REVIEW (IN PROGRESS): EagleTac TX25C2 XM-L2 U2

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Very good review, thanks!

Who has the best price for the XM-L2 version of this light? Please just name the place but don’t advertise the price so the dealer doesn’t get in trouble with the manufacturer over minimum advertised price or M.A.P.

Or just PM me :slight_smile:

Thanks!

AlexGT, for non-US buyers i would recommend nkon from the Dutchland, one could drop them an email and refer to me.

For US shoppers i would ask for example our mike for a personal deal. he's always been very good with us bfl peeps :)

Have you been able to do any testing on your ZY-T29 yet? Curious what type of numbers it puts out. It’s going to have to have very impressive numbers to out perform a TX25C2. We now have two versions of this cool little Eagletac. I have a healthy bone stock version and brother has a dedomed XML2 version. Brother also has a stock ZY-T29.
Here is the teast numbers we got with these lights in the same lightbox and with the same meter. Also throwing in a nice C8 for comparison —
———————————————————————————————————————
XinTD C8 V4(stock XM-L2) - 918 lumens at 30 seconds. 32Kcd at 1m.
ZY-T29(stock XML) - 505 lumens at 30 seconds. 5Kcd at 1m
TX25C2(stock XM-L2)- 1095 lumens at 30 seconds. 21.9Kcd at 1m
TX25C2(dedomed XM-L2) - 1070 lumens at 30 seconds. 44.1Kcd at 1m
————————————————————————————————————————
Those last two set of numbers can be surpassed I’m sure, but its not going to be too easy. Especially if driven reasonably. Even if a light is driven much harder, the numbers arn’t going to go too much higher with the 31mm head that both of these lights have. Too bad we don’t have a modded ZY-T29 to test. It is a pretty cool light. And yeah hands down a much better deal than the eagletacs. But these little eagletacs are VERY impressive irregardless.
I’m perfectly willing to beam shots of the above mentioned lights if anyone desires.
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OP if my data contuses or deters from your review, just ask and I’ll delete it. This your thread after all, but I am obviously a big fan of Eagletacs too.

Tested? Yes, a lot! I pointed my lights on a bunch of things and seen the wonderful beam and tint. :D 80 CRI minimum and still within the NW range.. Thats a nice number, dont you think? :) For a compact general purpose light, I can relate to that much better than lux values. :)

Stock the small suns are in the 1,8-2,2A range, running a 1st gen CW T6 (at best) on aluminium, and no AR lens. Not impressive in any way..

With a fully programmable DrJones, there is no reason you can not push up towards 4A to a dedomed XM-L2 U2 on copper if you are chasing numbers. Ill probably stop at 3,8A and a dedomed T6 3A emitter (yes, de-domed 3A). Its getting into winter season, I can just program output to be a bit lower in the summer.. :p

Amps in the TX25C, and how the turbo mode is implemented is actually quite nice and reasonable for a "hot" light.. I think eagletac did a great job in that respect. But not using copper MCPCB with an overdriven emitter is potential lost..

Currently none of little small suns have a de-domed emitter. I used to have de-domed XM-L in one. I change around alot. My ZY-T29 will get emitter swap again soon (waiting for the emitter) And current increase. Then some time later, it will be de-domed. Need to experience the domed emitter first. These tiny lights are mainly close up lights for me, general purpose. But since I have two lights that are fairly similar, I want one to have some good range, without being bad at close up stuff. My previous de-domed setup worked surprisingly well. Ill might get around to post some beam shots or a thread about them some day... :) Its a really nice form factor. Which is why this Eagletac review cough my eye. (back on topic ;) )

My flashlight thread is probably a better place for asking questions about my lights. But I dont have a light meter. I normally measure amps on the emitter .

Yeah I think brother’s ZY-T29 is in the 2.0A range. Still not bad for a stock little light. It is pretty compact after all. And I agree it’s very nice looking. He bought it way back when he was wanting a Zebralight SC600 but couldn’t justify its price. I’m sure with a nice driver, copper sinkpad, and XM-L2 U2 it would be a very serious little light. I say U2 because I’m one of the few out there that actually prefer a nice white beam. NW is ok, especially with a high CRI, but I just prefer tints in the 5.5-6K range.
Anyway, the problem brother and I have is we apparently have 5 thumbs on each hand. Or it feels like it whenever we try to mod a light. So our choices are to buy a high output and usually too darn expensive name light. Or try to get Tom or Vinh to help us out with modding a more budget friendly light.

I understand your situation in regards to modding, which is most people situation. I think that is what makes eagletac quite impressive. Updated emitters, and high output, combined with good UI, and probably good build quality, anodizing and everything. Considering the package, their lights seem to be very good value. Especially if you are into the emitters they use. I would certainly consider Eagletac if I was not into modding.

To me, modding is half the fun with flashlights.. :)

If you have to pay others to do the modding, pay for extra shipping and so, it may not be worth it considering that its still a light with cheap anodizing and no warranty.

When that is said. A DrJones driver transforms those little small sun lights from just another cheap budget light with crap UI to a light that have a more sophisticated UI than most premium lights. People who are interested in the setup might find this thread useful.

This is the one I would really like to see a review on iam glad you are taking one for the team again !

Totally awesome review mate!

For when the AA based review? :slight_smile:

Such a heck of a time to pull this review man.

[quote=kreisler] ...suitable for all kinds of situations and serious extended lighting tasks, indoor, outdoor, work, walk, bike, fish, squirrel, home, hot, dog. [/quote]

;)

Great review Kreisler, though I haven’t gone through all the notes yet. :wink:

I didn’t have any lights on my wants list - I think I might do now.

dont get me started on alison brie :stuck_out_tongue:

Kreisler, how noticeable to the eye is the drop down from turbo to high after 200secs? I’m not that fond of the SC600W or Klarus XT11 timed drop downs (not that I keep them in high that long anyway).

Good question :)

The actual step-down is noticeable as a 0.5sec long "flicker". But interestingly i could never distinguish the brightness levels before vs. after it. To me, in all honesty and sincerity, both levels look equally bright.

On the D25A clicky Ti xp-g2 however the levels before and after were very far spaced apart. Huge brightness drop. This resulted in continuous runtimes of ~5.0hrs on Turbo-mode (Eneloop) :D

Please shoot if you have more questions about TX or Alison ;)

You would think so, but unfortunately here in the US, people who are too smart are actually excluded from being police officers... (You don't want someone too smart to refuse an unlawful order to be a cop after all.)

First thing a cop did when searching my car, and coming across a flashlight was turn it to himself, and click it on. Needless to say he was kind of pissed. The light in question was a jetbeam m2s, and set to medium. He's lucky it was not set on high.

Personally I wouldn't mind of warning stickers were removed from most things, but imagine how many dumb dead people we'd have. After all you need to be told that you can suffocate if you stick a plastic bag over your head, or that the boiling hot cup of coffee in a styrofoam cup is actually hot and can burn if you, if you spill it on yourself.

I'm surprised we don't have warning signs yes for food that's not in small little pieces or blended into mush, to warn us that we can choke to death.

Edit, people like this are the reason we need so many warning labels...

BWAHAHA... :D

Thanks for the picture Kreisl.. :)

Just got mine today :D

Great little light, I'm certainly pleased with it. Would love to see more modes on a future iteration, and maybe a bit better design with regards to waterproofing (I'm probably too paranoid about this) but aside from that... fantastic little powerhouse of a light.

Btw, spring in the tailcap is most definitely not gold plated :p

Congrats to the purchase! ( i hope the review didn't ***ll you into the buy ;) )

One shouldn't be too worried about waterproofing, you got 10yrs performance guarantee by EagleTac company. Foursevens, ArmyTek, EagleTac, and Sunwayman have exceptional service to the customer, they're very responsive and swift with solving such problems. As a general rule with high power hot rod flashlights, in humid environments one should zip bag the light after use so that it cannot suck in moist during the cooling phase. And this physical phenomenon has absolutely nothing to do with the IPX-8 rating.

Gold plated .. i think the Small Suns are :)

btw, i am still busy with adding more and more pics, they're all(?) on my HDD ready for upload.

It did. You will no have to explain to my family why I bought yet another flashlight

Not really though... it was on my buy list for a long time... after hearing what Vinh can do to mod this light, and comparing it in size to the zebralight sc600... it was only a matter of time until I got it.

I agree with you about the ziploc bag approach in principle, but idk if I'll actually be able to do that in practice. This light will get a thorough testing over a three day camping trip at the end of the month along with a number of my other lights... will be interesting to see how they hold up.

Would it be safe to say this is the best and brightest pocketable 18650? I was considering the SC600II but this looks even better