Review: Nitecore EA42 (4xAA, XHP35, 1900 Lumens, Electronic Switch)

I received the Nitecore EA42 from Nitecore for the review.
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The EA42 came in this box

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Inside the box: manual, light, spare o-rings, lanyard and sheath.

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The EA42 has a thin and long body, with a thick head. The body is made of plastic while the head is a “conventional” aluminum head. The light is 40 mm widest and 170mm long. It only weights 128 grams.


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In the hand

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The body has a curved shape, with a small flat portion that allows tailstand.

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Details of the head, with the 2 electronic switches.

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So, how are the plastic body and the metal head kept together?
Well, there is this metallic bezel with vertical milling to improve the grip. To take the light apart, you simply unscrew it


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Once the bezel is completely untwisted, it comes off the light

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And here are the 2 pieces



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Detail of the inside of the head

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On the body of the light there are some protruding parts, that fit into certain dents in the head, so the body can be joined in the head only when is in the correct position.
The bezel fits the body only in one direction, so it can’t be installed in the wrong way.
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Here’s the sheath with the light



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UI (pasted from Nitecore EA42 manual)

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Output and runtime
All tested with Eneloop AA Pro 2500mAh batteries.






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Beamshots At 0.5 meters from the wall
The smooth reflector concentrate the XHP35 HD into beam that’s best suited around 100-130 meters distances.






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My thoughts
The light is well built and finished.
I like the idea of the EA42, I had in the past 3-4xAA batteries lights and they all had a round, bulky aluminum body, while the EA42, with the use of a narrow plastic body, allows for a much more size and weight efficient design. It also helps to identify the position of the two switches on the light, and makes the light easier to use in a cold environment.
Although very convenient in the characteristic above described, the plastic body of the EA42 has to be manually oriented in the correct position in the head (I would recommend to use the polarity of batteries to allow a quicker and more intuitive orientation help), and the bezel that keeps them connected once untwisted can fall through the body and get separated from the light. So, no battery changes in the outdoors in darkness IMHO. Another caveaut is that to put the light together you have to keep the head pushed against the body, then with the other hand screw the bezel in.
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I like the UI with direct access to last used mode, minimum and maximum.
The blue LED under the switch acts as battery indicator and locator, I find it useful.
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I like the sheath.
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I recommend to use this light with good quality nimh batteries to get the best performances.
If you run an AA based system, or you want to get a light with enough power and runtime to someone that uses regular cells, the EA42 is a good option.
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Another limitation of the plastic body is that it will provide a less efficient mean of heat dissipation, compared to an aluminum piece.
In this regard, I made this thermal video of the light running at turbo, without cooling.

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I would like to see this light come with a warm tint.
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Thanks to: AntoLed for the lux-meter, the camera help, the tripod, the thermal camera.