These torches are made in China by a company called 'Wolf-Eyes/Copia', having not heard of them before I was a bit skeptical when Leo at Wargamers offered to send me one for review. This review really breaks down into several parts as each item in the package is a separate product in it's own right. Sound weird? Well read on to see what I'm on about... The idea: Okay how many of you out there use torches on your Airsoft gear? Lets see a show of hands.. right now how many people have actually bought the CR-123A batteries for them? Don't you just wish that someone made a rechargeable battery that you could replace your two fiendishly expensive 123A's with? Well look no further. Ladies and gents I bring you the "Copia Finder".
The "Wolf-Eye Copia 6A Finder", or "Finder" for short comes in tow separate boxes. One box contains the instructions, the torch chassis, a reflective dish with a bulb mounted in it, and a li-ion battery. The other box contains the charger. Each item in the boxes is carefully laid out in a presentation style, this is good as it's easy to see that everything is in the box from the outset. Okey dokey, lets start with the torch box. The torch comprises of two parts, the main chassis, and the end which takes the bulb unit itself. The two parts thread together, and have a double o-ring behind the threads, thus keeping it 100% watertight at all times. Wolf-Eye recommend that if you plan to carry the unit built (in a rucksack for example) that you unthread the top of the torch two turns, such that if you accidentally depress the power switch it won't turn on and discharge itself unwontedly. This is a very simple yet surprisingly good idea. Battery: The battery bundled with the 'Finder' is called the "Copia LRB-168A" and has a capacity of 1800mAh, a voltage of 3.7V, and is equal in size and specifications (almost*) to two 123A's end to end (68mm). These batteries (according to the manufacturer themselves) have almost 0% self discharge, and even after a year still has a huge capacity after one year of storage. The pack is spec'd to last 500 charges at peak performance, after that it has a maximum life span of a further 1000 charges. "Copia Photoel Technology Co.,Ltd. created a milestone of one cell lithium battery application with the patented LRB-168A One-Cell Li-ion Rechargeable Battery with Re/Discharge Controlling & Protecting Circuit" - Copia Now just doing the easy math here, 500 charges is equal to the complete use of 1000 CR-123A's. You might be wondering where this technology comes from, well these guys use the same cell packs for satellite phones (wow!). * the Copia battery is 3.7V, but if you want to fit it to your Surefire gear, simply buy the Wolf-Eye 6P or 9P conversion, that comes with one battery (or two in the case of the 9P), a charger and a replacement bulb unit, making your 6P not only brighter, but rechargeable. Not bad eh? NOTE:
NOT USE 2x CR123As with Wolf-Eye bulbs (instead of the LRB 168A). Anyone that has had problems shorting out their Airsoft equipment by plugging it in the wrong way around, or simply reversing the polarity can rejoice. ^_^ "...the lithium batteries we've made have an absolute safe recharge & discharge protection system. Once a short circuit is detected, the system starts in a millisecond." - Copia
The torch is 25mm in diameter and 127mm long. AS it's 25mm in diameter you can either use 25mm scope rings to mount it to a RIS rail on your replica, or the more standard 30mm rings with some rubber pad spacing inside.
I am lucky enough to have a 6P bulb unit here, with two 123A cells, now these are bright, but the Finder is visibly brighter. The comparison in brightness between the Copia unit and a 4 D-Cell MagLite, and a 2 AA-cell MagLite is like comparing my home brew chilli to a microwave dinner - there's just no contest, MagLite, although good, aren't even close to the Copia's performance. My only complaint (if you could call it that) is that you can't focus the beam. Now this is simply a design feature that hasn't been incorporated. My guess is that this is because it's a: difficult to do, and b: not really needed. The Finder kicks out a very tight beam over a visible distance. I honestly haven't seen a light this bright since I saw the X-Files last, and Mulder and Scully had those luggable carbattery-with-a-halogen-bulb-taped-on torches. As a simple test I went outside and shone the torch upwards towards the sky (at night), and you can see a visible beam shining upwards through the night for the best part of 30-40 feet, after which the beam finally dissipates to the point where it illuminates rather than shines. The lense in the head of the torch is very clear and strong, and has the lettering 'Copia' and 'WolfEye' around the edge. This doesn't mean much, but it is at least reassuring that even down to this very small detail it's all been built by them.
Charger: The charger is a multi voltage/frequency unit, and should work in all countries. It has a space for charging up to two batteries at once, and it a well constructed unit, with plenty of cable between the charger and the wall plug - a simple thing, but it's always nice to be able to place a charger on a table rather than the floor near the socket. Again, it's the simple things that please me here.
The charger takes slightly less than two hours to charge either a single a battery or two at the same time.
- It comes with a "shaver style" plug fitted to the charger. Anyone in the US won't mind, but in the UK you'll want to chop off the plug and fit a British one (please only do this if you know what you are doing). To be fair the product was built in China, so you can't expect it to be aimed at us Brits specifically. On the upside, the charger will take any voltage from 110-240V AC at 50-60Hz, so should operate in just about any country.
Assembly: Building the lamp is easy, but it's not that obvious unless you read the instructions, which are (wow!) in English. Please note they are in English, not "Engrish", not only are the words understandable, but it makes sense. Honest I'm not poking fun here, but it really is nice to read things that you can understand in Airsoft. To assemble the torch:
Warnings:
Performance: The Finder can illuminate for a rough maximum distance of 150 meters, and at a distance of 10 meters projects a cone of light 2 meters in diameter. Available accessories: You can get a wealth of odds and sods for your torch including: spare batteries, a DC (car) charger and barrel clamps.
I have seen a few rumblings of new products at Copia, including a range of new (cheap) LED tactical torches, and also hints at AEG batteries constructed from their Li-Ion battery technology. These I can't wait to see.
Comment on this review in the forums Last modified: Wednesday, May 9, 2001 9:37 AM copyright 2001 ArniesAirsoft
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At
the end of the base you'll find a small loop hole for fitting
a landyard retension cord. You don't get one in the box, but
I'm not that bothered about that.
