# DST TLR, small titanium AA light



## HKJ (Jan 12, 2010)

[SIZE=+3]DST TLR[/SIZE]















DST is a new name in flashlights and the TLR is their first model. According to the manual they promise to deliver highly reliable lights, I am not going to test that, I will only do the normal tests! The light is a multimode AA light made in titanium (Called TC4). The light has 3 programmable slots and uses a reverse switch, more about the UI later on.









The light arrives in a black cardboard presentation box.






The contents of the box is a bit sparse, only the essential is supplied, there are the flashlight, one o-ring and extra screws for the clip. The manual is missing but I got it later.









The flashlight uses an OP (*O*range *P*eel) reflector with an XP-G led in the center, usual it is possible to see the small circuit board with the led, but here it is covered to make a nicer looking front.






Both the head and the body has some very fine knurling, to improve grip on the light. The above picture is from the head.









Looking into the head, the battery connection can be seen, some metal is used on the circuit board, to improve durability. The ring around the center knot is raised and is working as polarity protection, a wrongly inserted battery will not connect.






The first part on the battery tube is the treads and the o-ring. The treads are very smooth.






A look into the battery tube shows the spring.






The stainless steel clip is mounted on the body with screws, making it possible to remove it. 









The switch has a titanium button that is recessed, making it possible for the light to stand on the tail.






I could only split this light in two parts, the head and the body/tail.

Now to the UI (User interface) and modes, the light has 3 slots that each can be programmed to a brightness or a flashing mode, when turned on the same slot is always selected, i.e. no memory. To activate programming for a slot the light has to be on, the slot selected and then the user performs 3 half presses. This activates the brightness setting, one press more will move to the flashing modes setting. The light will change between possible settings, when it presents the desired setting, turn it off and the setting is programmed into that slot. For possible flashing modes, see below.



I like this AA titanium light, both design and functions. It has a easy mode selection with a good selection of modes and 3 slots for preselected modes. The maximum brightness is good for an AA light with a good beam for shorter distances. The finish on the light is good, but not as good as some of my other titanium lights, that just makes the light more designed for actual use, than as a shelf queen. There are a few details I would have preferred improved: a better ramp for brightness selection (Why do manufactures not make logarithmic ramps*) and the sos code (Not that I am ever going to use it).
*I know the answer to that one: More work with programming.



[SIZE=+3]Technical specification and measurements[/SIZE]






The light can use any AA sized battery, including 14500 LiIon. The LiIon will give a little bit of extra brightness.

With AA batteries the light is specified for 2 to 135 lumens for 50 hours at minimum brightness down to 70 minutes at full brightness.
With 14500 LiIon batteries the light is specified for 2 to 220 lumens for 60 hours for minimum brightness down to 45 minutes for full brightness.

Current measurement with 14500: Min: 11 mA, Max: 690 mA
Current measurement with NiMH: Min: 46 mA, Max: 2000 mA

Size: Diameter: 17 mm, length: 89.4 mm
Weight: 55.5 gram with AW 14500, 61 gram with eneloop, both measured with clip installed

Led is a Cree XP-G R5.










The light uses pwm at 52 kHz to regulate the brightness, these two curves are minimum and some medium level. At maximum brightness there are no pwm, i.e. the light is on 100% of the time.






The full brightness selection ramp, only the two flashes at 50% and 3 flashes at 100% can be seen, the single flash at low did not register. Note: To get rid of the pwm and only show the brightness I uses a smoothing circuit on my optical sensor, this also smoothed the flashes somewhat.






A full voltage/current/brightness shows that the light keeps a stable output from 2 volt and up to 4 volt, where it goes into direct drive. The lumen value is from the specifications.






The above graph shows runtime with a Eneloop NiMH battery and a AW 14500 LiIon battery. The 14500 is stopped by the protection circuit in the battery. The direct drive part can be seen at the start of the 14500 run.
Note the eneloop are only 2000 mAh, the light can reach 70 minutes with 2700 mAh AA batteries.











Strobe, 1 Hz to 15 Hz with 50% duty cycle. The traces show one of the slower and one of the faster strobes.






Locator/standby, low power 0.1 second pulse with 5 second between






Beacon, dual puls in 0,12 second with 0,5 second between






SOS, this exists in both a high and a low power version, dot is 0.28 second, sos is 7.4 second and delay to next sos is 2 seconds. But the spacing is wrong, i.e. this is not a correct sos. 






Here is the full mode selection sequence.



[SIZE=+3]Comparison to other Flashlights[/SIZE]






I have selected the following lights for comparison (Same sequence as picture): DST TLR, Quark AA Ti, JetBeam E3P Element SS, Proton Pro, Quark NiMi AA Ti, NiteCore D10








The TLR is a small AA light, but has a good brightness for its size. Note that the Quark is runing on LiIon, with NiMH it would only be about half brightness.






With the programmable brightness settings, the output levels can be adjusted to anything, except extreme low values.






The TLR is not a thrower, it is designed as a more floody light.

[SIZE=+2]Beam profile[/SIZE]

DST TLR LiIon, Quark AA Ti, JetBeam E3P Element SS











Proton Pro, Quark NiMi AA Ti, NiteCore D10











[SIZE=+2]Beam profile, reduced exposure[/SIZE]

DST TLR LiIon, Quark AA Ti, JetBeam E3P Element SS











Proton Pro, Quark NiMi AA Ti, NiteCore D10












[SIZE=+2]Lowest output[/SIZE]
DST TLR LiIon, Quark AA Ti, JetBeam E3P Element SS











Proton Pro, Quark NiMi AA Ti, NiteCore D10











Dark reference:







[SIZE=+1]DST TLR[/SIZE]





NiMH minimum and maximum:








LiIon minimum and maximum:








NiMH minimum:





NiMH maximum:





LiIon minimum:





LiIon maximum:







[SIZE=+1]Quark AA Ti[/SIZE]





Each press on the button will change the selected brightness, loose/tight head select between two different sequences.
Read more about the Quark and see pictures and beamshots in my Danish review

Moonlight, low, medium:











High, turbo:









Moonlight:





Low:





Medium:





High:





Turbo:







[SIZE=+1]JetBeam E3P Element SS[/SIZE]





Loose/tight head select between two levels.

Low, high:








Low:





High:








[SIZE=+1]Proton Pro[/SIZE]





Holding the switch down will change brightness/mode. This light has both an white and a red led.

Minimum, maximum:








Minimum:





Maximum:






[SIZE=+1]Quark NiMi AA Ti[/SIZE] 





Loosen and then tighten the head will change mode.

Low, medium, high:











Low:





Medium:





High:







[SIZE=+1]NiteCore D10[/SIZE]





Holding the switch down will adjust the brightness.

Minimum, maximum:








Minimum:





Maximum:






[SIZE=+3]Notes[/SIZE]
Light was supplied by DST for review.
Sorry about the pictures, but I had a light behind me that showed up on the snow.


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## Zeruel (Jan 12, 2010)

That's a cool light. Thanks for the review. 
May I know which country the light's from?
And most importantly...... where can I get one?


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## HKJ (Jan 12, 2010)

Zeruel said:


> That's a cool light. Thanks for the review.
> May I know which country the light's from?
> And most importantly...... where can I get one?



Same place as most lights are from: China.

I do not know who sells it , but I hope they will post some info about it.


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## tucolino (Jan 12, 2010)

thanks for the review.

i like that light a lot.hope someone will tell us more where to get one


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## DM51 (Jan 12, 2010)

Very good review - your layout is excellent as always, with well-chosen comparisons and great photography.

This looks a very nice light - It is always good to see new manufacturers appearing on the scene with quality products.

Moving to the Reviews section...


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## csshih (Jan 12, 2010)

great review HKJ!


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## strinq (Jan 12, 2010)

Great review and a really nice looking light. Hope it's priced 'nicely' as well. 

Oh, i think the current measurements are the other way around.

"Current measurement with 14500: Min: 11 mA, Max: 690 mA
Current measurement with NiMH: Min: 46 mA, Max: 2000 mA"

should be:

"Current measurement with NiMH: Min: 11 mA, Max: 690 mA
Current measurement with 14500: Min: 46 mA, Max: 2000 mA"

Cheers


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## Morelite (Jan 12, 2010)

strinq said:


> Oh, i think the current measurements are the other way around.
> 
> "Current measurement with 14500: Min: 11 mA, Max: 690 mA
> Current measurement with NiMH: Min: 46 mA, Max: 2000 mA"
> ...


 
No, they would be right, The driver would need to draw more current from the lower voltage cell to supply the LED the same voltage and current.


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## strinq (Jan 13, 2010)

My bad. Sorry TS. This is what happens when you lack knowledge...


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## HKJ (Jan 13, 2010)

strinq said:


> Oh, i think the current measurements are the other way around.



No, and if you look in the review you will see a couple of reasons for that.

The brightness on LiIon is only slightly above the brightness on NiMH (Both graphs and beamshots shows that), i.e. it is only using slightly more power and because LiIon has 3 times the voltage, it does not need as much current for that (Power=current*voltage).

A few graphs below the current measurements numbers I have done a graph of voltage, current and brightness, there you can see the actual current draw at any (valid) voltage.


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## Paul6ppca (Jan 13, 2010)

Where are these available and how much? Looks very interesting.


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## HKJ (Jan 14, 2010)

Paul6ppca said:


> Where are these available and how much? Looks very interesting.




I believe that they will show up in our marketplace soon.


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## Incidentalist (Jan 18, 2010)

Looks nice.

I'm waiting for a dealer to step up. I'm ready to order one, who wants my $$$?


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## kaichu dento (Jan 19, 2010)

I'm in for one if for no other reason than that it's probably one of the only lights out there to give the EZAA a run for it's money when it comes to slimness, and it's got it beat with 3 levels and a real low to boot!


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## richardcpf (Jan 19, 2010)

Looks neat...


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## alfreddajero (Jan 19, 2010)

Now that is one hell of a light......Why only one o-ring though...can one get to the tailswitch.


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## matrixshaman (Jan 19, 2010)

Great review HKJ! I haven't looked yet on the marketplace but did you get any idea of how much the DST TLR might sell for ?


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## Incidentalist (Jan 20, 2010)

Don't bother searching the marketplace for this light, I have and there isn't anything about this light over there yet.

I don't know what the price of this light is going to be, but I would guess that this one is going to be rather affordable for a Ti AA light. I'm guessing (hoping?) somewhere around $100, give or take $20. 

Also, does anybody know what TC4 titanium is? I'm not up on all of my alloys and such.


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## Zeruel (Jan 27, 2010)

A bump, why?
Cos I want it. DST, hurry up!


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## dpled (Feb 5, 2010)

Any word on these?


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## Light11 (Feb 5, 2010)

Looks nice.


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## Ty_Bower (Feb 10, 2010)

matrixshaman said:


> Great review HKJ!



I'll second that - fantastic review. I appreciate the attention to the technical details, especially the study of the lights PWM behavior. Excellent!


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## mvyrmnd (Feb 11, 2010)




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## Andyy (Feb 20, 2010)

dpled said:


> Any word on these?


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## 1 what (Feb 20, 2010)

Many thanks. Nice review.:thumbsup:.
I think I could be tempted to buy my first Ti light!


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## RichS (Feb 22, 2010)

HKJ said:


> The finish on the light is good, but not as good as some of my other titanium lights...


Thanks for the excellent review as always HKJ!! Very helpful - I saw this over the MP, and it fits my tastes so well I am considering getting one even though DST is new on the scene. Fortunately they sent it to you in advance for review.

One question I had about your comment above: I actually really like the look of the finish on this light (in the pics) over others I have seen. It's not too "blingy" with crome-looking polishing, etc. What specifically made you say the finish is not as good? Is it the seams, sharp edges, lack of smoothness when unscrewing, etc..


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## HKJ (Feb 23, 2010)

RichS said:


> One question I had about your comment above: I actually really like the look of the finish on this light (in the pics) over others I have seen. It's not to "blingy" with crome-looking polishing, etc. What specifically made you say the finish is not as good? Is it the seams, sharp edges, lack of smoothness when unscrewing, etc..



There is a sharp edge on one of the tail holes, tooling marks on the clip and the seam just behind the knurling on the head. The thread is smooth.
Not being polished, also makes the light look less fancy and is part of the reason for my comment about "more being design for actual use".


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## RichS (Feb 23, 2010)

HKJ said:


> There is a sharp edge on one of the tail holes, tooling marks on the clip and the seam just behind the knurling on the head. The thread is smooth.
> Not being polished, also makes the light look less fancy and is part of the reason for my comment about "more being design for actual use".


Thanks for the additional detail HKJ, that is helpful. A couple of additional questions if you don't mind - how is the tint? Very neutral, slightly greenish or blueish, on the warm side, etc.? Also how is the wall thickness? It seems like a very slim light compared to the other AA lights in your pic, and I'm just wondering how thin the walls of this light are.


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## HKJ (Feb 23, 2010)

RichS said:


> Thanks for the additional detail HKJ, that is helpful. A couple of additional questions if you don't mind - how is the tint? Very neutral, slightly greenish or blueish, on the warm side, etc.? Also how is the wall thickness? It seems like a very slim light compared to the other AA lights in your pic, and I'm just wondering how thin the walls of this light are.



The tint on my TLR is slightly greenish. The light is about the same diameter as EZAA or Quark Mini AA, this means thin walls (Under the o-ring it is 0.4 mm), but remember it is in titanium.

Also note that there is no confirmations from DST that the sold light is exactly the same as the one reviewed.


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## RichS (Feb 23, 2010)

HKJ said:


> The tint on my TLR is slightly greenish. The light is about the same diameter as EZAA or Quark Mini AA, this means thin walls (Under the o-ring it is 0.4 mm), but remember it is in titanium.
> 
> Also note that there is no confirmations from DST that the sold light is exactly the same as the one reviewed.


Great, thanks again for the helpful and very detailed information!


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## Haz (Mar 18, 2010)

thanks for the great review and comparison. Looking at the light compared to the other AA lights, it does look slim, which should make it quite comfortable for pocket carry. another observation, the clip reminds me alot of the McGizmo clip


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## guiri (Mar 18, 2010)

Ok, I'm interested. Do we know final specs and prices yet?


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## Haz (Mar 18, 2010)

guiri said:


> Ok, I'm interested. Do we know final specs and prices yet?



here they are

http://www.cpfmarketplace.com/mp/showthread.php?t=215883


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## souptree (Mar 18, 2010)

Very original clip idea!


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## Incidentalist (Mar 18, 2010)

I'm very happy with mine. 

No doubt that several of the components/ideas on this light were 'borrowed' from other designs.


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## Zeruel (Mar 18, 2010)

I've edc for about a week now. Not bad, not bad at all. The clip could have been designed a little better as it can't clip thicker clothe or belt without over-stretching. It could have been a little more deep pocket. Being reverse clicky is not a deal breaker for me because I like the rest of the stuff from this light, namely the UI, intuitive switch, Ti, slimness etc. It's a good general purpose edc for me.


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## AardvarkSagus (Mar 30, 2010)

Nice review! I'm really liking the looks of this light. Incredibly slim and small for an AA clicky. I love reading your reviews since you delve into the technical side of things far more than I am capable of.


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