Small Sun ZY-R802 (XP-E Q5 | 1x14500)
This flashlight was provided for review by dx.com
Reviewer's Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆
Summary:
| Battery: | 1 x 14500 (does not work with AA) |
| Switch: | Side switch, electronic |
| Modes: | 3: High, Low, Strobe |
| LED Type: | XP-E Q5 (CW) |
| Lens: | Glass |
| Tailstands: | Yes |
| Price Payed: | Review sample. Retail price $13.50 |
| From: | dx.com |
| Date Ordered: | August 2013 |
Pros:
- Easy to use (UI is very straight forward)
- Side switch
- No parasitic drain!
- Very lightweight
- Tailstands
- Flat bezel
- Comes in a nice retail box. Charger, cell, and lanyard included => good for gifting!
Cons:
- Unprotected cell included (DISPOSE THIS BEFORE GIFTING!! Buy one good protected cell and throw it in..)
- No low voltage protection (together with above and built in charger => potentially very dangerous!)
- Noticeable PWM on low (120Hz)
- Doesn't work with AA, even if product description says so
- Not available as NW
- No clip
- Feels cheap (but then again, it is cheap
)
Features / Value: ★★★★☆
The light comes in a retail box which contains the light itself, charger, one unprotected cell, lanyard, and some kind of warranty card. I strongly recommend disposing the included cell and buying a good protected cell as replacement.
This light has three modes: high, low, and strobe. These are accessed by the electronic side clicky.
UI is easy to use for beginners, but might annoy advanced users. There is no mode memory, so the first click turns on the light in high mode. Second click... No, you guessed wrong... Doesn't turn off the light, but turns it to low mode. Third click turns on strobe and fourth click turns the light off. Luckily there are no hidden modes, so a quick triple click from high turns the light off.
As usual, the low mode is not low enough for my taste, but then again, there can't be more than two modes with this kind of UI => low mode, as it currently is, is a suitable compromise.
Value for money: Given the fact that this light set is only $13.50, charger included, I'd still say: Good.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★☆☆
Design is simple and functional. Even the lanyard hole is conveniently placed on the side of tail section. This allows stable tail standing.
The anodization is just "ok", reflecting the price of the set. Body tube has light knurling, which is not aggressive at all.
Bezel is flat, but made of light aluminum. Emitter is centered, but there is no centering ring, so your sample might not be the same.. Lens is glass, but not AR-coated.
Let's see some details..
Body detached from the head. This is as far as normal user should (or even need) disassemble the light. Note: The TF flame cell shown in the pictures below is NOT the one included in the set.
The threads were dry and not smooth at all. However, this doesn't matter so much, as the intended use of these threads is to open them once, throw a good protected cell in, and close them. After that the user will charge the cell in light, with the charger included in the set. Easy and simple! The O-ring is thick and feels pretty solid.
A look into the body tube. Tube is pretty thick, but surprisingly lightweight. (As is the whole light!)
Peek to the head from driver side. Spring is solid and the driver is held in place with plastic retaining ring.
Retaining ring removed. Driver says TXY-R17.
Driver removed. Electronic clicky shown in the front and a pleasant surprise on background: Solid pill! [I was prepared to see a hollow pill here]
Other side of the driver contains also the charger connector.
The driver might be resistor-moddable, but I wouldn't add any more current to this small and light light.
Charger connector hole in the body tube. It's covered with a pretty good rubber plug, which is hold in place with thick O-ring.
From the other side of the head. Cree XP-E emitter on a 16mm star sitting on solid aluminum platform, even with thermal paste. Not bad at all, except that there's no centering ring for the emitter.
Some measurements:
Length: 103mm
Head diameter: 22.4mm
Body diameter at switch: 26.8mm (max)
Body diameter at tail: 20.0mm
Lens diameter: 19.5mm
Lens thickness: 1.3mm
Reflector diameter: 17.7mm
Reflector depth: 14.3mm
Bezel inner diameter: 15.8mm
Weight: 73g with TF flame cell (= ready to use), 50g without
And the bottom line in the quality: You get what you pay for, or maybe even a bit more. Not a bad light when looked from outside or used, but lower quality shows when disassembled.
Battery Life: ★★☆☆☆
Not very good.
I measured the tailcap current and got results of 1.25A on High and 0.21A on Low.
Calculated runtimes for the modes are: Only 35min on High but over 3.5h on Low!
This light doesn't have any low voltage protection (or even warning), which combined with unprotected cell and in-light charging may cause dangerous situations => Protected cell must be used in this light! I use a protected Trustfire flame, which works well with the included charger.
A positive surprise is that there is no parasitic drain. Yes, zero uA. I even left the light with TF flame sitting on shelf for over one month => cell was still exactly the same 4.17V like it was when the experiment started.
The included charger stops charging reliably at 4.13V, which is a bit low for battery life, but good for cell longevity.
It should be noted that the light doesn't light up with an ordinary AA, even if the product description at DX says so.
Light Output: ★★★☆☆
There is 120Hz PWM on low mode. This is easily noticeable and may bother PWM-sensitive users.
The initial light output on High was 191lm and ANSI-readings (OTF, after 30s) were:
- 150lm on High
- 35lm on Low
Measured throw was 5kcd / 140m
Summary: ★★★☆☆
Cheap flashlight set. Unprotected cell together with missing low voltage protection and built in charger makes it dangerous! On the other hand, if the included cell is first disposed and replaced with a good protected cell, this is a good set for gifting.
Verdict: Not recommended. [Recommended if the included cell is replaced first]
The End (pun intended):
Thanks for reading & watching. Hope you enjoyed the review!