To some people a copper flashlight is like a See Doo.
Necessary to existence.
To other people, it's copper, so what's the big whoop?
And thats fine and all which is why today Id like to review the Astrolux K01, for people
who like the aesthetics of new pennies and the usefulness of See Doos.
Youre like man shut up I live around a lot of small canals, and its the best mode of
transportation.
Right canals theres always a canal.
The Astrolux K01 is an all copper bodied EDC sized flashlight, that takes its cues from
the classic Sipik Sk68, but its longer and copper-er.
It uses coated glass lens, an XP-L emitter in three color temperature options mine being
the warmest 5A, and a tail switch that isnt lighted.
It runs off of a lithium ion battery only, and to take advantage of the full brightness
Id recommend a high drain 14500.
It will not work with a AA battery.
Copper is often used in flashlights because its a good heat conductor and helps to pull
away heat from the areas of the flashlight that generate the most of it.
Flashlight modes use big chunks of copper internally when they are turbo charging flashlight
for max brightness.
The Astrolux K01 has basically the same user inter face, brightness, and modes and operation
as the BLF A6, but since it has a slightly larger refactor you get a little bit better
throw and higher candela out of it.
So if you have that light the reason to upgrade would be copper, and more candela.
It comes with a pocket clip, spare orings, a lanyard, and a spare tail cap cover.
While you can program the light for 4 or 7 modes, I tested the 7 mode version.
My figures and Astroluxs are on screen.
First is level one or something you humans might refer to as moonlight.
Then level 2, you can see the crenated bezel sort of keeps the beam pattern from being
smooth at the edges..
Level 3.
Level 4.
Level 5.
Then Level 7.
Level 7 steps down at 30 second which brings up an important point of you want to take
advantage of the copper and super charge it you might want to change the driver.
I mean you need to Unless you just want a prettier slightly thrower version of the Astrolux
A6.
The UI the UI can be configured slightly By that you can make it a 4 or 7 mode light and
turn on or off mode memory.
I chose 7 mode, mainly because it has the moonlight mode and 4 doesnt I also turned
off mode memory because if I use it in the middle of the night in a dark place I mean
not like a dark place but a place without light I like to start in lowe modes and work
up and not be surprised with 1200 lumen mode.
Ok so click it once to turn it on and half presses there after advance modes from lowest
to highest and back again.
You can also back those modes up by pressing and holding slightly longer and thats also
how you access super secret strobes.
To get to these you need to be in mode 1 then do the long presses first you hit turbo, then
tactical strobe, then battery check, then bike flasher.
Cool runtimes.
I did these with unprotected purple efests- exactly the ones seen here.
I did not test with protected cells, because the light has low voltage protection.
Level 7 the highest or turbo steps down at 30 seconds in.
You can reset it by turning the light off then back on as you can see with the lux meter
in the frame the brightness drops over its short runtime with the unprotected 14500 cell.
14500 cells do not offer long runtimes on a high powered light like this lower modes
are fine- the total runtime was about 20 minutes.
The lights built in low voltage protection cut in on level 7 an shut the light off, ending
voltage when I checked the battery was about 3.13 volts after it had 45 minutes to rest.
Ok lets do turbo also with a high capacity protected cell.
Ill do it with this keeppower, which is slightly higher capacity than that efest.
It isnt quite as bright on turbo, but its a high quality protected cell.
You get that step down at 30 second in then it continues on until it drops pretty low
with a moonlight level coming out at 34 minutes in.
The cell works fine and protection doesnt trip.
From here on out Ill use the efests though.
Level 6 or the 2nd brightest mode.
Since it doesnt have a burst mode but is still bright you get about 20 minutes of runtime.
Remember the lux meter in the frame is just t here to show you how brightness in time-
please do not infer any lumens values directly from it.
Youd have to do some math to assign it to a percentage of brightness.
The starting number being 100% On all the other modes including this one the light dropped
down to a moonlight level and I ended the test all other times with light coming out.
Ending voltage was about 2.95-3.0 volts.
Level 5.
Finally a runtime over half an hour you get steadily decling brightness over this runtime.
It has a hard bump down in brightness at 43 minutes, then bumps down to that below moonlight
level of brightness at 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Guess what level 4.
You can leave at any time?
The runtimes just keep getting longer.
It hold steady with just a little bit of dimming over the 1st hour as you can see by that handy
lux meter in the frame.
I want to keep calling it a light meter but it is not an expensive light meter I dont
have that kind of money.
At 1 hour 29 minutes you get some hard drops.
I think this time again low voltage protetction kicked in when it finally hits 2 hours 5 ish
minutes.
Ok level 3 is for people who need a little brightness but longer runtimes- for people
who are novices at commiting felonies under the cover of night.
You get pretty steady undimming brightness over 4 hours as you can see by the lux meter
holding within a point of its initial reading.
At 4 hours and 30 minutes you get some drops then hard bumps down time for a new battery
hopefully you have one in your all black fanny pack.
At 5 hours and 18 minutes you get sub moonlight or level 1 levels and I let it run and it
cuts off at the low level at about 12 hours in with LVP or low voltage protection kicks
in.
Ok beamshots.
Well do a few outside in inside.
Here are the outside lights youve seen those before.
First is the Astrolux K01 I accidentally mislabeled it on my last review these are the correct
numbers, unless I screw it up again.
I honestly watch my review before I upload them, but theyre boring as hell so sometimes
I dont pay full attention.
Next is the Astrolux copper a throwier light with a larger reflector and a more neutral
emitter.
This one is also copper.
I dont think its raw copper because it hasnt seemed to oxidize, yet.
Maybe an in the know user can chime in, in the comment section.
Back to the K01 for a second.
I really like the 5a tint its also available in a more neutral 3d tint which most people
will prefer, and a 1a cool whit tint for the most maximum of output and a cool white.
Now the Astrolux SS.. mostly stainless steel but then also copper remember these are heavy
lights, almost too much for EDC for people who carry in jeans pockets or pants pockets.
Whats your favorite tint in an XPL and why?
It might help people decide in the comments.
Now the throwy Eye of Sekhmet.
remember this review?
Youre like yeah idiot, it was your last one.
Good memory.
Now the K01 for a second.
before we move onto my basement which all long time subscribers or people who binge
watched all of my reviews are quite familiar with.
Well do a few other lights all in the 30,000 candela range or less range.
This will help you determine how throwy of a light you want indoors.
I like a larger less intense hotspot for my indoor etc stuff ok just another few seconds
of the K01.
Now the BLF A6 again just slightly less throwy but about the same lumens on all the modes
remember they use the same firmware and driver.
Now my Zebralight SC600 mkIII a bit throwier and finally the astrolux Copper.
Ok the throwiest of the 4.
Wonderful.
The Astrolux K01 is a nice looking light but a bit heavy.
If youre ok with that then Im ok with you being ok with that.
If you have the BLF A6.. and you use your light indoors then maybe theres not a reason
to upgrade, if youre happy with your tint.
Or maybe you collect them.
I dunno.
Its well made the machining is good, and also its copper.
I wish the clip was a bit deeper carry, and maybe it would be cool if the lanyard were
braided copper too for extra opulence.
If you like this review give it a thumbs up, subscribe, comment and buy the light at Banggood
who provided this for review.
Ok thanks for watching.