Skilhunt E2A Video Review

Hello! Finished a review on this nice light a few days ago. Got the high cri sst20 nw variant.
Here is the link

I have one in mail, ordered while on sale for around 16 EUR. Even without moonlight it ticks most of boxes for me as good EDC choice:

- compact

- cheap, so no big deal when lost or dropped

- runs on 14500 or common AA cells

- simple UI

- you can lend it to others without giving them a lesson about Anduril

- good tint and high CRI is a nice plus

  • minimalistic, but aesthetic look

Thanks for you review on the light!
I was interested in getting one, change the driver and make it good (I don’t like the memory mode).
Looking to the image of the driver, it doesn’t seem to be an easy swap, so I guess I will abandon it…
Also, is the tube/tailcap 1 piece only?
I thought it was possible to take it out…

Again, thanks for the info on this and enjoy the light :wink:

Yes this is a great light for the price and what you get. i really enjoy the fact that it runs on AA or 14500s. The more ive been using this light, the more i enjoy it despite some minor flaws. The gray look is very nice!

The tube and tail cap on the model I got is one piece. It appears you might be ble to take the head out but im not experience enough with these things so i dont know. Thanks! I dont know if this is right place for this but killzone flashlights sent this to me for review and I am n affiliate of them. If you use the coupon code thefossilchannel at checkout you can save 10% off any light. Thanks again my friend!

Thanks for sharing this review

Thanks for watching! This is a fun light and I am enjoying the high cri and tint on it.

I wanted to make a correction. I just found out I can actually take the tail cap off! So wanted to let you know it comes in three pieces! I had to turn mine a bit harder than i normally would have. Will revise the information of the video. Sorry for the confusion!

Thanks for checking it and for informing about the specs.
Yeah, it would be a nice thing to add that in the video, so the people know that the bottom can be “removed”!

Nice review… curious, can either the head or tail unscrew to lock out power?

Thanks for the review, very detailed and informative. I passed on this because of the lack of moonlight but agree it ticks a lot of other boxes. If this proves to be regulated like the E2A and the emitter can be swapped out I will probably get (at least) one of these :blush:

You can lock out the light from the head. The tail is harder to unscrew. I found you can even click the switch on and use the light like a twisty! I really like the E2A, just wish it was brighter on 14500…

The head can be unscrewed a slight bit to physically lockout. This is with an old 14500 battery from zebralight that is protected and a flat top.

I like the E2A and the more ive been usingit the more I keep using it as a reference for my own person choice in small edc lights. It checks off almost everything i want. Good CRI, Warm tint, Multiple battery use and Decent run times.

Good points! I am not educated enough on drivers and software of the light. i am slowly stepping into the world of custom flashlights. i come from making antennas for my ham radios so I can appreciate the detailed fine craftsmanship of soldering and electronics. The small space work of lights can be intimidating though.

I do wish there was a moonlight mode kind like the zebralights offer. Over all for the price in my opinion its one of the best lights out there for the money. If you do end up buying one there is a discount code “thefossilchannel” you can use on killzone flashlights to save 10% off.

I think I’m going to get one for my older kid to use as a bike light. I’ll try to do a runtime test using ceiling bounce if no one else has by the time I get it, and I’ll definitely inspect it to see if it looks like the emitter is accessible.

The comparatively short length versus other AA powered tailswitch lights made me wonder if Skilhunt used a single board for the driver components and LED’s like the E3A. If that were the case, it would be difficult to swap the LED without a hot air station.

However, seeing the brief shot of the inside of the head in Thefossilchannel’s video makes me think it likely has separate driver and LED PCB’s - there are no electronic components on the bottom of the visible PCB. Since the components are on the other side of the driver board, they would prevent good thermal contact with the pill on that side in the same way the E3A uses. Hopefully it’s just a matter of unscrewing the bezel to access a conventional MCPCB.

After I had a couple lights with moonlight in my collection, I realized that although I consider it a must have feature for some uses, there are actually some purposes where I prefer not to have moonlight in the mode order, so I like having some lights with it, and some lights without.

The driver appears to have 2 holes, diametrically opposted, to be unscrewed with thin twezers.
But what bothers me is that, unlike in other lights, such as the Convoy T2, Jaxman E3, Sofirn SF10 or SF14, there is no retaining ring to help on conductivity in case we replace the driver. Also, if there is a pill above, it is well hidden, and not like - let’s say - a Lumintop Tool AA.

This is what bugs me the most when looking to this light structure… But maybe I’m not seeing the “whole” picture.

The host has as similar shape to the Tool AA V1/V2, but seems larger and thicker (what is not bad in terms of impact resistance).
It is obvisouly smaller than the other lights I mentioned before, but seems bigger than the Skilhunt M150 (which is natural as the E3A has a mechanical tailswitch).

In case you can check it and report your findings, it would be nice.
I may buy it after those. If the driver is not replaceable, this eventually is not “better” than the Wuben E18 which has similar UI (with memory :zipper_mouth_face: ) and therefore I won’t do much with it.

Thanks iamlucky13, I’m on the fence so looking forward to hearing your thoughts :beer:

I would be interested in seeing your progress as I love modular items like replacing LEDs in lights and swapping optics , though i dont think you can with the e2a but still the idea is attractive. What i like about the Tool 2.0 AA (non led rubber boot version) is that they sell a kit for around 35$ with swapping tools to assemble it. It also comes in a nichia option too which is very attractive. Though the skilhunt has less modes, I’m preferring it over the lumintop Tool mostly now because of the optics and higher cri and warm tint. And as stated above I usually prefer a moonlight mode but in some lights its true for me atleast I dont need it for the tasks I am doing. I think this light would be a good intro to edc lights that have in my opinion quality tint and cri and form factor rolled into a nice price.

Zeroair has tested the E2A and verified it is regulated on NiMH, but not on 14500, and it is unfortunately not bright as advertised. Skilhunt claim on NiMH it will run at 200 lumens for a minute, then step down to 120 lumens. Runtime on the specified 2500mAh battery would work out to right at 100 lumens/Watt efficacy.

Zeroair measured 106 lumens for a minute, then a step down to about 57 lumens. I believe Zeroair does his runtime tests with a 2000mAh battery, so efficacy works out to 63 lumens/Watt.

He also found the bezel easily unscrews accessing an MCPCB, so it should not be difficult to swap emitters.

I presumed the specs were given for the cool white version. Maukka tested both the 4000K 95CRI and 6500K SST-20’s, and the former produced 70% of the output of the latter, so Zeroair’s test result is about 25% lower than the specs suggest.

I think I’m still going to buy one. The efficiency is disappointing, but I don’t need good efficiency for my intended use, I’m interested in seeing how the beam is from that textured optic, and I really like the short length.