(NLD) Maeerxu DF01 Nichia 519A 5700K

Per the title, this is the first maeerxu that’s arrived. Before someone points this out in the comments, this light’s design is “inspired” by another brand that sits on a much higher price point, but for about 30 dollars, it’s hard to say no to!

The design and build quality is really the highlight of this particular model, with the unique knurling for the barrel and weathered look for the clip. No sharp or unfinished edges anywhere, and the anodizing feels very well done and should be relatively durable against moderate abuse. It is the heaviest 18650 light that I have though, so using this as a daily carry will require commitment.

Speaking of the clip, it is excessively stiff, to the point where in it’s out-of-box condition, I’m unable to pry it up for any use. So I resorted to removing this from the body and bending it using two pliers, which gives it a very slight gap between the host and the clip surface itself. This makes it much more usable as there is now sufficient space for a finger to pry the clip upwards if you really intend to use this.

Next would be the UI , which is this light’s biggest caveat. In my view, the tail switch design with the metal button actually feels pretty nice to depress, and it’s sensitive enough that I can consistently make half presses to navigate the light’s menus. The menu however, is really divisive, as I see comments ranging from loving it to outright hating it as a dealbreaker. I find the menu layout to be somewhat odd as well, specifically how it treats the AUX modes as it’s own group, and also if activated as a custom group, will be prioritized when switched on before you access the actual lights with another half press. Perhaps the biggest shame to me is none of the AUX modes, as pretty as they are, can be used as a standby feature when the light is off.

For my personal use, I have the UI configured to smooth ramping, where a half press when on ramps up or down in brightness (going up is prioritized unless the light is in the brightest mode) and another half press saves the setting. This makes more sense than the stepped mode where each step takes a half press to get to, which feels very cumbersome to me.

Not much opinions on the emitter itself, since the one I ordered is the Nichia 519a in 5700k, which even though is relatively cool, still renders colors very well. The beam has a relatively large hotspot that transitions into a gradual spill, so good for most purposes unless you need to light up something further off in the distance.

I think that’s about it for my observations, thanks for reading!

by Altercode_F