Review : Element eM600C LED tactical flashlight

[PaCHeKo!]

Dear Airsofter,

I'll give my best to give a accurate review of the Element eM600C LED tactical flashlight but I want to clarify few thing before going on :

- This one of the best replica product I had.

- English being my second language you may see some errors while reading. Please, don't be shy to send me a PM about it.

- Sorry for the crappy pictures, I'm a newbie at product photography.

- It's my first big review about a product. I'll do my best to keep things clear and accurate.

- I never had a real SureFire product myself. The only "real" flashlight I own is a StremLight TL-2 that I really enjoy.

- I already had some A.C.M. replica of weapon light, all of them suffered from a fatal failure.



- Reason of the purchase :

So I needed a new weapon light for my SR-16. Being a wannabe geardo, I was looking for a cheap and effective replica of a SureFire weapon light. I found this review on Arnie's Airsoft (http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forum...ic=179331&st=0) and since the review was very positive about the Element eM600C I decied to give it a try.


- Some info about the "real deal" :


(Source : SureFire website)

This is a replica of the famous SureFire Scout Light M600C mostly used by military. Here's the link to the official web site : http://www.surefire.com/Scout-Lightsupsup. The MSRP is 425$ US, a quick look on Ebay reveals a price range of 250$ to 300$ US. The real one produces 120 lumens. I'm sure every one knows how good SureFire's products are so I won't spend much time on this part.


- The Hong Kong retailer

I got this product from RSOV.com (http://www.rsov.com/index.php?target...roduct_id=3723) one of the popular airsoft retailer in China. It was my second purchase from this site. Their prices are very competitive and I had no problem at all ordering. Please note that they have "Free Shiping" items available so the fun part is : Get yourself a cheap "Free Shipping" articles on the web site and match it with your initial order so the shipping cost will be the cost of the "Free Shipping" item. Example : I went to their "Free Shipping" section and took a BB-Loader at 5.50$ so in the end the shipping cost is 5.50$. Note that you can't use this trick for all item since you need to keep the weight of your items under 0.25kg. Done with the bla-bla, to get this item shipped to my door, the total cost was 42$ US.


- Shipping / Packaging

So I ordered the 14th of January and received my item on the 26th of January. A tracking number is available through their website when the ordered is shipped. The packaging is what you'll usually get when ordering from China ; yellow enveloppe and bubble wrap.


- Overall



Everything on this light is metal from top to bottom. There's no wobble at all and it feels very solid. As for the tail switch (this is where my last replica failed on me) it feels it can take some abuse without breaking. Note that you'll receive an optional bottom cap. The flashlight takes 2 x CR123 battery that are NOT included in the package.




- Closer look ; the head



This is a LED flashlight so except a LED "bulb" when opening the head. No info are available about the lumen produced by the flashlight. I don't know if the bulb is compatible with the real SureFire LED bulb. Note that to insert the batteries you'll need to twist the top instead of the bottom.


- Closer look ; the body



The body feels very solid and it's all metal. There's some SureFire trades that are a bit different as the real one. RSOV did remove the trades using a black pen. I used 70% alcohol to remove the ink without any damages. The rail attachments fits standard 20mm rails. Once installed, the flashlight is securely attached to the rail, there's no wobble at all. The overall rail attachment feels very solid.


- Closer look ; the bottom



The flashlight comes with an additional standard bottom cap. It features a on/off button and can be also used as a momentary function if not pressed all the way down this is quite hard since the button is very sensitive. One of the thing that I don't like about the additional bottom cap is the button "guard" it feels very awkward when trying to reach the button. The design of the bottom cap is not the same as the real product.



I really enjoy the tail switch. The pad is different from the RSOV pictures but I don't care, this one feels very solid. You can hear the "click" when pressing down the pressure pad. Note that the connector has some threads so you need to screw the pressure switch to the flashlight. The real SureFire is a simple press and pull connector. This is not a bad thing, I know my tail switch will stay in place. Downside, it's quite complicated to remove the tail switch when everything is installed on your rail.


- Closer look ; the light



This pictures is taken from a distance of about 12'. As stated before, there's no lumen info available. I can't compare with a "real" LED weapon light since this is my first one. BUT, as an airsoft player I can tell that there's a lot of light available to play in a dark environment or to blind an other player. The light coming from this small cheap replica did surprise me. The "focus" seems very good and lights up what you really want to see. Can't tell you about battery consumption since no info is available and I haven't gamed this yet.


- Pros and Cons :



- Pros : Solid, Cheap, close to the real one and effective. The quality/price ratio is AWESOME.

- Cons : the button guard on the button cap feels very awkward when pressing down the button.


You need a cheap weapon light? This is the one for you. Don't bother looking around.

Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoyed and please feel free to ask any question, I'll do my best to answer.

Peace!

[THEnub]

Just got myself this light, and now I need to get two Batteries because it's not marked anywhere's on RSOV that it needed them (and this review was posted after).

Overall though, I have to agree with your Pros/Cons. I have a slight wobble on mine when mounted, but it's nothing that bothers me, especially when compared to the cost.

[StrikeFreedom]

The end looks very much like a spark plug.

[theguy]

Thanks alot! I have been looking for something like this, Looks like I just found my light!

[PaCHeKo!]

Good! I'm happy my review can help few airsofters

[theguy]

mine arrived about a week ago.

Very impressed with it, especially for the price

I would highly recommend it!

[PaCHeKo!]

Originally Posted by theguy

mine arrived about a week ago.

Very impressed with it, especially for the price

I would highly recommend it!

Gamed mine.. no problem yet!

[Gr1ngo]

@ PaCHeKo:

My similar unit just arrived a couple days back. I put in 2 rechargeable CR123's and when I tried turning it on it only emits a brief light even though I hold-on to the pressure switch. Also, I don't hear any click whenever I'm pressing down the pressure pad.

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA.

[PaCHeKo!]

Originally Posted by Gr1ngo

@ PaCHeKo:

My similar unit just arrived a couple days back. I put in 2 rechargeable CR123's and when I tried turning it on it only emits a brief light even though I hold-on to the pressure switch. Also, I don't hear any click whenever I'm pressing down the pressure pad.

Any help would be appreciated.

TIA.

Have you tried the bottom cap? Or you only get the problem with the pressure pad?

[Gr1ngo]

Yes it was a problem with both of the end caps. But I just found out that the culprit were the rechargeable batteries. Bought disposable CR123's and the unit lit-up as it was supposed to.

I wonder why this is so? It's so much cheaper if you can just recharge batteries.

Thanks.

[juicy]

Necro'd, sorry. Any updates on this one? I'm thinking about picking one up myself.

[stephenseth]

I just ordered one of these based upon the review. I hope to get great light for way less then surefire prices.

[yourself]

Ive beaten the hell out of this light and it has held up. great light! even the tape switch is still going strong!