Custom edition Mrlite J4 from Manafont.com – BLF AA-Y4E

Hi everyone,

We finally have a nice customized BLF signature light, thanks to Manafont.com and Mrlite. I'll start right off by saying that I am not receiving kickbacks or sales commissions for this flashlight. Rather, this was purely a fun project that we've been working on with Audrey, Jim, and Judy from Manafont and Richard from Mrlite, and it should help to promote both of their companies as well as BLF. And now we present the...

BLF AA-Y4E in silver or black

So what's in a name? The BLF part is not just due to narcissism. It's included in the name and printed on the flashlight itself so that buyers realize that this is a customized product, not the typical 9-mode Mrlite offering. It should also help to avoid warehouse mix-ups with the original Mrlite J4, on which this light is based. As for the rest of the name, AA means that it uses an AA-sized battery (although it also works fine with 14500), the Y is just a generic model name ("Z" is still pending for the custom Eastward J609), the 4 indicates that it has 4 modes, and the E states that it uses an XR-E emitter. I feel very strongly that any major change in a given light's specifications should be identifiable by its model name, so that multiple versions with different specs but the same model name don't go floating around on the Internet.

The four custom modes are per my request. Sorry that it's not possible to please everyone with these modes, but I think it's the most useful this way. I hope the 1 lumen "Very low" mode is really 1 lumen / 4ma, I'll have to verify that myself. We also spoke with Mrlite about a specific LED bin neutral tint of 5000K. Along with the custom model name printed on the body, these are the principal differences compared to the original J4.

I just now ordered mine (paid for it, not a freebie for review), and I'll do a full review whenever it arrives here on the other side of the world from China. Thanks again to Manafont and Mrlite for their hard work and great attitude to make this project a reality!

Veeeeery interesting.

Also 4 dollar cheaper than the original J4 at Lightake.

The modes, for me, are perfect. Also the ability to use AA/14500

That looks so good.... Can't wait for review, great job!

Suddenly the flashlight looks more appealing. Had an eye for the r5 C3 but this one looks way better!

Just ordered.

XR-E R2 with 5000K ? Really? Didn't know they were available..

Yes very nice! - although I wish they would make it for 18650 instead - body diameter should be large enough it seems.

Any idea how the modes work? - does it always start in super-low, so it takes 4 clicks to get full power? - or is there some type of memory involved?

All flashlights can use 14500 (at least once).

If anyone can verify that the driver is still working properly with AA after using a 14500, I'm in for one.

HK Post unfortunately sucks now and spend a long time.
If manafont could make a video demonstrating this, I
would ask now.


Just oredered one couldn't resist the BLF flavor.

Ordered today 19:42 and dispatched 21:35 !!

Just to say thanks for seeing this through. It must have been frustrating at times, but I'm glad you managed to get a light produced to our specifications.

And yes, I've ordered one to keep the J4 company.

Hopefully HK Post will find some more capacity soon and get the stuff shipped out.

Unfortunately no mode memory. I would also love to have something that offers some useful modes with good memory, but I've also noticed that mode memory tends to be a point of failure on many flashlights. Poorly executed or poorly quality-controlled mode memory is far worse than none at all, so at least the AA-Y4E won't run the risk of having a bad batch with mode memory that delays 2 minutes to kick in. And without two or three worthless flashing modes, I think that running through the 4 modes will be considerably less irritating than with the standard fare stuff.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm sorry we can't please everyone with the modes, you can see from the mode poll that most of us differ greatly in our mode preferences. I think we can almost universally say that we don't like flashing modes, so the AA-Y4E offers 4 useful modes. And I like the modes to start in lowest setting to make it work with almost dead batteries.

Ordered mine at 1:21 AM and it was dispatched at 5:32 AM. Nice!

It was surprisingly smooth with Manafont and Mrlite. Both the Manafont and Mrlite employees that I dealt with all spoke excellent English, and they frequently communicated with me. Both companies were available via live chat, and they were honest about what is feasible for the price. Really fun companies actually.

Thanks to everyone who is supporting this custom mod. Again, I want to reiterate that I am not making money on sales of this light (I just charge monthly for the ad banner for Manafont or any other company that wants one), but I do hope that they can quickly sell the first batch they ordered. If the sales of this first custom mod go well, there will surely be others down the road. In fact Mrlite is about to announce a new model within a few weeks that I think would also be a great candidate for customization. If anybody would like to try their hand at organizing a custom BLF project, feel free to do so. Maybe some of you who are more experienced in 18650 or CR123 lights might like to work up some dream specifications and contact Mrlite and/or Manafont.

The price looks very good. Paypal sent

The reasons i ordered one were ( in no particular order):

- nice aesthetics

- HA, size, switch design, emitter type

- to support BLF ideology

- respectable vendor

- price for what you get

- modes! and nice 5000k color temperature

- no disco modes

Currently it's one of the best AA/14500 flashlights available if spec's are accurate. The light could easily be more expensive for what provides. But psssst! i never said that!

;-) It probably will be a bit more expensive after the first batch sells out. But even so, I would give it a 4 or 5 star rating for features vs. price if they can keep it under $20.

Paypal Sent! I love the idea of a customized light for BLF and the super low should be good. I wish it had memory, but I agree that it is hard to get memory to work correctly.

If there is no memory mode If I switch is off on Low, what mode does it come on next?

How long do I have to wait 3 seconds.

Regardless of what mode you switch it off from, it will always turn on in the first "Very Low" mode. The delay should be a fraction of a second.