laulima diamond slim

Laulima Diamond Slim Flashlight Review

Laulima Metal Craft Diamond Slim Flashlight Review

Laulima Metal Craft has introduced a “Diamond Slim” version of their popular 14500 flashlight. It’s available in many finishes, too. Read on!


Official Specs and Features

Here’s a link to the Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight product page.

Versions

Laulima has a surprising number of designs of 14500 flashlights. Of the Diamond Slim specifically, there are a number of versions, too! The Diamond Slim is available in titanium, copper, bronze, and aluminum (seen here) as well as probably others. Those are available in different finishes, too, such as satin and tumbled (seen here).

There’s also a new version compared to what you’ll see in this review that offers support for various cells – I’ll cover that more below.

Price

Standard pricing for the Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight starts at $295 and goes up to $410 for the “basics.” As seen in this review, the Diamond Slim rang in at $295 – which is to say that this is the least costly Diamond Slim. Other metals and possibly finishes add to the price. For example, titanium costs $410.


Short Review

love the 14500-size lights. It’s a size that because of how slender it is, sort of disappears in a pocket. These make great backup lights, but can be powerful enough to also be primary lights. Aside from all that, this Diamond Slim specifically is absolutely fantastic. I love the tumbled finish. The tumbled parts are aging very nicely, too. Aluminum doesn’t usually get what anyone would consider a patina, but it does age, and this type ages perfectly. The shiny grooves really set it off, too. Output is great and I’m a very huge fan of the driver used (but more on that below). All in all, the Laulima Diamond Slim is a fantastic flashlight, if slightly on the higher side on price.

Long Review

The Big Table

Laulima Metal Craft Diamond Slim (Aluminum)
Emitter: Nichia 519a (4500K)
Price in USD at publication time: $295.00
Cell: 1×14500
Runtime Graphs
LVP? Yes
Switch Type: Mechanical
On-Board Charging? No
Claimed Lumens (lm)
Measured Lumens (at 30s) 769
Candela per Lumen 6.1
Claimed Throw (m)
Candela (Calculated) in cd (at 30s) 195lux @ 4.871m = 4627cd
Throw (Calculated) (m) 136.0
Claimed CCT 4500
Measured CCT Range (K) 4300-4500 Kelvin
Item provided for review by: Me
All my Laulima Metal Craft reviews!

^ Measurement disclaimer: Testing flashlights is my hobby. I use hobbyist-level equipment for testing, including some I made myself. Try not to get buried in the details of manufacturer specifications versus measurements recorded here; A certain amount of difference (say, 10 or 15%) is perfectly reasonable.

What’s Included

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight what's included

  • Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight
  • Laulima Metal Craft microfiber pouch
  • Stickers (2)
  • Identity/Maker card

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight what's included detail

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight detail card

Package and Manual

The Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight ships in a priority mailer and inside the microfiber pouch. It’s nicely protected.

There is no manual included.

Build Quality and Disassembly

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight

I’ve commented (or at least hinted) above that the Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight has fantastic build quality. it absolutely does. I love this aluminum finish. To be clear, aluminum flashlights are my jam. I have and enjoy plenty of other metals, but aluminum just rings my bell!

The diamond pattern you can see below encompasses the head and cell tube, but with a gap that allows the size to change and still look great.

Here’s a detail on that diamond pattern. I’m not sure if the grooves are actually polished or if they’re just “coincidentally shiny” but the contrast is excellent.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight diamond pattern detail

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight head diamond detail

Only the head comes off; the tail and cell tube are one piece. The seam between the head and body is “finished” – slightly rounded, but most importantly not forgotten.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight seam detail

Behind this seam is an o-ring. While the o-ring is for waterproofness, it does serve as a nice blast of color when swapping cells.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight seam and o-ring detail

The driver is seen below. Mine is a standard H17Fx and does not appear to be staked. It uses a solider blob to connect the copper pill to the driver.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight showing threads and driver

In the switch end you can see this McClicky spring.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight showing mcclicky spring in body

Size and Comps

Length 4.14”
Diameter 0.85”

If the flashlight will headstand, I’ll show it here (usually the third photo).  If the flashlight will tailstand, I’ll also show that (usually in the fourth photo).

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight in hand

Here’s the test light with the venerable Convoy S2+.  Mine’s a custom “baked” edition Nichia 219b triple.  A very nice 18650 light.

Also above on the left is a new feature light!! Laulima Metal Craft sent this Todai in tumbled aluminum for some size comparison photos like the ones above. Laulima has a  bunch of incredible items. I’ve tested one (the Laulima Metal Craft Hoku) (the official site for Hoku is here) that was a Friend Fund Friday review. I was impressed enough by that Hoku that I bought a Laulima Metal Craft Diamond Slim (also in tumbled aluminum) (review is upcoming!) These lights by Laulima have impeccable build quality and not only that, they’re quite configurable. There are some (great, actually) default configurations, but Joshua Dawson (of Laulima Metal Craft) is open to ideas and emitter options and the like. I haven’t reviewed this Todai, but I have to say, it feels absolutely fantastic and I love it thus far. (Notably, I love how warm and eggy those emitters look through the TIR.)

Retention and Carry

Laulima designed and makes their own pocket clips, too! Such attention to detail…  This clip is even more special – it’s a shorty! For comparison, you can see the Todai in the two photos above with the “regular” longer clip.

Aside from being short, this pocket clip is special in that it has another appointment. There’s a ball (ball bearing? I’m not sure) in the mouth area. I guess this is probably zirconium but I don’t see that information anywhere on the Laulima site. Either way it looks great! It probably adds a level of retention in some way, but there’s no great way for testing this. My impression is that it allows the clip mouth to be the same size while giving some resistance to accidental removal from the pocket.

The screw holes do go all the way through the tailcap. This is normal, and probably makes the Diamond Slim more friendly to other branded pocket clips.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight pocket clip screws

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight pocket clip thickness and ball bearing

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight ball bearing detail

The screws used here are standard Torx screws.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight torx screws

The other included means for retaining the Diamond Slim is of course this microfiber pouch. This is a very high-quality pouch and having it branded with the Laulima Metal Craft logo is a nice touch.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight branded carry pouch

Power and Runtime

My version of the Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight has a H17Fx driver and so it only runs a lithium-ion cell. The Diamond Slim is sized for a 14500 cell. I used a cell I had on hand, which is a Vapcell button top, but I’m fairly confident a flat top could work, too. Laulima does state that both work, and the cell they recommend is a Vapcell, too.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight with 14500 installed

I often forget that the H17Fx driver has an “outside the usual modes” double tap for Turbo. That Turbo is a FET level, which means it’ll take as much current as your cell can provide it. If your cell is maxed at around 3A, then High (or “Level 4”) and Turbo will be about the same. That’s approximately what we see below. Anyway, I wouldn’t want to run this light much higher than 3A for very long because there’s simply not enough material there to deal with the inevitable heat.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight runtime graph

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight runtime graph

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight runtime graph

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight runtime graph

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight runtime graph

Low voltage protection is observed in all tests.

Also don’t forget that the new version of the Diamond Slim has a different driver (or “is available with” a different driver), and does support both 14500 cells and AA cells. That’s an advancement but I do love the H17Fx driver!!

Modes and Currents

Mode Mode Claimed Output (lm) Claimed Runtime Measured Lumens Tailcap Amps
Turbo 769 [FET] (As many as the cell can provide)
High 597 2.99
Medium 167 0.71
Low 33 0.11
Moonlight 0.8 (low)

Pulse Width Modulation

The lower three modes use PWM. That’s no surprise from an H17Fx and has been covered here at length before. These are the default output levels, including (at right) the FET Turbo level.

For reference, here’s a baseline shot, with all the room lights off and almost nothing hitting the sensor.  Also, here’s the light with the worst PWM I could find.  I’m adding multiple timescales, so it’ll be easier to compare to the test light.  Unfortunately, the PWM on this light is so bad that it doesn’t even work with my normal scale, which is 50 microseconds (50us).  10ms5ms2ms1ms0.5ms0.2ms.  In a display faster than 0.2ms or so, the on/off cycle is more than one screen, so it’d just (very incorrectly) look like a flat line.  I wrote more about this Ultrafire WF-602C flashlight and explained a little about PWM too.

User Interface and Operation

A single mechanical switch is used to operate the Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight. I opted for an orange switch cover, but a glow-in-the-dark boot was included. The switch is a standard McClicky. All of this is very good, and you’re probably already very familiar with this type of operation.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight tail switch

I’ve tested a number of lights that use a McClicky coupled with an H17Fx driver. Among those are the Hanko Machine Works Total Tesseract Trident, Deadwood Huckleberry Topo, Mechforce Tactical Suppressor Turbo, FocusWorks Eryx F1, Okluma DC1, and probably others.

The MechForce MechTorch Gen2 has the same driver and a familiar experience but uses a reverse clicky, not a McClicky.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight tail switch

The profile of the switch and boot and everything does not protrude over the edge of the tail, which is a great feature. This allows tailstanding.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight tail switch profile (boot doesn't go over sides)

Switch action is fairly deep, but standard for McClickies.

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight tail switch actuation

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight tail switch actuation

I don’t have a UI table for you, but I do have a flow chart that was made for another H17f light and is applicable to this one too.

Depending on how you have your H17f configured, you may or may not have mode memory on.  I absolutely never use mode memory if given the choice.  So for my Hanko, I can tap and hold for momentary, or tap tap tap tap through the modes to get to the mode I want and then fully click to turn the light on at that mode.  I can also double-tap for the FET Turbo (which is the mode I almost always forget about!).  These are all “from Off” actions, since once the switch is clicked on, the only thing that one can do is click again for off.

h17f flow chart

I’m not sure if that’s my newest or most updated copy of that flow chart, but it definitely covers most options.

LED and Beam

When you purchase your Diamond Slim, you’ll go to a second page where you select the emitter you want. I opted for a Nichia 519a emitter at 4500K, but the product page indicates Nichia 219b and 219c are also available. The emitter is coupled with an McR 18 “coated aluminum” reflector. It’s a wonderful combo!

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight emitter detail

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight reflector detail

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight flat bezel

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight emitter on

LED Color Report (CRI and CCT)

CRI and CCT are both exceptional, which is a thing you should expect from Nichia 519a. The CCT measures right in the range of 4500K and CRI is very high.

Beamshots

These beamshots are always with the following settings:  f8, ISO100, 0.3s shutter, and manual 5000K exposure.

Tint vs BLF-348 (KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b version) (affiliate link)

I keep the test flashlight on the left, and the BLF-348 reference flashlight on the right.

I compare everything to the KillzoneFlashlights.com 219b BLF-348 because it’s inexpensive and has the best tint!

Conclusion

What I like

  • Fantastic build quality
  • Great design
  • Use of H17Fx driver is great (if you accept only 14500)
  • Updated option that allows use of primary/rechargeable AA
  • Configurability is good
  • This shorty pocket clip – it’s a small detail but I love it!

What I don’t like

  • At $295, it’s on the high side
  • Cell is not included

Parting Shot

Laulima Diamond Slim flashlight


Notes

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