Comparison Review: Nitecore EA4W and Trustfire TR-A9

This is a comparison review of the Nitecore EA4W and the clone, Trustfire TR-A9

The EA4 came from Illumination Supply and the TR-A9 came from Dealextreme. The EA4 arrived in about 5 days and the TR-A9 arrived in less than 14 days. I have to commend DX for getting the light out so fast. They shipped in less than 24 hours.

Here is what the Mfg says about the EA4:

Brand: Nitecore
Model: Flashlight Nitecore EA4 PIONEER
Dimensions: Length of body - 117mm, the head part - 40mm diameter - 40mm.
Weight: 159g (without batteries)
Light source (LED): 1 LED cvetodioda - Cree XM-L U2 (options white and cool white)
Maximum luminous flux: 860lyumen
Focusing the beam: no
Digital stabilization current: yes
Reflector Material: Aluminum T6
Reflector surface: smooth (smooth reflector)
Lens material: tempered glass with double-sided anti-glare coating, scratch-resistant
Coating: Army Premium Type III anodizing
Button: on the side of the cover
Waterproof Rating: IPX-8
Maximum depth: up to 2 meters (provided much silicone rings bolted)
The maximum range of the beam: up to 283 meters (at standard conditions)
Number of operation modes: 7 modes (5 modes of brightness, SOS and Strobe)
Turbo - 860 lumens
High - 550 lumens
Medium - 300 lumens
Low - 135 lumens
Micro - 65 lumens
Strobe - 860 lumens
SOS - 860 lumens
Batteries: 4 x AA battery or batteries (not included)
Run time:
Turbo - 1 hour 45 minutes - (860 lumen)
High - 2:00 - (550 lumen)
Medium - 4 hours and 30 minutes - (300 lumen)
Low - 11 hours - (135 lumen)
Micro - 22 hours - (65 lumens)
Strobe
SOS
Grade: lantern Nitecore EA4 PIONEER, brand bag for carrying a lantern, spare silicone sealing ring for screw connections, strap on your wrist flashlight, instruction, branded gift box Nitecore.

Here's what DX says about the TR-A9:

Brand TrustFire
Model TR-A9
Quantity 1
Color Black
Material Aluminium alloy
Emitter Brand Cree
LED Type XM-L
Emitter BIN T6
Color BIN White
Number of Emitters 1
Working Voltage 7.2~8.4 V
Battery Configuration 4 x 14500 batteries (included)
Circuitry 1500mA
Brightness 500 lm
Runtime 2 hours
Number of Modes 5
Mode Arrangement Hi / Mid / Low / Fast strobe / SOS
Mode Memory No
Switch Type Side clicky
Switch Location Tailcap
Lens Glass
Reflector Aluminum Smooth
Beam Range 150 Meters
Strap Included No
Clip Included No
Other Feature Batteries: 2 x parallel and 2 x serial; Press switch for 3 seconds can change to fast strobe / SOS mode; Charger input : AC 100~240V / 50 / 60Hz; Output: DC 4.2V / 600mAh
Packing List 1 x Flashlight 1 x Charger (US plug / 100~240V) 4 x 14500 Batteries 1 x Protective cover

So, to start off with, it is not necessarily a fair comparison. The EA4 is 4xAA and the A9 is 2S/2P 14500. One would think that the A9 would have more power, but from the specs, it looks like it's weaker in output, because of the low mA rating from the driver. This evening I will find out, when I turn them both on and do some beam shot comparisons, but for now, let's look at what we have.

The EA4 comes in plastic packaging

It comes with a holster, lanyard and manual.

The A9 comes in a hard side box, (unfortunately water damaged and partially crushed during shipping!).

It comes with a holster, battery charger and 4x14500 batteries, but no manual at all. There was a serious problem with the charger and in the bottom of the post, I will explain. For right now, let's just say, it was broken and would not work!

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Let's do some comparison photos;

The A9 is just a little taller and bigger in diameter.

Weights without batteries.

EA4

TR-A9

So the TR-A9 is heavier, taller and bigger around.

Here's some measurements I got from both lights:

EA4W TR-A9

OAL 118.65mm 120.85mm

Head Dia 40mm 43mm

Lens Dia 36.6mm 38.9mm

Lens Thickness 2mm 2mm

Reflector
Large OD 36.4mm 38.9mm
Reflector
Large ID 32.5mm 33.5mm
Reflector
OAL 28.5mm 28.5mm
Reflector
LED hole 8.6mm 8.85mm

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Now I will break down each light a little, to look at some of the parts:

First, the EA4

Tail Cap

Body threads for Tail cap. Threads were greased already.

Bezel threads were dry and I had to heat the bezel area, to get it to unscrew. It does not look like it was glued, just screwed down way too tight.

The stack up consists of a thin protective plastic ring over top of the lens edge (to keep the bezel from grinding against the lens), then the lens, "O" ring and Reflector.

The "guts look just like the EA8. same led, star, metal plate, plastic outer ring. I'm not going any farther than that. I know the story all too well.

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Now, I will look at the A9:

Tail Cap

Body threads for the tail cap. They were also lubed.

Bezel threads, also dry, but it came off easily

No protective ring above the lens, just lens, "O" ring, reflector.

Similar to the EA4? Not really. The plastic ring screws in, so it can be taken out. The led sits in a removable pill/heat sink, with the driver and switch on it as well. The whole thing can be removed by taking out the plastic ring and removing the switch button. I am not going to show you how. That comes later when I mod the TR-A9.

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My thoughts on the comparison:

Overall machining quality goes to the EA4. The threads are cut much better, even though the A9 tries to copy them, the EA4 has much smoother threads, but the A9 is no slouch and is good compared to many budget lights. Overall finish quality is a toss up. The Anodizing is excellent on both lights and the looks of both are very good. No defects in finish on either light. The lens in the EA4 is fantastic compared to the A9. The EA4 lens is super clear and the coatings were done right. The A9 lens is cloudy and the coatings are cheap. The lens alone is a reason to buy the EA4 over the A9. The switch on the EA4 is a dual clicky and smd switch, where the A9 is just an smd switch. I will know more about modes when I test the lights tonight. The reflectors look like they were made in the same plant. Both are excellent and both have the same profile cuts on the outside, even though the A9 is bigger, it looks exactly like the EA4 reflector in quality and finish.

Modding?? The A9 walks away from the EA4 alltogether. I would rather mod a dozen A9s than try to mod one EA4. It's a good system with the pill that comes right out of the light. It allows for led and driver changes easily. It was made for modding.

Tonight I will do beam shots and then I can tell what I think of the output of both lights. It ain't over till it's over and how these guys behave in the dark, will be the deal maker, or breaker.

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The battery charger that raised my BP. I can fault DX for this and I will, but I don't believe the package came from DX. From the address, I believe it came from another source and DX just had them ship to me. So many hand changes over there with stuff and no one is catching the problems.

When I picked up the charger box, I saw it was open and the charger was out of the wrapping. Was it tested before it shipped? If so, it was broken by the person testing, but the real problem was inferior quality materials. Look at this photo:

The broken part is one of the clips that needs to touch against the 110v plug, when it is rotated into place. The metal was brittle and when I flexed the other clip, it broke on the first try. I could see that the metal was crystalline and brittle.

So,

I cut off a section of extension cord and soldered it to the back of the board.

Now I have a charger. It pisses peeves me off that the derned thing came that way, but with the poor quality of the metal prongs, many more are going to be bad. That's even worse, for people that can't fix it at all.

At least I can charge the batteries now. They came in at 3.74 and 3.75 volts out of the case. I thought that was pretty good. They could have been mostly dead, which was what I was concerned about.

Beam shots are of the Ea4 in Turbo, the EA4 in High and the TR-A9 in High.

t1

EA4 Turbo

t2

EA4 High

a91

A9 High

e4t1

EA4 Turbo

e4h2

Ea4 High

a9h2

A9 High

a4t1

EA4 Turbo

a4h1

Ea4 High

a9h3

A9 High

4t1

EA4 Turbo

4t4

EA4 High

a94h

A9 High

ea4t1

EA4 Turbo

ea4h1

EA4 High

a9h5

A9 High

That's it folks:

My final feelings? The EA4 is a better buy as a stock light, because of the better quality, the better glass lens and Turbo, as well as a better mode program and as much as I hate to say it, the heat migrates to the outside body very quickly in the EA4, where it does not in the A9. That was very surprising!

The A9 is not better in any of the categories, with some construction flaws, (the worst of which is the tail cap assembly that fell apart) and a poor lens, O rings that roll out of the grooves, rougher threads, no mode memory and the fact you have to cycle through the modes to shut it off.

I would still like to mod the A9. It has a smaller hot spot and a better defined beam. It has some possibilities and you can tear it down much easier than the EA4.

Looking forward to see how this goes. Don’t like the look of those blue crapfires though.

interesting! will we see a mtg2 build out of that trustfire?

Fresh off the charger, the Blue Trust me - really? batteries come out as 4.12volts and two hours later they now read 4.09volts - all four of them the same.

Thank you for the comparison review! It’s nice to see inside the EA4W. I am appalled at the charger plug, frankly. That could be a fire hazard.

Nope, not going to buy any MT-G2 right now, not until the price comes down, (probably never). Just don’t believe they are worth it. Just like the SST-90, they just aren’t worth the money. I wanted to buy ten or so, until I thought about spending the better part of a paycheck on just those ten leds and then I backed off real fast. I am stupid, but every once in a while I resist… Rich kids leds is what they are.Tongue Out

Why didn’t they include a 4 battery charger with this package instead of a 2?

Cheaper, or they had a ton of the cheap 2 slot chargers lying around.

NICE! i have been waiting for this!

cant wait to see the insides of that trustfire

Thanks for confirming what i suspected about the EA4 non-pill

Sweet p/review, Justin. When I clicked on the thread my first thought was “dang DX sure shipped fast.”

Looking forward to the shootout and inevitable mod! Strangely I’m sorta rooting for the Trustfire…

edit: like others said, those blue 14500s are crap. Even if they are 550mAh on average, two could be 500mAh while two are 600mAh —> uneven and non-matching discharge —> not ideal when cells are already flaky.

im rooting for the trustfire, though i have the nitecore. lets see this “junk” flashlight brand give the nitecore a whoopin :cowboy_hat_face:
if it does, i may have to pay the, what i think, over priced amount for one.
just really wish they would leave out the junk cells and charger to make it a better deal

Thanks for the review O-L. Nice to see the innards of the EA4, unfortunately confirming what was suspected after your EA8 teardown.

I have seen other sellers that show the TF Flame 14500s and I think DX went with the cheaper ones to save money, or whoever they got them from switched out the batteries and charger with cheaper ones. That sounds about par for the course.

I imagine that soon, the A9 will sell by itself at a reduced price. Hopefully around $25 or at least less than $30.

Well said. ’Specially since EA8 guts were unveiled…

+1

also following thia review to see how the A9 performs.
can the A9 use 4xAA/NIMH?

i had the same thought after reading this thread, your mod thread will be very informative as usual :slight_smile: and if they sell it for cheaper in future i may buy one and do a similar mod

Not stock, but modded it could.

How necessary would it be to improve the heat sinking on the A9 for a mod?