[Review] Skilhunt E2A || Luminous SST20, 1x 14500 / 1xAA || Excellent Power Regulation on AA / NiMH

The flashlight was sent to me by Skilhunt for review.
Here's the product's link: Skilhunt E2A
The Skilhunt E2A comes in a regular cardboard box.



The following accessories are included:

  • 2 x replacement o-rings
  • User manual
  • Pocket clip
  • Adjustable wrist strap
  • AA Battery



The E2A is an EDC flashlight powered either by an AA or an 14500 cell.
It's operated by a mechanical switch mounted on its tail and comes with black matte anodization.



The body of the flashlight contains some very nicely knurling pattern.



The head is also knurled with some vertical grooves to allow for a better grip.



The bezel of the E2A is lightly crenulated and protrudes in order to protect the glass lens.



Skilhunt has went with some TIR lens in order to achieve a wide and nicely diffused beam.



Under the TIR lens, there's a Luminus SST20 emitter.
There's currently 3 available options: CW 6000k, NW 5000k and 95CRI 4000K.
My unit arrived with the CW emitter.



The head can be easily disassembled.



Here's a closer look at the TIR lens.



And here's the copper MCPBC with the SST20 mounted on it.



The driver is press fit and glued to the rear of the head.
A little brass tab is used as the positive terminal.



As already said, the Skilhunt E2A is operated via a mechanical switch mounted on its tail.



The two protruding flaps are slightly raised over the height of the switch, which allows the flashlight to tailstand.



The head's threads are anodized, so mechanically locking out the flashlight is possible.



The tail arrived glued to the body of the flashlight.
I was able to separate them using a pair of strap wrenches.



Here's a shot of the components of the tail.
It's worth noting that the driver board is held in place via the pressure of the body against the tail, and that's probably the reason why
the manufacturer glued the tail to the body.



And here's a closer look at the mechanical switch.
It looks quite beefy for a single AA / 14500 flashlight.



The E2A also comes with a detachable pocket clip.



The pocket clip can be installed either the upper or lower part of the body.
It's double sided, so it allows for regular or reverse mounting of the flashlight into the pocket.



User Interface

The Skilhunt E2A comes with a very simple user interface.
Here's all the supported actions:

Turn on/off: Single press.
Mode cycle: Half press (Low > Mid > High > Low > ...)

Low Voltage Protection is available only for lithium batteries.
Mode memory is set after staying on the same mode for 5 seconds.

That's all there's to the user interface. No blinking modes or any other advanced features.
Frankly, I'm OK with that, as the Skilhunt E2A is intended to be a no frills, budget EDC light.

Output

Here's my output measurements for the Skilhunt E2A.
The measurements were taken at turn-on.



The flashlight pushes 563 lumen on a 14500 and 199 lumen on a regular AA / Ni-MH.
The mode spacing looks good.
As the flashlight is operated via a mechanical switch, no parasitic drain is present.

Power Regulation

Here's two power regulation charts I've created for the Skilhunt E2A.
Let's start with the 14500 (3.7V).



What we can see in the graph:

  • The input current of all three modes seem to depend linearly to the input voltage.
  • On voltages lower than 3.2V, I noticed a weird current boost which resembles signs of true power regulation.
    If I had to guess, I'd say that at such input voltage level there's some overlapping between the 3.7V (14500) and 1.5V (AA) modes of the driver - As you
    can see in the next chart, the AA mode of the driver provides proper power regulation.

Here's the AA (1.5V) power regulation chart.

What we can see in the graph:

  • In the AA mode, the driver is able to provide proper power regulation.
  • High, Medium and Low are fully regulated.
  • The input current is increased the more the input voltage drops. This way, the total power delivered to the LED is kept constant at all voltage levels.

Bottom line

The Skilhunt E2A is a great, no-frills EDC flashlight.
Its build quality is excellent and the TIR + SST20 combo provides a very usable beam.
The power regulation graphs indicate that it really performs great when used with a regular / NiMH AA battery, so that's what I'll be using it with.
Overall I thinks it's really worth its < €20 price tag.

Great Review, thanks!

Could you give me your opinion between the Skilhunt E2A and the Convoy T2 (the newer one that had 4 modes and is officially compatible with 14500 batteries). For EDC I mean

Thank you!

Great review.

I purchased this flashlight for my daughter for her last camping trip and she liked it.

Unfortuanly I don’t have the Convoy T2, so I can’t provide any insightful opinion on your question.

Thank you anyway, you’ve already helped a lot

Thank You.

This light has remained on my EDC pack ever since the day I got it about 3 months ago. With the 14500 the power is strong, SST20 throw very good. Even on low mode I don’t find it too bright, although I have heard some people wish for lower. I find it’s still a good enough brightness.

I’m looking at a 14500 EDC flashlight and keep coming back to this one, growing on me.

Is there a smaller/shorter 14500 flashlight? Maybe a twisty?