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Detailed
Information:
1 Star??? So far it looks pretty good, doesn't it?
Well, we have a major design flaw that really needs
to be taken care of before I recommend anyone use this
light. More on that in just a little bit.
The body is pretty typical of many Nuwai lights. Machined
aluminum, type II anodize, knurled for grip, fine grooved
texture on all of the "flat" areas. The body
itself is well made and comfortable to use. Even the
tailcap has rounded edges and a recessed lanyard attachment
point so the unit can stand on end.
The bezel has a shatterproof polycarbonate lens in
the front, a smooth reflector and a Luxeon I LED inside.
Luxeons are by nature very shock resistant and last
a very long time. The bezel can be twisted to change
the focus of the light. The Luxeon inside is screwed
to an aluminum plate inside and has a copper thermal
bridge between the Luxeon and the aluminum plate to
help conduct damaging heat away from the LED.
A little further investigation results in some shocking
discoveries. You see, I'm a bit of a perfectionist.
I like the LED emitter to be centered in the reflector
if at all possible. This results in a cleaner, sharper
beam. So, being the curious type I remove the head of
the light. Inside I find a plastic retaining ring which
screws down and presses the Luxeon and its aluminum
disk platform down into the light. Hmmm... No problem,
the plate is just off center - I'll just straighten
it out. Upon doing so, the light STOPS WORKING. Hmmm...
that's a problem. A big one. Further investigation found
that:
1) The Luxeon platform plate literally floats on the
circuit board and plastic circuit board retainer which
rests behind the Luxeon's aluminum platform.
2) As a result, even when screwed down tight, the back
of the Luxeon's aluminum platform has no thermal or
electrically conductive path that it seats against.
That only leaves the front of the platform or the sides
for thermal and electrical paths.
3) The screw-in retaining ring is plastic, so even
though it contacts the front of the Luxeon's aluminum
platform, there is no thermal or electrical conductivity
permitted between the Luxeon platform and the threads.
So that eliminates the front of the plate for thermal
or electrical paths.
4) The entire operation of the light relies upon the
Luxeon's aluminum platform being OFF CENTER and just,
almost by chance, happening to contact the threads on
the side of the platform for negative electrical conductivity.
This results is a very unreliable connection and a very
poor thermal path.
Very poor design and a big surprise from Nuwai, who
has been producing some very quality lights lately.
The fix is so simple it's almost ridiculous. Replace
the plastic screw-in retaining ring that presses the
Luxeon's aluminum plate in place with an ALUMINUM screw-in
ring. You now have thermal and electrical conductivity
between the Luxeon's platform and the sides of the light
via the front of the aluminum platform and the screw-in
ring. Looks like some idiot at the factory decided to
try to save a few cents and used plastic screw-in retainer
rings instead of aluminum and as a result gives the
light a very high probability of failure if dropped,
banged, etc.
Output is actually really good. The low output level
is 1/10 the output of the high level which is great
for navigating in the dark without totally blowing your
night vision. The high output level produces a very
good amount of light.
Switch - Well the first thing I can tell you is that
you should never take the rubber cover off the switch
because you will NEVER get it back on. In my attempts
to figure out what may be going on inside the light
I took off the rubber cover to see if I could remove
the internals, and it promptly shreds when you try to
put it back in place. So this light is officially "trashed".
Normally, it is just a standard click switch - Press
once for low, press a second time for high and once
more for off.
The light is sealed with o-rings and rubber seals to
prevent the entrance of the environment.
Ergonomics: Comfortable in the hand, easy to use.
The light takes 2 AA batteries for power, which would
be a fantastic step forward for powering Luxeon LEDs,
if they could just get the rest of the light right.
Included with the light is a lanyard, 2 batteries,
and a nylon belt sheath.
What I Liked: AA power source, tough body, generally
well designed, 2 levels of output
What I Didn't Like: Off center
beam investigation revealed major design flaw.
Other Things I Noticed: N/A
Conclusions: NOT recommended.
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