Just ordered a couple for my father and brother, this time from Lightake. They have the best price (w/coupon) I've seen yet. Under $20 USD for each is a real steal.
Not to belabor the point but I think it's an important one:
There are far more important aspects of a light than q3 or q5 or r2. The bin difference is simply not that big compare to the huge quality gaps between individual specimans in chinese lights (you get batches that drive at 500ma and 800ma). That may be even smaller than design details that make difference between a light you use regularly and one you don't. (loose head, crap modes, etc)
In any case, this seems like a good light (the ITP, and seems worth it at twice the price of a cheapy), q5 or not.
How it does what it does can sometimes be more important than how "well" it does it. Consistency can be far more important than specification - see ISO 9000 and any NATO spec requirements.
Unfortunately I have had to work with organisations who needed to meet ISO 9000-9002. It is quite OK to provide junk as long as it is consistent junk with a paper trail to prove it is consistent junk. It costs a lot to provide garbage with a paper trail to prove it is garbage. If it is a light with an A0 bin LED it is fine, just as long as the lights with an R5 LED behave in exactly the same way - including exactly the same battery life and output.
It is easy to build a device that does one thing extremely well to the exclusion of all other factors (Like all the "zoom" lights out there).
To build something that works very well as a whole is harder. Much harder.
It isn't hard to take a Q*/R*/S*/ whatever emitter and drive it way past specification. It is likely that it will survive long enough to get out of QC (If there is any). It is probably possible to drive an XP-C at 3 amps for long enough to make it light up and therefore "pass" QC and get shipped out. Anyone expecting such a device to work for more than a minute thereafter needs medication. And it will produce silly lumens in genuine tests.
It just will not do so for very long. Think drag racers. If the engine can survive ten minutes at full power it is overbuilt and far too heavy. It only needs to survive ten seconds at full power.
Many lights seem to be designed the same way. This is wonderful in short tests - but unless you are in lumen championships, do you want to own the result?
It is a lot harder to produce something that provides a balance between output, efficiency, battery life, and usability.
If I want a light that will produce 1 lumen for ever, no problem.
Now I want it to weigh less than a ton.
Now I want it to use common cells.
Now I want it to be able to.....
Design is all about compromises. Do I want a million lumens for 3 seconds in a consumable device? Do I want 100lumens from an AAA device. Do I want it never to exceed 40 Centigrade in any part (Which is a NATO issue) and so on.
After all this...
Is it a device that I, the manufacturer, can sell?
How many of them can I sell?
We all have our own priorities and choose stuff that suits what we want.
What I want is the capability to light stuff up a kilometre away and do so for a week in a device that weighs less then 100g.
There is no such device. So what do I really want?
I'm not sure exactly how many cycles I've put them through but I would say around 7-8 cycles for each battery. I use them for ITP, Trustfire F23, and one of my green lasers. They are holding up well.
Edit: I even used them in the Trustfire R5-A3 before your warning not to use them. They didn't explode and the R5 was pretty bright but still had the ugly faint yellow emitter color in the hotspot.
I use the charger mainly for my flashlight which requires a set of 3 AAA batteries.I always need work in the dark for hours,this rechargeable batteries really good for me.The batteries can lasted an impressive length of time,don't need to charge constantly.
Thanks for the update. I have a 4-pack inbound to brighten up my AAA lights.
You're taking a chance with those AAA unprotected cells in that R5-A3. I wonder how many amps you're pulling... probably also a 10C discharge rate. Please wait for the 14500's my friend. You need your fingers to type on BLF! :)
Received my order for (2) upgraded units from Lightake yesterday. Took 12 days from the purchase date to my address in the US - not bad. Nice deal for under $40.
Yes, the newer versions of the A3 include the crab-claw chain instead of the older one (the ring chain). Also seems to include the newer driver version with high frecuency PWM.
BUT, AT LEAST the gray version includes that clip (and the black, which are the most sold), other colors, probably the multicolored ones, are with old type, because are less sold (probably)
They didn't explode and the R5 was pretty bright but still had the ugly faint yellow emitter color in the hotspot.