# Review: Xeccon Spiker 1210....4 x cree XP-G R5



## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

Comming up soon is a Review for the Xeccon Spiker 1210. It has 4 x cree XP-G R5. So far with the limited time spent on this light, I am finding positve result with this light with the beam and mode feature. More to come soon with beamshot and all, but before that some important info:

The light was sent to me from Xeccon free of charge for review.
I have no affiliation with Xeccon beside the fact that they have sent me several other lights for review.
This will be a unbias review and all good/bad will be posted.
Just for those wondering, I do not take any part in the selling of their light in any manner, just doing a review for a product sent to me.

Here is some photo of the light and close up of the reflector:


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

Hey Colleen, this was the lamp that I considered reviewing but turned down. Later I almost wished I had changed my mind because I had a feeling that the reflector set-up on this lamp was going to be interesting. I have a gut feeling that this lamp is a real sleeper. To be more precise, I have a feeling this lamp is going to out-perform the MJ-872 and Bikeray IV. Can't wait to see the beam shots.

This "infinite adjustment" on the light is also of interest to me. If you can explain a little more about how it works that would be great. Too bad this lamp doesn't offer a remote. A remote would be real useful and allow the rider to keep his hands on the bars when adjusting the light level....just a thought.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

The reflector has mini cups for each Led and towards the center they are notched so that there will be more of a center hotspot. It's hard to tell from the picture but looking at the center, you should be able to see the cutout.

The infinite stepless dimming is another neat feature of the 1210. It also has two button in the back similar to the MS 872 but instead of one for high and the other for low as in the 872, the 1210 use the left switch for the non blinking mode and the right switch for the strobe mode. Meaning that this will never have to enter strobe when dealing with turning the lighthead on and off.....yay!

I do have a MS872 clone. I do not have a non clone of the 872, however rumors has it here under my roof that one is on the way to me. Hoping this is true so that I can do a comparison with the 872 Clone, Authentic Magicshine MJ872, and BR IV.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

Here are some pictures of the unit and package:


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

Here are some info of the Xeccon Spiker 1210 from MtbRevolution site:

Equipped with 4 x Cree XP-G R5s
•4 mini reflector cups for throw and beam pattern performance
•Theoretical Lumens: 1600LM
•Estimated Nominal Lumens: Approximately 1250 Lumens
•Body material: 6061-T6 Aluminum alloy
•Anodised Black
•Light Unit Colour: Anodised Black with red anodised heat dissipation ring
•2 Switch design. Switch A - Stepless Dimming 0-100%. Auto stepless search mode. Click to lock in brightness setting. Hold 3 seconds to begin stepless mode again. 
•Switch B - Cycle throough Fast Strobe>Slow Strobe>2 second delay Strobe>SOS > Off
•Xeccon 6 x 18650 6600mAh Li-ion battery
•Xeccon 8.4V 1A charger
•Charging Voltage: 8.4V-8.5V
•Nominal Working Voltage: 7.2V
•Waterproof unit
•Dimensions: TBA
•Runtime approximately 3 hours 45 mins 
•2 x o-rings included
•1 meter extension cable included


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## mb323323 (Aug 1, 2006)

Any reason why they wouldn't just build this w/ XML T6 or U2. Heat issues?? The emitter would be more efficient and they could just run less amps through it.

Just curious.

MB


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## Vancbiker (May 25, 2005)

That close in view of the front looks like the alignment of the reflector and emitters is a bit off. In my DIY experience that degrades the beam shape from what could be achieved if the alignment was right on. .


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

Vancbiker said:


> That close in view of the front looks like the alignment of the reflector and emitters is a bit off. In my DIY experience that degrades the beam shape from what could be achieved if the alignment was right on. .


Thanks for pointing that out. It does appear that the reflector needs to be turn more CCW. I see if I can loosen the head and twist the reflector. For the time being, since the light was sent to me this way, I think I will do my beamshot and test "as is" of how it was sent to me. Then later on, I will tried to align it and see if that makes a different.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

mb323323 said:


> Any reason why they wouldn't just build this w/ XML T6 or U2. Heat issues?? The emitter would be more efficient and they could just run less amps through it.
> 
> Just curious.
> 
> MB


My best guess will be because of the beam pattern and optic or reflectors.. I think four U2 putting out about 400 lumens each for 1600 lumens at the led and 1200-1300 OTF will draw less amps while running cooler. The issue might be with the throw pattern of the XML with it being having a larger DIE. Probably will need different reflector or optics to get the throw and less of a flood. With the XPG, the beam is more tight and that mean a smaller reflector or optics resulting in a smaller size light package. However that also means having to drive the XPG harder to get the lumens out of it and having to deal with heat managment issue. Don't know but that's about my best guess.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

mb323323 said:


> Any reason why they wouldn't just build this w/ XML T6 or U2. Heat issues?? The emitter would be more efficient and they could just run less amps through it.
> 
> Just curious.
> 
> MB


Yes, all true. However if you use XM-L's it does change the marketing strategy ( ie..$ )
I'd like to think that this product has room for improvement "as is"...Ie...XPG-2's and perhaps a version with remote.

About the misalignment issue: One emitter looks slightly off center. Since this is a multi-emitter configuration and designed more for bar use I doubt that it would be noticed when looking at the beam pattern but of course that remains to be seen. I have an XM-L torch with an off-center emitter ( floodish/ OP reflector ) and on that particular torch there are no artifacts or strange beam deformities. I agree though that it can affect throw if there is not perfect alignment.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

*Mode Selection*

This is a how the two button mode selection works. The 1207 has two buttons on the back (like I really needed to mention that just from looking at the picture...duh). The right button control the strobe mode. Pressing the right button will turn on the 1210 in the super fast strobe mode. Second press again will go into the fast strobe. A third press will enter the med strobe and a forth press will go into a SOS strobe. One more press will turn off.

The left switch is for the steady mode only. It has a stepless feature in the sense that it will scroll from Hi to lo power. The user can select any level while scrolling. It has a memory only if you do not unplug the battery.

This is how it works. When you first plug in the battery and press the left switch once, the unit will start scrolling from High to Low. At any desire level the user wishes to maintain, he/she can press the left button once and the unit will remain at that setting. If the unit is shut off and turn back on again, the unit will go back to that default setting. Pressing the left button for three second while unit is on will allow the 1210 to start stepless scrolling. The unit will scroll from High to Low. The user can again press it one time to set the desired level of output. While the unit is on a steady maintain output, the user can shut it off by pressing the left button once with a short click. Do not use a long click like most typical light, this will only enter into the stepless programming mode.

If the battery is unplug and plug back into the lighthead and turn on, the 1210 will instantly start stepless scroll and user can press the button once at the desire level. Once this action is done, the unit now retain memory until the next time the unit is unplug from the power source.

Here is a video showing the stepless scroll mode:


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

So far i taking a liking to the switches on the 1210. They are large and rather easy to press. Not having to go through a blink mode is also nice. The MS 872 clone has very small switch and awkward to operate. Hoepfully the authentic 872 will have better operating switch. Will find out soon.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

I am going to share what beamshot I have of the 1210. I should have comparison beamshot with the 872 soon but for now, I do have some comparing with the older BR IV. The BR IV I have is the original model and since then, BR have done some changes to the light, however I do not know if the beam or lumen OTF was changes from the original vs the newer model.

The photo for the beamshot of the BR IV looks and appears as if the aim was low and on the ground. It is not because the flood of the BR IV is wide such that it lights up the grass in front of the bottle but eveything behind the bottle is not lit up that well since the lights dissipate fairly fast. What I did when aiming was I titlted the lighthead until I achieve the most frightness reflected from the bottles.

Here is the scene:









Control shot:









Spiker 1210 on High mode at 100ft:









Spiker on Lo mode at 100ft:









Spiker throw at tree:









BR IV at 100ft:









BR IV throw:


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

I did a battery runtime test on the Spiker 1210. The total runtime was 4hrs 7minutes. The indicator lamp changed to blue color close to the one hour mark. It then changed to red at 1hr25min. It stay red all the way to the 4hr 7min before shutting off.

The charging time only took 3hr 10min when the green light came on. Not so sure why it was that quick as this is a six cell battery pack and a 1amp charger.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

Here is a size comparison to the Magicshine 872, Clone 872 and BRIV. What is interesting is the wall 1 meter beamshot. The clone actually had a pretty tight beam while the Magicshine 872 was more floody. Will do outdoor beamshot soon.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

I took a lux test at 5 meters and converted it back to 1 meter for the Spiker 1210, MS 872 and the Clone 872. I also did a sphere lumens test for the three lights. The result for the lux at 1 meter was pretty close for all three light. In others word, I think the throw will be similiar. I will also include the amp draw at the battery.



__________________Spiker 1210_______ MS872_______Clone 8782

lux at 1 meter:----------------7125------------------6225------------------- 6725
lumens total:------------------1160------------------1422--------------------1119
Amp draw @ battery---------1.93-------------------2.25--------------------1.55



Based on the result above, the MS872 has a wider flood beam from the optics but is driven harder yeilding in much more lumens OTF but at the cost of more power consumption. The Clone 872 has a tighter focus spot optics and should throw just as well but with less total lumens. The Spiker has a tightest spot focus but with less lumens than the MS872 while drawing less from the battery. 

I will post a beamshot of all three to see if what the difference are like.


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## androgen (Apr 28, 2005)

damn that's some serious reviewage. i don't think i would want a non-hard-case battery though. not very crazy about styling either - smacks a bit of toys r us. also for such a massive battery i would have wanted more than 1,200 lumens max. wilma puts out 2400 lumens with a smaller battery and head. compared to piko this thing is 200% more size and weight but only 35% more lumens. i guess lupine is not a relevant comparison here but i'm just using it as a reference point.


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## Cat-man-do (May 16, 2004)

As far as Chinese lights go the 1210 is an interesting option. It does look to have longer throw than the BR although not by much. On the other hand not sure how I would like how the switches work while on the bike. Definitely would be hard to work on the fly I would think. On the up side you have the ability to dial in the intensity best suited to your need and that is something you can't do with the Bikeray with only two steady modes.

Colleen i wouldn't mind seeing a comparison with the MS 872.


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## androgen (Apr 28, 2005)

Cat-man-do said:


> As far as Chinese lights go the 1210 is an interesting option. It does look to have longer throw than the BR although not by much. On the other hand not sure how I would like how the switches work while on the bike. Definitely would be hard to work on the fly I would think. On the up side you have the ability to dial in the intensity best suited to your need and that is something you can't do with the Bikeray with only two steady modes.
> 
> Colleen i wouldn't mind seeing a comparison with the MS 872.


i agree - 3 levels is not enough. i have an old surefire flashlight that has a rotary dial that selects 6 levels i believe - it is way cool. when i wanted another flashlight i realized new surefires only have 2 levels so i went with fenix because it has 4. also i decided not to get Seca because it only has 3 levels, while Niterider supposedly is programmable for custom levels.

maybe for something like a 200 lumen light 3 levels is enough - where each level is "not enough" and you just select how much battery life you need. but if you want to cover a range from say 200 lumen to 2000 lumen the standard high mid and low just doesn't cut it.

imagine if your stereo or ipod only had 3 volume settings - high medium and low. that would be insane. but as John 80 pointed out these things will start getting worked on once lights get brighter, because at this point people still go for lumens over features.

anyway it is always nice to see innovation, even if it is a failed innovation, it is still better than stagnation.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

Cat-man-do said:


> As far as Chinese lights go the 1210 is an interesting option. It does look to have longer throw than the BR although not by much. On the other hand not sure how I would like how the switches work while on the bike. Definitely would be hard to work on the fly I would think. On the up side you have the ability to dial in the intensity best suited to your need and that is something you can't do with the Bikeray with only two steady modes.
> 
> Colleen i wouldn't mind seeing a comparison with the MS 872.


I really do agree that the way the stepless dimming UI dows indeed makes it hard for the rider to do an instant dimming or go to High immediatly. The UI on the Spiker 1206 is a little bit better in this regard since that unit has a High-Low mode that is totally separate of the stepless dimming mode. There are two buttons on the 1210 where the left button is the strobe. Perhaps a way to utilize the left button to allow going from the pre-programmed dimming right into a high or low mode by pressing that switch will make this a better UI.

Here are the beamshot comparing the 1210 with the MS872 and Clone 872. As I suspected, the driver of the MS872 is driving a lot of lumens OTF and although the focus of the beam is more flood, the intensity does make up for the throw. The Clone 872 has a intense but too bad the driver for that is not driving the emitter at max.

I want to mention that I got tired of just having three bottle at 100ft mark. The bottle sits rather low on the ground and it is so small anyway. So I sort of spice the beamshot a little by adding flower on to a tripod stand to help show better illustration. You can see the difference in the intensity by the reflection of the amount of lights the flowers reflect back. The setup of the tripod and flower looks like this close up and the setup from far away in daylight. It almost looks like a memorial for the bottles..haha.




























I will be adding temp test, strobe mode video and a sample flat trail video after this.


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## TechniKal (Mar 18, 2004)

colleen c said:


> __________________Spiker 1210_______ MS872_______Clone 8782
> 
> lux at 1 meter:----------------7125------------------6225------------------- 6725
> lumens total:------------------1160------------------1422--------------------1119
> Amp draw @ battery---------1.93-------------------2.25--------------------1.55


Does this mean the Clone 872 has similar throw, similar light output, but ~ 20% more runtime (assuming same battery source)?

I ask because I ordered one of the cheap 'magicshine 872' heads off ebay and it looks a lot more like the Clone 872 than the real magicshine. If I get longer runtime with reasonable light output (and less heat issues), that may be a blessing in disguise.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

TechniKal said:


> Does this mean the Clone 872 has similar throw, similar light output, but ~ 20% more runtime (assuming same battery source)?
> 
> I ask because I ordered one of the cheap 'magicshine 872' heads off ebay and it looks a lot more like the Clone 872 than the real magicshine. If I get longer runtime with reasonable light output (and less heat issues), that may be a blessing in disguise.


That would be true. I did not do any runtime test for the Clone 872 but by the numbers you should get good runtime. As for beam pattern, the throw will be less and looking at the background tree, the clone 872 was the last of the three compared although I was expecting the MS 872 but that was not the case.

Honestly speaking, the clone 872 was not really a bad performer at all. I do have a partial temp test and will be posting that tomorrow. Temp management is also critical for the result of the final beam pattern. I usually see higher running case temp light will have their OTF lumens drops. So the consistency from initial to warm up may varied. I don't notice it that much but some others has a higher awareness level and do indeed see the drop.


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## colleen c (May 28, 2011)

I did a temp test for the Spiker 1210, MS 872 and the Clone 872. The ambient temperature was at 76 degree for all three starting point. The MS heated up the fastest while the Spiker 1210 took the longest time to get to 140 degree.

*Spiker 1210*
--------------------------------------------
1min = 87.7 
2min = 97.4
3min = 107.8
4min = 115.9
5min = 123.7
6min = 130.9
7min = 136.5
7min 43sec= 140.0

*MS 872*
--------------------------------------
1min = 94.3
2min = 111.6
3min = 125.1
4min = 132.0
5min = 137.4
5min 50sec = 140.0

*Clone 872*
-------------------------------------
1min = 83.2
2min = 96.7
3min = 106.5
4min = 120.7
5min = 133.7
6min = 136.6
6min 27sec = 140.0

The clone is not bad in term of heat managment when comparing to the MS872. The Spiker did the best but than it also has the largest housing. The driver of the 1210 is driving harder than the Clone so the extra heat sinking does help. Report of heat management problems with the MS872 is mostly cause by the higher power draw and small housing. It's still not too bad as long as you turn it down before the 5minute mark for the MS872.


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