Blaster V from Elektrolumens became my first single 5 watt Luxeon Star LED and a true custom flashlight. AFAIK Elektrolumens is one man shop, or a company if you will. Wayne Johnson (who is the Elektrolumens) is very well known flashlight wiz amongst flashaholics and has his own form at CPF, check out ElektroLumens Forum @ CPF. Blaster V is an evolution of earlier Blasters. Sporting 5 watt luxeon star LED and 30 mm optics in a long, 5 D cell, groovy(literally :) aluminum body, it's a nifty light for sure. Quality and craftsmanship are top notch. For sure, Wayne pays very close attention to all details, big or small. And it shows on the product. For example tail cap on my Blaster V has a lot smoother movement when removing/installing then that of Maglite 6D.
    5 watt Luxeon LED is sitting on a massive heatsink. By the way, in case you plan to replace the LED in the future, it's very easy with Blaster 5, just unscrew 5 screws, unsolder the old LED emitter, solder in the new one, put back the screws, and the head, voila, you're ready to go. I mentioned that, as I am planning in the future, as brighter 5w LEDs come out to install a new emitter myself. Anyway, if that's not what you would like to mess with, no problems, Blaster is plenty bright and will easily outshine most of the flashlights you know, let alone outrunning them.

Body

 - Blaster V is a custom flashlight, and has its own, distinct style body. Visually I find it quite appealing. Looks aside, it is a one heavy, sturdy flashlight. 5 D cells in thick aluminum tube is no joke for anybody. Currently all Blasters have knurled body. Which definitely enhances the grip, and won't let it slip from your hands when they're wet or oily. Definite plus, especially for the heavyweight such as Blaster V.

Beam

 - Like I said Wayne's QC is top notch. The LED in Blaster V produces nice white light, no greenish or purple discoloration. Considering the inconsistency in 5 watt LED production this isn't all that common. The beam through 30 mm optics is quite tight, well defined hot spot in the center and plenty of side spill. The only odd thing about V is that you can see a definite, dim square around the primary light circle :) Go figure. Originally I thought it was some sort of primitive reflector in the flashlight, but no, high quality 30mm optics sitting right on top of the emitter. In short I donno. Later I'll ask Wayne, he'll provide explanation for sure. Although, that's not al that important, considering the throw of the Blaster V. Much whiter and brighter than any incandescent MagLite I've had. Said all that, I have to note that Blaster V isn't made for short, peak performance, but rather for durability. It will produce bright light for hours, thus making it a good choice for your next camping or hiking trip ;) It's a different class flashlight than Inretech Helios, that has 3x5 watt leds and will deplete 6 D cells in an hour ;) If you need something practical, bright, longer running Blaster V is one of your best bets. Well, if you want to blind someone 50 yards away, then Helios probably will do ;)

Last updated - 05/06/19