Review: Explorer E84 XP-G R5 1xCR123A [with photos]

LED Flashlights – General Info CR123A Flashlights
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A quick overview of my latest light. [Click photos for larger]

Purchased: Manafont, 10/28/2012
Price paid: $26.00
LED: 1 x XP-G R5
Reflector: Orange-peel
Switch: tailcap clicky (forward) plus control ring
Modes: 4 (L-M-H-SOS)
Battery: CR123 — Manafont’s website incorrectly stated AA/14500 at time of purchase

In the box:

  • flashlight
  • holster
  • deep-carry clip
  • detachable lanyard (lobster claw hooks into small split ring)
  • two extra o-rings
  • spare switch cover
  • folded instruction sheet in Chinese, Korean, Japanese?, Engrish, and
    “German” (would Gelman be the equivalent of Engrish?)

Power: CR123 ONLY, use Li-ion at your own risk! Mine was fried by 16340 after several hours of operation.
Almost certainly the same driver as in the E83, as a single AA NiMH successfully powers it.

Tailcap draw:

  • 16340 @ 4.08V: 0.18A low, 0.70A med, 1.7A high (so ~ 10/40/100%)
  • NiMH AA: 0.62A on high

Brightness: Consistent with the tailcap draw, 400+ lumens OTF — ceiling bounce is a smidgen brighter than a Thrunite Neutron 1A in Turbo on 14500.

Tint: Cool white. The hot spot is pretty pure white, but the spill has a noticeable purple tinge at white-wall hunting range.

PWM: Moderate. Visual comparison (rapidly waving both the E84 and comparison lights back and forth) indicates that it’s faster than the UF-980L or BLF Edition Tank E07 and at least twice as fast as the Trustfire Z1 angle/headlamp.

Fit and finish: nice anodization, though with a couple of chips at the tailcap end. Good heft for its size. The control ring is stiff but moves smoothly, with obvious detents; mode switches occur about two thirds of the way from one detent to the next in the direction of movement (i.e. the switch up and the switch down are at different points).

Waterproofing: Rated IPX8 (2 meters). Has o-rings between body and head, between reflector and lens, under the bezel, and between reflector housing and pill.

Other Thoughts:
Thermal path is excellent — the head noticeably warms within 10-15 seconds on high.

Mechanical reverse-polarity protection via a recessed positive contact.

The tailcap is not a separate section as is typical, but is actually screwed into the body tube using two retaining rings (i.e. use a snap-ring/needlenose pliers to remove).

There is a minor pre-flash on low. Looks like it’s in medium momentarily.

The SOS is quite fast, completing a cycle in about five seconds. There is no extra pause between the end of the second S and the start of the next cycle.

Not only is the instruction sheet a poor translation into both English and German, it’s a translation of the WRONG usage instructions…. The usage instructions apply to a typical 5-mode reverse-clicky driver :-).

Update:
Driver mod to fix the fried driver posted in a new thread

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Looks like a mishmash of sunwayman, nitecore, jetbeam and eagletac single cr123a edc's... only longer (head and control ring)... if i didn't just spend 4 andrew jackson's on a M11R Premium, I'd order one to play with and give it away...

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Thanks for the mini-review. Waiting for the photos when your time permits.

Thanks!

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http://www.manafont.com/product_info.php/explorer-e84-cree-xpg-r5-led-4mode-led-flashlight-wmagnetic-modeadjustment-ring-titanium-finish-cr123a-p-11818

I saw it and thought - hmmm - size compared to other CR123A lights ?

Looks interesting though ..

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hows the tint?

6

Thanks for the Review! What about pwm?

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Parent post updated with photos and PWM/tint info. I intend to do some white-wall hunting, but it may take a few days.

8

Thank you for the review. I am awaiting the arrival of the AA model of this line of lights so I am really looking forward to hearing more about these little lights.

9

thanks for the quick presentation with nice photos of disassembly!

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Thanks very much for the review! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

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Thanks for the update on tint and PWM.

I could stand the purple, but PWM really chaps my arse.

Still might pick one up, but if they had higher freq [less noticeable] PWM I would have probably bought the whole dang family.

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OK, this flashlight is not lithium ion-compatible. The driver died last night while walking home. Its death was….interesting.

I first turned it on in high, then after about 30 second decided to switch lower. (Between the control ring’s stiffness and its small size, that’s a difficult operation to accomplish one-handed.) Only it switched off instead of going into medium! After power-cycling via tailcap, it came back on, but much dimmer — high was less than low had been, and the other modes correspondingly dimmer. I left it off for most of the walk, switching it on only briefly a few times, and each time it was dimmer yet. The last time, once I was home, it was basically in moonlight mode.

I tried my other 16340 as well as double-checking battery voltage and tailcap amps; at this point, the LED was no longer lighting at all. First amp reading was 0.11 amps, and each successive reading (while switching through the modes and between the two batteries) got lower…. The reading eventually stabilized at 63 milli-amps regardless of mode (microcontroller’s power draw?).

Argh!

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Did you not say this in the first post?

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I edited the first post to reflect the new facts. It originally read that mine was working fine on 16340 despite only primary CR123 being officially supported.

15

Same thing happened to mine, except the light started flickering and refusing to turn on before finally dying. It’s a single mode XM-L now :frowning:

16

damn that sucks. wonder if 3.2v lifepo4 would cook it?

17

Any hints on getting the driver out? A mod to direct-drive operation is the obvious response to the fried driver.

A shame it can’t handle Li-ion. I like the removable-reflector design, as it gives the option of true candle mode — tailstanding with 170-degree pure flood. 400 lumens can really light up a room, even if only for half an hour or so.

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If you desolder the wires soldered onto the LED star, the driver board should just come out freely after you’ve taken off the retaining ring and reverse polarity protection (like in your picture with the exposed driver board)

You do need a resistor for direct drive though.

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Thanks. That’ll be a project for over the holidays — things will be pretty busy until Winter Economic Stimulus Day.

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What was the longest period on high?

1.70amps on high with the battery at on 4.08v is very high. I was getting 1.70 on high in my Jetbeam BC10 on a fully charged battery.