SOLARSTORM X2 5000 Lumens Twin XM-L e-bay purchase review
***Note, the X2 is not 5000 lumens but is advertised as such by e-bay sellers***
This Review is for two separate sets of X2 as the first one received (Red No1) had what appear to be mud deposit between the fins and a faulty battery which lasted 33mn, this set was fully refunded by UK e-bay seller No1.
Having no more in stock he advised me to purchase another set via another UK seller who apparently had good batteries.
Regarding the mud found on the head of Red No1 X2 (rest appear brand new), I was told that this came straight from the Chinese factory and this was brand new and not used, as a full refund was given I was OK with this.
The second set (Black No2) arrived from E-bay dealer No2. This was not identical to the first set, difference found were different screws on head and different lead from head and different size logo, the rest looked identical to me except that the Black No2 did not come with any instructions!
On with the Review(s)
I am a keen mountain biker and love night riding, so far I have been using a RAY III as a bar light and a single XML flashlight on my lid.
I have been wanting to get myself a proper lightweight helmet lights at an affordable price, so when some of my riders starting appearing with some of the cheap ebay Chinese lights, I naturally became very interested.*
The one which appear to be the most suited to my needs was the twin XM-L SOLARSTORM X2, so I took the plunge and order one (Red No1) for £29 from one of the UK e-bay sellers. (about $45)
*This did look like a real bargain as a similar lights from various manufacturers would cost £100 plus.
*Was I right?
What's in the box / Initial overview and feel
Both X2's arrived in a plain brown boxes, instruction leaflet (only with the Red No1), X2 head, battery with bag, UK charger, 4 rubber bands for Red No1 and 2 bands for Black No2 and a free rear light for both.
The head as got some angular and aggressive looking fins, ideal to cool the lights but dangerous in a wipeout. I would have preferred a design like the Magicshine MJ880 . The X2 do come in a red or black finish with the Solarstorm and X2 logo in white, the body is Type II anodized according to Solarstorm but with no ratting in the UK E-bay listings. The clamping method is the rubber band type, cheap but effective! No Helmet mounting is supplied, so if you are planning like me to use it as an helmet light, you will have to get yourself an helmet mounting. Magicshine do sell them for about £7. ($10)
The battery pack is made 4 x 18650 cell giving a max of 8.4v and 6.4 mAh according to the manufacturer data and e-bay sellers. The battery pack is not waterproof neither is the bag so you will have to do your own waterproofing on the battery. I use a vinyl glove and electrician tape, not pretty but it works! The bag has a a velcro strap long enough to secure the battery to most frames, bars or lids. The connecting lead from the head to the battery has a threaded cap and an o ring making it very secure and quite water resistant to rain.
The charger is a generic 8.4v 1000mAh UK plug charger with a single led turning from red, orange, yellow then green when fully charged.
The kit include an FOC cheap looking rear light. Works OK, I am just unsure how long this will last as this does look really cheap.
The Seller No1 did advertise the free rear light in his listing but not the seller No2 which did supply it FOC but did not advertise it.
Manufacturer Data
I have struggle to find a Solarstorm website, I think they are manufactured by Shenzhen Blackshadow Technology. co Ltd which I think may be part of Chinese mail order firm: Alibaba?
This is the data I have Solarstorm website:
Solarstorm X2 front led bicycle light 1500 lums super light weight
Lumens: 1500Lums - 800lums - 300lums - flash: 1000lums
Runtime: 2h30min - 4h20min- 7h- flash: 4h10min
Finish: Type II hard anodize
X2 bicycle light is a super-light weight mini bicycle light. Adopted in two Cree XM-L U2 LEDs and powered by 4*18650 battery pack, X2 bicycle light outputs 1500lums and run 2h30min on high mode. Low-Mid-High and a hidden SOS mode meet different demands of users.
Special-design power indicating system:
Power 100%~80% three green LEDs,
Power 80%~50% two green LEDs,
Power 50%~20% one green LED
Power 20%~0% one blinking green LED
The data advertised by E-bay sellers are different:
Seller No1 for Red No1
SolarStorm Ultra Bright X2 2 CREE U2 LED Black Red Bicycle Bike Light 5000 LM, Black Colour or Red Colour,
CE Certified Products
Package include:
1 X 5000Lm Bicycle Flashlight. It have 2 CREE XM-L U2 LED ( Black or Red Colour) (Can be used as Headlamp or Bicycle Light)
4 X Rubber ring for installation two of them in green and two of them in black as in the picture.
1 X 8.4v 6400mAh Battery Pack with battery bag in black colour
1 X Li-lon Charger ( UK Standard Charger）1x 5 LED Front Rear Bicycle Light with Install Holder( Not include battery )Description:
100% Brand New, .Output bright can come to Max 5000 Lm [Lumens], Waterproof, but don’t put it into water directly, .Extensive Lifetime of Cree LED (100,000 hours),
Model of LED: 2 x CREE XM-L U2 extra white LED.
Output 2 x XM-L T6 white LED bright can come to max 5000 lumens. [Lm]
Internal wiring applies the high efficient booster circuit, working voltage is wide and can utilize the batteries in the largest extent.
Waterproofing design.
Aluminum alloy bezel ring.
Aluminum alloy structure with wear-resistant anodized finish, deep heat sink finish
4 switch Mode: high / middle / low / strobe.
High-performance electronic switch:
Slightly click the switch to turn ON/Off the light.
Slightly click the switch to change the brightness modes, Low-Mid-high.
Long-press the switch for more than one second to access strobe mode.
Power indicator system:
Power > 80%.. three indicating LED on.
50%< Power < 80% , two indicating LED on.
Runtime < 30 Min, just one led with be on and flashing.
100v-240v Battery Charger. ( LED indication for Power On / Charging / Full charge )
Model of Battery required: 1 x 8.4v 6400mAh Battery Pack.
Seller No2 for Black No2
Can be used as Bicycle Headlamp or Bicycle Light
Model of LED: CREE XM-L U2 LED ( Led Service: More than 100,000 hours)
Output bright can come to max 5000 lumens [lm]
Internal wiring applies the high efficient booster circuit, working voltage is wide and can utilize the batteries in the
largest extent.
Waterproofing design ,but don't put it into water directly.
3 switch Modes: Strong Brightness / Normal Brightness / Flashing
*100v 240v battery charger ( LED indication for Power On / Charging / Full charge )
Model of Battery required: 1 x 8.4v 6400 mAh battery pack
Weight : approx:275g
Package Contents:
2x CREE XM-L U2 LED Light ( Can be used as Bicycie Light/Headlamp)
2 x Rubber ring for installation
1x 6400 mAh battery pack
1 X Charger (100v-240v)
********
A few disturbing facts:
the instruction leaflet supplied has only the X2 logo, nothing saying this is made by SOLARSTORM,
the amazing output of the two XM-L led 5000 Lumens (quoted at 1500lumens by Solarstorm)
the type of LED used, advertised on ebay as XM-L U2 then XM-L T6 (by some sellers),
also no real runtime given with the 6400mAh battery pack. (This is very wise on their part)
Settings
* Really simple but user friendly, 3 modes (low. medium/ high) and the 4th mode, flash is hidden but easily accessible via a long press off the switch.Always start on low.
The switch itself has a positive feel and easily operated with gloves.
The power indicator is made of 3 green indicators. I think this will have to be clearly monitored with your own battery for you to know the run time versus the number of led showing.
Riding with the X2
So let put the light to a test, our weekly night ride in Friston forest!
The battery Red No1 was top up to full as all new batteries come with a partial transit charge.
On my bars I have Bikeray III V2 3 XPG LED quoted at 1280 Lumens, powered by a 8.7mAh 6x18650 cells Open Light Battery pack,*
this has been extremely reliable with run time on full of approx 4 hours, but this did cost me just under £150 about for the kit 2 years ago.
On my LID the new SOLARSTORM X2 mounted on the BIKERAY helmet mount and the Solarstorm battery attached to the side.
First thing I noticed is how light and compact every thing was, absolutely great!
The 6400 mAh battery pack is made of 4x18650 batteries which I expected to give me close to a couple of hours on max. Once turn on, the beam was perfect giving me plenty of throw but still loads of spill, this is typical of XM-L Led which in my mind are well suited to cycling. This appear to be twice as bright (Red No1) as my Bikeray III, but to be fair this is mainly due to the different beam pattern, the BIKERAY in comparison is purely a flood light.
With a light meter, I did a very quick test in my home made integration sphere and I was getting 543000lux* out of the BIKERAY 3 XPG against 670000lux* to the SOLARSTORM Red X2 2 XM-L. (* due to the rectangular shape of the Solarstorm and the round window opening in my sphere, the actual output of the Solarstorm must have been a little higher,
also to be noted that the Black No2 X2 is only giving me 459000 lux)
*My first ride was done with Red No1 head and battery and was going great until about an hour into the ride when the X2 turned itself off !
I was very surprised as the light had been turn on only for downhill sections which probably did not add up to half an hour! Luckily for me I still had the Bikeray light.
I suspected a battery failure as I have read a lot about some of the Chinese budget lights battery packs being made of inferior batteries and being of half or less than the capacity advertised.
Once home, I connected my Bikeray battery pack to the SOLARSTORM head and it came to life again. So, my problem was the battery!!!
The Solarstorm battery was fully recharged and discharged several time and I decided to do some run test which showed that the battery was faulty as within its first 26 second it lost 20% of its capacity and 50% within 18mn and only had a run time of 33mn. I did contacted the e-bay seller and as he no longer had UK stock, he refunded me the full price and advised me to buy another one from a known seller to him. (The link was provided)
The new X2 was ordered and received see test No2.
A week later my second ride was done with my replacement X2, Black No2 head and battery, not knowing the run time of the new battery, this was only turned on, on downhill sections and I had two green led left by the end of the ride.
Home test integreation sphere
Solarstorm X2's runtime
FULLY CHARGED 3 green lights
*TEST DONE WITH A ELECTRIC FAN TO SIMULATE CYCLING AND TO KEEP THE X2 COOL,
Battery 1 had 3 separate charge and battery 2 had 2 separate charge prior to testings.
TIME in mn
Lux with
Solarstorm 6.4mAh
battery No1 and Red X2 No1
Battery state LED
Lux with
Solarstorm 6.4mAh
battery No2 and Black X2 No2
Battery state LED
Lux with Bikeray
8.7mAh battery and Red X2 No1
Battery state LED
0
675000
3
459000
3
657000
3
26 second
2
3
5
645000
2
419000
3
638000
3
10
649000
2
408000
3
638000
3
15
653000
2
409000
3
636000
3
18
1
3
20
646000
1
407000
3
636000
3
25
638000
1
427000
3
636000
3
30
580000
1
414000
3
636000
3
32
1 - flashing
3
636000
3
33
stopped
Stopped
3
635000
3
35
408000
3
The test was volontary stopped
36
2
40
409000
2
45
409000
2
50
407000
2
55
409000
2
60
409000
2
63
1
65
408000
1
70
348000
1 - flashing
75
Stopped it so
not to over discharge
Stopped it so
not to over discharge
Outdoor beam shots
Could not take my tripod and camera to the woods, so the photos are taken in my back garden.
****PLEASE NOTE OUTDOOR SHOTS ARE WITH SET X2 RED No1****
Comparaison shots done with the BikerayRay III, the beam is a flood type
This is some of the differences I have noticed:
Head: different screws and different cable/plug, logos are sharper on (black No2), both lights do show quite considerable differencec in lux reading!
different logos
different screw heads
very slighlty plug moulding
Different markings on the leads
Why the differences?
Could be:
different batch?
different LED (you do fine them listed with XML-T6 and XM-L U2?
One could be a clone and other an original or both clones from different sources?
I am unsure if the e-bay sellers do really know what they are buying and selling, what is sure is that they should not advertise them as 5000 lumens
as I far as I know you would never get that type of output out of two XML-U2!
The rest of the kit appear identical including batteries.
For/Against
For: it size, weight, ease of use, modes, output and price
Against: angular shape, non waterproof battery, overly inflated lumens output and battery life.
What this a good buy?
I suppose for the price it is.
You will need to live with the shorter runtime but 1h15 for about 1000-1500 lumens is still respectable specially when you take the price into account!
If any of you are running X2, please send your feedback as to battery life, also I have been scouting the net for an affordable replacement good quality 4x18650 battery pack. Nothing yet apart from getting a battery box and 4 individual batteries of you choice like Panasonic 3400mAh, the problem for me is this would make the set more bulky and heavy, not friendly for helmet use!
Skyraider59
MTB Ride leader
*My first language is not English, so I do apologies for any mistakes.
BikerayRAY III, Solarstorm X2
For/Against
it size, weight, ease of use, modes and price (price if the battery problem get resolved )
Against: angular shape which potentially could be dangerous, all the manufacturer need to do is to round the shape, non waterproof battery,*
inflated lumens output and battery life (may have a faulty one so I may review this), not road friendly, no visor on top to restrict the beam to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic.
*But can not give a full verdict due to the faulty battery, so the mini review will be continued later on.
Please if you are running the same light, send me some feedback,
regarding run time, be as accurate as you can all you need is a stop watch often found on digital watches or on a kitchen timer.
Skyraider59
MTB Ride leader
*My first language is not English, so I do apologies for any mistakes.
BikerayRAY III, Solarstorm X2