Introduction:
I had always admired tactical lights as they produced the most
clean and crisp light along with power far exceeding those of
normal flashlights. So, with the spare cash I had, I began to
scour the web searching for flashlights, most of which were
of poor quality or just darn ugly/frail/plasticy. Knowing that
Arnies Airsoft already had a review
of a Copia Finder, I examined the review and decided it
was rather nice. Promptly heading over to Wargamer’s
Shop website to purchase one, I stumbled across a new model:
Copia Wolf-Eyes M90 Rattlesnake Tactical Flashlight.
Improvements
on this design from its little brother “Copia
Finder” were the addition of a 5 mode switch, 4x LED tail
cap, extended body that accommodates 2x LRB-168A batteries and
of course a bigger bulb!
So
I made my decision and paid via Paypal for quick a delivery
Is
it here yet!? The 5 day wait was agonisingly
long as I itched to get my hands on it. Sadly, when I got the
parcel, I had gotten a mixed up order (A SureFire Lamp unit)
with just one or two e-mails, I have sorted this problem out
with the helpful folk at WGC and sent them it back (even gave
me store credit for my trouble!) another 4 days later (which
was VERY fast) I had received the nice big parcel with nice
goodies inside…
Here
is how it went…
Opening
the box
Whilst I was prying open the cardboard parcel box, I peeped
inside to find 2 very tidy neat black containers. Pushing my
hopes up more, I began to tear away the packaging more rapidly.
Once the protective packaging was out of the way, I plonk the
2 neat packages on top of my kitchen table. On the centre of
the lid, a modest sized chrome logo shone in the light, “Wolf-Eyes®
Tactical Light” and on the smaller box “Copia Wolf-Eyes®
Accessory Made In China
www.wolf-eyes.com”
Sorry about the picture quality, but it does
show the chrome effect with the camera flash!
Look inside the box!
Inside
of the big box, were very neatly packed components of the M90
Rattlesnake itself. It comes in 4 pieces:
- 1x
M90 Rattlesnake Body Tube
- 1x
M90 Dragon Tail Cap (4 x LED light Cap)
- 1x
M90 9V Lamp Assembly
- 1x
Front Head Cap
Inside
the smaller “Accessory” box, you will find the necessary components
to make it work!
- 1x
Duel Cell AC Charger (90V/60Hz – 240V/50Hz)
- 2x
LRB-168A Li-ion Rechargeable Batteries
“Some
Assembly Required” When
you come to get around to using the M90, you have to put it
together first as it is shipped in a very compact box. Although
difficult as it may sound (to some of you ^_^) it’s a very easy
and straight forward task.
Here
are the steps to putting it together:
- Insert
9.0V M90 Lamp Assembly into the head cap.
- Screw
the head cap on
- Unscrew
the tail cap off
- Insert
the 2x LRB8-168A batteries (+ side pointing to tail cap!)
- Screw
back on the Tail cap
There
you go! That’s all there is to it.
All
the bits and bobs
How
long do the batteries last!? According
to the manual :
- Headlight
– 135 lumens / 80 minutes constant on
- 4x
LED Dragon Tail Cap – 5 lumens / 46 hours constant on
I
have yet to prove these statistics, but I have good faith in
them.
Battery Charging “Is it done yet?!” Again
according to the manual:
- Duel-Cell
Charger can fully recharge 2x LRB-168A Battery
within 3 hours
- Always insert the battery/batteries into
the charger in accordance with the positive and negative
end mark; if not, both the charger and the battery might
be damaged. When the power is on, the red light turns
on, showing the battery is being rapidly charged; when the
green light is on, showing the battery is full and ready
for work. If the battery keeps on charging, the green light
and the red light get on one following the other, showing
the battery is on pulse charging to keep the saturation.
- Charger Specification:
Duel-Cell
AC Charger (Standard Accessory): Auto – Sensing, AC
90V/60Hz – 240V/50Hz, fits all countries. DC (car) Charger
optional.
Note:
- Charger
has built-in protection system, Long time charging will
not cause overloading the battery/batteries. But less than
12 hours of continuous charging is suggested.
- Avoid
putting the charger on objects like textile or foam to let
the heat give out when charging.
- Avoid
replacing batteries in explosive places such as gas station.
Make sure switch is disconnected, if that is a must.
Warning:
Avoid throwing LRB-168A into fire or putting it in high
temperature environment.
OK,
how do I turn it on! Yes this question has
been asked by mankind for millions of years, so here I am to
answer one of those cries concerning the M90 Rattlesnake!
When
you come to fiddle about with the torch trying to find the “on”
switch and to no avail, after 15 minutes of turning it end over
end, you will finally take the last resort and examine the manual.
The
manual then instructs you of :
The
5-Mode Switch At this
point when you see the manual, you think to yourself… “Boy
this is going to be interesting, I wish I could understand this
grammar!”
Here
is what the manual instructs:
- Rotate
the Dragon tail cap on to the end, the head light will be
constant-on, tail cap off.
- Rotate
the Dragon tail cap back half turn, head light off; the
tail 4x LED will be constant on. Simultaneously the head
light can be in Morse on state by depressing the tail LED
lights lens and the tail 4 x LED light will be cut off automatically
in turn.
- Rotate
the Dragon tail cap back further, the tail 4 x LED light
will be off; simultaneously the head light well be in Morse
on state by depressing the tail LED lights lens.
- Continue
rotating the Dragon tail cap back further, the head light
will be turned off; simultaneously the tail cap light will
be in Morse on stare by depressing the LED lights lens
- Rotate
the Dragon Tail cap back further more, both the head light
and the tail LED lights will be in lock-off state to prevent
activation.
Warning
Never flash the torch at human eyes within 1 meter distance
while testing the brightness!
How
powerful did you say? For
the M90 Rattlesnake, it takes 2 batteries, that’s double that
of its little brother, the “Copia Finder”. The M90’s 9V lamp
unit can really kick out the brightness needed for tactical
use and good, clear illumination.
It's
rated output is 135 lumens for 80 minutes, that’s an increase
of 70% in power and 30 more minutes longer than that of the
Copia Finder Torch.
The
main light produces the most clean and crisp white lights I’ve
ever seen in a torch, it also features an extra wide angle of
illumination which is most useful for illumination the sides
and floor as well as what’s in front of yourself.
Illumination pattern
Angle of illumination
Light from front
What
is the tail light for? The
4x LED Dragon tail cap is however, not as powerful as the 135
lumen main bulb, its 5 lumens produce a clean light, hardly
useful for stunning a enemy, but it is very useful for various
tasks such as; signalling, Morse code, location marking, identifying
yourself to team mates, reading maps, find a keyhole in the
dark(?).
Just
so happens I’ve taken a few snapshots of it here:
Bright light!
Paper illuminated by tail cap LEDs from 50cm, useful for map
reading!
Specification:
