I just received a newly-released flashlight from Banggood. It’s called the AX1 and it’s made by Amutorch.

It has a thoughtful, attractive design, and the overall execution is great. But the example I received has a few flaws that really detract from the experience.

First though, some quick observations:

Unusual, attractive, well executed, two-color design.

Attractive body form, with thoughtful, unconventional, functional details.

Large, 22mm, reflector for a 18650 tube light without significant added exterior bulk. I measured the outer diameter as 25mm, which is just ~1mm larger than a Convoy s2+. The inner diameter of S2+ reflector, though is ~17mm, 5mm smaller than the AX1s. As another point of reference, the Zanflare F1 has an ~20mm reflector, while the OD of the bezel is about 27mm, and the max OD of the whole light is closer to 30mm.

Good action on the reverse-clicky switch.

Modes seem good. The AX1’s low is pretty close to the low on a Convoy S2+ with an 8×7150 3/5 mode driver. The high/turbo is similar to other ~3A ~1000 lumen lights. There is strobe, but it is pretty well hidden. It has mode memory.

The beam pattern is quite nice. Much less floody than a standard S2+ with an XM-L2 emitter and an OP reflector. At 10-15′, the hotspot and spill are much closer to an S2+ I modded with an XP-L HI and a SMO reflector, but the AX1 has nicer smoother, corona with less tint shift, though not as nice as it would be with an OP reflector.

I’d call the color temperature neutral white and without an objectionable tint.

Now, for the big problem with the AX6 I received: The surface texture on the blue head and tail pieces is visibly, glaringly, uneven. I had some trouble photographing it, but it is quite apparent when you have the light in hand. When I first saw it, I thought/hoped that it was some surface schmutz. It isn’t, it’s the metal.

It looks like it was supposed to receive some sort of uniform finish, like bead or sand blasting, but some areas were barely touched, so the machining marks are obvious. It doesn’t seem very even over the length of the head either, nor is it consistent around the axis. The problem is most obvious on the head of my light, but the tailcap also has similar but more subtle problems.

In addition, there were a few nicks on the body. The photo above shows the largest of them. These are unfortunate, but the truth is with a weeks use, I probably won’t be able to distinguish them from other wear and tear. The inconsistent finish is going to be obvious for a long, long time.

So, bottom line, this is a nice flashlight for $20-25 if the surface finish is as it should be. Mine isn’t. So I’ll be asking them to replace the faulty parts, if not the whole flashlight.