I’ve had my v11a and v31a for a few days now. Have some more opinions to share, if anyone cares.
First off, tint and temp….
The neutral v31a was totally worth the price from md linked above. Much nicer tint. Very similar to my Zebralight SC80w neutral. Slightly-warm, buttery goodness! Less extreme brightspot vs cool but not very noticeable even side by side. Both have similar spill, no rings, etc. Look good to me.
With the cool model 11 and neutral model 31 crelants side by side the difference in temp/tint is apparent. However, comparing the cool Crelant to cheaper cools like my TF R5A3 and Aurora SH0034, the Crelant looks quite neutral by comparison. It’s all relative. My cool v11a might have a very slight purple tint to the outer corona, but like I said, its pretty good for a cool white.
On to design observations….
As I suspected [and hoped] the heads are indeed interchangeable. Inside body width is about 17mm. The 14500 v11a necks down inside the battery tube, so no bigger cells like 17670s (not that length would allow it anyways) or 17500s. Total outside body width is about 22mm at its widest point
The anodized gunmetal grey finish is ever so slightly darker on my 31. Barely noticeable, until you lego them. Both are quite pleasing to the eye and touch with a silky smooth satin finish. Nice color combo IMO. Contrast between grey body and polished bezel/clip makes for a clean, classy look.
Both have good FnF. Good knurling. Threads are not square, but they are very smooth with a dab o lube. Both my lights were very clean inside. No Chinese factory gunk. Clear rubber o-ring seems like a decent one. We will see how it holds up.
Both really are on the big side for their battery size….
The AA cell 11 is about the size of some newer small 18650 lights. The AA v11a is the same width as the cr123 v31a and heads are the same, so I think Crelant could make an 18650 version for longer runtimes. Personally, I would like to see it happen.
The CR123A cell v31a is a couple mm longer than my Aurora SH0034, which is known as a fairly large single cr123 light, mostly due to its deep reflector. The v31a and sh0034 have very similar dimensions all around. The Crelants reflectors are pretty deep too….
After noticing this similarity and comparing to other lights I realized the reflector on these EDC Crelants may actually be deeper than I let on before. Seems these lights were designed around the head and were probably intended to be XM-L from the begining. After using them a bit more, I can say throw is pretty dang solid for a 450[ish] lumen XM-L pocket light. (The Aurora SH34 still out-throws the Crelants with both on IMR, but with a _much _smaller XR-E spot.)
Crelants benefit of using the same head for their entire EDC line is lower production costs thru shared parts… Possible tradeoff being: both models are long for their cell class… and the AA 11 model is very chunky (wide) for its cell class, because it’s just a stetched and internally necked battery tube.
Honestly, I am willing to take the “tradeoff” for the benefit of more throw with an XM-L. I am usually more of a XP-G fan for outdoor use, but these crelants do the trick nicely out to medium range. Fine for a smallish “EDC” type design. Yes, they’re on the big side, but I kinda like that cause I have big hands.
One thing I don’t care for is the lack of serviceability. If anyone figures out how to break one of these suckers down completely please let us know. I don’t want to eff mine up.
Overall good quality for the money I would say. If you like the design and the size is acceptable to you, give them a look.