Well, my Nichia 219 Eiger arrived today to much anticipation!
I watched and watched this thread for someone to review the light, but no one ever did, so I guess I'll give it a shot.
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The Emitter
The LED is the same Nichia 219 that most of us are now familiar with. Mine leans towards the cool side, I'd guess 4800-5000k.
This 219 Eiger is much cooler and a lot brighter than the 119 Eiger that Oveready sold for a while.
White balance locked to Daylight in all pictures.
All lights powered by either a fresh 1xAAA or 1xAA Eneloop.
Output is much improved over the 119 Eiger (or at least my sample). White balance is a
bit off in this picture - things aren't quite so rosy to my eye.
The New And Improved QTC
The redesigned pill is improved over the old one by leaps and bounds:
- You don't need to crank on it so hard to get max output
- You don't need to baby it so much to get minimum output
- The ramping is smooth and not jumpy at all
- The QTC recovers MUCH faster than it used to
That said, in my "long keychain" model, the light arrived with its QTC pill jammed sideways halfway down the tube. USPS wasn't very nice to it apparently. I disassembled it and reassembled it with tweezers.
My 119 Eiger has the short keychain (lug) body. My new 219 Eiger has the long keychain (unscrewable end) body. I don't know if that makes the difference or not, but if we unscrew both just until the QTC turns off, you cannot see the o-ring anymore on the new Eiger. :thumbsup:
Left: lug body Eiger
Right: keychain body Eiger
Fit and Finish
I'm afraid this is where I need to be a bit more negative. I'm a pretty big Peak fan (check my post history if you need proof) but it's hard to deny that their latest offerings feel, for lack of a better word, rushed.
This is the knurling on my brass Pacific. Note the well-defined grooves and sharp diamond shapes. This thing rides around in my pocket with my keys several days a week and doesn't look a bit worse off for it.
When I ordered a Logan 17500 SS a while ago, I was thinking I'd get the same knurling - not quite. I'm not sure the reasons behind this very fine cross-hatch. It's grippy, but it feels rough and unfinished in the hand and I don't find it attractive at all.
I was a bit worried what kind of knurling would come on this Eiger 219 - I was hoping for the larger "diamond" pattern and that is what arrived. That said, it's just not the same as the 119 Eiger I received only 4-6 months prior. It feels "sharper" in the hand, like it has unfinished edges, and the knurling isn't cut as deep as my previous Eiger. It also has a weird sheen to the surface - the knurls just don't catch and reflect the light like they do on my 119. It's hard to capture in pictures:
Left: Eiger 219 /w new QTC & long keychain
Right: Eiger 119 /w old QTC & short keychain
It sort of feels like it was rollled onto the light instead of being cut into it, yet it's actually sharper and not as smooth in the hand.
Conclusions
Pros
It's brighter, I like the tint better, and the ramping is smoother.
Cons
I don't feel that the finish is as nice as my previous Peak lights. Between this one and the Logan, I'm starting to wonder if Peak is going for quantity over quality.
Overall I'm pretty happy with this light. My 119 Eiger has been my keychain carry for months and this light just replaced it, so it must be pretty good.