Home

EXTRA COMMENTS:

- Many have asked if this light is better than the AKOray K-106 or K-103 that I also reviewed here. So here's my comparison thoughts.

AKOray K-106

- Well, E07 is targeted for a different use. It's one of the smallest AA lights. Much smaller in every way than the K-106.

- E07 doesn't have any modes. Just 1. On/Off. AKOray can be customized to act like a 1 mode light and is more versatile.

- E07 however has a near fail-proof twisty switch. It's mechanical twist to touch or not touch. Nothing much to go wrong.

- It can be attached to the key ring. K-106 cannot unless you somehow mod it or attach the side clip to your keychain.

- Get E07 if you want super small AA light to attach to your keyring. Get AKOray K-106 if you want more features and don't care about size.

AKOray K-103 AAA

- This is more of a competitor to the E07. Same 1 mode, K-103 has a protruting forward clicky however which is very easy to use.

- K-103 has a much cleaner beam battern. Especially the spill portion. But it isn't as bright and has less bright hotspot/throw than E07.

- K-103 has a side clip. K-103 has about half the runtime while being dimmer. K-103 is thinner but longer than K03 in size.

- It's a tough choice. Get K-103 if you want something thin with a side clip and a forward clicky. Get E07 if you want a brighter keychain light.

After using it for a while, I still have no doubt when it comes to its rating I gave. I really like this light for what it is and how much it costs.

 Hi Jayki,
can you give us a side by side beamshot of the two Akorays and the Tank007?

Hmm. Yeah. I'm not sure if I am also game enough to try the 14500.

My guess is that it goes into direct drive at such high inpu voltage.

vectrex - I will try to take the photos when I can. Will upload it when done. =)

 Did you ever get the head apart? Mine has stopped working and I miss the almost un-noticeable size in my pocket - currently have a Uniquefire S10 in there and it's annoying me. So looking for tips on tearing the head apart to see if ti can be fixed.

Don, pictures please.

I would but my camera's hopeless at closeups. Will try to borrow colleague's camera tomorrow. Once you've got the reflector off, the pill merely sits inside the brass housing. After resoldering an iffy joint it is working.

Got the last bit of work done for tomorrow so here are some not very good pictures. I broke out the trusty toolkit. These are the basics that go just about everywhere with me.

First, remove the head.

I put the head in a vice, gripping only the black part. It is a good idea to put something soft between the vice jaws and the head so it doesn't scar the anodising. I didn't bother. Make sure the two holes in the tail are facing up, The stretching of the brass round those holes shows the force i used to get the thing apart.

Insert suitable object into holes - a watch opening tool or circlip pliers work well. You are going to have to apply quite a lot of force as the threads are glued to keep the black part on. Don't use any tool that you care about bending. Circlip pliers are cheap and the heads are more or less consumable items anyway....

Glue on threads. You can just see it past the front O ring.

The black part will unscrew. Do not unscrew it all the way though. Take it out of the vice and hold it black side up and unscrew it by hand. That way you won't be looking for components on the floor afterwards. How do I know this?

Put the reflector face down inside the head - keeps it clean.

The brass pill inside is separate and can be lifted out. I used my trusty haemostats. These are easy enough to find nowadays as locking clamps or something like that. In the UK Maplin sell them for not a lot.

There are two springs inside - one connects the positive of the pill to the base of the head, the other sits loose at the bottom and is held in place by the reflector pushing down the pill. Seems an odd system, but it works. Don't lose the circular spring, it won't work without it.

The fault on mine was that the solder joint on the negative side needed reworking. This picture was a failed attempt to show this.

Then reassemble

And here's what it ought to look like when you are done.

It now works just fine and is very welcome back in my pocket where it ought to be.

Hope I got the pics right this time Jay.

My e07 finally arrived few days ago, almost 2 months after i placed an order at DX. Of course, first thing I done is to completely disassemble the flashlight and see if I can somehow improve something. I noticed that the battery rattle around a bit. Inside diameter of the body is about 14.6 mm, and the diameter of the battery is some 14.2 mm.  So I cut a piece of thin aluminium foil (thickness 0.1  mm) and wrap it around the battery to form cylindrical shape. This cylinder is inserted into body. After that, there is virtually no rattling at all! I didn't try, but I guess a similar effect could be obtained with paper insert too.

Hrvoje

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/5875/insert1.jpg

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/7392/insert2.jpg

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/4816/insert.jpg

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/5552/insert3w.jpg

Just ordered this lens from KD. Description is slightly confusing, but I guess this is normal AR coated glass lens. Will see.

http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=1768

I'll be interested to hear about the result when you get it.

Of course, Don. Now, I discovered the hard way what is inside the tail cap :)

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/3154/eo7tailcap.jpg

Ouch! However, it looks like any old spring washer of the right diameter ought to do the trick. Fortunately neither of mine have tailcap issues, one of them needed some reworking of a solder joint in the head as you can see above. Currently, if i have only one light on me (which is unusual), it will be one of these.

Wow. Some great information. Awesome pics Don as always. (Sorry to Hrvoje for finding it the hard way...)

The lens from KD came today, and an AR coating is very nice. This lens is slightly thicker then the original one (1.4 mm vs. 1.1 mm), so there is a small gap between the bezel and the body, otherwise the fit is perfect. My lux meter is on the way, so I can't compare the output before and after, but AR coating add a touch of class indeed :)

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/7483/eo7gap.jpg

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5161/arcoating.jpg

Hrvoje