Review: EOSLAMP VAN32 (Desert Sand, XP-G2 R5, AA)

EOSLAMP VAN32 Endurance

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆

Summary:

Battery:

AA or LiFePO4 14500 only

Switch:

Tail Clicky - reverse

Modes:

3 or 1, Med > High > Low or High only on LiFePO4, no memory

LED Type:

CREE XP-G2, cool white

Lens:

Glass – dual coated

Tailstands:

Yes

Price Paid:

Review Sample (Currently 39.99 USD)

From:

Banggood.com (http://www.banggood.com/EOSLAMP-VAN32-CREE-XPG2-R5-170LM-Mini-LED-Flashlight-Sandy-AA-p-924651.html)

Date Ordered:

8 May 2014

This light was provided by banggood for review. I used this light for 1 week prior to review.

Pros:

  • Build Quality – feels like a very nice light
  • Unique Desert Sand color
  • Nice extras included – o-rings, extra clicky and boot, paracord lanyard
  • Current controlled – No PWM
  • Nice AA output and mode spacing
  • No blinky modes

Cons:

  • Driver changing behavior occasionally in my sample
  • No clip option
  • Packaging not great for gifting

Features / Value: ★★★☆☆

This light is a straightforward 3-mode light. It arrived in good condition in plastic baggies and bubble wrap. It takes about 4 seconds of off time before the modes reset to medium. (spec’d at after 3 seconds) It is rated as IPX-8, but no depth figure is given. It survived bathtime with the baby with no ill effects. 92.8 x 20.6 mm and 45 grams. Just a tad bit smaller than the similarly featured XENO E03.

When I first turned on my Van32 on an eneloop, it was only 1-mode but nice and bright.

According to the manufacturer’s Taobao site (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z10.1.w4004-6916365172.3.1S5RT9&id=19379980153) It says “使用电池: 一节{劲量L91(效果很突出)、AA充电电池、碱性五号电池、铁锂电池(只能有一个高亮档)}” Which indicates that you can use lithium iron or LiFePO4 cells but only get 1 high mode.

That made me guess that it was stuck in a 1-mode system, so I put in a fairly weak alkaline, and lo-and-behold, it became a 3-mode light. I put the eneloop back in and it worked with 3 modes. To iterate, I put the LifePO4 in and got 1-mode, and then switched to eneloop and got 3-mode again. I am not sure what the problem was, but at least it was fixable with a weak cell. Minus 2 stars for the inconvenience and the high retail price.

Design / Build Quality: ★★★★★

From mention in another thread of this light, the design looks like the nitecore defender infinity. It is a simple design, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Head and tail both have anodized threads with a nice trapezoidal cut and are very smooth. They also came nicely lubed. This setup allows for this light to also be either a head or tail twisty after the switch is turned to on for silent actuation.

The knurling on this is particularly grippy. It makes my original Thrunite T10 and Jetbeam RRT-0 seems smooth by comparison.

The head and tail are slightly different diameters, with the head being larger. The ring with flats on the body tube extends just beyond the head to function as a roll stopper which is a nice touch. The clicky is nice and accessible with the tail cap cut-outs, but it still stably tail stands. It has the perfect outer diameter to work great with water bottle caps as diffusers. There are two metal nubs on the driver which function as physical reverse polarity protection, and the retaining ring for the switch is brass.

I didn’t fully take the thing apart, but with what I did I can say the lens is pretty thick, the reflector is aluminum, the pill is full threaded brass, and there are o-rings in all the right places. I would have liked a GITD o-ring in the head to match the GITD clicky boot.

Battery Life: ★★★★☆

Tailcap current readings on an eneloop were 0.22, 1.36, 0.02 A for mid, hi, lo respectively. That would equate to around 1.5 hr on high, 9 hr on med, and 100 hr on low on a 2000 mAh eneloop. That agrees pretty closely with their specs: 170lm (75mins),42lm (8hours),6lm(100hours) from 2100 mAh cell. Good job EOSLamp. On LiFePO4 the current was 0.51 A.

Light Output: ★★★★☆

This thing packs a pretty good punch for its size. The reflector is a light OP so the beam is smooth. Based on my integrating bathroom, it puts out 195, 46, and 5 lumens rounded to the nearest integer. This is fairly close to the spec’d 170/42/6. The mode spacing is good, where each mode is distinct enough to have its own use. This is pretty good output for 1 AA eneloop. I am a bit disappointed that the change to LiFePO4 doesn’t lead to much increase in output. I measured 217 lumens on the only high mode.

Here it is compared to the Thrunite T10. The overall output is higher with a more dominant spill and the slighter larger reflector gives a more intense hotspot.

Summary: ★★★☆☆

4 stars if it performs as designed. This is a nice performing AA light that would be a good gift to a non-flashaholic.

3 stars as my sample seems to have a quirky driver, but that has only happened a couple times and is easily remedied with a battery swap.

I think EOSLAMP is trying to make a premium-type product and premium users would probably like it lots. I concede that this is a very well-made light with great finish, but the budget-minded person like me will have a hard time justifying the price. I think it compares well with similar models like the XENO E03 and Balder AA models. At the current price of $40, one could get the similarly spec’d new thrunite t10 for $30 (which may or may not be worth it either). In the end, I think it would be a solid purchase at around $20 or less.

Lineup of some AA lights: Jetbeam RRT-0, EOSLamp Van32, SK68 Clone, AA Zoomie, *old* Thrunite T10

fourty dollars…

Thanks for the review. The light looks really good. I wish it starts on low instead. Is there a shortcut to go to low mode?

For a decent quality light. I’d say not bad. RRT-0 was $100.

Forty dollars? Thats crazy, thats Olight money :wink:

Thanks for the great review. What’s on the other side of that driver? Looks like a small Convoy S6. 40 bucks? I would pay half that.

@harry218 - There isn’t any shortcut I can find. I tried a bunch of combinations of fast and slow clicking. I too like lo>mid>high better.