Review: SkyRay S-A1

SkyRay S-A1

Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★★★

Summary:

Battery: AA/14500 both tolerable
Switch: Reverse clickie (at tailcap)
Modes: 5 (High, Mid, Low, Strobe, Sos)
LED Type: CREE XP-E Q3
Lens: Coated glass lens
Tailstands: No, but you can mod for tailstanding
Price Payed: 13,25 USD
From: DealExtreme.com
Date Ordered: February 2011

Pros:

  • Veery good performance on just Ni-Mh (+150 lumens on High.).
  • Good desing, good knurling, lightweight. Pretty dark grey color.
  • Memory mode works perfect.
  • Modes well spaced (100% 40% 10%).
  • Supports AA/14500 without destroying the driver.
  • Very throwy (more than AA-S1) . Good flood (similar to AA-S1).
  • O-rings everywhere.

Cons:

  • Lacks a clip (important for me)
  • Came unlubed and dirty
  • Can not tailstand (unless you do an easy mod)

Features / Value: ★★★★★

This flashlight has impressed me. http://www.dealextreme.com/p/skyray-s-a1-cree-xpe-q3-5-mode-160-lumen-memory-led-flashlight-1-aa-1-14500-33544?r=43033281 .

It has become my perfect AA light (among the budget ones). After receiving it and testing it, the AA-S1 is in second place. This flashlight has practically all the good things of the AA-S1 except for the lack of clip. It has better performance than the AA-S1 and it has modes!. Also throws much more, and the flood capabilities are similar. The tint is not neither warm neither cool. Is good for me.

The 5 modes are usefull (specially the H M L ones) and are well spaced. The driver accepts AA/14500 with no issue.The most important thing: among all the AA lights I have, this has the better performance with just a Ni-Mh cell from all. I eye-estimate 150 lumens or more with a Ni-Mh cell.

I dont know if my unit has a new driver revision. In DX forums, there are reports of low frequency PWM... and even some people say that below 1,2volt this light is unusable...

In my unit, the PWM has high frequency, and works below 1,1volt (It switchs on perfectly, and I can change modes). However, below 1,1volt the light produced is 15 lumens or less maybe.

Design / Build Quality: ★★★★

The desing and build quality impressed me. I dont give 5 full stars due to the lack of clip and due to the fact that it came completely unlubed and with some dirty in the lens.

The body is pretty, painted with dark gray color, well mechanized, weight less than F20...

I love this desing, I didnt had a flashlight painted with this dark grey color. Also the knurling is very good and deep. It can be diassembled in both sides (head and tailcap).

The switch is one of the best I have seen (can be replaced, DX sells it), it has a firm and mechanical feeling...

The threads are smooth but needs some lubing when you get it. In the head, has more threads than in the tailcap. They are not anodized.

It is difficult to see, but inside battery tube there is a sticker showing how to insert battery (polarity) and the manufacture date (mine is 12/2010)

Compared to F20:

Battery Life: ★★★

I dont give 5 full stars due to the fact that with 14500 it draws 1,8 Amps (I dont know why) so the runtime should be 25 minutes or less on HIGH.

With Ni-Mh, of course, depends on the capacity of the cell, but it surprised me due to the fact that only draws 1,55Amp on HIGH.

Some measurements:

Alkalinas a 1,50v

H -> 1,3A About 130 lumens
M-> 0,6A About 70 lumens
L-> 0,1A About 15 lumens

Ni-Mh a 1,41v

H -> 1,5A Perhaps more than 150 lumens
M-> 0,65A About 80 lumens
L-> 0,12A About 20 lumens

14500 a 4,20v

H -> 1,8A About or more than 200 lumens
M-> 0,65A About 120 lumens *
L-> 0,12A About 40 lumens *

* with this driver, when you use 4,2 volt batteries happens the same as with the F23, it gives a lot more output in MED and LOW

Driver board:

It is the typical "sandwitch" driver board, 2 boards joined together (2 floors)

Light Output: ★★★★★

5 full stars due to the beam quality/characteristics and due to the performance on Ni-Mh.

Beamshot at 1 meter with 14500 on HIGH:

Beamshots of SkyRay on HIGH, MED, LOW, from 3 meters with 14500:


The PWM on MED and LOW is clearly visible with a camera. With naked eyes, not easily.

As you can see in the photos, produces similar beam to the F23, a central spot NOT well defined with a big spill, which fades as you reaches the outter part of the beam. Near the central spot, the spill is maximun intensity and it begans to fade....

The tint, is not warm, is not cool. Similar to F23.

Summary: ★★★★★

In my opinion, this light is a must have in the AA category. It has caused to place the AA-S1 into second place due to the fact that it is multimode, supports AA/14500, throws much more and the flood capabilities are almost the same.

The desing, is new for me, good knurling, good grip, good paint job, good mechanizing....

However it lacks clip, which is important for me.

I include a VIDEO REVIEW of it:

Very... i noticed i get better results from firefox doing copy paste of the template lately.

Very... i noticed i get better results from firefox doing copy paste of the template lately.

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Ah nevermind, just being naughty. Actually i have one of those from DX but mine behaves differently. On Eneloop Ni-Mh does about 80 lumens being perhaps a bit overly optimistic. 150 might be right with a 14500 though. My sample starts to behave badly after the voltage reaches 1,26V on any cell. Modes do not work properly and so on. At 1,2V cell voltage or below the flashlight do not turn on consistently. I'm interested how yours behave with a substantially drained AA battery.

I really like my S-A1! It is an impressive torch and works as it should with NIMH but I love it with the Powergenix 1.6V. After my battery is low it will start to flicker on the medium and low setting.

My S-A1 has the smooth reflector and throws a nice beam free from artifacts and has a nice tint.

I wish the knurling gave the light more grip and that it would tailstand but it is a really good torch!

On mine there was no insulator between the LED and reflector, there was only a thin layer of clear rubber cement for a insulator and on my torch the LED shorted soon after I bought it. I removed the pill and used some electrical tape on the reflector and now it's perfect.

I'm glad to see a real review finally being posted about this torch. Thanks Fran for doing a review! I hope you like your S-A1 as much as I like mine.

I like mine too but dislike what happens below 1,26V. :/

Yes, sorry for the delay, I am a bit busy

I... LOVE! LOVE ! LOVE! this flashlight.

I completed the review at forolinternas, waiting for the photos this weekend, but... OMG

Now my favourite flashlight is the SkyRay S-A1. Even boasts the AA-S1 in almost everything.

http://www.forolinternas.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1700

NOTE: My sample is veery god, as said 150 lumens (if not more) with just a NiMh (eye estimated). Is the most powerfull AA light that I have.

My sample works perfect below 1,1 volt, it switchs on perfectly, I can change modes, no flickers at all, but below 1,1volt the light produced is very low, lets say 15 lumens or less.

(I beleive is a new driver version)

I love it too. I bought it, when it was on -30% sale on DX (around 9$). Great little light, bright as hell on 14500. Your measurments are a little strange to me: u get more than 150 lumens out of ni-mh@ 1,5A, which is around 2W, but on li-ion you get just a little over 200 lumens@1,8A which is like 6W is that correct? I think that this light should be much brighter on 14500 (like 2x as bright) at least from my expirience.

Probably. I have a red pcb, not very common.

Mine have red pcb too. I have no problems with almost empty ni-mh - I just tried with 1,18V ni-mh and it works. Maybe new driver is more ni-mh optimized, because I dont think mine puts out anywhere near 150 lumens on ni-mh.

UDO - My measurements are OK. I also am very sdhfkjsdhfkjs of what is happening, specially about 1,8A current draw for 14500 and only slightly increase in output

The PCB of mine is RED too, the same pcb as always, "sandwich" driver, you can see 3 solders which join the 2 boards

Just made this two pics into gif. Both were shot from 2m away at iso 80, 1/25s, f2,8. Brightness comparison between ni-mh and li-ion in Skyray S-A1, both batteries were fully charged:

Hi folks.

The review is finished but the photos will be uploaded tomorrow (I promise to).

Thanks

I liked it in spanish ..

I have looked at this light for so long ..Old4570 liked this light too .I've meant to buy this one for a long long time ..lets do it ..I can wait 3 months for them to send it ...why not !

Folks, the review is finished and the photos added, but I am jinxed. I dont know what happend to me and the photos....

Someone can tellme how to correct those BIG images and put thumbnails or more adecuate sized?

Thanks!

[quote=fran82]

Someone can tellme how to correct those BIG images and put thumbnails or more adecuate sized?

[/quote]

To go back and re-edit them just highlight a pic in your post, then click the insert/edit image button and look on the second tab called "appearance". There you can type in the size you'd like. I usually go 640x480.

Other than that, very nice review Fran.

Could you adjust your pictures with that "100 %"-trick (point 4).

Ma sample pull 2,1A from a alkaline. should be a good 600mA to the led.

Photos repaired!