Well, it's everything - mode spacing, strobe and SOS not hidden, only one way nav thru modes, time delayed push&hold to turn OFF - could be faster, no way to get to lo to start with, etc.
Shown with a BLF A6:
Tail threads, not many, but nice:
Main assemblies:
Clean LED area, pretty darn clean resulting beam pattern:
Bottom of driver parts:
Top parts:
Not much thermal grease, but it's there:
Some not so good news, driver/pill parts:
Well, the LED driver and USB charging seem to be combined in one, and the nasty vertical board that the switch and USB port mount on does some serious blocking, preventing a typical driver sandwich mod.
But... There is 6.64 mm vertical clearance above the top edge of the vertical board to possibly fit a 17 mm driver there. Could use the new OSHPark slim boards perhaps to save some space. Now, not sure how to use the USB charging with a LED driver replacement, but might be possible. Could also jumper in wires to take over those nice look'n green and red LED's. They do look awesome lit up behind that translucent/white switch.
Where did you get the A8, and what is the A8? I think the A2 is the XM-L2 version, and the A5 is an XP-E version. Should have bought the A5 - cheaper and will be changing the LED anyway.
There’s rings, but very minimal. I looked at it in flood, and little to none artifacts outside the zone. In zoomed out focused, there’s a circle around the square LED, but again looks very uniform, but expected without a full blackout of the head.
For now, think I’d try a simple amp boost (two R500’s shown) by adding a resistor, and replace the LED with either a de-domed XP-L V6, or maybe the XP-E2 Torch, or a de-domed XP-G2. Hoping for a good 30K+ - would be nice.
I'm a fan of the ZeusRay's, but this A2 light is no comparison. The ZeusRay, if you actually get one like advertised, is a good deal for $8, but the A2 is equally as good a deal, or better, for $18. Can't compare the two - like comparing a Sipik SK68 to a Convoy in quality, plus all the better features with the A2 (LVP, USB charging...).
The more I look at it, the more I'm impressed with it - I agree with freeme in that it competes with much higher cost brand name lights - $17.42 now, here:dhgate.com-supfire-a2
It's not perfect by any means. It's too long - they could have been smarter to get it down in length, plus the modes I mentioned - not a big fan of this type of UI. But I do like it's compact pocket size in width, like other tube lights but in a zoomie.
Hope I get some time this eve to mod mine up... Might throw in a XP-L HI for now.
