OEM Nitecore EZ AA R2 ? Yeah !

Is fully regulated????? maintain brightness until battery dies? current increases as voltage decreases?

Yes, Mainly and Yes. I haven't run it completely down yet, and would assume it isn't literally a second from full brightness to off, it will dim for a while as the battery reaches it's very last legs. But current certainly does increase as voltage drops, it's a Nitecore and uses a boost driver so you wouldn't expect anything else really.

How does it measure up to it’s competiton?
Thx!

Now don’t anyone tell me that this is rubbish - I have one on the way from Hank! Incidentally I asked about 14500’s - he advises against.

I have mine since about 3-6 months (I cant remember)

No problems so far. Works excellent with both AA and 14500. Fully regulated circuitry

That is not a current Nitecore EZ AA R5 which is NOT a 2 mode light.
It is continuously settable from 6 to 160 lumens.

I’ve had it about 9 months and use it regularly.

Yeah, it’s a genuine V1 Nitecore EZAA, so well above most other comparable lights in it’s price range. In my opinion it’s better than the new version too. It’s regulated on AA and partially regulated on 14500, I’d guess some sort of Boost/Buck driver.

Like it or not .. great light greta deal or not ...it's NOT an OEM if it doesn't have a name on it ..

anything that isn't a Surefire is called a clone or a fake ..

jetbeam may have broke a contract with the company making their lights or someone let machines run after closing time or god knows what .. but if Nitecore doesn't call it a Nitecore ... you can't either

i remember ric at CNQG who wouldn't answer a blf members question about a light ric was selling ...the member kept asking if it was a real tiablo or a fake ... he asked abut 5 times and got mad that ric wouldn't answer ... no matter what he said ..it would have been incriminating ... is it a tiablo ? is it a nitecore ?? "No speaka da english .."

Mine arrived this morning. To be truthful, I’m not really sure why I ordered it (me see … me want??).

Anyway, apart from the fact that the fact that it’s not neutral, the UI is a bit of a pain. After the first twist the low comes on, but it takes a whole lot more twisting (more than one and a half full rotations of the head) for high to come on. I keep expecting the head to fall off.

Are they all like this? OK, it’s small, but the low (10 lumen, apparently) is too bright for my liking.

there is a mod to the foam that makes it easier to use ..i think match posted it on here ..maybe someone knows what it is ..i thought it was cutting little slits in the foam ring ??? I've never tried it but hear it helps .

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?228428-The-new-little-NiteCore-quot-EZAA-quot-Part-2

Thanks Boaz. I’ve just spent about an hour reading that thread :slight_smile: I didn’t realise the EZAA was so popular in it’s day (3 years ago), 15 pages of posts on the Other Side.

I think the mod is to trim the foam, but mine one is much worse than reported there - as I said, its a 360 degree turn, plus another 200 degrees.

That’s probably due to the small contact spring in the head not being tight enough. You can either try and press it down, or remove it first for more effect (or to put a small blob of solder under it instead). It’s just a case of making the distance between the spring and contact to the main contact through the spring shorter.

Alternatively you could of course just remove the spring altogether and get a high mode only light.

These may be early run type 1 rev 1 EZAAs, from before the long turn distance between low and high was rectified. That could be the reason we are seeing them so cheap and unbranded, as Nitecore may have sold them on wholesale to someone when they moved to the type 1 rev 2 versions.

Would cutting the foam back have the same effect? I haven’t done anything yet to try to fix it. My soldering skills are non-existent, and I imagine I would screw it up if I tried.

Took it out last night, and beginning to warm to it. It is tiny for an AA, and though I wouldn’t fancy it on a keychain, it is a handy size (so handy that I thought I lost it when I got back in - it was in my trouser pocket).

Cutting the foam would have no effect on the distance needed between it coming on in low and high. It would simply make it slightly less stiff to turn in general and possibly allow a little battery rattle if you cut it back too far.

You may find that as you use it more the spring in the head becomes more compressed and the distance needed to turn between low and high gets shorter by itself.

OK, thanks. I’ll leave it for a while. Might make it one mode eventually, but the huge twisting lark is a bit tiresome.

I attempted my first mod just now, following RedForest’s help - and help from Boaz and Match.

I now have a single mode light :slight_smile: Better than before, and I’ll put a lithium battery in it and leave it in the car, with a headband, for emergency use.

Bottom line is that my soldering skills are such that I put too much solder on the spring. I tried it twice - first attempt reduced the turning by half a rotation; second dollop was too much. I don’t want to risk overheating it (I stuck a pair of tweezers under the spring to try to take some heat away, but I’m basically clueless.

Still, I’m happy - simple turn and I have a decent amount of light. It will be useful where it’s going.

Thanks again everyone for your help.

I cut the foam on my EZ123w to reduce the pre-load force, but RedforestUK is correct in that the low—>high distance will be unchanged because its the compression distance of the spring thats important here.

I’ve made some modding with it.

  1. carefully cut the foam from head
  2. heat the spring(at it’s beginning) with soldering Iron and get it out of head
  3. carefully drop a little point of solder at the center of circuit board
  4. mount spring back using soldering iron
  5. mount foam back(by the any way you want)

If you’re lucky like me you’ll get ~30 degree turn between 2 modes.
But you should be VERY CAREFULL doing it.