In January 2004 Elektrolumens announced XM2 - here's a link to reference thread on CPF. Small flashlight, powered by 2 cr123 lithium batteries, using Luxeon III, 3 watt LED from Lumileds. Initial specs rated flashlight as 72 lumens. Flashlight is non regulated, though as the announcement stated minimal resistance would be added, powering the flashlight at full 1 amp. As usual, Wayne offered presale price which was quite low compared to final sales price. 39.99$ vs. 59.99$ later. Flashlight was delivered in June 2004. There was some delay related to overseas manufacturer, but overall it wasn't too bad.

Body

 - Made of aircraft aluminum, so popular as flashlight construction material these days :) Not that I complain though. As usual flashlight consists of several parts, and you can see them here, on this picture. Major components are bezel, which holds the lens, LED and circuitry. Barrel, which holds 2 CR123 batteries and finally the tail cap housing the push button switch, which can only be used in momentary on/off mode. Body has reasonably aggressive knurling to improve grip. Head unit is somewhat similar to that of Tri-Star Phazer. Same octagonal geometry as you can see on the pictures. Also the same black anodization. As far as I am concerned it's HA III type. Overall ergonomics are very good. Small flashlight, easy to operate, pretty powerful for its size.
    In terms of dimensions, XM2 is almost identical to Nuwai S1704 on this picture we have TnC Hyper Lux I, S1704 and XM2. As you can see length is almost identical, may be couple millimeters longer, and XM2 is slightly larger in diameter. Other than that they're pretty close. Since we started talking dimensions, here are the precise numbers. OAL is 124 mm(4.8"). Body diameter(knurled part) 25.5 mm. Bezel diameter 31.2mm and finally octagon is 34.8mm.
    I have to note I like knurling on XM2 a lot more than on Nuwai, which is more like a file compared to XM2 and many other knurled flashlights I have.

Operating

 - XM2 can be operated in two modes. For constant on/off you use tail switch. In short twist the tail cap to the right, the light is on, twist if to the left, the light is off. If you need momentary on/off function then tail cap must be tightened but not all the way in, and you can press the button, the light will turn on, release it, it'll turn off.
    As usual there are not too many complaints regarding Elektrolumens QC. Wayne makes good stuff. May not be all that fancy, but those are solid, and well performing products. In my experience XM2 was the most troublesome thing came out from Elektrolumens. To begin with the light arrived DOA. It'd turn on but the light was very dim, and body would overheat real quick. Apparently something went wrong with the circuit. I've sent it back for repair or replacement. Got it back in couple weeks. DOA again. Now it wouldn't turn on at all. Sent it back again. This time Wayne offered to fix the problem personally. I got it back in another two weeks and finally it was working. Things happen to everyone, and apparently I got a lemon :( Although, on the same note, the switch used in XM2 is yet another source of problems. In short I haven't seen that many complaints about Wayne's products as with XM2. The flashlight itself is good by the way, if you get defect free unit. Apparently manufacturer screwed up.

Beam

 - The beam wasn't as powerful as I've anticipated. XM2 is using 30mm optics. Light meter showed 750 Lux from 1 meter. I am not sure if that's the designed output for XM2. I have other single cell 1 or 3 watt Luxeon star flashlights producing 600-900 Lux from 1 meter using single cell and those are rated from 25 to 40 Lumens. On the other hand, Lumen is the amount of total emitted light. Depending on the reflector and beam focusing the Lux readings will vary. Although, again, 30mm optics produce pretty tight focused beam, so that's why I was surprised. On the other hand for all practical uses of this light 750 Lux is pretty good. Of course it won't light up bush mile away or illuminate your backyard, but it'll provide sufficient light for navigation and lighting. Compared to the same Nuwai, XM2 provides a lot more useful light, even though the difference in Lux readings is only 50 Lux, 750 XM2, and 700 Nuwai. The hotspot of XM2 is around 3 times larger than that of S1704. And sidespill isn't even comparable, Nuwai has very faint corona, while Xm2 has well defined one, and it's useful bright, you can actually see things well in that light.

Last updated - 05/06/19