Mini review XTAR A01 18650/18700

Hello.

I'll introduce a new flashlight manufacured by XTAR. It is a unique design R5 CREE flashlight.

The body acts as a charger with led indication. My sample does indeed provide 4.2V cut off charge and supports (unverified) the true CC/CV charging characteristic. Charging is done by an USB host, or by 230V AC adapter or car adapter both included.

Also there is a holster for carrying and random lanyard. It has 5 modes, the usual hi, med, lo, strobe & sos BUT! those are cancellable at will! By unscrewing the head you find contacts to solder to cancel every mode as you like. It's seems simple enough and supported by manufacturer. On a fully charged 18650 draws exactly 1090mA (tried a better multimeter) at tailcap, mid mode is around 220mA and low around 80mA. Reflector is smooth. It gets quite hot in less than 10 min but thats expected. Its not uncomfortably hot but near.

Beam is very nice, will do some shots later if i find my camera. It it supposedly HA finished however i can't tell for sure but it seem so.

Right now i have it tailstanding on table and asessing a true runtime. It seems the light (actually its nightime and apart my monitor is the only light lit in house and illuminates perfectly the whole room) is attracting random small flying animlas (mosquitos and bigger things) toward the hotspot. I had to shut the balcony door because it started to be scary.

Till i do proper tests thats all, oh one more thing, an 18650 doesen't rattle if some1 cares. Charge time was around 2,5h for a cell on 3.8V.

It came in a box with acessories, properly lubed and clean.

Some pictures from the net (till i get mine done):

At the time of writing i got around 30min on max and i believe it has reached it's peak temperature i would describe as 50C tops perhaps more likely 47C.

Will do an update when i can.

Have fun. :)

At 70cm from wall

At 2m from wall

Cat came to check what was all about...

Pathetic attempt at outside shot.

Can't find a way to display images better atm :/

The whole process eludes me and i think i did everything right. :S

Hi there Budgeteer, thanks for the review! That is a very handsome looking flashlight.

For images, look for the button in the middle of the top row of buttons on the post editor, next to the paintbrush icon. There you link images. And I would recommend in the "Appearance" tab of the popup dialog that you put 100% for width and leave height blank. Thanks a lot!

Youre welcome. I hope i can contribute to the site to the best of my knowledge. Being a computer techie for over 15 years its really something new. :)

Made some correction as the fluke multimeter is way better than the cheap stuff i use to have. It draws almost 1,1A on high.

Wow, the Recent Post look like the movie XTAR WAR...

Nice review. I recently purchased the light and I like the built in charger. It reputes to be safe as not to overcharge etc. I think it compares favorably with my Olight M21 with better throw. It did not come with extra orings and was a little dinged up on arrival. Possibly from having the strobe and SOS locked out at SBFlashlight.

Nice review. I recently purchased the light and I like the built in charger. It reputes to be safe as not to overcharge etc. I think it compares favorably with my Olight M21 with better throw. It did not come with extra orings and was a little dinged up on arrival. Possibly from having the strobe and SOS locked out at SBFlashlight.

Hi there, Budgeteer. Do you still have it?

Yes i do.

Really tempting new XTAR offer :p What can you say about regulation? Can't see any image on your 2nd post. Can you upload them again and with some comparison pics with other lights? Thanks :bigsmile:

I can see all pictures just fine. Regulation is ok, you will see it blinking a few times before the battery PCB kick's in. Can't do a direct comparison atm because i left my camera at the office. Will do in a few days when i go back at the office.

Thanks, mate. Will be nice to see UF XML as well :D

PS: still can't see your shots in 2nd post :~

If you right click on the images and copy the URL into you address bar you can see the pictures, I think you've linked the the page the picture is on rather than directly to the picture.

Same images as in first post :| Don't know where's the problem, because I can see pics in first post. Hm, strange. OK, hope will see new ones without problems :p

Budgeteer - Can you take few pics comparing this light to some of your others. I'm curious as to how much of a thrower this light is as opposed to some of other 18650 lights out there.

I know an XP-G tends to throw a little better than an XM-L so does anyone think this will outthrow a SF L2+XM-L combo, even though the XM-L will have higher overall output?

Doubt it but possible.

Will do when i get my camera back. It is very similar to a C8 R5 with smo reflector.