My BLF AA-Y4E arrived today , and well , here we go ...
Light arrived with a holster and a lanyard .. Both seem to be nice ..
Now this light starts in very low [ moon mode ? ] then goes to low , medium and high , there is no mode memory so it always starts in very low when turned off .
Build quality is very nice , threads , anodizing , no complaints what so ever ...
There is a small thing , very low [ moon mode ? ] and low , are a little close in output , and should have been spaced out a little more ..
Now Mr.Lite has made some minor changes from the first offering available from Lightake , and that is the inclusion of a spring in the head to take up some of the battery contact issues with the earlier offering , and anyone having one less the spring , I would strongly suggest you consider soldering one in place ...
The increased contact pressure could be responsible for the increase in output in high ... Lets check out the performance figures ..
AA - Eneloop
Very Low = 60mA / 2Lumen
Low = 90mA / 5Lumen
Medium = 0.45A / 39Lumen
High = 1.95A / 160Lumen
14500 - 4.15v
Very Low = 20mA - 4Lumen
Low = 50mA - 9Lumen
Medium = 0.28A - 79Lumen
High = ?????? Are you sure you want to know ???? ..........................Dont look if you dont want to know ........................................................ 340L
Now on high with a 14500 there is a fair bit of heat related fade .. It actually starts at 360 but fades to 340 in the first 15 seconds or so
I havent pulled the pill out as yet , and Im not sure I want to , but Im not sure if the heatsinking can be improved , but I am very happy with the performance on a AA Eneloop , and Im not sure I want to run a 14500 in this light .
Now , I have to suggest that this is a rather good buy , and you can check it out at Manafont .
Hopefully , the two lower modes can be spread out a little , but I can live with the light as is ...
http://www.jayki.com/11435 For the Mr.Lite J4 review ...
Always remember , the easiest thing in the world to do , is to expel hot air from your lungs and through some vocal chords ..
The resulting sound may , or may not be worth listening too ….
OMG 360L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
However I dont like the TIR optics. And they are made of plastic. Also dont like the bad quality of some units, and moon and low modes not well spaced.
OK MrLite. When a better light?
This post/thread "may" contain referrals, a little contribution I "earn" in form of points ONLY if you buy the item. The purpose is to redeem items using the points and then making reviews of them in the forums to shar
The review gives me hope, after the rather bad comments in some of the other posts here. 160 lumens on a AA sounds very good. I ordered fife of them, but not because I thought it would be the best light in the world. I orderd them, because they are supposed to be somehow uniqe and who knows, maybe a collectors item one day.
I ordered this one based on the first one [ more evenly spaced output ] , and was hoping they had just reversed the modes ..
I dont mind the optic , but Im not sure I can justify buying more , one is enough , I just wanted to have a sample for comparison , but it turned out a little better than expected [ yeah those previous comments , which may be related to the first batch ? ] , this one is from the second batch ... And so may be a little more refined ? All I know is so far so good ..
Always remember , the easiest thing in the world to do , is to expel hot air from your lungs and through some vocal chords ..
The resulting sound may , or may not be worth listening too ….
Those figures are amazingly high. And I imagine the rather large size of the AA-Y4E will probably help to dissipate the heat more so than other smaller lights.
I wonder how many batches are out there. For example, mine has the spring in the head like Matt's, but mine has dark red colored O-rings.
It sounds like the Lightake versions were the newest and therefore the buggiest. It also sounds like some of the earlier versions from Mrlite have contact problems. But assuming that yours doesn't arrive with a showstopper bug like not turning on, this is fundamentally a very good light.
Budget Light Forum ...where Frugal meets with Flashlight!
Don't you mean the oldest. it came out first?
Lightake did offer the first Mrlite J4. I believe this is the first prototype, sent by Lightake to Matt for review. Notice that it doesn't have the spring on the head. Additionally, as mentioned elsewhere, Lightake's version has the modes backwards, and is not labelled as a BLF AA-Y4E.
Budget Light Forum ...where Frugal meets with Flashlight!
Very encouraging review and I'm hoping my light comes from the same batch as Old's as we both got the same not in stock message and back in stock and shipped message around the same time.
Any sense on if this light can run on a 14500 for extended periods without damaging the light? Thanks for the review.
I ran mine for 35 minutes on a 14500 without any problem (stopping for a minute every 5-10 minutes to take a reading on the battery). That's how long it took for the battery to be below 3.6V. The light didn't get as hot as some do, but was defnitely warm.
The only thing that worries me a little about the high output is that the LED may be over driven [ low vF LED ] , and how that might affect the LED when used with a 14500 on high ..
The performance with a AA is just wonderful , and comes close to my CR123A and 14500 EDC jobs , time to go to work ....
Back in about 9 hours ..
Matt
Always remember , the easiest thing in the world to do , is to expel hot air from your lungs and through some vocal chords ..
The resulting sound may , or may not be worth listening too ….
I recieved mine from manafont today. I am VERY pleased with it on crappy AA batteries which is all i have until my 14500's arrive. It has a spring, better seeming o-rings, MUCH better and cleaner beam, and it is brighter than the mr.lite J4 4-mode that I ordered from lightake.
Very pleased with it, and can not wait to see the performance on 14500's!!
It is weird to me that the beam is so much nicer than the 'identical' J4.
This light also had a slight contact issue , but a bit of solder fixed it [ better contact with battery tube ] ..
And yes , the output is outstanding , it actually matches my R5 P60 lights with a 14500 .. [ The output with a 14500 in this size light is insane ]
I can only imagine I got a freaky good one [ kind of nice for a change ] , and I hope everyone else gets a good one as well ...
Always remember , the easiest thing in the world to do , is to expel hot air from your lungs and through some vocal chords ..
The resulting sound may , or may not be worth listening too ….
Where exactly did you put the extra solder? I have one that doesn't work at all and the other that works most of the time but sometimes has what I think is a contact issue. Thank you.
Don wrote:
"But as I said long ago, you are more likely to be killed by a dead fish dropped by a seagull in the Sahara Desert than by a lithium ion
Let me take a picture ....
Always remember , the easiest thing in the world to do , is to expel hot air from your lungs and through some vocal chords ..
The resulting sound may , or may not be worth listening too ….
http://www.imagebam.com/image/249a08107563793
Ok what I did was to put a blob of solder on the neg part of the driver board , and then extend it towards the side of the pill , so that the battery tube makes contact with the solder ...
Always remember , the easiest thing in the world to do , is to expel hot air from your lungs and through some vocal chords ..
The resulting sound may , or may not be worth listening too ….
Mine has no solder at all. Did you have to take it apart to figure out where the negative part of the driver board is? Sorry for the dumb questions but when it comes to the inner workings of a flashlight, I am dumb.
I still have yet to learn how to replace my first driver board and/or emitter + circuit board. 
Don wrote:
"But as I said long ago, you are more likely to be killed by a dead fish dropped by a seagull in the Sahara Desert than by a lithium ion
the negative is the outer golden ring of the driver, the positive is the center part where de spring is.
Aloha and welcome to BLF!
Thanks Thoth.
Don wrote:
"But as I said long ago, you are more likely to be killed by a dead fish dropped by a seagull in the Sahara Desert than by a lithium ion
Hi Thoth, thanks for joining! Enjoy your time here.
Budget Light Forum ...where Frugal meets with Flashlight!
Thanks for the warm welcome!
I have been reading through the forum, and I am really liking what i´m seeing.
I going to buy one of these Mrlite, it will be my first light with a collimator lens