Torch review - Malkoff MD4 body / MD2 Head / M60 MC-E Warm dropin (photos added)

[TallNHairyDave]

My new baby has just arrived from Croyde.

• Malkoff MD4 body
• Malkoff MD2 Head
• Malkoff M60 MC-E Warm dropin
• Malkoff High/Low converter ring installed
• 2 x AW 2600mAh 18650 batteries.

WOW.

All the brightness of the Fenix TK40 in a small handheld torch (I think it's the same size as the Surefire 9P?), superb build quality, no artifacts in the beam, no donut hole, just oodles of flawless floody warm 400+ lumens for 2+ hours or with a slight twist of the head about 30 lumens for even longer runtime. (Lumens are OTF not measured at the emitter).

Can't WAIT for it to get dark!

Pics and fulsome review later. Just to keep all my fellow jamies on the edge of their seats

[ArkAngel]

Beautiful setup, i have something similar.

However i have just preordered an SR90. This should replace my ultrafire 1000 as my "land a plane" light

[Hatethatgiraffe]

I knew you would get a malkoff sooner or later mate

will be the first of many

[Croyde]

I am looking forward to seeing your review Dave and I am very pleased to know that you appreciate and will get good use from this light

[j3bnl]

Dave congratulations on the new light. I think the set up is slightly longer than a 9p as that is 2x 17500 light. Looking forward to your review as a fellow malkoff owner (I have 2 md2's and another drop in). I am sure it will be a keeper mate.

[TallNHairyDave]

Just got back in from having a play with it, unfortunately I forgot to take the camera with me so no beamshots! I'll try and get some this weekend.

The Mrs is just doing some beauty shots of it for me because that's the one area where she is a so much better photographer than me!

Righty, I'll crack on with writing the review now

[TallNHairyDave]

I've wanted a Malkoff torch for some time, or rather wanted one of his M60 MC-E dropins. Unfortunately, they're not cheap ($125 before shipping and tax) and also incredibly popular and handmade in limited runs. This meant that when I couldn't afford one, they'd be in stock, and when I could they'd have sold out!

However, on Tuesday evening I noticed that Croyde was selling a complete Malkoff torch setup, with my "dream drop-in" and a pair of more-or-less brand new 2600mAh AW LiION cells.

After a brief amount of dithering, I snapped it up

Croyde was a gent to deal with as usual, and shipped it out to me RMSD on Wednesday morning, so it arrived today - he even charged the batteries for me so it would be ready to go...

All I had to do was wait for it to get dark.

Review:

When it arrived, I made the mistake of powering it up in a room that gets some natural light and shining it on a white wall to see if I could see the beam pattern. I was deeply disappointed - it seemed so dim!

Then I rememebered that there'd be no hotspot to be immediately visible, so shone it under the desk instead - MUCH BETTER!

It's very nicely put together. 1" body and 1.25" diameter head, maybe slightly longer than a Surefire 9P so it can accommodate the 2 x 18650 (or 4 x CR123) cells you need to run it on. Fits in a coat pocket nicely, and has a pleasing heft to it without being too big/heavy. Knurling on the body is nicely done in evenly spaced bands around the body of the torch, neither too rough nor too smooth - and it's apparently HAIII anodised. Quality of the machining is great with wonderful screw threads - really smooth with no rough spots as you tighten or loosen the tailcap or head.

Clicky switch on the tail is nice, with a momentary on or a good solid click for permanently on, and the LED module is a single mode only module for no frills lighting.

This torch has been fitted with the Malkoff "Hi-Lo" selector ring in the head. This is a clever little optional extra from Malkoff Designs that replaces the standard screw-in retainer ring that holds the drop-in unit in place, and enables the torch to also be run in low mode by simply unscrewing the head half a turn. Doing so drops the output to about 30 lumens or so, and then tightening it back down cranks the light back up to full. Unscrewing the head 1 turn locks out the light to prevent accidental switch on in a bag.

Because of the dimensions, accessories for the Surefire 6P should fit, and it is apparently compatible with tailcaps that will fit the 6P / 9P lights if I wanted to change the tailcap for a different one. Should also mean I can fit an aftermarket lanyard ring to it if I wanted to.

I was rather taken aback when I first saw it to see that it had no reflector or glass lens! Instead the LED is just discernible under a multi-faceted optic right at the front of the head where you'd expect to see a lens.

But, wow, it really does it's job! A lovely clear beam with no artefacts, no donut hole, just lots of lovely light. I'm estimating that it lights stuff up to a usable distance away from you despite being a flood monster. Malkoff claimes +/- 140 feet, but I can't verify that at the moment because I was limited by street light pollution. Indoors with all the lights off, aimed at the ceiling while sitting on the sofa, it lights up the whole room.

Colour rendition is lovely too because it's fitted with the "Warm" version of the Cree MCE LED which gives a much nicer colour than the usually cool blue that you get with LEDs. I used to far prefer a "cool" coloured LED, but this torch has converted me I reckon - the colours of what you shine it at are much more natural in appearance.

The drop-in itself is a thing of brassy beauty, with the module type and LED hand engraved on the side.

To sum up. Wow. What a torch.

Was it worth the money? YES

PROS:

• Superbly built
• Excellent thermal properties - despite having the fairly mighty Cree MCE in here, pumping out 400 or so lumens, the whole torch gets warm but not offensively so. (Although I've not tried it for long runtimes yet, you can tell it's conducting heat away from the LED well).
• Beautiful clean beam with massive spill - all pure flood with not a lot of throw, but ideal for walking in the woods at night, it's a real "wall of light". Really lights up a room!
• No donut hole in the beam, no artifacts or funny shadows either.
• Good claimed battery life - 2+ hours on full power with 2600mAh 18650 cells. (I've not done a runtime test yet)
• Completely non-tactical in appearance - no crennelations or weird bits to help you hold it while shooting a pistol.
• Completely modular. I can upgrade it in the future to a different module, or get a module with more throw to put in it instead if I want a different beam.

CONS:

• Cannot tailstand for ceiling bounce to light up a room e.g. in a powercut (I'll machine something out of Delrin to slip over the end of the tailcap to solve that)
• No lanyard attachment loop/hole. (I'll pick up a Surefire lanyard kit or an aftermarket lanyard ring if I decide I want a lanyard on here. At the moment, that's not a problem for me though)

And now, the photos!

Head on view:

Note the fact that there's no reflector or glass lens. Looks weird huh?

Front 3/4 view:


Exploded view:

front to back - Head, Drop-in unit, Hi/Lo selector ring, body with batteries alongside, tailcap

Front View of the drop-in unit showing the multifaceted optic.


The drop-in unit and hi/lo selector ring.

(view of both sides of the drop-in to show off the hand engraved model code and LED identifier. Yup, it's got a warm Cree MC-E in there )

Obligatory "artsy shot"

Torch turned on and resting face down on the centre of a CD. cool huh?

Big thanks to Am for her excellent photos

UPDATE:

Finally got up to Box Hill with this torch, and took a photo of the beam...

Unfortunately, it was rather misty and VERY cold, so this isn't the best photo I could have taken.

Distance from me to the trunk of the tree = c 30 feet, Malkoff MCE on high mode.

Camera settings - ISO 100, f1.7, 2 seconds



WALL-O-LIGHT!

[TallNHairyDave]

This space reserved for the beamshots once I've done them. Hopefully this weekend!

[Hatethatgiraffe]

Very nice Dave! I've got one that I run in a 6p body and you really don't realise just how bright it is till it lights up a room like a 60w bulb

[Croyde]

Dave, those photos are excellent!
Don't buy a lanyard ring, I can let you have one FOC.

[benp1]

Nice one dave, good review

EDIT - go and borrow a dog and talk it on a walk. good excuse to use the torch and no one thinks you're a nutter!

[TallNHairyDave]

Very nice Dave! I've got one that I run in a 6p body and you really don't realise just how bright it is till it lights up a room like a 60w bulb

It's awesome isn't it? POCKET SUNSHINE

Dave, those photos are excellent!
Don't buy a lanyard ring, I can let you have one FOC.

Thanks! I did say the Mrs was good at that sort of photography

Thanks mate, very kind of you! You're a gentleman!

Yes please

Nice one dave, good review

EDIT - go and borrow a dog and talk it on a walk. good excuse to use the torch and no one thinks you're a nutter!

Thanks mate.

I don't mind if people think I'm a little bit nuts

[j3bnl]

As always Dave an excellent review.
The pics are brilliant as per usual.
You also have the option of adding a std MD2 body so you could have a little bit of lego ala Surefire.
The drop-ins are amazing and I agree with you on the warm versions. I was a bit dubious myself on their benefits but once you see them your hooked.
You will no doubt be adding to your MC-E with some of Gene's other drop-ins in the future.
I did say you wouldn't regret buying it but congratulations on your new toy anyway.

PS Totally agree that Mike (Croyde) is a real gent and someone who is a pleasure to deal with.

[TallNHairyDave]

Well, I didn't get a chance to do beamshots at the weekend as I was feeling really rough, but I'm loving the malkoff.

Used it at work just now to sort out the BT engineers who were struggling in a dark and cramped ceiling void to pull through a fibre cable... They were trying to see what they were doing with an awful old incandescent - I just popped the Malkoff up in the ceiling void from a second access hatch and lit up the whole space by bouncing it off the roof. There were some surprised noises from the engineers, and they were even more surprised when they saw the size of the torch that did the job

[Croyde]

It sounds like they had what could only be described as an illuminating experience