Zak ReviewsJul 13, 2023

Review: Skilhunt M200 v3 - an excellent 18650 EDC light with magnetic charging

https://zakreviews.com/skilhunt-m200-v3.html

#flashlight #review #EveryDayCarry #edc @[email protected] @[email protected]

Review: Skilhunt M200 v3 - an excellent 18650 EDC light with magnetic charging

<p>The Skilhunt M200 v3 is an 18650-powered everyday carry flashlight with USB-magnetic charging. It offers excellent color rendering with the Nichia 519A option and it's fairly slim for the battery size. It's an obvious competitor to the Olight Baton Pro, but uses standard batteries and offers much better color quality.</p>

Zak Reviews
Show threadgiant_smeegJul 13, 2023

My one serious complaint is that the charging pad can cause sparks when short-circuited. I was not able to ignite steel wool with it as I could with the Olight H2R and the current shuts off almost instantly. Still, live contacts on the outside of a flashlight are a safety concern in some situations and I’d like to see Skilhunt add a diode to the charging pad to eliminate the risk. This is enough of a flaw to keep me from giving the M200 v3 the five-star rating it has otherwise earned and to hesitate to recommend it to mechanics who could be around both metal shavings and fuel.

Is that just the charging cable side? or does the light on its own have any of this behaviour

Show threadZak ReviewsJul 13, 2023
@giant_smeeg the light itself.
Show threadsolrizeJul 13, 2023
That is a pretty horrible misdesign or maybe manufacturing defect, if live voltage is supplied to the external contacts like that. It is even a safety hazard. It’s enough to make me want to stay away from the light without wanting to know anything else about it. Ouch.
Show threadZak ReviewsJul 13, 2023
@solrize it's an issue for all the Skilhunt lights with magnetic charging. It's not nearly as bad as when Olight did the same thing, but Olight fixed it.
Show threadsolrize

Thanks but that turns me off from the whole brand. It’s almost like a light that explodes. I had thought of the magnetic charger as a smaller alternative to a cradle charger and I hope no cradle lights do anything like that. They should not have approved production of a light with this flaw. If Mag or Streamlight had shipped this, they would probably have to do a recall. Ouch.

I still love my Skillhunt E3A though.

Jul 13, 2023 at 7:44pmWeb
Show threadDefeaterofDarknessJul 16, 2023

For clarity, there’s no risk of the light (battery) exploding itself. The current shuts off immediately when shorted.

The scenario where there could be risk is if a metal shaving arcs the pad and there is a combustible gas or liquid in the immediate vicinity of the light. I would be way more worried about sparks from other sources (metal on metal, static electricity) in that environment than I would be about this flashlight.

Not really an issue for the vast majority of users but worth the disclaimer and the one star hit IMHO.