# Jetbeam DDA10 (XP-G2) & DDC20 (XM-L U2) Review



## candle lamp (Oct 17, 2012)

The DD series are new flashlights from Jetbeam, designed with the digital display system and side control switch. I will be reviewing the DDA10 (1xAA) and DDC20 (1x18650 or 2xCR123A) models here.






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*Manufacturer Specification *from user manual & website :

1. Advanced digital display system, under the patent protection.
2. Display output mode
3. Display battery power
4. Easily operation of side control switch
5. Output & Runtime:
1) DDA10 :
- High(160 lumens-1hr), Med.(40 lumens-7hr), Low(5 lumens-20hr), Strobe(160 lumens)
- Beam distance : 110m
- Intensity : 3000cd
2) DDC20
- High(500 lumens-2hr), Med.(100 lumens-15hr), Low(10 lumens-60hr), Strobe(500 lumens)
- Beam distance : 150m
- Intensity : 5000cd
6. Output regulation : Side switch
7. Circuit design : Constant current circuit, constant brightness.
8. Body: Stainless steel and aerospace aluminum





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Packaging is a cardboard box with built-in packaging foam. Inside you will find the light, user manual, warranty card, wrist lanyard, extra O-ring, pocket clip, two pairs of small hex screws, Allen key, attacking cone which is optional purchase, and SILICA GEL.
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There are two pairs of small hex screws and Allen key. You can hold the pocket clip on the one side of the tail base with two hex screws and Allen key yourself. It can be easily removed if you want.
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The lights have a matte dark gray finish (looks like type III hard anodizing), with no chips or damage on my samples. Anodizing is very smooth and consistent. 
Identification labels on the head are clear and bright against the background. Actually labels are not as bright white as some other lights, but that actually helps to make them less obtrusive. There is diamond-shaped knurling on the battery tube, but it's not very aggressive, but there are some other items such as square-shaped head and pocket clip to help with good hand grip. 
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The light consists of two main components, head, battery tube with tailcap installed. The light is machined from aero grade aluminum alloy. The machining work with the light is perfect and without any flaws. The components are interchangeable among the lights (i.e., common threading and diameters for the heads & battery tubes).
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The most distinctive part is the flat panel with digital display system (i.e., LED-based 7 segment display). This gives a clear idea which mode it's in and how much battery power it remains just now. Both lights feature a slightly protruding side switch which entirely controls output mode changing. The switch is electronic push button and have short travel and a bit quiet with click when pressed.
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The head has a series of shallow cooling slots at two sides which not only help in heat dissipation but also enhance the cosmetic look of the light. It also provide good grip. On the head, Jetbeam name is above the digital display, model name, manufacturer website, etc. are laser engraved on the opposite side.
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The digital display LED shows current mode and remaining power. (i.e., the current mode will be displayed for 5 seconds, then the remaining battery power will be displayed unceasingly when the light is on). The current mode H, E, L, and S mean High, Med., Low, and Strobe respectively. You may wonder how "E" means Med. mode. When you rotate "E" 90 degrees to the right, you can see "m". The remaining power level is 0~9. "0" means low power and "9" means full power. This will let you know the current mode and battery remaining at each mode.
*[*Edit 12.10.18*] *When the battery is low (i.e., remainin power is "0"), "0" starts flashing. *[*Edit 12.10.18*]
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The DDA10 uses a *XP-G2* emitter, and DDC20 uses a *XM-L U2*. Both Emitters are perfectly aligned and centered within reflector. There is a bit deep stainless steel bezel ring in the head. The AR coating lens protects the emitter and the reflector, and sits behind a stainless steel ring. The purple hue is reflected on it. There is a O-ring between the stainless bezel ring and reflector, protecting the lens, and it prevents water and dirt entering the lens assembly. The reflector has textured finish (i.e, medium orange peel). There are no visible differences between the reflectors of both lights (i.e., it seems both lights have same sized reflectors). 
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There is no spring in the head, but a raised disc around the center contact is used to prevent reverse polarity accidents (i.e., need to use batteries with a raised top) on the DDA10. In contrast, a center contact protrudes slightly than the surrounding disc on the DDC20. So I haven't experienced any problems with any of my flat-top protected 18650s making contact with this setup (i.e., small-button top or flat-top or wide button-top batteries 18650 batteries work in the light). But there is no mention of the electrical reverse polarity protection in the DDC20 user manual. 
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Depth of attractive diamond knurling is just right to provide good grip.
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The wall thickness of the DDC20 is on the thinner side than DDA10, but the light still feel solid like as DDA10. 
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You will see the inner diameter (ID) of the tube in the DDA10 is not consistent along the depth. (i.e., the upper part of the ID is 17.07mm and the lower part seems to be 15mm. It's too large to actually accommodate 14mm diameter cell. But I was not able to induce a rattle with any 14500's such as Alkaline and Eneloop when shaking vigorously as it's held pretty firmly in place by the rear tail spring. As an aside, 1xCR123A fits in the DDC10 without a lot of free space. You can use 1xCR123A in the light when using an appropriately sized spacer (i.e., 16mm length, 14mm diameter) as its working voltage is 1~3.2V. 
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I measured the ID of the DDC20 to be 18.81mm. So all types (i.e., true flat-tops, wide and small button-tops) of 18650's work fine, and of course the light can accommodate 2xCR123A's as manufacturer claims. No rattle with 1x18650 or 2xCR123A's.
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The stainless steel pocket clips are of good quality, and hold against the lights.
Thanks to rotatable tailcap, you can place the pocket clip on any position you want as shown in the picture. 
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The lights has no tail switch, being entirely controlled by the side switch. Instead a small female screws hole is recessed into the tail base. You can attach an attacking cone to the hole. According to the manufacturer, that cone can be used to beat a target, breaking glasses in emergency or self rescue. But personally, it could be longer and bigger.
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*[*Edit 12.10.18*]
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I've just received the upgraded attacking cone from gooutdoor today, and it has changed bigger & longer & sharper. It came with a nice wrist lanyard. There is a hole for the lanyard attachment. *[*Edit 12.10.18*]
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Both lights use square-cut screw threads (or more accurately, trapezoidal-cut). Threads on head & battery tube of the lights are anodized for head lock-out. Threads are lubricated nicely. Relatively few screw threads hold the head onto the tube (i.e., only have two full turns), but I didn't experience any issues. The threads between the head and battery tube mate perfectly and very smooth. There is a red O-Ring sitting behind the threads. The advantage of anodized threads is it prevents the thread wear during normal usage. This is due to the fact that anodizing provides hard surface of Aluminium oxide which is resistant to wear. 
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There is a split-ring attachment point off to one side of the base. But it seems pretty difficult to attach the included split-ring & lanyard into the hole actually, due to the shape & rigidity of the split-ring.
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The lights can tailstand stably.
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*User Interface**
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User interface is common across both lights, and it is actually quite easy to use. On-Off and mode switching is controlled by the electronic clicky switch. There are 4 possible output modes (i.e., High, Med., Low, Strobe) on either light.
Press and hold the switch for 2 seconds to turn the light on. Turn the light off by pressing and holding the switch for 0.5~1 second. While on, quick press and release (i.e., quick click) the switch repeatedly to cycle between the three main output levels in the following repeating sequence : High --> Med. --> Low. Strobe is a hidden mode. You can access strobe by double clicking the switch in any output mode. Click it again to return the constant output modes. The light doesn't have mode memory, and always comes back on in High when you turn the light on. *[*Edit 12.10.19*] *You can temporarily press for momentary, press longer for locked-on. On my sample you need to hold it for 1.5~2 seconds for it to stay locked-on as the user manual says. (i.e., you have to hold down the switch longer than 1.5 seconds for constant-on). *[*Edit 12.10.19*]*
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*Standby Current Drain**
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Because of the electronic side switch, a standby current drain is always presented when batteries are installed.

It's not easy to measure this drain, due to repeated fluctuation every 1.5~2 seconds that is too quick for my digital multi meter to capture. 

For the DDA10, my estimate on 1xEneloop AA is 134uA, with periodic jumps every 1.5~2 secs of up to 272mA for a fraction of a second that is the highest current my DMM displayed. For the DDC20 on 1x18650, the lowest drain seemed to be 29uA, with peak values of 111uA for the merest fraction of a second. I assume the repeated fluctuation in measuring a standby drain is because the battery power LED system consumes current as well (but not sure about it).

If I get mean value roughly from the above values for each light, it would be 203uA and 70uA respectively. That would translate into about 1 year and 4 years of runtime on 2000 mAh Eneloop and 2600 mAh 18650. However that value is a very rough estimate and could be much higher or lower. So I would recommend you to store the light locked-out by loosening the head.
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From left to right, Eneloop AA, NiteCore D10, Xeno E03, Fenix LD10, Sunwayman V10A, Jetbeam DDA10, Niteye MSA10, 4sevens Quark AA, ThruNite 1A.
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From left to right, VicLite 18650 protected, Xeno S3A, Eagletac D25LC2, Fenix PD32 Prototype, Jetbeam DDC20, Niteye MSC20, Spark SL6S-740NW.
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- DDA10 




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- DDC20





The hand feel is good across the line. Both lights are well-balanced and comfortable to hold and use. The build feels solid and excellent. The *overall build quality *is very high. 
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*Measured Dimensions & Weight

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*PWM
[Edit 12.10.19]
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*- DDA10 
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*The DDA10 shows no sign of PWM at high output levels. But I can see flickering at med. and low level, but can't see it visually in practical use. This is detected by waving the light. It's somewhat strange there is flickering at med. and low, although manufacturer claims constant current circuit. I notice that there is no buzzing sound at any levels. 
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*- DDC20 
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*The DDC20 shows no sign of PWM at any output level as manufacturer claims. I notice there is no buzzing sound at any levels. *[*Edit 12.10.19*]
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*[*Edit 12.10.18*]
**Runtime

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*- DDA10 
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*The runtime for 10% output of High output for various AA is as follows :
1) 1xEnergizer : 37 min.
2) 1xEneloop (2000mAh) : 137 min.
3) 1xEneloop (2500mAh) : 168 min.

*[*Edit 12.10.20*]* I found that when low voltage is detected, DDA10 will enter into the low brightness level (i.e., the light will not turn off automatically and will continue to work until the battery is depleted). *[*Edit 12.10.20*]*
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- DDC20* 
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The runtime for 10% output of High output for various 18650 & CR123 is as follows :
1) 1xVicLite (2600mAh) : 106 min.
2) 2xPanasonic : 66 min.
3) 2xAW16340 (750mAh) : 42 min.
4) 1xNLTEK (3000mAh) : 119 min.
Note that the bare cell of the NLTEK is LGABD11865 (3000mAh), and its maximum charging voltage is 4.35v for full capacity. But I charged it 4.2v for runtime test, so the capacity is about 2700mAh reduced with about 300mAh. *[*Edit 12.10.18*]
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*[*Edit 12.10.20*] *I found that when low voltage is detected, DDC20 will enter into the low brightness level (i.e., the light will not turn off automatically and will continue to work until the batteries are depleted). *[*Edit 12.10.20*]*
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*[*Edit 12.10.20*]*
*Beamshot

*1. White door beamshot (about 50cm from the white door)
- ISO100, F/3.5, 1/50sec, Auto white balance 





- DDA10
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- Quark AA
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- V10A
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- 1A
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The DDA10 has a small sized hotspot with a soft corona surrounding it and no discernable corona tapering off towards the spill beam. The bright ring area 
between the hot spot and spill is noticeable. However in practical use, this will not impair in any way. Beam tint on my sample is very close to neutral white.
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2. White door beamshot (about 50cm from the white door)
- ISO100, F/3.5, 1/320sec, Auto white balance 





- DDC20
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- D25LC2
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- PD32
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- S3A
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The DDC20 has a medium sized hotspot which tapers of smoothly towards the spill beam, this gives the hotspot is wider than it actually is. Beam tint leans towards the cool side of the color spectrum but not noticeably blue by any means. Beam quality is good, with no artifacts other than minor thin ring towards the outer edge of the spill beam.
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3. White door beamshot (about 50cm from the white door)

- Left : DDC20, Right : DDA10





- ISO100, F/3.2, 1/160sec, Auto white balance 
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- ISO100, F/3.2, 1/250sec, Auto white balance 
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- ISO100, F/3.2, 1/500sec, Auto white balance 
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3. Indoor beamshot (about 7m from the target)
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1sec, Auto white balance 





- Control Shot
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- Quark AA
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- DDA10 
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- V10A
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- 1A
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4. Indoor beamshot (about 7m from the target)
- ISO100, F/2.8, 1/2sec, Auto white balance 





DDC20
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D25LC2
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- PD32
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- S3A
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*[*Edit 12.10.20*]*
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* DDA10 & DDC20 provided by gooutdoor (Thanks David Park!)


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## phantom23 (Oct 17, 2012)

Brighter, throwier Nitecore EC2 is smaller/shorter than DDA10. Sysmax using XP-G2 is a good sign, I hope they'll update Nitecores too.


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## Bwolcott (Oct 17, 2012)

phantom23 said:


> Brighter, throwier Nitecore EC2 is smaller/shorter than DDA10. Sysmax using XP-G2 is a good sign, I hope they'll update Nitecores too.




I thought sysmax wasnt making Jetbeam anymore?


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## Dubois (Oct 17, 2012)

Very good review, and great photos, thank you. I'm still undecided about how useful the voltage digital display actually is in practice, especially when it takes up such a lot of space, but as a first iteration, it's not too bad.


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## jhc37013 (Oct 18, 2012)

So wait you have to press and hold the switch for two seconds to turn the light on? We've seen that before but it was to either put a light in standby or turn it on from standby. If you have to hold the switch for 2 seconds to get the light to turn on then it's a deal breaker for me, I don't really like the idea of having to hold it for 1 second to turn it off either. Why not just a single click to turn on/off and press/hold to change modes?

Sorry to come off so negative but I was kind of looking forward to this light and it just seems wrong.

Either way thank you for your review it was informative.


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## Chicken Drumstick (Oct 18, 2012)

Thanks for the review.

I wonder with the display should JetBeam have also put a small indicator light on there to tell you if you've turned the light on or not 

Seems rather overkill to me, why on earth do you need a display to tell you what mode you are using? Even more so when you only have 3 to chose from anyhow?? :duh2:


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## candle lamp (Oct 18, 2012)

Bwolcott said:


> I thought sysmax wasnt making Jetbeam anymore?



That's what I thought.



Dubois said:


> I'm still undecided about how useful the voltage digital display actually is in practice, especially when it takes up such a lot of space, but as a first iteration, it's not too bad.



When I first saw the photo only, I felt the same way. My father is 88 yesrs old, He really likes the battery power display like as me. Although it takes up a lot of space in the head and could be smaller, it attracts our attention, and it's useful and helpful to me.



Chicken Drumstick said:


> I wonder with the display should JetBeam have also put a small indicator light on there to tell you if you've turned the light on or not
> 
> Seems rather overkill to me, why on earth do you need a display to tell you what mode you are using? Even more so when you only have 3 to chose from anyhow?? :duh2:



The remaining battery power is displayed when you use the light (or when on), so you will recognize the light is on. But there is no indicator light to tell you where the light is when off.
If there is a small extra indicator on the head or if one of 7 segments flicker when off, so much the better. That's good point! 
I agree there is no need for the mode indicator as the light has 3 constant modes and strobe. The current mode displays for 5 seconds. The battery power indicator is pretty nice, but I think this is useful & helpful because of current mode indicator. 



jhc37013 said:


> So wait you have to press and hold the switch for two seconds to turn the light on? We've seen that before but it was to either put a light in standby or turn it on from standby. If you have to hold the switch for 2 seconds to get the light to turn on then it's a deal breaker for me, I don't really like the idea of having to hold it for 1 second to turn it off either. Why not just a single click to turn on/off and press/hold to change modes?



The side switch looks like some kind of forward-clicky switch. (i.e., Press the switch and the light turns on. At this point release the switch and it will turn off only for ~1.9 seconds.) 
If the DD series use a single click to turn on/off and press/hold to change modes, I guess it would be difficult to apply digital display function effectively.
I will ask the dealer.


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## candle lamp (Oct 20, 2012)

Beamshot added.


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## _UPz (Oct 20, 2012)

Thank you very much for your review! :thanks:


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## Chicken Drumstick (Oct 24, 2012)

So that "attack cone" would seem to suggest in name and appearance that it is indeed intended as a weapon, or at least an offensive weapon...


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## shelm (Oct 24, 2012)

what makes these ugly lights interesting is the fact that they are new. any f****** new flashlight by a brand name manufacturer is interesting for the sole fact that it is something new. new is always good, or let's say, new is always interesting.

other than that, :sick2:


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## candle lamp (Oct 24, 2012)

_UPz said:


> Thank you very much for your review! :thanks:



Thanks. _UPz! 



Chicken Drumstick said:


> So that "attack cone" would seem to suggest in name and appearance that it is indeed intended as a weapon, or at least an offensive weapon...



This cone seems to be sharp and strong. So it can be used for breaking glasses or defense in emergeny situation, but I don't get into such a trouble or danger.



shelm said:


> what makes these ugly lights interesting is the fact that they are new. any f****** new flashlight by a brand name manufacturer is interesting for the sole fact that it is something new. new is always good, or let's say, new is always interesting.



Anything new is interesting and good in general.


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## F. Premens (Oct 25, 2012)

Great review. :thumbsup:

Is there any option in purchasing the attack cones separately? Where? Thanks.


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## candle lamp (Oct 26, 2012)

F. Premens said:


> Great review. :thumbsup:
> 
> Is there any option in purchasing the attack cones separately? Where? Thanks.



Thanks for the word of encouragement. F. Premens! 
The attack cones are optional purchasing. (i.e., You can purchase it separately.) All dealers who handle the DD series will probably sell that cone. How about contacting your dealer?


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## Acme (Nov 30, 2012)

jhc37013 said:


> So wait you have to press and hold the switch for two seconds to turn the light on? We've seen that before but it was to either put a light in standby or turn it on from standby. If you have to hold the switch for 2 seconds to get the light to turn on then it's a deal breaker for me, I don't really like the idea of having to hold it for 1 second to turn it off either. Why not just a single click to turn on/off and press/hold to change modes?
> 
> Sorry to come off so negative but I was kind of looking forward to this light and it just seems wrong.
> 
> Either way thank you for your review it was informative.



This delay could be an advantage for me. When I have a side-switch AA flashlight, like a Proton, I often find that it has turned on by itself, as a result of bumping into keys or a Swiss Army knife. Then the light wastes battery energy until my pocket gets hot enough that I can feel the flashlight has turned on. Or until some nice lady asks me why my pocket is glowing and if that is because I am happy to see her.


ACME


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