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Packaging
Item arrived in a standard brown envelope, the light additionally wrapped in bubble wrap.

Contents
1x Cree Stainless Steel
1x Generic nylon wrist strap
1x Elastic nylon holster

Construction

The emitter is not centered with the reflector as can been seem from this image. Opening at the bottom of the reflector is slightly too small to accommodate the XR-E's silver collar, so the reflector rests slightly high. The reflector itself is smooth, unfortunately I was unable to take apart the emitter module to verify it's material. There are some small specs of dust on the reflector, nothing that will affect output or beam quality. However, the design and positioning of the reflector is another story altogether. The lens is made of uncoated glass and seems pretty thick too, it was clean with only slight scratches probably due to packing.

The body of this stainless steel light feels very sturdy and has a hefty weigh for a light of it's size, you will definitely notice this difference if you are used to carry a Fenix P1. In terms of design, it's basically a clone of the P1. The band of threading around the head is done nicely and is consistent with no machining faults or rough edges. The bare polished stainless steel on the body on the other hand was badly done as can be seen from the uneven buffer marks all along the flat faces of the battery tube. There are also some other random scuff marks on the body, and some around the lanyard hole. Threads are not very good, while screwing on the head I noticed inconsistent areas of smooth and rough threading which also cause some initial cross threading. There's only one o-ring on this light which did not come lubricated. It's placed around the head module just above the threads, just like the P1. The head screws on slightly loose compared to a P1. Thermal management is good, gets slightly warm after a minute of operation, wouldn't expect it to get too hot since output isn't much.


Output

This light has a single output level and runs on either primary 3V CR123 or 3.7V R123 cells. Output is average on 3V CR123 cells, and about 36% brighter on 3.7V R123 cells. Intensity of the output is not very impressive when compared to other XR-E based lights running off 3.7V cells, seems just slightly brighter than the LumaPower LM301 which is a Luxeon I running off a 1.5V AA cell. One good point is that the beam tint is near white in the slightly off centered hot spot, and only a slight blue tint noticeable in the spill beam. Speaking of spill beam, this light has a pretty ringy spill due to the reflector design.


Conclusion

The Good - Sturdy stainless steel body and nice tint.

The Bad - Ringy beam profile, bad finishing on the body and threads.

The Relative - Nothing much else to say about this light. I would consider it a novelty light for it's stainless steel body.


Gallery (in order of assembly)

Head module (front view).

Head module (side view).

Head module (rear view).

Battery tube (front view).

Battery tube (side view).

Battery tube (rear view).

Image courtesy of CPF member HiltiHome.


Cree Stainless Steel
March 6, 2007
Overall
4.5

Construction
    3.5
Output
    5
Value
    5

Availability
eBay
Beam Profile
Medium Spot
Coating
None
Cost
~$25
Dimensions
6.5cm long
2cm at widest Ø
Lens
Uncoated Glass
Light Source
Cree XR-E
Output
1x 16340 750mAh AW Protected
Spot 1110 Lux
Spill 135 Lux
1x CR123 1500mAh e²
Spot 709 Lux
Spill 92 Lux
Power
1x 16340
1x CR123
1x RCR123
Reflector
Smooth Unknown Material
Runtime
1x 16340 750mAh AW Protected
Default 00:33 to 50%
Switch
Twist