Klarus G20 (26650/18650 USB rechageable) Flashlight pass-around

[Smegheaaad]

What do you think of the beam in terms of colour and floodiness? I believe the N4 XHP70 is a 5000k emitter, does that sound about right?

And yeah, the spacing. It's a really subjective problem with no right answers, but I reckon the higher the top-end output, there need to be more modes in the middle to be useful, though not so many as to drive you nuts. That's partly why I'm excited for the Q8; they seem to have their heads screwed on right for their firmware and its options. Anyway, is the big jump from 650 to 3000 a deal-breaker, in your opinion?

I was pretty interested in this, but the GB I saw was at banggood, and I have history with them that makes me wary.

 

[StandardBattery]

I just got mine today, could not wait for the GB here to ship, but that's OK I think I'll need a second one. This might be the year of the 26650.

First the bad news... guess I had not done my research enough and I didn't realize the tail switch is also an electronic switch were I was counting on it being mechanical. As it is there is no way to lockout the light short of removing the battery (unscrewing the light will not work.

Now as for the good stuff I'm liking it.

1. Beam is very floody, very soft/diffuse and smooth. Some rings are noticeable white wall hunting at close range. Tint is towards warm/neutral and very nice.
2. I'm OK with the levels they seem very reasonable to me. Right now I'm using a Keeppower 5400mAh cell in it (exact charge state unknown).
3. I'm liking the UI alright. It does have long-press for OFF which is unintuitive, but fortunately it is only short press for ON. The instant access to Turbo or Strobe is nice.
4. Momentary ON is also a very nice feature that is becoming less common, but there is a 0.5-0.7s delay before it activates which makes it unsuitable for tactical use so I'm confused on why they bothered with the rear tail switch at all. It would have been useful if it was mechanical for lockout, or instant momentary for tactical... but as it is it looks like just a potential failure point and extra parasitic drain.
5. The size is very nice

OK it has taken me longer to write my first impressions that I've had time playing with the light. Have to wait until tomorrow or early morning for outdoor tests. So far it's exactly what I expected which is good.

 

[Wendee]

I just got mine today [...] Tint is towards warm/neutral and very nice [...]

StandardBattery, the tint on yours is warm/neutral? oo:
I had changed my mind about buying this light because I saw a beam shot and it was really cool white (too much so). That was on one of the first lights received. Maybe they've now changed the tint because people didn't seem happy about it? Is it possible for you to post a beam shot? If it's NW, I'll buy one via groupbuy for sure!

 

[glockboy]

Can you test the "Up to 2000 mA super fast Recharging"
My G20 only charge at 200 mA.

I just got mine today.

 

[StandardBattery]

StandardBattery, the tint on yours is warm/neutral? oo:
I had changed my mind about buying this light because I saw a beam shot and it was really cool white (too much so). That was on one of the first lights received. Maybe they've now changed the tint because people didn't seem happy about it? Is it possible for you to post a beam shot? If it's NW, I'll buy one via groupbuy for sure!

I'm very surprised as well given the spec of 6300K. I will do some more side by side comparisons to confirm, it could be it just has a good CRI that confused me, but indoors it was very pleasant and everythink looked just as i would expect with something more like a 5K temp. I doubt i'll do any beam shots since my photo computer has been down for months, but if i do i may have to email them to someone since the free photo sites just bug me.

Can you test the "Up to 2000 mA super fast Recharging"
My G20 only charge at 200 mA.

I'm not intending to use the built in charger, but after tonight or in a couple days the cell should need a recharge so i'll try it briefly with a USB monitor and let you know what i get.

 

[StandardBattery]

Small update. I'd say the beam is closer to neutral, but does not warrant my earlier warm designation. Still I feel the temp is below 6300K.
The long press for OFF is proving more annoying than when I first tried it. Since I use multiple lights it's proving hard to retrain my brain under normal usage to remember this one light is different. It means that almost always when turning off the light I bump up a level which can mess up my memorized level. Which brings up the true usefulness of the tail switch. There is no memory associated with the use of the tail switch so if I don't want to cycle through the top levels to get my default level set again I can use the rear switch to set the level starting from low and then turn the light off with the side button to set the level. So as they advertised, regardless of your current memory setting you can use the rear tailswitch to start in low and/or get to another level without affecting your memory setting on the side button.

 

[StandardBattery]

Can you test the "Up to 2000 mA super fast Recharging" My G20 only charge at 200 mA.

.....
I'm not intending to use the built in charger, but after tonight or in a couple days the cell should need a recharge so i'll try it briefly with a USB monitor and let you know what i get.

OK so I discharged the battery into the Red zone in the G20 and set about to try the internal charger.

The short story... use a good cable.

Plugged into an Anker 60W multipart USB Power Adapter with iQ support.
Used XTAR USB monitor for this test, may compare to better one later given the results.
Reported USB output 5.14V

1. First, pretty good thick 2ft cable I use for charging general USB devices. Cable fit poorly as it has a fat connector. Light charged at .75A.
2. Cable supplied with light by Klarus, charged light at .45A
3. Short (~1ft) Anker pro cable I use with power banks, charged at 1.5A

One note is that charge current did seem to increase slightly to 1.55A in about 5min, for the 3rd cable, and to .9A for the first cable. No change for cable 2 supplied by Klarus.

So against my better judgement (but I'm using protected cell), I will continue to let it charge now on cable 3 and see if the charge rate reaches 2A. In this simple test with 1 adapter.

 

[glockboy]

Thanks.

 

[TheGrave]

OK so I discharged the battery into the Red zone in the G20 and set about to try the internal charger.

The short story... use a good cable.

Plugged into an Anker 60W multipart USB Power Adapter with iQ support.
Used XTAR USB monitor for this test, may compare to better one later given the results.
Reported USB output 5.14V

1. First, pretty good thick 2ft cable I use for charging general USB devices. Cable fit poorly as it has a fat connector. Light charged at .75A.
2. Cable supplied with light by Klarus, charged light at .45A
3. Short (~1ft) Anker pro cable I use with power banks, charged at 1.5A

One note is that charge current did seem to increase slightly to 1.55A in about 5min, for the 3rd cable, and to .9A for the first cable. No change for cable 2 supplied by Klarus.

So against my better judgement (but I'm using protected cell), I will continue to let it charge now on cable 3 and see if the charge rate reaches 2A. In this simple test with 1 adapter.

Hey, how did it go - did you manage to go anywhere near 2A?

 

[StandardBattery]

Hey, how did it go - did you manage to go anywhere near 2A?

Remember I'm measuring input current, not at the battery, so i would say it certainly got very close if not exactly.
See this thread for my further updates: #10

 

[TheGrave]

Remember I'm measuring input current, not at the battery, so i would say it certainly got very close if not exactly.
See this thread for my further updates: #10

Indeed. Thanks for coming back!

Guys, I'm considering to misuse this flashlight as a headlamp with a proper headband (if I find one that takes this diameter). Do you think it's too bulky for this role?

 

[StandardBattery]

....
Guys, I'm considering to misuse this flashlight as a headlamp with a proper headband (if I find one that takes this diameter). Do you think it's too bulky for this role?

It's pretty heavy. If you put it in the center of a helmet like a mining light it would work, a side mounted headband I don't think so. Maybe you could put it on a shoulder. For task work ceiling bounce works good as long as you have a ceiling of course.

 

[TheGrave]

It's pretty heavy. If you put it in the center of a helmet like a mining light it would work, a side mounted headband I don't think so. Maybe you could put it on a shoulder. For task work ceiling bounce works good as long as you have a ceiling of course.

I need it for hiking and night cycling (MTB on rough roads sometimes). I guess I'll have to stick with a headlamp if it's so heavy.

 

[carl]

1) What is the parasitic drain of each e-switch (side switch and tail switch)?
2) What is the current draw on turbo? (I assume the LED is 6V).

 

[stanmore]

Unsure if it's been noted elsewhere, but I've not found Klarus to be particularly forthcoming with UI information with my BK30 or RS20. These too have electronic switches, but do lockout if you hold either of the buttons for about 5+ seconds (shown by the light flashing twice). I do not remember seeing this in the instructions or online, so may be worth having a go.