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По умолчанию L3 Illumination K40 Thrower (1 x XM-L U2 | 3 x 18650) Review

L3 Illumination is a new startup in the flashlight industry with the K40 holding the honor of being their very first product:

If the K40 bears an uncanny resemblance to ThruNite's TN31, the reason as I understand it, is akin to why Spark's products resemble Zebralight's. Let's dig deeper into the light to see whether the resemblance is merely skin deep shall we?


MFG SPECS
MSRP (USD): $119.99
LED: Cree XM-L U2 LED with a lifespan of 100000 hrs.
  • Max 1147 lumen output using 3 * 18650 batteries. (Batteries not included)
  • Level 1: 0.5 lm. 2000 hours; Level 2: 21 lm. 140 hours; Level 3: 146 lm. 22 hours; Level 4: 366 lm. 9 hours; Level 5: 620 lm. 5 hours; Level 6: 1147 lm. 2 hours; Standby: 65 uA; Strobe: 1147 lm. 4 hours.
Working voltage: 4V to 13V.
Max runtime: 2000 hours.
Max beam distance: 700 meters.
Peak beam intensity: 75000cd.
Impact resistant: 1.2 meters.
Waterproof to IPX-8 standard, 2M.
Size: 186(Length)x76.2(bezel diameter)x49(body diameter) unit mm.
Weight: 452.80g without battery.
Aircraft grade aluminum body structure.
Premium type III hard anodized anti-abrasive finish.
Ultra-clear tempered glass lens with anti-reflective coating.
Momentary forward click tactical switch.
Variable frequency strobe mode for tactical and emergency use.
Smooth reflector for max light output.
Highly focused beam for maximum distance.
Intelligent highly efficient circuit board design for max performance and long run time.
Intelligent temperature controlled light output for user safety.


PACKAGING / CONTENTS
The K40 arrived in a pretty nice aluminum box:


Accessories included are:
- 2 x o-ring's
- lanyard
- holster
- user guide (wasn't included in my sample)



CONDENSED VIDEO SUMMARY
Here is a quick high-level video summary of the K40 while while I work on fleshing out this review:
[video=youtube_share;VWCxXqFW9TM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWCxXqFW9TM[/video]

DESIGN / FEATURES
The K40, doesn't feature a SS bezel and makes do with crenellations at the tip of its removable Al bezel:

This also allows one to note if the light is on or not when stood bezel down.

The bezel was not glued down but it did take some effort to remove as while the threads were greased, there were none on the o-ring:

Once removed, the lens, reflector and LED emitter are all easily accessible.

There is another o-ring that sits recessed within a groove around the inner diameter at the tip of the bezel:

The lens has got some mass to it and measures 3.6mm thick.

It also features very pronounced double-sided AR coating. It is in fact so effective that at close distance, one is able to notice the blue wavelengths that are being rejected:

The blue hue is only noticeable in the spill and not the hotspot at farther distances.

The super smooth reflector measures 69.2mm in diameter by 51mm deep:


The XM-L U2 emitter sits perfectly centered thanks to a plastic centering mold:

The rim immediately surrounding the LED also helps center the reflector.

These heat fins feature prominently around the head, however, given the heatsinking path, the highest temp is actually directly around and just aft of the control ring:


The edges of these fins also aid w/anti-roll.

Speaking of the control ring, it controls 6 output levels along with Standby and Strobe modes. While there is an icon indicating the direction of the output levels, it's a tad short; the pic on the right has the indicator arrow pointing at level 3:

The grooves around the ring help provide additional grip during use (see Size/Handling section for details).

The tube of the light features four flat sides whereby two have laser engravings:

One side bears the company's name while the other has the model and serial no. The texturing is rather smooth and doesn't really contribute much to the grip.

Being a cannister-style light, the battery tube doesn't feature a traditional tailcap but rather a "integrated" one, it is however still removable (more on that later):

There are machined grooves similar to the ones on the control ring as well as two attachment points for the included lanyard.

These holes are large enough to accomodate the hook so as not to need the included mini ring:

However, there isn't a cut-out groove on either end to accomodate perfectly level tailstanding w/out it (which should be used for safety reasons as it functions as a "break-away" point).

Without the lanyard, the base is perfectly flat with decent material thus allowing reasonably stable tailstanding use:

The rubber tail cap switch cover sits well recessed so as to reduce accidental activation but this may potentially cause use issues (see Size/Handling section for further details).

The batteries are housed within a carrier which is accessed by removing the head:

There is a spring to help maintain connection w/the positive contact point on the carrier.

With the cover removed, one can see the circuitry on the PCB:

It is reasonably well isolated from the heatsink that the emitter sits on as the only direct contact points are the three "poles" that the screws go into.

Here is a close up shot:

There are a total of eight "481H1" chip (close up in right pic) that corresponds with the 6 output levels and standby / strobe modes. They MUST be aligned properly with the control ring so care must be taken to reinstall the PCB correctly.

The battery carrier features redundant postive/negative contact points thus allowing it to be inserted into the tube either way w/out concer for polarity (the batteries do need to be installed in correct polarity though):

Both ends are identical w/the positive contact point isolated by a plastic grommet in the center and the outer rim carrying the negative path. How this is achieved is by clever routing on the two PCB's on each end (side k40-A and k40-B) and through the "legs" of the carrier.

Starting w/the ending negative spring on the "A" PCB of the carrier (top-left pic), it is directly connected to the outer light green parts of the PCB (dark green color represents "open" in the circuit path) and the three outer legs. These legs carry the negative path to the other end thus creating the redundancy. With the first battery is inserted at the spring, the positive point is routed to the negative spring of the second battery in series (top-right pic):


The second battery is inserted there and its positive point is routed to the third battery's negative spring in series (bottom-left pic). Finally, the third battery is inserted and its postive point is directly connected w/the central leg that carries the path to the other end as well.

The raised positive contact points allow the use of flat-top cells but care must be taken not to catch the heat-shrink wrap during removal (as shown in left-pic):

There is sufficient room to accommodate my shortest cells (AW IMR 1600 @ 65.2mm) and longest (XTAR 18700 @ 69.2mm). The XTAR's are incidentally also the largest in diam (18.3mm w/the label) and w/the labels and protection wire not facing the ID of the tube, I had no problems with insertion/removal of the carrier into/from the tube. YMMV depending on the diameter of your batteries. Also see Fit & Finish section re: loose heat-shrink wrapping.

Peering down the tube, one can see two springs, the center for the positive path and the outer one for the negative:

As previously mentioned, the tailcap cover is removable allowing access to the forward-clicky switch and PCB it's soldered to.

The supplied holster is of decent quality and covers the entire light (with exception of the exposed sides of the head):

It features both a fixed belt loop and a quick-release button that's re-inforced w/velcro for extra security.However, given the size of this light, unless one is a 7ft tall giant, IMO it'd look pretty awkward hanging off of one's belt.


SIZE / HANDLING

L to R: RediLast 3100 within K40's battery carrier | Sunwayman T60CS | ThruNite TN30 | L3 Illumination K40 | Crelant 7G9 | ThruNite TN31


Here is an on-request pic w/NITECORE'S TM11 in lieu of the battery carrier:


The K40 runs mid-pack amongst the cannister style/sized lights. I had no problems with holding the light in either an overhand or underhand grip, however, the tube is a little chunky @ 48.9mm in diam (1.93") and might cause issues for those afflicted with arthritis or other ailments:


Given the girth, I found the slightly recessed switch a bit difficult to access w/my medium-sized hands thus forcing me to hold the light further back than I would've liked. The edges of the machined elements around the base also pokes into the base of my thumb. Hopefully, these will be non-issues for those w/larger hands or longer digits.

Fortunately, the control ring is easy to operate one-handed:

As previously mentioned the grooves in the control ring aid with grip with one's fingers placed in them.


FIT & FINISH
The K40 has been absolutely solid all-around. Starting w/the HA-III anodizing, it was perfectly matched on all parts:

Note: Flash was intentionally used in this shot to highlight any mismatching but none was found.

There were none missing in the grooves of the texture, around sharp edges or within the heat fin areas (these are common issues found on poor anodizing process):


All engravings are also nice and sharp with no blotchiness:


While the threads are not square-cut, they came well greased and I didn't have any issues w/gritiness:


In terms of nitpicks, while the control ring operates with nice solid clicks on the detents*, it wasn't greased on my sample and creates a slightly gritty feel. Also, the o-ring's weren't greased on my sample so one should check that since it may bind and potentially compromise water-resistance. Last but not least, the heat-shrink tubing around the legs were not fully shrunk thus causing some lumpiness which can steal precious room away for the batteries to fit tightly towards the center:


*I was informed by L3 that based on customer feedback, the springs in currently shipping models (which includes my review sample) has been upgraded to create a more solid feel.

One change I would like to see on future versions is a shortening of the tail springs so as to allow the battery carrier to sit lower when inserted thus it doesn't potentially get caught on the rim of the tube when threading the head on:

With the exception of SPARK's SP6 (which uses a different size/style carrier), this has been a common theme on all lights featuring this style of carrier that I've tested thus far.

Beyond this, I find the K40 to be truly superb in overall build quality.


UI
The tailcap switch acts as the master on/off. When it is off, the control ring is non-functional. With the tailcap switch on, the UI is very straightforward as follows (with light pointed away from you and going clockwise from L to R):
- Six increasing levels of output (from L1 @ .5lms through L6 @ 1147lms)
- Standby
- Strobe

The levels are generally well spaced, although I find that visually, there doesn't seem to be a very distinct difference between levels 6 to 5 and 5 to 4. It would have been better if these were spaced further apart. The super low of .5lms makes the light very usable with dark adapted eyes but given it is a thrower after all, I personally don't find the pinpoint hotspot to be particularly useful. The Standby mode is handy since it allows the light to be "shut-off" with one-handed use rather than having to reach around to the tail-cap to shut it off. Current draw is absolutely trivial (59.7µA) so is of no concern (see Runtime section for further details).


BEAMSHOTS
Indoors (5m)

L6




L5


L4


L3


L2


L1

For details of the above indoor shots and comparo vs. many other lights, please check Epic Indoor Shots Trilogy


RUNTIME
The relevant battery stats are provided above each runtime graph along with:
- Voltage of the battery at the start and end of the test
- Current draw
- Actual runtime using ANSI FL1 (first in HR and then in M so for the RL3100 on High, read this as 1.7hrs or 100min)
- NEW (as of May 2012): Lumens measured on my PVC LMD @ 30 seconds
- Also for High, captured the temperature: ambient, the head/fins at start and the max it reached (fan was used for all bats)

The run with either set of cells is nearly identical to that of the TN31's that I graphed. The major exception is that at the end of the run, rather than giving a low voltage warning and then shutting off, the K40 will actually kick down to the lowest mode. I felt this was a nice touch rather than leaving one suddenly and completely in the dark. However, it's worth noting that the cells are already pretty drained at this point so prolonged use at this level is not recommended.

Of note is that the current measurements I took are without the tailcap and is inline w/the batteries so in a way, mimicking tailcap readings. There's also the matter of the resistance introduced in the less than stellar wiring with this setup so I am not able to match the claimed 3.5A draw on max. These readings are slightly lower than what I measured on the TN31 (which in turn was slightly lower than what HKJ measured for his sample of a TN31). I'm working w/L3 Illumination to determine how their reading was done and if possible to replicate the setup.

For now, here are the measurements I took for each set of batteries (in mA) and the calculated runtime (in hrs) for each level:



L to R: Current draw readings for L6 to L1 on 3xRL3100's. Nominal voltage = 10.8v (3.6x3).

Standby is absolutely trivial @ 59.7µA and put into perspective (while leaving battery self-discharge and leap years out of the pic) would calculate to ~52K hrs or 2163.6hrs/5.93yrs:



INITIAL CONCLUSION
As should be obvious by now, the K40 is not a straight-up clone of the TN31. If anything, it's like a TN31-lite or TN30.5. Regardless of what one may call it, it offers tremendous value for the buck in terms of both performance and build quality. While there is yet another variation of this light known as the Supbeam K40, L3's iteration is driven to 3.5A (vs. 3.0A for Supbeam's). This is a solid first release from L3 Illumination and I'm definitely looking forward to what else they might have in store for us. Until then, here are my thoughts for now:

turboBB-licious
- superb overall build quality
- cotrol ring allows quick and direct access to 6 output levels w/Strobe off to the side and not required to be accessed unless desired
- edges of heat-sink fins function as anti-roll, especially useful on such a large light
- great performance, throw and runtime given the form factor

turboBB-cautious
- claimed 1147lms is before step-down but even so, average output of entire run on L6 after step-down is still 1062lms (as measured on my PVC LMD)
- control ring and o-ring's not greased on my sample (merely an inconvenience in the case of the former but a potential compromise of water-resistanace is possible with the latter)
- no cut-outs for lanyard when used thus preventing stable tailstanding (well... you know I'm really hunting if I have to mention things like this under the cautious section... ;o))
- unestablished track record for this new company, however, it was founded by a well-known and reputable dealer

turboBB-wishes
- slightly shorter tailcap springs to allow face of battery carrier to sit flush w/battery tube
- L3 Illumination, what other products are you working on? Inquiring flashaholic-minds want to know!


K40 GALLERY



=======
Disclosure: K40 provided by sbflashlights for review.
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