Review: Crelant V21A .... Premium U3 version

Thanks very much! Frontpage’d and Sticky’d.

manage to order this light after reading some reviews, still waiting for arrival.

hopefully it does much better than a Lenser P7 or Terralux 300.

Or a bad switch...? I had a light that always flickered when turning it off, changed the switch I have never seen that issues after that. Of course, prior to changing the switch ,I checked if everything is clean and properly screwed etc.

Actually I have some occasional flickering on my 4Sevens Quark AA2, which I not looked into very much, I only cleaned the threads but nothing changed.

No, the switch isnt, bcos bypassing the switch it happens. But is “randomly”…

I have the lifght and I'm not a big fan except I won it on their big crelant giveaway so the price was right ..i'd agree 28$would be a better number to be paying for a light like this ..But it seems like the lower offerings of certain manufacturers in the 25 to 40$ range almost always suck and are overpriced and underfeatured ..IE the jetbeam ba-10 ...lights made for a non aholic AA only kind of crowd who needs a name brand light IMO they usually suck ....decent finish a funky tint and a bad clip is all they offer for 40$

Thanks for the review. Would like to kindly offer a couple of points in response…

I think many of your critical points come down to personal preference. Which is OK, just what it is. You kind of admit so yourself.

You also seem to lack prioritization. Some things surely matter more than others, no? It would be good to make that more clear.

How a light is driven and regulated are crucial technical details - the most important criteria for any light IMO. You almost mention these as trivial minor details. Glad you gave 4 stars for that reason though.

Forward clicky is a matter of taste. I like forward clickies and the ability to silently use momentary. (No, its not a tactical momentary for signalling, but I don’t need that for this light.) You imply fwd clickies are inferior or cheap, but that is not accurate. There are good fwd clickies, and bad. Many of my most expensive lights have fwd clickies (good ones).

You are really bothered by the tail cap huh? :stuck_out_tongue: It doesn’t bother me to install batteries the other way. Yes, the threads are a bit small, that is true and could be improved. But I have never come close to cross-threading or stripping them or anything like that. Just need to be careful. At least the threads are good and smooth (on mine). I guess it might kind of look less clean than some end caps, but it’s not a big deal to me.

I don’t really see how these points make it glaring that Crelant chose cost over quality. The build, feel, and fit n finish of both my models is quite good. Certainly miles away from ultrafires and stuff like that. No, their not Zebralights either, but much less expensive than them. I don’t have any finish flaws in my Crelants.

Personally, I wonder if some of the design aspects of these lights was meant to keep tinkerers from disassembling these lights. I am not a big fan of that kind of attitude, but some companies do pull that crap. Not sure about this case.

“Chinese lumens” - well…. we all should be kind of used to this by now. Unfortunately it is common practice across the board, some worse than others. Only the most expensive premium brands seem to give a crap and use realistic numbers.

I can say that my cool white V11 does seem a bit brighter than my neutral V31. This is to be expected and the difference seems proportional to comparing other cools to neutrals. Don’t have a lightmeter or anything like that to really quanitfy it.

Much of our difference in opinion might come down to the price paid. Got one of mine on clearance, and the other lightly used/reviewed from classifieds. edit: Went back and looked it up and I paid $32 for one and $26 for the other. At that price I am satisfied. If I spent $80 on the pair I would probably not be as pleased. Overall though, my experience with these lights has been positive enough that it has me looking at other Crelants. Which I imagine is their entire plan. So it worked on me. Bastards! :slight_smile:

Just my feedback bud. Hope this might help on future write-ups. If you disagree that is OK of course, we are entitled to our own opinions. Merely politely offering my counterpoint. Good day sir.
:beer:

Ok, :wink:

hey, don’t have to be so wordy! :wink:

:bigsmile: better now? :beer:

just kiddin ya b/c your response was so short and I write a lot. :smiley:

Dont worry, I understood since the begining. That´s why I did not had the need to “write a book”… you know… :smiley:

But I will not change my feelings/opinions about the Crelant :Sp

Maybe I have a lemon…

Cheers! :beer:

That very well could be. :frowning:
Warranty?

No, I won the light at a rafle that Crelant did at CPFMP (well, I had to pay 10$ in shipping…. and if I knew about the “little issues” I mentioned above, I would even not paid the 10$ in shipping. That is my opinion, of course. However, the light is working ok now… But I still dont like it XP)

Oh wow that is really pretty lousy. Can’t believe they did a giveaway with a bum unit. LoL fail crelant!

I still wonder if they might swap you a new one if you asked, because of your bad experience so far. Brands typically want to make a good impression to lure more purchases. They might work with you if you express your disappointment well.

Then again maybe not?

Sorry to hear you had such troubles. I agree that any brand trying to be quasi-premium like crelant should do better.

I have this light. after some time usage, the only downside I can say is the rough thread. else than that, the light is doing fine.
for the price, it is indeed a bit pricey, especially have to pay shipping fee too.
but now the price is already lower than before. it is much better deal (especially in US continent as the shipping is much cheaper) compared to other double AA from popular brands.

yeah, md-lightsource is a good vendor for Crelant

that’s where I got mine :smiley: and now with really good price too…

Gotta say… after this thread and then the poor reviews of the 7g10 I am kind of rethinking my impressions of the crelant brand. The shortcomings of the 7g10 are really illogical and make it really seem as though they rushed it to market to say they have a mtg2. Now, full disclosure, I don’t have one, but that is largely due to reviews I have read and - more importantly - watched.

first release is always buggy.none is perfect. somebody or anybody will most likely find or encounter any odds or imperfection or just the product is not living up to the expectation. it applies for any product include flashlight. that’s why I never buy the first batch.

and in this light review, some bad things expressed, I think not all are really bad bad. the dust in reflector is definitely bad. the remark on 450 lumens maybe just flaw.

while the way forward clicky mechanism, no tail cap, it just their preference. actually i decided to buy after reading review include this thread :smiley:

the memory mode is actually working but it needs couple seconds on turn on condition to memorize before turn off and on again. if half click for momentary and then another immediate half click it will cycle mode.but if after half click (already on the mode you want), then release and wait for couple seconds to let it memorize. next time half click will start from the last half click mode.

Yes that sounds like the memory functions on mine. It does take a second or two to set, but its not overly long.