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SMSLaser HFXC (Page 5 of 6)
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Originally Posted By laxman09: All these new batteries are too confusing. Looks like they are 3.2V Lithium Phosphate "Solar light" batteries. What should I be looking for? Someone earlier posted this link: GetFPV 18500s 2 pack for $15 - all the specs are listed. |
| My second HFXC came today, and it was indeed a version 2. I like the changes quite a bit, and it still feels rock solid. I've got it mounted on my Kel-Tec SU-16D9 SBR (which seems to finally be dialed in vis a vis cycling reliably now that I'm throwing full power 69gr down the pipe), and it's a pretty sweet option for 4-in-1 functionality. |
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You are going to want to use flat top 18650's, they are a very tight fit. 18650's are a huge advantage and IMO along with some lens caps make the HFXC a potential option for serious use. One oversight: the battery cap retention strap is too short for the longer 18650 cap. Hopefully in the future they include a new strap with the extended battery cap. |
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Originally Posted By laxman09: All these new batteries are too confusing. Looks like they are 3.2V Lithium Phosphate "Solar light" batteries. What should I be looking for? Lithium iron phosphate, also known as LFP, or LiFePO4, cannot be charged past 3.650v without causing severe damage. They are good cells, but you won't have the capacity of an NCM/NCA cell, and the LFP require a different charger. Since this is a single cell device you don't have any real risks of explosion, so the unprotected Panasonic NCR18500A would be a good choice. |
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Originally Posted By shenendoah_rifleman: You are going to want to use flat top 18650's, they are a very tight fit. 18650's are a huge advantage and IMO along with some lens caps make the HFXC a potential option for serious use. One oversight: the battery cap retention strap is too short for the longer 18650 cap. Hopefully in the future they include a new strap with the extended battery cap. Many of my protected 18650's are too long for this laser with the 18650 cap, so I would probably lean toward something like these https://www.18650batterystore.com/products/eve-35v-18650-3500mah-10a-battery |
would this be an acceptable rechargeable battery for the 18500  
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Originally Posted By ragingyeti: For anyone awaiting their orders, I ordered on Jan 5 and it came today with no shipping notice - pleasant surprise. That's good, I'm curious how this "off till 2/7" works. I ordered last Wednesday. |
"I said,'I don't know how to vomit softly.' That's like telling someone to shit perfume."
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Took my HFXCv2 out tonight. Handguard got a little wiggly, so no comment on zeroing (albeit the first string of shots were good). Also had my HFXCv1 on the other rifle, which performed with distinction. Did pretty good to 50yds or so with the white light and green laser, which was a fun way to end the night. I'll be moving my v2 to a different gun with a more solid handguard setup. Something I didn't notice until now is how much better the selector is on the v2. The clicks are MUCH more tactile. Moving the selector on the v1 was kind of a roll of the dice, but on the v2, it was very easy to tell where I was. The power selection on the v2 works fine. I was close enough that dialing it all down made sense, but the option of doing the illuminator/laser separately was great (and, frankly, should be extended to the vis side mode, too). The turrets continue to be a weak point, though. Just a pain to manipulate in the dark. Would like to see the next version of this go to LA5B style controls (protected finger turn turrets for the illuminator, slightly larger turrets for the laser). That said, it's not impossible, and you only have to do it once for the lasers for zeroing. All in all, it really seems like SMSLaser knocked this one out of the park. Looking forward to the 3-in-1, or maybe a 4-in-1 that has IR flood instead of white light. |
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Originally Posted By fortydelta: That's good, I'm curious how this "off till 2/7" works. I ordered last Wednesday. Lol holy shit just got shipping notice and tracking in my email. |
"I said,'I don't know how to vomit softly.' That's like telling someone to shit perfume."
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I ordered one because of this thread. I was leery about the back order status on their website, but I received it in about a week. I put it on an M&P 15/22 that had a Streamlight TLR-VIR and a Streamlight Protac Rail Mount 1.0 on it. It's more useful than that combo, and takes up less MLOK space. It's worked well so far. A .22 doesn't haven't any recoil, but it's been holding zero bouncing around behind the seat in the truck (driveway is miles of dirt logging road). I might order another one and try it on a 5.56. Pro tip, since it isn't marked, CCW is Left/down. ETA: The laser is centered in the illuminator, haven't had to mess with that. The illuminator/laser brightness seems acceptable, haven't played with that much. I can only see so far in the pine timber around here. A DBAL A3 usually works fine for me. We'll see what happens when I take it to the desert. The daylight laser is stupid bright. I did buy the 18650 cap, and I'm running that with a Cloud Defensive battery. The tape switch has been great so far, running it with the Magpul cable management MLOK adapters. |
| I'm just hoping mine gets delivered. Our USPS distro center is broken and way behind. My laser has been there since last saturday. Just now getting a box delivered today (supposedly) that hit the center on 2/3. |
"I said,'I don't know how to vomit softly.' That's like telling someone to shit perfume."
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Took my v2 out for a spin today, and, man, still pretty impressed. If they could just fix the turrets to be a little more in line with current standards (bigger slot), it'd be almost perfect. I am wondering when we're going to get the follow-on products. I guess I'm impatient given how well the HFXC turned out. |
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Originally Posted By erwos: Took my v2 out for a spin today, and, man, still pretty impressed. If they could just fix the turrets to be a little more in line with current standards (bigger slot), it'd be almost perfect. I am wondering when we're going to get the follow-on products. I guess I'm impatient given how well the HFXC turned out. I think reddit/ig was saying they're working on a no white light unit. |
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Got my V2 yesterday. Edit: Can someone confirm that the White Light and Viz Green ARE NOT individually adjustable? It seems the intensity of both are linked, and you can't have max white but min green laser. I'm in high power mode. Just want to make sure I'm not missing something. Fixing that, and making it truly waterproof = great, great device. |
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Originally Posted By mickdonaldson: Got my V2 yesterday. Edit: Can someone confirm that the White Light and Viz Green ARE NOT individually adjustable? It seems the intensity of both are linked, and you can't have max white but min green laser. I'm in high power mode. Just want to make sure I'm not missing something. Fixing that, and making it truly waterproof = great, great device. The IR laser and illuminator are able to be adjusted separately, the visible light and laser are not. |
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Originally Posted By Billyar15: The IR laser and illuminator are able to be adjusted separately, the visible light and laser are not. Thank you, sir! Edit: Finally got it mounted on an 8" .300BLK Subs only platform. I like it. Light doesn't hang over any more than a separate light IMO - would be cool if it was on the right though, but that's a tiny nit. What torque have you guys used? I went 20 inch pounds, paint marked the bolts, and tied it down to the rail by going around the Crane Port plug tether with a 4" Zip-Tie. I was worried about stripping the threads. |
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Originally Posted By mickdonaldson: Edit: Finally got it mounted on an 8" .300BLK Subs only platform. I like it. Light doesn't hang over any more than a separate light IMO - would be cool if it was on the right though, but that's a tiny nit. What torque have you guys used? I went 20 inch pounds, paint marked the bolts, and tied it down to the rail by going around the Crane Port plug tether with a 4" Zip-Tie. I was worried about stripping the threads. The important thing isn't torque, it's tossing some loctite on the threads near where they screw in. |
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Originally Posted By laxman09: FYI Don't try and remove the screw on the back to pop off the plug tether. Sheared right off.  Mine didn't. Was able to try mine out a little tonight. Got it zeroed and threw my rifle in the back of my side by side. Bounced around a good bit and checked it a few times. Zero was still good. |
"I said,'I don't know how to vomit softly.' That's like telling someone to shit perfume."
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Originally Posted By laxman09: FYI Don't try and remove the screw on the back to pop off the plug tether. Sheared right off. 
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Diffuser caps Some dude on the internet printed some diffuser caps. Anyone try them yet? |
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Originally Posted By hodgescl: Diffuser caps Some dude on the internet printed some diffuser caps. Anyone try them yet? Tried it today in the garage, works well. Tomorrow night I can get it out on the range and see how it looks. |
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Haven't put live rounds through it but have had it mounted to the rifle for some vis laser assisted dry fire with the rifle. The weight is decently lightweight. The selector is crisp, the buttons are acceptable. I would like there to be a raised lip around the fire button or at least sink it a little below flush. The laser looks decent, illumination I have not played with enough to really make a determination. I did notice on wide illum setting, it would have the peq/dbal pizza illumination with the circular artifacts in the beam. Mounting hardware looks about what a 250ish laser comes with. Used 35ft/lbs and blue loctite. My gripe is the fire button, my preferred method over a seperste switch, is too far left mounted. The way I grip my rifle and the length of my thumb and hands means that a center mounted fire button would be fantastic. I mentioned this to SMS on IG and they're working on a 3 in 1 option that is taking feedback into consideration. |
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Originally Posted By TheGunslinger: I mentioned this to SMS on IG and they're working on a 3 in 1 option that is taking feedback into consideration. I've seen an early 3-in-1 prototype, and so far it is more centered on the gun, but it still isn't ambi controls. It centers more, but the flood/spot control is only on one side. I stressed to them that it needs to be centered, whether that's the back or the top. The Holosun slider is a good approach. Hopefully SMS incorporates this. I really liked the SMS HFXC, but it bugged me that it hung over one side of the gun asymmetrically. I know, probably a OCD thing, but it didn't fit in my gun case evenly, and I'm left handed, and, and, and... :) |
| I threw it on a 12.5 upper, co aligned with my dot and went out to a local friendly night shoot Saturday. Just learning things on the fly slowed me down a little, but so far so good. I assumed that setting the power levels on just laser and illuminator would stay the same when they were both on, which I found out isn't the case. This thing is very bright. I still had quite a bit of bloom on the lowest laser setting (no moon). For 250, I'm happy, but I need more time running it to see how things go. I will probably be looking for a diffuser cap also |
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I am an idiot, and also have worked three 16 hour days in a row. Lol Took the battery out to charge, did not take note of orientation, dont see markings on unit. Dont see on “manual” or website. What is the battery install orientation. Eta: ok, put my thinking cap on. Negative goes to cap. Does the included charger turn green when it is charged or does the three red boxes indicate a full charge? |
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Originally Posted By MHIDPA: I threw it on a 12.5 upper, co aligned with my dot and went out to a local friendly night shoot Saturday. Just learning things on the fly slowed me down a little, but so far so good. I assumed that setting the power levels on just laser and illuminator would stay the same when they were both on, which I found out isn't the case. This thing is very bright. I still had quite a bit of bloom on the lowest laser setting (no moon). For 250, I'm happy, but I need more time running it to see how things go. I will probably be looking for a diffuser cap also Put it in high power mode per the directions, you can turn the laser down even further it will go in the stock setting. If if in hight power mode and your getting blooming, turn the illumination up or a tighter focus to tone down the laser by over powering it with the illuminator. I don't think you need a defuser cap, widen up the illumination, on low and wide you will barely be able to tell its on. |
"I am gonna laugh my ass off looking out the air vent of the box car watching some of you shot in the head in a ditch when you finally realize it's time to resist." stolen from RR_broccoli
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Might have to look into a diffuser. In dense woods (where I am) the illuminator could use more flood and the laser on full power could settle down a bit. There are valid view points for or against…….. but that is all subjective on your environment and nvg tube(s). |
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Gotta say, it's pretty funny that people go nuts pursuing a "full power" IR laser, and then the entire sight picture is washed out because of its full power bloom. So we go out of our way back to put diffusers and try to power it down. I always see reviews like "This thing is a LIGHT SABER!" with beam photos of it melting the sky like it's a great thing. But can you actually USE it to see your target? My OG Laser Devices DBAL can go super bright to barely-on dim. I almost never use it in high mode because it obscures an IPSC target at most ranges I'd shoot at night. I would really hope that SMS's next 3-function laser/illuminator has more (and lower) levels between super-low-to-high so as to be more useable. A nice wide flood to soften the IR illum that zooms to a tight beam for distance, and a 6-or-more levels dim-to-high center aimer. Not everyone needs to break every photonic barrier when just in a dark field hunting hogs that aren't lasing back. |
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Originally Posted By kel: Gotta say, it's pretty funny that people go nuts pursuing a "full power" IR laser, and then the entire sight picture is washed out because of its full power bloom. So we go out of our way back to put diffusers and try to power it down. I always see reviews like "This thing is a LIGHT SABER!" with beam photos of it melting the sky like it's a great thing. But can you actually USE it to see your target? My OG Laser Devices DBAL can go super bright to barely-on dim. I almost never use it in high mode because it obscures an IPSC target at most ranges I'd shoot at night. I would really hope that SMS's next 3-function laser/illuminator has more (and lower) levels between super-low-to-high so as to be more useable. A nice wide flood to soften the IR illum that zooms to a tight beam for distance, and a 6-or-more levels dim-to-high center aimer. Not everyone needs to break every photonic barrier when just in a dark field hunting hogs that aren't lasing back. I dont know those people. A full power illuminator is what people want. Most people would be happy with a laser low /illuminator high setting. That being said, if the government told me i cant have blue shoe laces, i would find some tomorrow to see why they are too awesome for me to have. Who cares why people do things. Lol |
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Originally Posted By WillieTangoFox: A full power illuminator is what people want. Most people would be happy with a laser low /illuminator high setting. That being said, if the government told me i cant have blue shoe laces, i would find some tomorrow to see why they are too awesome for me to have. Oh yeah - to clarify - my comment absolutely wasn't an attack on your earlier post: I'd also want full power as well just for the "not supposed to have it" appeal. :D All the IR lasers I have ARE full power, but I was A.) noting the honest point that I most often have to turn them down to make them useable and not bloom out. And B.) hoping that the new SMS 3-function IR Laser/IR Illuminator/Visible Laser unit will have lower adjustment settings (not lower overall output). |
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Originally Posted By MHIDPA: I think I mentioned I was using this during a new moon, making the laser seem even brighter. I'd be happy if the gave it a few lower power settings (like the tor mini) for the laser and traded the tight long range illuminator for a wider close in. Agreed. A wider near flood would be a good trade. However, the longer throw looks nice for online reviews and unit/unit comparisons for a potential buyer’s mind, |
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Originally Posted By BravoSierra: I got a diffuser for the v1, but that was more for one use case (being indoors or in tight areas). Outside of that the settings are perfectly fine. I recieved the v2, and it's just right, though I'll still get a diffuser for it simply to have an not need. @BravoSierra Who are you getting a diffuser from? Thanks. . |
I am not an operator nor am I very smart.
Keep that in mind when reading my comments:-)
Keep that in mind when reading my comments:-)
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Just got an HFXC in hand but I am not using it for NV - just a fancy useable green VAL/VL that wont lose zero with a mount at 12:00 on a raised mount due to a short handguard. Initial impressions are good for the price of $230. I had a holosun LS117 earlier this year and while it was a good unit it did not have white light or any other features for virtually the same price. Better waterproof rating, I guess? but I'm not swimming with any of these things. |
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Hostile Beaver caps and ranger wrap. Also a turtle shell I found. I like turtles. :-) Attached File |
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Originally Posted By WillieTangoFox: Hostile Beaver caps and ranger wrap. Also a turtle shell I found. I like turtles. :-) https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/123862/IMG_0627_jpeg-3539832.JPG I have the HBP cap as well and its nice to have a cap on a full power IR unit just in case. |
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Holy smokes this thing fucks! I got mine in and even using the small battery the vis laser is stupid bright I was shining it on a house about 200 yards away during the day and could make it out. The flashlight is pretty awesome too. I can’t wait for this evening to check out the IR. For $250 this is a steal |
SMSLaser HFXC (Page 5 of 6)
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