[candle lamp]

BlackShadow, whose full name is Shenzhen Blackshadow Technology Co. Ltd., established in 2011 is a new manufacturer on the scene.
The Darth is 3xXM-L U2, 3x18650 batteries high-output flashlight I will be reviewing.





Packaging is a cardboard box with built-in packaging foam. Included inside is the light, user manual-warranty card, extra o-ring, nice lanyard.
.
.
Manufacturer Specifications from Blackshadow website & user manual :

- Dimensions : 50mm(HD)×150mm(L)×47mm(TD)
- Weight : 350g(Without battery)
- Color : Leaden
- Emitter : 3×CREE XM-L U2 LED
- Battery : 3×18650
- Circuit : Digital CC circuit
- Mode : Four modes, Low-Mid-High-Strobe
- Dimming Magnetic sensor control system
- Material : Aluminum alloy
- Lens : Impact-resistant optical lens with AR coating
- Reflector : Metal reflector
- Head & Tail : Stainless steel bezel ring, tactical tailstanding tailcap
- Accessories : Tactical parachute-cord, Spare O-ring, User manual and Warranty card
.
.




The hard (type III) anodizing is gray. There are some minor chips on my sample. The labels on the head are clear, light gray, not bright white against the background. There is manufacturer, model name, and hot warning mark on the head. There is no real knurling to speak of on the light, but the various build elements on the battery tube do help with grip (i.e., there are some fine grooves on the battery tube).
.
.


The light has mainly 2 parts (i.e. head and battery tube).
.
.


The light has a flat & deep stainless steel bezel ring and four cooling fins on the head. There is a nice magnetic control ring, right below the cooling fins. The light has twelve slight indents & cutouts on the control ring to help with feel. There are firm detents at each output level, with a click as you enter into each output level. The total traverse of the control ring is 1/2.5714 circumference (i.e., 140 degrees) of the light. I think control ring action to be smooth (smoother than I expected).
.
.


The light uses AR coating lens, but I can see no hue is reflected on it.
All reflectors are smooth, and nicely finished. The Darth uses three XM-L U2 emitters, each emitter is well-centered in its own reflector well. As you can see, the wells overlap slightly. Reflector is slightly deep overall, so I would expect more of a throwy beam. There is a waterproof o-ring between the stainless bezel ring and reflector.
.
.


The head base of the light has a raised brass yellow positive contact ring to contact with all positive contacts of the batteries. The negative contact rim surrounds the central positive contact.
.
.


Screw threads are triangular cut, but seems good quality. Note that both male & female threads on the head & tube are anodized for head lock-out. They are smooth with no cross-threading or squeaking on my sample.
.
.


Mostly the battery tube continues the triangular shape except tail part. There are not any knurling or aggressive design elements around the battery tube, but it does have grooves machined on all sides which provide decent grip.
.
.


The Darth has battery compartments which are molded into the aluminum, with common negative springs and hold three 18650 cells. Battery handle is quite compact, and easily houses 3x18650. The overall construction such as wall thickness seems thicker and more solid than expected. It looks sturdy and well-made.
.
.


The tail cap seems strongly adhered to the battery tube and can't be removed. The switch is the forward click switch which allows the light to be momentarily activated by half-pressing the switch while not affective the mode changing which is completely controlled by the control ring on the head. The switching travel is slightly longer than average, with more than average resistance and provides audible click when engaged. The switch cap sits recessed within the tail end which allows the light tail stand. There is a gap between the tube and the tailcap for lanyard (comes with the light) attachment. Also there are a couple of holes at the rear end for small lanyard attachment.
.
.


All types (i.e., true flat-tops, wide and button-tops) of 18650's work fine. All my longer & wider protected high capacity (2600~3100mAh) cells all fit.
You can see the fully loaded battery tube with unprotected & protected cells. I don't have any problem or issue to insert my shortest & longest 18650 cells into the tube. But note that only 3x18650 li-ion cells can be used in the light. (i.e., it doesn't support multiple CR123A or RCR123A due to 2.5~4.2v input voltage.) The battery tube introduces little rattle if you shake the light laterally when it's fully loaded with 18650's unprotected . But no rattle with the protected 18650 cells installed in my sample.
The three 18650 cells are arranged in parallel, so you can run a lower number of cells, but with increased current draw on each one. I don't recommend you try to run most output levels on anything but the full complement of cells.
.
.


You can attach the lanyard came with the light as shown above.
.
.


The light can tailstand perfectly.
.
.
User Interface



The light has an arrowhead marker (rather pale to see) labeled on the ring. The five modes are individually labeled on the head, right below the ring. So you can figure out what level you are set to.
Turn the light off-on by the tailcap clicky, half-press for momentary, press and release (i.e., click) for constant on.
The Darth provides three constant output levels and strobe. They are accessible by rotating the magnetic control ring clockwise (with the head facing forward) in the following order.
Off --> Low --> Med. --> High --> Strobe
.
.
Standby Current Drain

Due to the magnetic control ring design, the Darth will be drawing a small current when the tailcap switch is clicked on. I measured this current as 1.73mA for 1xVicLite 2600mAh, and 1.64mAh for 1xLG E1 2100mAh. Since the cells are arranged in parallel for 3x18650 cells, that would translate into around 5~6 months before the cells would be fully drained. This is quite high standby current. So I would recommend you to store the light locked-out by loosening the head or turn the light off by the tailcap clicky when not in use.
.
.


From left to right : LG 18650 B3 unprotected, VicLite 18650 protected, Blackshadow Darth, Niteye EYE40, XTAR S1. Darth is compact and slightly shorter than EYE40.
.
.


The gripability seems good. The build feels solid and robust, and I find handling & balance of the light is good. The overall build quality is very high.
.
.
Measured Dimensions & Weight


.
.
PWM



The Darth uses PWM for its lower output. (i.e., there is a flickering at Low, Med, output detected by waving the light, but can't see it at High.) The frequency at Low doesn't seem high enough to not be noticeable to sensitive user in practical use.
.
.
Runtime

1. Fan Cooling

The Darth is able to maintain flatter stabilized regulation at its Med. output than High. But High output shows fine regulation as well. The runtime pattern is dependent on battery capacity at a given drive level as expected.



The runtime for 50% output of High output for various 18650 is as follows.
1) 3xVicLite (2600mAh) : 93 min.
2) 3xNLTEK (3000mAh) : 105 min.
3) 3xTorthGear (3100mAh) : 120 min.
4) 1xLG E1 (2100mAh) : 35 min.

The runtime for 10% output of High output for various 18650 is as follows.
1) 3xVicLite (2600mAh) : 98 min.
2) 3xNLTEK (3000mAh) : 114 min.
3) 3xTorthGear (3100mAh) : 156 min.
4) 1xLG E1 (2100mAh) : 42 min.

The runtime for 50% & 10% output of Med. output is 186 mins & 197 mins respectively in my test.

Note that the bare cell of the NLTEK is LGABD11865 (3000mAh), and its maximum charging voltage is 4.34v for full capacity. But I charged it 4.2v for runtime test, so the capacity is about 2700mAh reduced with about 300mAh.
.
.
2. No Cooling



I measured with thermal probes attached to three points of the light for the no cooling run only. The room temp. was 23.5~25 degrees, and window was ajar on the test room. The resting temp. for Darth was 27.5 degrees. You can see the three points on the light where the thermal probes were set in pace as illustrated above.
.
.


I have done a comparison of fan cooling and no cooling for the light, and measured surface temperature on the no cooling run as I had done that in EYE40 review. But I had to ramp down output from High to med. due to continuous surface temperature rise. The lack of cooling caused a small drop(4.4%) in output over the time, along with High output, just before ramping down to Med. output.
.
.


Note that left y-axis is the relative output. The black, cyan, and green lines represent surface temperatures of the light in degrees centigrade (celsius) should be read off the right y-axis.

It seems the light doesn't have electronics or circuit come with a temperature control feature which protects the light from excessive heat. Because it didn't ramp down output even though the surface temperature at head rose as high as more than 70 degrees. (The temp. at tube was 57 degrees.)

Light gets hot quickly (i.e., without cooling, my sample reached 70 degrees C surface temp. in 35 mins). I recommend you do not tailstand the light on Hi for extended periods or take great caution before picking it up again if you do. Best to constantly hand-hold the light when in use, or limit to the High when using it.
I suggest Blackshadow to make the next version of the light step down on High to Med. after around 10 minutes to protect from overheating.
.
.
Beamshot

1. White door beamshot (about 50cm from the white door)
- ISO100, F/3.2, 1/200sec, Auto white balance



- Low
.
.


- Med.
.
.


- High
.
.


The spillbeam has some very noticeable artifacts due to the overlapping reflector wells. The spillbeam is not wide due to the relatively deeper reflector on the light.
.
.
2. Indoor beamshot (about 7m from the target)
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1/5sec, Auto white balance



- Control Shot
.
.


- Low
.
.


- Med.
.
.


- High
.
.

.
.
3. 55m Outdoor Beamshot
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1sec, Auto white balance



- Control Shot
.
.


- High
.
.

.
.
4. 60~65m Outdoor Beamshot
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1sec, Auto white balance


- Control Shot
.
.


- High
.
.

.

.[Edit : 2012.10.01]
Beamshot Comparison

1. Indoor beamshot (about 7m from the target)
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1/10sec, Auto white balance



- Control Shot
.
.


- BlackShadow Darth
.
.


- Xtar S1
.
.


- Niteye EYE40
.
.

.
.
2. 55m Outdoor Beamshot
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1sec, Auto white balance



- Control Shot
.
.


- BlackShadow Darth
.
.


- Xtar S1
.
.


- Niteye EYE40
.
.

.
.
3. 60~65m Outdoor Beamshot
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1sec, Auto white balance



- Control Shot
.
.


- BlackShadow Darth
.
.


- Xtar S1
.
.


- Niteye EYE40
.
.

[Edit : 2012.10.01]
.
.

- Darth was supplied by BlackShadow for review.