Eagletac D25C Mini
Reviewer's Overall Rating:
★★★★★
Summary:
Battery: | CR123A or 16340 |
Switch: | twisty |
Modes: | Low-Med-Turbo/High (5 hidden blinky modes) |
LED Type: | XP-G S2 bin, cool white |
Lens: | AR, sapphire coating glass |
Tailstands: | Yes, nicely |
Price Paid: | $36 'best offer' |
From: | lc-sports on Ebay |
Date Ordered: | 2011-09, 3 day delivery (US) |
Pros:
- Extremely bright pocket rocket
- Great build quality
- Excellent threads
- Good UI, hidden blinky modes
- tailstands
- 69x20mm
- 28.2 grams (.99 ounce)
Cons:
- Doesn't want to take a protected cell
- Won't clean my kitchen
Features / Value: ★★★★★
This is a very small, very lightweight torch without memory mode, starts on low - some consider this a plus, and I do like it in some lights. There are five blinky modes - strobe, flash (hi), SOS, beacon, flash (low)...all hidden so that when you find yourself on a deserted island with Gilligan, you can signal the rescue plane, and not have to deal with them on a daily basis.
Design / Build Quality: ★★★★★
This light has a simple, reliable twisty design. You have to cycle through the three main modes twice within a few seconds in order to access the blinky modes...I wish they all came this way. The stainless clip is quite strong. It is attached with two hex (Allen) screws, and has a nice lip which allows it to easily slide onto your pocket. The threads are the smoothest I've seen yet...twisting the head on and off is easily done with one hand. It's not loose, I'm not worried about it accidentally turning on in my pocket; on the other hand, it doesn't take a solid grip to actuate like my ITP EOS A1 SS. It tailstands perfectly. It has a nice SS bezel...with that and the clip, just enough bling to look awesome. The knurling on the light is on the finer side, but I find it to be grippy enough and not at all slick. It came perfectly clean out of the box, lightly lubed...the pictures show a somewhat dirty light, but its been in my pocket for a month or so.
Uniquefire AA-S1, D25C, ITP EOS A1
Battery Life: ★★★★
I haven't done runtime tests, but with a 16340 on high I wouldn't expect terribly long runtimes. The eagletac website lists the runtimes as 1/5/50 hours, which is probably fairly accurate. My only gripe about this light is the inability to take a protected cell - this is common on CR123a lights...maybe one day there will be a smaller 16340. I use a blue Ultrafire unprotected battery and it works just fine. They are very inexpensive, so if one goes bad you're not out much more than a cheap primary.
Light Output: ★★★★★
This is one bright little light! It has a Turbo mode, which runs at an extra 20% brightness for 90 seconds. It claims to put out 325 lumens in turbo, settling down to 275 lumens, with 209 OTF lumens. Low mode is listed at 5 lumens, which is comfortably low at night, just about right for reading in bed. The reflector is very light OP, and makes for a smooth beam with a noticeable hotspot that smoothly fades into spill. It's definitely more floody than throwy, but does have a nice mix that is user-friendly for EDC use. As expected, the light gets pretty warm on high fairly quickly, but for everyday use it shouldn't be a problem at all. Using a fully charged Ultrafire blue 16340, it pulls 1.8A on turbo, 1.45A on high, and .05A on low. I believe the lumen claims are fairly accurate, though I have no ability to measure output.
Here is the UF2100 XM-L on high, looking for Sasquatch:
And here is the Eagletac on turbo:
While the UF2100 is brighter, as expected, the D25C can hold its own...the pics don't do it justice.
UF2100:
Eagletac:
Molded holster:
Summary: ★★★★★
For $36, you get a very well-designed, well-built 2.7" flashlight with plenty of features. It comes in a nice box with a full instruction manual, a primary CR123a, an excellent Mil-Spec paracord lanyard, an outstanding quality rigid nylon holster with retention ring, and spare O-rings. It's small and light enough that you hardly notice it's in your pocket...I'd highly recommend the D25C to anyone.
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