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CopiaWolf-Eyes: M90 Rattlesnake Tactical Light Review

by Arnie

CopiaWolf-Eyes:
M90 Rattlesnake Tactical Light
Review


by Simon Poon
(aka Wibb)

Stock
Specifications
RRP 130USD
Weight: 289g
including battery
Length: 25.4mm
(head 45mm)
Diameter
of body:

25mm


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 Chinawww.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:

  1. 1x
    M90 Rattlesnake Body Tube
  2. 1x
    M90 Dragon Tail Cap (4 x LED light Cap)
  3. 1x
    M90 9V Lamp Assembly
  4. 1x
    Front Head Cap

Inside
the smaller “Accessory” box, you will find the necessary components
to make it work!

  1. 1x
    Duel Cell AC Charger (90V/60Hz – 240V/50Hz)
  2. 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:

  1. Insert
    9.0V M90 Lamp Assembly into the head cap.
  2. Screw
    the head cap on
  3. Unscrew
    the tail cap off
  4. Insert
    the 2x LRB8-168A batteries (+ side pointing to tail cap!)
  5. 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:

  1. 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.

  2. Avoid
    putting the charger on objects like textile or foam to let
    the heat give out when charging.

  3. 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:

  1. Rotate
    the Dragon tail cap on to the end, the head light will be
    constant-on, tail cap off.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  5. 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:

  • Brightness
    and runtime: Head light – 135 Lumens / 80 minutes      

  • 4x
    LED Dragon Tail cap light – 5 Lumens / 46hours       

  • Body:
    Aircraft Grade Aluminium Body

  • Reflector:
    Metal Power Shaped, High Temperature Processed,

  • Layers
    of Alloy Coating Films.

  • Lamp
    Assembly: 9.0V W-F Lamp Assembly, High Colour Temperature,

    Light
    Effect, and focusing. Reliable and Suitable for 

    Constant on.

  • Switch:
    5-Mode Switch  

  • O-ring
    sealed: Splash Proof

  • Colour
    Temperature: Above 3600K

  • Weight
    With Batteries: 365g

  • Length:
    195mm

  • Body
    Diameter: 25.4mm

  • Bezel
    Diameter: 45mm

  • Operation
    Temperature: -25°C-60°C

2
Days later…

After playing about with the
Tac light around the house and at work for the past two days,
yes, and even during a power-out (HOW CONVIENIENT!) the M90
has performed exceptionally, usually illumination up the entire
room with its powerful 135 lumen bulb by just pointing the beam
of light to the ceiling, it leaves no crevices in the dark.

Earlier
this evening, whilst setting the M90 Tac-light on its LED base
so I could shine the ceiling and get a relatively good illumination
to the whole room, using the white ceiling to reflect the light
when the lights where switched off. 
After a period of half an hour (remember, I have been
playing about with the torch for 2 days on just 1 charge!) the
M90 must have ran out of “juice”, as some people might experience
other torches slowly get dimmer and dimmer over a long period
draining the battery, this torch is different. The main bulb
just goes out light a light!, no dimming, no warning! It just
“switches itself off”. At first I thought “Oh no, the bulb must
have blown!” twisting the tail cap round a bit to activate the
light, I saw that the only response I was getting was the tail
light LEDs were operating on the smallest of power.


LEDs operating on “flat batteries”

Now
at this point, I’d suspect you would like to see a demonstration
of the M90 Rattlesnake in action, well I hadn’t been able to
get to a skirmish ground for a few months now, but I do have
some indoor shots of it in my (very messy) bedroom ^_^



(Before)



(After!)



(Another stunning shot)

Will
it fit my gun!?

Yes it will, providing you
have a spare set of scope rings and some length of RIS/20mm
rail. The main body of the M90 is 25.4mm in diameter, that’s
near identical of that of a standard scope. Here are some shots
of it on my M4/M203 combo:


Conclusion:

For
most people, MagLite, Surefire, G&P will usually
satisfy their need in a tactical torch, but for those
who are the hardcore night time or CQB skirmisher
that demand the best tactical lighting equipment with
more features to boot than a “all in 1 action-man”
(ok, maybe not that many) including rechargeable batteries
and charger included (saving even more money), This
is THE ONLY torch to get.

But
all this comes at a price; some of you are wondering
why I hadn’t mentioned this until this point in the
review.

For
a merry sum of 130USD
from WGC
this can be yours!

Tricks

:
Well,
this sucker is quite a tool, had a go at putting my
hand up against the beam and it got very warm in a
few seconds. This is what happens when you put it
to a packet of crisps.


After
a few seconds under the heat of the torch a hole big
enough to fit your finger thru appears in the crisp
packet!

I
haven’t finished reviewing this product yet as long-term
tests are still to be carried out of durability, recharge
ability and other stuff…

I’ll
be updating this review every now and then on the
progress that I make with this wonderful piece of
ingenuity ^_^

Upgrade
Potential

TBA

Build
Quality

TBA

Value
for Money

TBA

Overall
Potential

TBA

Review


by Simon Poon
(aka Wibb)

External
Links:
Wolf-Eyes

Site
links:
Copia
Finder review

Comment
on this review in the forums


Last
modified:
Saturday, January 11, 2003 7:16 PM
Copyright 2003 ArniesAirsoft




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