Seemed to me it was not just the use of MAP, which is legal, but how Nitecore handled it/enforced it with some vendors and forum members. All technically probably legal, but ethically not very reassuring.
There is also the cluster-eff with Jetbeam and the questionable nature of their relationship. There is blatant “sharing” of designs between them.
Add in the EA8 teardown findings, and many have been pretty turned off by the brand in general. Overpriced with fancy branding, but really not that well built for the price.
Take it all how you want. Vote with your wallet. Talk is cheap.
No more so than the millions of laptops, netbooks, and cordless drills that use the same setup. I’d certainly suggest protected cells just to error on the side of caution, but its far from being a scary setup.
Actually I just bought an EA4W and this Tr-A9, so I can do a comparison. The TR-A9 is coming from DX, so maybe in three months (if I am lucky), I will actually get it. The EA4W is coming from IS, so it probably will be here on Wed. I do not know if I can hold out till the TR-A9 comes, before hacking the EA4W. Patience is not one of my virtues.
Anyhow, I will document the EA4 well, just in case, so I can compare beam shots and the guts, sometime in the future.
I will go ahead and review both, although I'm not a good reviewer. I just made a ticket with DX about the fact that I will be reviewing the A9 and if they manage to get on the stick and ship it out quickly, I might say something good about them as well. Don't know if it will mean anything to them though.
From the limited info, it looks like the A9 has a clicky, not an smd switch, but time will tell. It will be interesting to do a side by side comparison.
I just made a ticket with DX about the fact that I will be reviewing the A9 and if they manage to get on the stick and ship it out quickly, I might say something good about them as well.
This coming from a bloke that has just said in another thread salesmen hate me. This sounds like the biggest threat I’ve heard off for awhile. Nothing like a good laugh first thing in the morning. Thanks.
I don’t agree. Commercial products have proper Li-Ion battery protection that monitors all the cells individually. A flashlight that has a 2S/2P config like this one does no such thing. So, if you’re using unprotected cells you’re definitely less safe than the millions of laptops, netbooks, and cordless drills that use the “same setup”.
You’re free to agree, or not… However, the facts are:
Cordless Drills/Netbook and Laptops do in fact have a BMS, however, in almost all cases, this only monitors the CHARGING of the cells - not the discharge. It will balance charge them, but usually do nothing to prevent them from discharging at an uneven rate.
Since we charge our cells outside the host, I stand by my previous comment.
Sorry, but your “facts” are wrong. They do monitor the voltage of the cells during discharge and will cut off the entire pack if one of the cells gets too low to prevent any cells from being over discharged. Yes, the cells can get out of balance while discharging, but you can’t discharge a cell to the point of damage. That’s something a light with a 2S/2P cell configuration can’t do when unprotected cells are used in it.
What about the low voltage protection on the driver? I know that's an assumption and I will know for sure when I get this light, but most modern drivers made for Li-ions have a low voltage cut out, or at least they will drop to low mode and flash.