[Review] Astrolux S42 4xNichia 219C Rechargeable LED Flashlight supplied by Banggood

Lexel

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
457
Location
Germany
The light was supplied by Banggood, no compensation other than the light itself was received for this review



3The price can be lowered to 25.95$ with Mad Max coupon here


This is my 3. light that was supplied by Banggood for a review, I am honest and will judge the light as it is with its pros and cons


Specification:

Product name: Astrolux S42 2023LM Rechargeable Mini LED Flashlight
Brand: Astrolux
Model: S42
Emitter Type: XP-G2,XP-G3, Nicha 219C
Light Temperature: XP-G2(6500K),XP-G3 (6000-7000K),219C(5000K)
Light Color: Cool white,Cool white,Warm white
Material: Aluminum alloy
Total Emitters: 4X
Mode: Group1:Moon,Low,Med1,Med2,High1,High2,Turbo
+Moon,Turbo,Tactical strobe,Battery check,Bike flasher (without memory function,short press<0.5s)
Group2:Low,Med2,High1,High2 (with memory function,duble click the button,short press<0.5s)
Lumens: 2lm,20lm,140lm,240lm,545lm,735lm,2023lm (XP-G3)
1lm,17lm,125lm,220lm,490lm,650lm,1740lm (XP-G2)
1lm,16lm,125lm,210lm,475lm,630lm,1630lm (Nichia 219C)
Runtime: 2.9D,1.3D,6h,2h,1h,0.4h,0.39h (18350)
14D,6.4D,29h,9.7h,4.8h,2h,1.99h (18650)
Battery Configurations: 1 x unproteced plate head 18350/16340/18650 battery (not included)
Working Volatge: 2.8v-4.25v
Switch Type: Clicky
Switch Location: Body side of the flashlight
Peak Beam Intensity: 19850cd
Impact Resistant 1.5 meters
Max Output: 2023lumens
Waterproof: IPX-65 waterproof
Body Color: Black
Weight: 60g (without battery)
Size: 77mm x 27mm (length x head diameter) (18350 size)
102mm x 27mm(length x head diameter) (18650 size)


There is an error in the original specs the Nichia are neutral white, while they are described as warm white



for more manufactory product pictures go to Banggood



the parcel arrived after 36 days shipping with to Germany which is acceptable from China.



Package and content:



The light came packed well with a plenty wrap around and in a plastic bag
IMG_3180.jpg



The light comes in a card box which is typical for Astrolux
IMG_3181.jpg


The box has a compartment for the light and a battery, but the battery compartment has 14500 size while it is a 18350/18650 light


It comes with 2 spare o-rings, clip, lanyard, spike, thread adapter and manual
IMG_3185.jpg




Here you can see the optional 18650 tube with clip attached, compared to an Utorch UT01, which looks quite familiar as this light
IMG_3179.jpg

IMG_3178.jpg




Photos of the light


IMG_3166.jpg

IMG_3168.jpg

IMG_3175.jpg

IMG_3165.jpg

IMG_3177.jpg



Comparism and teardown:




Size compared to other 18350 and 14500 lights
IMG_3188.jpg

IMG_3189.jpg

I would have dropped the thread for the spike in the tail cap to get the light shorter



compared to 18650 lights
IMG_3190.jpg

IMG_3191.jpg

there is a 18650 aluminum tube available, but it is as well too short for button top or protected batteries, probably a longer 18650 will be released soon for the S42



Beam color is neutral around 5000K for the Nichia 219C model, the Nichia has a nice uniform beam and color rendering is great
IMG_3176.jpg



The LEDs are perfectly reflowed and the MCPCB sits perfect, but the charging port cover slips too easily
IMG_3196.jpg




from left to right the lights get warmer, picture taken @5000K camera setting

left XML2 U3-3D 5000K, Astrolux S42 Nichia 219C 5000K, Nichia 5700K, XPL HD 1A 6500K
IMG_2317.jpg

The LEDs in this light are available in XP-G2, XP-G3 and Nichia 219C



The light can be taken apart completely, nothing is glued


The light has the tail cap with a thread for the spike or an tripod
IMG_3210.jpg



The head has a diameter of 27mm and 21mm visible of the TIR optic


The driver can't be pulled out easily, the LED leads have to be unsoldered
I highly recommend unsoldering the side switch board as well
then push the driver out through the LED wire hole



The driver board has 2 pads for AMC7135 chips which are not populated
IMG_3202.jpg




So a single FET is controlling all modes
IMG_3204.jpg




the leads are all reinforced with some glue
IMG_3203.jpg

IMG_3206.jpg




The threads are triangular cut, good quality but square cut would be nicer
IMG_3211.jpg


The light can be physical locked out by twisting the tail cap or head


The Head



the TIR is a medium flood, gives a nice uniform beam with some spill
IMG_3195.jpg




the Nichia LEDs fit in nicely
IMG_3207.jpg




The slave board for the switch has also a green and red LED
IMG_3198.jpg



The shelf is about 1mm thick, it could be more, but the thick copper MCPCB does a good job spreading the heat, on Turbo the head gets hot really quick, so the thermal path is well



Waterproofness might be an issue as the USB cover gets very easy loose, they should have made the cut out 1mm deeper like the Klarus lights and have the rubber cover with o-ring like shape
Banggood does provide a new designed USB cover
IMG_3192.jpg

IMG_3194.jpg

IMG_3197.jpg




The thermal paste was applied in a moderate quantity and seems to be some silver compound, when I removed the MCPCB I saw a really nice pattern which means it was on the full surface and in a thin layer
IMG_3201.jpg



The MCPCB is s true copper DTP one about 1.5mm thick, very nice, the back of it is gold plated
The MCPCBs back is perfectly flat



The lens is AR coated glass
IMG_3209.jpg


I would like to see the TIR attached to the lens with optical glue to get more OTF lumens


Tube and Tail




Tail cap spring is thick and seems to be some alloy which is barely magnetic possible stainless steel, also the driver one is barely magnetic
IMG_3158.jpg


I cut the tail spring a bit shorter as my unprotected brass button cell get dented in the tail, when fully screwing the tail down, even with raised top cells like Sanyo 18650GA it's a tight fit


The light is build for unprotected batteries, protected or button top unprotected won't fit
from those batteries only the 2 left fit without a problem, with the S41 tube
IMG_3157.jpg



the tube inner diameter is 19mm, the springs get fully compressed with an unprotected flat top cell, so their resistance is very low, the tail spring sticks a bit over 1mm inside the tube
IMG_3213.jpg




The tube threads are triangular cut on both sides, the tube has 2 o-rings and the tail side is lubed for water tightness
IMG_3211.jpg




Driver and Battery




The light is USB chargeable with micro USB connector
IMG_3165.jpg



The Light charges the battery with 0.5A
the cell reaches fully charged 4.16V, this is a safe and good value



The light has PWM in moon and medium/high modes, but it's really fast about 100kHz hard to photograph
IMG_3025.jpg



The lights runs 20 seconds on highest level, I can't see a significant drop in brightness during that time but the head gets hot really quick from 25°C to about 60°C, then it ramps down slowly to High2, no hard step down so smooth you did not even notice


The light has not much mass to absorb heat, in turbo mode on a high drain cell it gets hot quickly, in High2 the temperature stabilizes on a good level if held in hand


Tail cap current measurement on brightest level

stock light:
- 6.1A with 5 year old Samsung 18650-26F
- 9.95A with new Samsung 18650-30Q
- 8.90A with new Sanyo 18650GA

Tail current for other modes
Moon 6.9mA
Low 79.5mA
Middle1 0.6A
Middle2 1A
High1 1.47A
High2 2.12A

The mode spacing is too close together for my liking, the moonlight could be lower like a firefly using those unpopulated AMC pads on the driver


At 2.78V the light does step down to firefly mode and blinks low voltage warning
if the battery voltage recovers you may enter low and middle1
Below that voltage it shuts down and you cant turn on the light again



The light pulls in the breathing mode 0.95-1mA from the battery
Unfortunately the breathing mode runs down to 2.38V which is too low, and will damage the battery


When the light is locked out with side switch it pulls about 15uA



Modding:


nothing really to do here, the light is already really good


I did just cut the tail spring a bit shorter to allow my brass button flat tops to fit without denting the battery bottom,
there will be longer tubes released soon



Beam shots




about 2m from Light to ceiling

Astrolux S42 Nichia 219C
IMG_3214.jpg



Astrolux K01 XPL-HD 3D
IMG_3215.jpg



Jetbeam Jet-1 MK modded with Nichia 219C from a BLF348-2016
IMG_3216.jpg



Utorch UT01 6500K
IMG_3217.jpg



Nitecore P12 XML U3-3D NW
IMG_3218.jpg




User Interface

f4a35b3e-2b8c-46d2-9097-ecc3c95a23f9.png



I don't like how long it takes pressing the button to shut the light off, my Utorch UT1 is a lot quicker, also when in moon mode a long click goes to turbo instead shutting the light down, which may ruin your night vision


I like the user interface of the UT01 more than the one in this light


The double click to switch mode groups is wasted, better do instant turbo from any mode and off with it and switch modegroups differently


Conclusion




Positive:
- good production quality
- solid head, DTP star screwed on the shelf
- Nichia LEDs has a nice neutral white with great color rendering
- AR coated glass lens
- good floody beam, but also some throw by the amount of light on turbo

Neutral:
- does only fit unprotected flat top batteries, unprotected button top won't fit, this fits the product specs, but this is going to be changed
- triangular cut threads, square cut would be nicer
- the UI is not really good
- S41 18650 tube fits only unprotected flat top batteries


Negative:
- waterproofness might be an issue as the USB cover gets very easy loose, they should have made the cut out 1mm deeper like the Klarus Lights and have the rubber cover with o-ring like shape, this is going to be changed
- the low voltage protection in breathing mode the light runs the battery way down too much to 2.38V
 
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ven

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
22,533
Location
Manchester UK
Great detailed review, thanks for sharing:) Bang for buck it is a very hard light to beat, even with the few short comings.
 

proceed5

Enlightened
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Messages
227
Thanks for the review Lexel.

The Manker E14-II was melting Hot in Turbo in lesser than 1 minute, is the Astrolux S42 the same?
From your beam shots pictures, it looks like the S42's is more focused (which I personally prefer). Do you see "ears" from the beam?
 

Lexel

Enlightened
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
457
Location
Germany
The light pulls 10A from a fresh battery, of course it gets hot
I measured 63°C after the light slowly reached high2

The top temperature after stepping down and let the light run for 10 minuted ceiling bounce was a bit below 80°C, which is a safe level

driver replacing without keeping the chargin circuit is easy, a 21mm driver fits with minor sanding


with AWG18 and SIR800 FET pulling 18.9A on cold start
instead the 9.95A with fresh Samsung 18650-30Q cell


I did come out with a solution I like keeping the old drivers slave board electronics

I did wire the old electronics with the LED+ wire on the star, so if I want deactivate the USB charger and breathing lighted sideswitch to get rid of the parasitic drain,
I can unsolder the thin wire on the star


The drivers contact board and TA 21mm LDO driver
IMG_3253.jpg


trimed the board to fit easily
IMG_3255.jpg



used my Dremel to get rid of unsoldering the leads to the switch board
IMG_3256.jpg



trimmed the old driver contact board to fit inside the head, cut the bolts connecting both boards by 4mm and sanded it
IMG_3257.jpg



Driver assembly before gluing the old board on top of the TA driver to fix the position USB slave board
I had to cut the USB opening a bit as I trimmed not enough leng of the bolts
IMG_3258.jpg



The lead connecting the old slave board with the battery, can be easily disconnected
IMG_3259.jpg
 

EDness

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 18, 2015
Messages
129
Wow 18.9A, very nice !! :twothumbs

I replaced the driver spring with a brass button and got 10.7A. I couldn't hold the flashlight after 10 seconds on turbo...can't imagine with 18.9A!
 

lbw

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 20, 2017
Messages
1
Will it be possible to mod the existing driver to get more lumens?
Thanks for the review.
 
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Nokoff

Enlightened
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Messages
355
Location
Cheers, USA 🇺🇸
After being out of the fold for a while I'm slowly grabbing up some torches that have been out a while, the S42 is one. The great part is they're on sale a lot now. It's amazing how far we've come, and yet how far not.

The Astrolux "universal" 18650 battery tube doesn't fit any protected battery; I don't see that they ever did release a longer tube as mentioned by OP. That would have been really good considering the parasitic drain takes the battery below safe level. With a small torch this powerful I do a head lockout always, however I could not trust this torch to a loved one for safety concerns. Shame because I love the breathing light, sad they were careless in design.
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Speaking of design...

The UI is confusing to say the least. Just as the OP mentions, you can go into moonlight (which is too bright a mode and cannot be adjusted) from off then double click to turbo, but that's where the ease of it ends. Good luck turning it off without hitting strobe and sos and other blinky modes. Part of the problem is the long press off, it is so long it's awkward, like when someone shakes your hand and doesn't let go for like 20 seconds. You can also end up in lockout by mistake too easily. The good news is that the raised button is cooler than the hot head, the button itself is a good design so saves your fingers, because you will be pressing it more than you expect, I can assure you.

The UI also works inconsistently in that if you already moved around in modes it's hard to get to turbo without shutting it off; this may be more timing issues with the button. Lastly, mode spacing is so close you almost can't tell you changed modes, just why?! The counterpart Manker E14II is super easy to use so these two are not even close in the UI department. The S42 also feels much hotter but I did grab the XPG3 version here, considering the OP review noted the Nichia is more neutral than anything. The XPG3 is surprisingly bright white and not green however I didn't put it next to my Manker for fear of disappointment.

The USB charging cover on my sample seems secure. I think they may have shortened the rubber lead so it's tighter simply by sitting in a better position over the port.
31418f28fad7c1015015ce8e7144d03d.jpg


It's $25 on sale now at banggood if anyone wants to try it out. Its got a spikey tail [emoji4].
I have an S43 Nichia on preorder sale, we shall give it a go!
 
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