V4A mystery solved!
✓ NO visible PWM
✓ Neutral white tint
✓ V4A has thread lockout capability!!!
✓ 3A in stock form. V4A NW maximum lumen value is very close (<5% difference) to my EA41 CW.
Unfortunately you can't. Once you release the button, it will ramp down on next press and hold state.
Off mode is not actually OFF but stand by so there is some current draw, how much, IDK, maybe freeme could measure, should be quite low.
Also, in past with some Crelant lights actual maximum was not what so called HIGH mode was set to, try to do this, reset modes and measure factory HIGH mode, then do ramp down and ramp up until it starts blinking (indicating you hit the max) then look what your DMM says about current draw…
I received one of mine today as well and just finished playing around with it. If you’re familiar with the crelant UI, it’s very simple n easy and if you’re not it’s still easy to understand. Once you get yours and go thru the UI, it’s pretty self explanatory. Freeme’s diagram does break it down very well.
Here’s my quick rundown:
Ano is very nice (I was hoping crelant would send me the tan color lol)
Very deep smooth reflector, nice and tight beam. Intense hotspot.
Feels good in hand even with four AAs.
Only cons I see for it now is that the lens isn’t AR coated. I’m gonna double check when the sun’s out tomorrow. Beam is a bit ringy within a meter or so, probably due to the SS bezel.
As of right now the light is a winner for me, will see down the road what final thoughts are after its been thru it’s paces.
+2 why another groupbuy before a review is out? Thought we learned that lesson multiple times by now……………
I received the light today and i like the look of it alot.
The mode interface is very nice. It got 3 modes starting with high, low, double click for strobe and if you hold the switch it will ramp the brightness.
LED is perfectly center and the tint is neutral white but the pill is very poor design which doesn’t dissipate heat to the body well 
You can see the bit highlighted in yellow sit on the flashlight body which doesnt transfer the heat to body much and the driver is freaking hot aftter 2 minutes. I reckon it will cook the driver and LED eventually
Barrel inside flashlight head
Be careful when you unscrew the ring on driver else it will snap the switch wires and it took me a while to fix them with some mod to the pill.
I’ll find someone to make a copper pill to make this light like a rock star 
Oh, that isn’t good news. I was planning on using this light on max most of the time. But that sounds like it could cause problems. Does this light have enough power to damage the driver and LED? The junction point on the LED should be able to take 100C okay, and at full power that would mean the heat-sink would get to about 80C, give or take. But if you’re seeing the internal heat sink at more than 80C, that could mean problems.
I wonder if any reviewers will test this light on max for the full duration of the batteries? It would be especially interesting to know what kind of thermal characteristics are found.
I had the light on high for 13min at 80F room temp. Holding it in my hand until I felt some discomfort. Left the light on and after 25min, I was still able to hold the light in my hands for about a min. The body did get hot and hand as a heatsink will dissipate the heat even more I think it does the job pretty well.
V4A has solid pill but the contact area from the pill to the wall of the flashlight is limited like what Nicolicous has mentioned. V4A does reach 104ºF / 40C within 4min. Of course you could try adding metal sheet to patch up the void area like P60 to improve its thermal conductance. However I do find it hard to attach the cables back to the switch without removing the switch from outside.
Ledil Cute-3-SS with custom spacer? Note: It is a mock up without complete build as custom spacer is required.
How did you managed to remove the switch ?
Not sure if mine is glue pressed. I tired to use a ply and rotate but it wouldnt move.
I like everything about this light except the heat transfer from pill to body due to small contact area.
I did noticed the body got hot after few minutes then I unscrewed the head to check further and noticed the driver base is super hot(much hotter than the body ) I also touch the spring and it felt burning.
Need to create a new pill for better heat transfer
Have you compared how hot the driver gets compared to other similar 1000 lumen lights? Just wondering. If it’s 10C hotter, it’s probably not a big problem. But if you’re seeing 20C or 30C hotter, well….
The body is going to heat up eventually. The issue is whether the pill is getting too hot before that happens. If the pill is 100C before it reaches equilibrium, that’s an issue.
When I get mine, I’ll compare it to my Sunwayman D40A (another 4xAA light of similar size). But that won’t be for 3 weeks, I think. If the head of both lights heat up at a similar rate, the heatsinking is okay. If the V4A head heats up more slowly, then its heatsinking isn’t as good.
Worth while to check current on both lights to compare as more current generate more heat and power
I am running a side-by-side temperature test with Nitecore EA41 now.
Quick Result:
- EA41 temp increased about 2°C faster than V4A for first 1-3mins.
- Temperature measured from the head is identical from 5-10mins.
- @12min mark, V4A is 1°C higher than EA41... and rising!
- Stopped test @14min mark. Opposite of V4A button registered 54°C which is the hottest spot for this flashlight.
Interesting, thanks for doing this. Is that 54C hot spot where the pill contacts the body? I presume so.
Judging from your tests, it seems the heatsinking isn’t as good as the EA41, but doesn’t appear too bad.
Any way to measure the temperature of the pill, or the base of the driver right after you unscrew the head? (And compare it to the EA41.)
Is it possible to disassembly the switch? I can’t get it out to reassemle the switch wires. :cry:
Is it glued, screwed or pressed?
I tried with a wrench and couldn’t get it rotate.
I think it is glued pressed
Man I wish they put abit more engineering thinking about these things to make easier to mod and generate more sell
This is a bit strange, as if Crelant bought the design or OEM manufactured this light, because all other Crelant lights have excellent thermal path to cooling fins, the part where LED sits is made from one piece of aluminium…
I got my V4A in today (ordered the neutral one and it looks 5000K-ish to me), and I quite like it, a tiny bit chunkier than my SWM D40A but its smooth reflector produces a nicer beam IMO, a nice distinct hotspot (slightly yellow in the middle as happens a lot with the XP-L Hi, but much better than some other lights that I have with Hi’s in them), around the spot a fairly bright and useful corona that smoothly fades into the spill.
The UI is very simple and I like simple: from OFF one click to the first adjustable brightness, another for the second adjustable brightness, another for OFF. I like starting in lowest then brightest so that is how I have set it by ramping the two levels, they are memorised until you break contact with the batteries (default is high first ). I don’t like blinkies so it is good that it is not in the normal sequence. Can’t see any PWM, must be a high enough frequency.
I measured the lowest possible setting at 20 lumen, the highest 850 lumen (on freshly charged Eneloops 30 seconds after switch-on). If you only have one low setting like this light I think 20 lumen is a nice brightness, but of course there should have been an option for going lower than that.
It is great to have a bright flashlight again that runs on Eneloops, I have the SWM D40A but I can’t use it because it is my reference light for light measurements and have to keep it pristine. Too bad that this V4A has a suspicion of bad heat management (but hey, it works! ), and the UI is ok but not great, as a low-to-high fan I will have to re-adjust the levels every time I switch batteries (so no lock-out for me, I hope the parasitic drain is not too much).
If it proves to be a robust light, for the price payed I’m perfectly happy with it 
Although the heat sink path could have been much better, it may be adequate for stock current levels. Has any simultaneously measured light output, host temp, and current? If light output drops significantly out of sync with current consumption, then there is a problem. Especially, if the host is not also heating up during the drop. Personally, I will just mod the light if that is the case.