Flashlight Review, Jil Lite Stern

I first heard of the Jil Lite Stern through at thread at CPFMP.

The design of the Jil Lite Stern is what "caught my eye".

STERN was developed for the usage in shipbuilding yard, where needs bright hand held light plus longer run time with minimum maintain cost for Primary battery.



The Jil Lite Stern uses 2 o-rings for protection and grip at the lens bezel assembly and the tailcap.

Uses a forward side clickie single stage.



The Stern came with this.



Osram GoldenDragon Plus 120lm/w
- Driven at 700mA
- Runtime : ( measured with LG2600mAh 18650 cell )
Total 4 Hours run.

Enforced B270 glass lens, AR coated both.

The beam tint on my Stern is a warm color.


SMO



OP









You can order with either a SMO or OP reflector but the reflectors are sealed. You need to purchase the whole assembly.

I noticed when swapping out the reflector assemblies the o-ring makes for a very good grip.

The beam is adjustable.


Left, SMO Lens Bezel Assy. Right, OP Lens Bezel Assy



Left, SMO Lens Bezel Assy. Right, OP Lens Bezel Assy



Rear view of the Lens Bezel assembly.



Voltage : 3.7 ~ 6V but Recommend to use 18650.

The battery tube has ample room, width size for any sized 18650 battery.



Inside view of the rear tailcap



External view of the rear tailcap.








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Lux readings

Jil Lite Stern OP - 12,100 lux @ 1 meter

Jil Lite Stern SMO - 18,690 lux @ 1 meter



In the following beam shots I used Ultrafire Protected 18650 2400mAh fully charged.




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Jil Lite Stern SMO @ 96"



Jil Lite Stern OP @ 96"



Jil Lite Stern OP @ 32'



Jil Lite Stern SMO @ 32'



Jil Lite Stern OP @ 146' or 44.5 meters



Jil Lite Stern SMO @ 146' or 44.5 meters



Jil Lite Stern OP @ 210' or 64 meters



Jil Lite Stern SMO @ 210' or 64 meters




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Pros

Good machining

Type III Hard Anodize is even in color between parts. no flaws in the finish.

Smooth threads

O-rings came lubed

Good advertised run time

O-rings on Lens Bezel Assembly and tailcap. Protects and makes a good grip while installing or removing the Lens Bezel Assembly or rear tailcap.

Ample room width size for batteries

Smooth beam when using the OP reflector

Beam is adjustable


Cons

Very ringy beam while using the SMO Refelctor.

No holster

Protruding lanyard holder. Will not tailstand.

Reflector assemblies are sealed

No extra switch boot rubber covers. (I wouldn't know how to change them).

Beams hot spot look off centerd in the SMO version.


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The Jil Lite Stern throws a beam very far but while using the SMO it's very ringy. The OP beam is very smooth.

The Stern is very well made.

I like single stage lights and also side clickies.

I will probably use the OP reflector the most.

I also like that the beam is adjustable

Weird flashlight, it's amazing how much gain you get with the SMO reflector.


I always wanted to ask, what do you use to shoot those awesome macro pictures?

WOW -- So little beam spill in those pix. NICE!

Mike

nikokapo said:

Weird flashlight, it's amazing how much gain you get with the SMO reflector.


I always wanted to ask, what do you use to shoot those awesome macro pictures?

Click to expand...

I use a Nikon D40.

The D40 has a built in feature called "Trimming" where you can zoom in on your picture that is taken and when ready you can make another copy.

Thats awesome macro shots!! Also a nice torch too!!

-Adrian

erns said:

I use a Nikon D40.

The D40 has a built in feature called "Trimming" where you can zoom in on your picture that is taken and when ready you can make another copy.

Click to expand...

But how do you achieve that amount of zoom, what lens are you using with the D40?
With my 18-105mm on my D90 I have to use a 4x or 8x macro effect lens to get that close to the object.

nikokapo said:

But how do you achieve that amount of zoom, what lens are you using with the D40?
With my 18-105mm on my D90 I have to use a 4x or 8x macro effect lens to get that close to the object.

Click to expand...

I use the lens that came with the D40 a 18-55mm lens.

I just focus in as close as possible and then after I take the picture I use the "Trimming" feature.

If you look closely these next 2 pictures are the same. I just "Trimmmed" or "cropped" in the same picture with the built in feature in the D40.

Okay, great, erns. Thanks!

I use Nikon D60, I lovebthe nikons! My favorite DSLR's!

great Use of your features! Endless possibilites LOL.

Nice lookin light body! Very interesting!

Erns, I have a request for you if you'd like to try. Do you have a "Recoil" flashlight? I'm very curious about them because they seem to make such good throwers. If you have one could you take some pics/beam shots, maybe a review?

Here's two from dx, I might get one myself.
DealExtreme: $26.94 Ultrafire WF-008 Recoil Thrower Cree Q5-WC 230-Lumen LED Flashlight (1*18650/2*CR123A)
DealExtreme: $32.99 YEING YE-05 Cree Q5-WC 2-Mode LED Flashlight (1*18650)

FireMyLaser said:

Erns, I have a request for you if you'd like to try. Do you have a "Recoil" flashlight? I'm very curious about them because they seem to make such good throwers. If you have one could you take some pics/beam shots, maybe a review?

Here's two from dx, I might get one myself.
DealExtreme: $26.94 Ultrafire WF-008 Recoil Thrower Cree Q5-WC 230-Lumen LED Flashlight (1*18650/2*CR123A)
DealExtreme: $32.99 YEING YE-05 Cree Q5-WC 2-Mode LED Flashlight (1*18650)

Click to expand...

Here is a huge thread on it on cpf

Do anyone buy the Ultrafire UF-007 (Recoil Led) - CandlePowerForums

FireMyLaser said:

Erns, I have a request for you if you'd like to try. Do you have a "Recoil" flashlight? I'm very curious about them because they seem to make such good throwers. If you have one could you take some pics/beam shots, maybe a review?

Here's two from dx, I might get one myself.
DealExtreme: $26.94 Ultrafire WF-008 Recoil Thrower Cree Q5-WC 230-Lumen LED Flashlight (1*18650/2*CR123A)
DealExtreme: $32.99 YEING YE-05 Cree Q5-WC 2-Mode LED Flashlight (1*18650)

Click to expand...

Sorry I don't have any Recoil lights.

Ok thanks anyways. And I thank jeffd for the link!