal and compare?

Ken

Thanx for the review. I feel a lot better about my order now.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by KenB:
Sounds nice! Is there any way you can see the inner workings (electronics...if any? I think I would like the wider beam than the narrow beam. For 32 bucks I would say it`s a bargain.

Edit: are you running 3.4 volts through both lights (2 AA lithiums or are you powering the Arc with a 3 volt 123? If so can you run aa alkilines in both so all things are equal and compare?

Ken<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The head and barrel are permanently attached and state so in the directions and no attempts should be made to remove the head. I was initially powering the lights with both containing lithium AA's but both used. Now I'm doing an unscientific test. I put fresh alkaline's in both the Arc LS and the CMG and I will see how they hold up within the next few hours.

If by sometime tomorrow more experienced flashaholics have not evaluated the light, I can take some close up pictures of the head etc. if there is interest and someone wants to post them. I've never posted a picture before but have a decent digital camera.

Interesting, pea green vs. violet. I guess I like the violet slightly more. Definitely over hyped advertising claims by CMG. It is a typical luxeon beam with all it's flaws despite the increased brightness. Lifetime warranty by CMG which is a nice touch.

Edit: Initially both lights started at same brightness with the edge perhaps going to the Arc LS. After one hour, I think the CMG is noticably dimmer. This is eye test only coming from someone with less then perfect vision.

Edit again: After three hours certain things are becoming painfully clear to me. To reiterate, I put new Costco/Kirkland akalines in both the Arc LS and CMG Reactor and turned them on. The CMG Reactor has diminished in brightness by a very wide margin. It's obvious to me that it is unregulated. The Arc LS is very significantly brighter at this point. However the Arc LS has diminished in brightness as well, proving that it is only partially regulated. With fresh batteries the Arc LS is noticably brighter then an Inova X5 but now the Inova X5 (with fresh batteries) is brighter then the Arc LS after the three hour run time.

Edit again after four hours and fifteen minutes: It is clear that the Arc LS is regulated if only partially. It has taken a huge nose dive in the last hour or so and is now dimmer then the Arc AAA. Based on this experience it would be suffice to say that the Arc LS is more heavily regulated then the Arc AAA because I have never seen a clear distinction of moon mode versus regular mode for the Arc AAA. The CMG Reactor is now much more brighter then the LS although it continues to dim steadily.

I am now going to conclude this experiment in it's active stage. I will leave the lights on (and perhaps sleep) for the next ten hours or so. I will see if the CMG holds up to it's claim of ten hours peak brightness. Nope, that is already totally false based on my first test. Maybe with lithium AA's? I'll see if the Arc LS is still in moon mode which stands to be a higher probability at this point.

Final Edit: After 12 hours, the Reactor is still going with the brightness similar to an ArcAAA. For the Arc LS by looking at the LED, you can just barely tell it is on, less then that of a PAL light in the off mode. As a final test I swapped the batteries in the lights. The Reactor light with the LS's batteries is completely dead with the LED not illuminating at all. The LS with the Reactor batteries is lit and surprisingly bright. Not as bright as it would be with new batteries but significantly brighter then the Reactor was with the batteries in them at this level of use. It has been stated before how well the Arc LS can do with used batteries and this appears to be no exception. I also just verified what Edwood had posted. The Reactor does not work with nimh rechargeables, the light is extremely dim whereas the Arc LS worked fine with the same set of batteries.

Looks like the reactor is using the pea green Luxeons. I would suggest using a pair of 'old' alkilines in arc and then the reactor, see if the reactor stays bright like the arc would.EDIT But your test of running both flashlights down to the ground on two sets of fresh batteries sounds good PLEASE stay up all night and tell us the results tomorrow morning ( a test of a true CPF member !)

Ohh, I would really like some pic`s but I don`t have a clue how to post them...have to leave that to our experts. I like the Idea of put old batts in one light then the other to see how they compare.

Just to say that I have edited my run time results for the Reactor.

Yes, we are anxious to know the results

Jeff, thanks for the tipoff on EMS in Paramus, NJ. When I visited them early in the afternoon, they had nada. Then after reading your post, I went back which was after dinner time here, approx 7PM and the young lady behind the counter knew exactly what I was talking about as she just finished unpacking a fresh shipment 15min prior to my arrival. Anyway, just a quick first impression, as geopondy has stated earlier, there is a distinct "pea soup" green cast to this light. And, after trying several different sets of alkalines, all with different mileage on them, it became apparent to me as well that this is NOT a regulated light. Furthermore, I tried 1700mah NiMH rechargables with a fresh charge, and you want to talk about dim. It was less than the infinity, but this was expected due to the voltage differences with the NiMH chemistry.

Regards,
Ed

Hmmm. So here's what ol' Darell thinks if anybody cares. And it is pretty much what I thought before we had an excellent first impression:

With some Li AA's and maybe some tape around the head to keep it from accidentally turning on, this would make a really great automotive emergency light. Vibration will never break the bulb, and the batteries won't die and leak. Plenty of initial brightness for an emergency task, and easy to replace batteries if needed while on the road. Great price for an LS light these days.

Thanks for sharing your initial thoughts with us.

In all fairness Darell, unscrewing the tailcap by a half a turn does make an effective lockout so you wouldn't have to tape the head to keep it stationary.

It's funny. The more dimmer the light gets, the more green the beam is. How the heck is that green color derived in the first place?

BTW, I now totally disagree with Arc's claim of a moon mode. In both the AAA and the LS, it just keeps getting dimmer and dimmer. There is not a set point in which it stops getting dimmer for a period of time therefore indicating a moon mode. I would claim it as false advertisement except it doesn't come close to the claims CMG is making of the Reactor based on my initial tests.

I can post pics if you e-mail them to me...

It sounds to me as though the Reactor's circuit consists of a resistor.

is there a voltage step-up?

There MUST be a voltage step-up if the thing is ever anywhere near the brightness of the Arc LS with 3V of battery.

As for the Arc sun/moon mode, I have to agree. We've been through this on other threads, but not for a while now. I always expected the Arc to suddently shift into "moon mode" but that never happens. No question that it gets dimmer faster at the end, but wow, I'd never call it a "mode."

Well, I'd be willing to pay more, if the light was regulated. As it is, it really doesn't sound very nice to me at all. It sound like CMG is getting the 'bottom of the barrel' LS-LED's, because even Arc-LS seconds only have green in the corona; the center is a nice bright blue/violet.
And my LI (Thanks agian for such a *great light*!) has even a better color LS LED. But for mass market, I suppose CMG just ordered several thousand Luxeon Stars, and just cranked them out. Pity that people who buy this light won't have an idea of the true potential for the LS-LED. But then, they will be getting a light that's more efficient than an incandescant light. But for me, I'd rather spend $26 on a UK 2L

anybody eating their words yet?

I don't know. I can see that some who do not want to pay the money for an Arc-LS might want one. I am curious though. Those of you that have the Arc-LS, Why would you want to buy this light?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MC:
I ran into a proto-type piece today, I needed to have changed to new batteries (which I did not) to get an idea how bright it was.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wonder why the head is so HUGE and LONG when it (supposedly) doesn't have a whole lot in there.
Has anyone carried around that war club for awhile to judge how comfortable it is to use and carry?

Maybe you get what you pay for?

Kinda reminds me of the Brinkman LX compared to the Surefires, Scropion, etc.