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По умолчанию Object/Subject Review: Blackshadow Terminator (4 x XM-L, 4 x 18650) [In Progress]

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In Progress


Shenzhen Blackshadow Technology Co. was started by two flashlight engineers in 2011, and since then they've come out with a full variety of lights, most with interesting themes like the Rook or the Padme. Now, Blackshadow has released their beast light, the 4xXM-L - 4x18650 Terminator.


Thanks to Blackshadow for providing the Terminator for review.


I’ll be reviewing the Terminator in two sections: first, I’ll discuss the light objectively (the facts about the light itself), then I’ll discuss the light subjectively (my impressions about the light's performance when used for specific applications). If you have any other specific applications you'd like the light tested for, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

3-Minute Overview

Below is a video "quick review" you can watch in just a few minutes, if you're not up for reading the full review right now:

[video=youtube_share;r8DJbXUTG3U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8DJbXUTG3U[/video]
This video is available in 720p HD, but defaults to a lower quality. To select the playback quality click the settings button (looks like a gear) after you've started the video.


Objective

Manufacturer's Specifications

Price: $150




Packaging




The TerminatorComes in a glossy black box, with the light nestled in a foam cutout inside.

Construction



The Terminator is a short, fat, compact light that uses four 18650 lithium ion batteries in parallel. Because the batteries are in parallel, the voltage is always the voltage of a single battery, and adding extra batteries adds extra capacity. With this configuration, the Terminator can run from a single battery (or two or three) just as well, but for a shorter time. The body is aluminum, with dark grey anodizing.



The Terminator uses four Cree XM-L emitters, each in it's own head with smooth reflector, lens, o-ring, and stainless stell bezel. Though the whole thing together is large, each individual reflector is fairly small, and the XM-L is a naturally floody emitter, so the Terminator is more of a flood-style light. However, it does have respectable throw due to the sheer output. The beam pattern shows the four separate beams at close range, but the beams soon converge.



Each of the head sections has a few small grooves cut to increase surface area and help dissipate heat, and the whole thing has more heat dissipaiton fins where the head comes together. Two hex screws attach the handle to the head. On the opposite side of the head from the handle is a threaded hole that will accept a standard tripod mount.



On the handle is the button, covered by a clear rubber cover. The button lights up green when the battery voltage is high, and goes red when the voltage gets low. When the body is unscrewed slightly, the button does not light up and the light will not turn on.



The handle has a few grooves cut for grip, and a hole for attaching a lanyard.



The body is mostly comprised of four flat sections. One has the Blackshadow logo, one the model name and on/off label, and two have a large "X". The on/off label indicates that when the body is tightened the light can turn on, and when it's loose the light is locked out and will remain off even if the button is pressed. In the "On" position the green light in the button on the handle will be on to indicate that the flashlight is ready to turn on, and in the "Off" position the button light will be off to indicate that the light will not turn on. Because of this, it's best to loosen the body to the "Off" position when you won't be using it, so that the button light will not wear down the battery.



At the tail of the Terminator, their is no tail switch, but just this "X" pattern.

Now, it's time to open it up and look inside!



Without the use of tools, the Terminator comes apart into two sections: head and body.



The head section uses a circular ring of metal to make contact with the positive terminals of the four batteries. This ring does not rotate as in some multi-18650-in-parallel lights, so the ring may get scratched up a bit with use, but this should not affect the performance and will likely be more durable in the long run. However, because the ring is flat, your batteries will need to have at lease a slightly raised top, even if it's not a "button top", in order to work with this light. My Callies Kustoms work fine, because their tops are just slightly raised.

The Terminator has quite a few threads, which helps make sure the light won't fall apart even when it's loosened to the "Off" position. The threads are rather small, but are anodized so they should last well. My review sample arrived with threads ungreased, so they were very squeaky, but I added a touch of grease and now they work great.



In the body, protrusions from the side of the battery tube hold the batteries loosely in a square pattern. I can fit four Callies' Kustoms in just fine, which are a bit fatter than average 18650s, so size should not be a problem. Because of the parallel battery arrangement, the Terminator is perfectly capable of running from 1, 2, or 3 batteries just as well as 4 (but with decreased run time). However, without all batteries in the batteries tend to be a bit loose, so you just have to be careful to keep them straight as you put the head back on. At the bottom of the battery tube, four springs make contact with the negative battery terminals.


Dimensions





Accessories



My review sample included a brown lanyard and a spare o-ring.


User Interface

The UI of the Terminator is very simple, with only four regular modes: Low, Medium and High (plus Off). The light is operated by loosening/tightening the body, and by pressing the button on the handle. The Terminator also has a hidden strobe mode.

The body of the Terminator is marked with two positions, On and Off. When the body is loose, the light is in a mechanical lockout mode, and will not draw any power whether or not the switch is pressed. When the body is tightened, the green LED under the button will come on to indicate the light is ready to use.

When the body is tightened, the light starts in Off. Every time the button is pressed, the light will advance to the next mode in the sequence Off -> Low -> Medium -> High. At any time with the body tightened, you can also hold down the button for about a second to activate the Strobe mode. Another click fo the switch will return the light to the last mode you used.


Action Shots

You can click on any of these shots to see them full size.

Light in Hand



White Wall (Low, Medium, High)
ISO 100, f/3.3, 1/20"


BeamSlice


MugShot


Indoor Shots (
Low, Medium, High)
ISO 100, f/3.3, 1"


Outdoor Shots (Low, Medium, High)
ISO 100, f/3.3, 2.5"


Long Range (High)
ISO 100, f/3.3, 5"



Performance

Submersion: I submersed the Terminator in about a foot of water for an hour, clicking the switch during that time but not loosening the body. After, I could find no evidence of water entering the light or causing a flaw in performance.

Heat: After about 5 minutes on High, the Terminator is very warm, and after about 15 minutes it gets hot and slightly uncomfortable to hold by the body. The handle never gets uncomfortably hot, but if you're not in an environment with some good air movement, you'll want to hold the body to let heat be passed into your hand.

PWM: The Terminator uses pulse-width modulation on Low and Medium modes.


Drop: I dropped the Terminator from about one meter onto various surfaces (including grass, carpet, packed dirt, and wood). The light shows no evidence of cosmetic or funcional damage.

Reverse Polarity Protection: The Terminator has no electronic polarity protection, however because the ring for the positive contact in the head requires a slightly raised terminal on the battery, most batteries will not be able to make contact with the head when inserted backwards. However, because the light is designed for the batteries to be in parallel, it is very important to have all the batteries inserted the same direction, because if they are not they could easily short each other.

Over-Discharge Protection: I could find no evidence or claim for over-discharge protection, except that the light will become markedly dimmer as the battery voltage gets low. Thus, I recommend using protected cells, or being very careful to charge your batteries frequently, especially because of the parallel battery configuration of the Terminator.


Spectral Analysis



All light that we see as white is actually made up of several different colors put together. The relative intensities of the different colors in the mix are what determine the tint of the white we see. For example, cool white LED's have a lot of blue, and warm white LED's have more red or yellow. This measurement was done on a home made spectrometer. The plot below the picture is corrected for the spectral sensitivity of the human eye. Note: the peak in the 900nm region doesn't really exist, it's a piece of the second-order spectrum that's showing up here because of the high intensity of the light source.

Output and Runtime


ANSI FL-1 runtime ratings are the time it takes for a light to fall to 10% of it's original output (counting from 30 seconds after turning the light on).

The vertical axis of the graphs below represents a relative brightness measurement using a home made light box. The horizontal axis is time in hours:minutes:seconds. Runtimes are stated in hours:minutes:seconds. These graphs may be truncated to show detail.

Mode Comparison

High (All Four Batteries)

This graph has been truncated to show detail.

High (Only Two Batteries)

On this run, I only used two batteries, so the Terminator would have the same voltage but half the capacity. I set the x-axis range to be exactly half that of the previous run, for better comparison of performance. As with the other, this graph has been truncated to show detail.


Throwing Distance

ANSI FL-1 standard for stating a light's throwing distance is the distance at which the peak beam intensity (usually at the center of the beam) is 0.25 lux. I calculate throwing distance and candela (lux at 1 meter) by measuring peak beam intensity at five different distances and using the formula lux*distance^2=constant.

Peak Beam Intensity: 54203cd
Throw Distance: 465m

Subjective Review

Quick break down:

+ Lots of light
+ Excellent flood, with very usable throw due to sheer force
+ All emitters on at the same time
+ Great heat management
+ Very compact for what's included
+ Impressive style
+ Reliable and simple UI
+ Comfortable to hold even for it's size
+ Easy to find due to green LED in button
+ Green LED gives enough light to get around a dark house or read a map

- Handle is a possible weak point, and button is on handle
- Green LED is constantly drawing power unless locked out
- Click-click-click to change modes and turn off
- Threads arrived ungreased

Ok, so this is a very impressive light. This is my first Blackshadow light I've handled, and I'll say that though they have some room to improve, they are definitely doing good so far. Blackshadow claims to aim for the mid- to high- quality mark and they've hit it square. The Terminator is a simple but powerful light. It's durable and reliable, so it gets the job done. It's only in the small details that the Terminator falls short of high class.

So, obviously with four lions and four XM-L's, this has a lot of light to put out. Because of the small reflectors on each of the heads, and the use of the already floody emitter, the light isn't well focused, so it's a flood light. However, because it's actually like four powerful flood lights strapped together, it also has very respectable throw. As you can see in the pictures, it's got a very wide hot spot, and the beams of the four emitters actually converge pretty fast, being hard to discern even at about a meter on a white wall. By the time you take it outside, it just looks like it might as well be from a single reflector.

For the Terminator, Blackshadow has chosen to take the route of a very simple user interface, which of course has it's advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is mainly that it's easy to know what the light is going to do, so it's very reliable even in fast-paced situations. The main disadvantage is that the UI is just going to be average for all uses, and not great for any. Personally, I'm not a fan of repetitive clicking to cycle through modes and finally get to Off; I like to be able to turn the light on and off at any mode. Theoretically you can turn it off from any mode by loosening the body, though that is kind of a hassle also, and when you tighten it again it will be in Off mode and not remember what mode you used last. I do like that the Strobe mode is easily accessed when you want it, but unlikely to be accessed when you don't.

Let's talk about that green button. It's very bright, which is useful for getting around at night or finding the light where you left it, so overall I really like it. The disadvantage is that because it's so bright, it's drawing a significant amount of current all the time, so you pretty much have to loosen the body when you're not using the light, or it will be dead next time you come to use it. For the purpose of finding a light in the dark, I prefer a small occasional flash to a constant light, because while it will still use power, it will be much less. However, as I said, the brightness and constant nature of this button LED make useful like a second flashlight, because it's plenty of light to get around a dark room or to read something in the dark, which is very handy to have built-in to a light that otherwise has a low mode of 400 lumens. The only real complaint I have about the button is that it's on the handle, which seems a weak point to me. It does make it comfortable to reach, but I worry about the handle getting damaged if I drop it, and that would be the button out of commission as well. Also, if the button were on the main body then the handle could be made to unscrew and remove when not desired.

I do like that the Terminator has such good heat management. Considering it's like four high-powered lights strapped together in a way that severally decreases useful surface area, the Terminator does do a good job moving the head from the emitters to the head and body. I like that the handle doesn't ever get hot, but that does mean you'll have to be aware of not subjecting the light to more heat than you intend without realizing it.

Overall, the Terminator is a very impressive flood light. If you're looking for a lot of light, a lot of flood with usable throw, and a simple user interface at a competitive price, the Terminator is going to be a good option.


Long Term Impressions

I'll fill this part in after carrying the light for a while. If nothing get's added here, either I find nothing else worth noting about the light, or I end up not using it often.
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