I agree, it sounds like a fine light for a non flashaholic but its underpowered and likely has a resistor for a driver giving poor run time
I do like the idea of plastic body, no anodizing to scratch off, but heat shedding will suck
Ain’t it great to have choices… 
I have one of these. $20 at Target.
The main flashlight is fairly bright, has a nice mix of throw/flood, and the color is quite good for a Big-Box store light.
The head doesn’t quite pivot 90-degrees (maybe 80/85-degrees)… it’s more than good enough to be useful.
The “lantern” is brighter than I expected for using three 5-mm LEDs behind a diffuser. The diffuser plastic is really nice quality!
Both the main light, and lantern functions are dimmable; controlled with a single push button, and very intuitive to use.
The folding legs are curved to the body so it’s comfortable to hold, and will come in handy when you need to change that flat tire in the middle of the night.
The body is a mix of hard plastic/rubber; it feels pretty sturdy, and there’s a hook on the end to put a lanyard through, or to hang from the top of your tent.
Takes 4-AAs, and works fine (so far for me) on lithium primaries. Oh yeah… NO strobe modes (thank you very much).
It’s a great light to give to non-flashoholic friends who might find some of the lights we enjoy are confusing to control.
I think it’s excellent, and the price makes it a winner. I kind of hate to admit that it’s better than some lights I own that cost several times more.
Personally, if there was a BLF top ten lights of the year award, I would put it on the list (way up top).
This thread made me buy my first light for 2014. Ordered a sunwayman D40A.
For a budget 4xAA light, i got 2 of those single mode plastic dive lights. For less than 10 usd via ebay its worth it. Even moded mine with Xml2 and xpg2 leds.
:bigsmile:
- from hid canada it's 5$ more -
LD40 is a better light ..neutral tint and a damn good one at that .(4B..<-- one of my favorite tints ) . The light has plenty of throw and an overall higher output than the e40 ...The beam is absolutely beautiful and a nice mix of throw and spill ... finally . the modes make much more sense on the LD40 .Instead of 3 poorly spaced it has 4 well thought out modes . I have lots of lights and am pretty picky ...this one impressed me immediately and continues to even today.
That’s a great price for the LD40. If the Starry Light wasn’t so much cheaper, I’d probably jump on the LD40 instead. But from the pics that Calvin posted, I think I’ll be trying out the Starry Light. Build quality doesn’t seem too different. I guess until someone does a full review of the Starry Light, we’ll never know the real differences in beam pattern, throw distance, run times, etc…
Only the head of the Starry Light is aluminum, it’s a plastic bodied light. Read the description on the IS page.
http://illuminationsupply.com/other-brands-c-28_98/starry-light-sa22-880-lumens-4-x-aa-p-901.html
Figured you should know before you ordered it.
The Dorcy is not my favorite light, in fact I rarely use it.
But dollar for dollar, there is no better thrower.
if I wanted the light with more throw and less spill wouldn’t I want the e40?
isn’t the ld40 discontinued?
[quote=mhanlen]
Only the head of the Starry Light is aluminum, it’s a plastic bodied light. Read the description on the IS page.
http://illuminationsupply.com/other-brands-c-28_98/starry-light-sa22-880-lumens-4-x-aa-p-901.html
Figured you should know before you ordered it.[/
quote]
Ugghh. Thanks. Plastic body? That sucks. I already ordered
[quote=phsinvent]
I wouldn’t worry about it too much (unless it feels extra-extra cheap). For some reason, it’s common for 4xAA side-by-side lights to have an aluminum head and non-metallic body. The Fenix to which Boaz linked up above is an example; the Jetbeam PA40 is another.
That said, I too would prefer all-aluminum.
I’m just starting to think the chinese flashlight manufacturers will never make a multi AA budget light that amazes us.
The ultrafire 4xaa nitecore clone was a big failure. The no label of that clone was a failure. The fandyfire rook is a little too weird looking and only comes in R2D2 gold. Plus it has low output with regular AA batteries and has a delay to turn it on, and some parasitic drain. The trustfire TR-A9 appears to only run on 4x14500.
Now we have this starry light but they decided to make the body out of plastic.
It seems like only Nitecore’s EA4 and other 4*AA soda can clones have the aluminum body. I can understand that it would raise material costs if something as long as the starry light, PA40, and other similar styles would have full aluminum bodies. Would it be worth it? Maybe for some. Personally, with a wrist lanyard and holster, I’m unlikely to drop it. Plus I’m not using it for any military purpose. So I’m happy with the lower price point because of the “less durable” body… well, lower price point for the Starry Light anyways. Seems like the Fenix ones are still a bit pricey without a sale.
actually, r2d2 was white and blue, c3po was the gold one 
Ha ha. Thanks for the correction.
I assume machining that shape out of aluminum would be expensive, and look at it this way, theres no ugly scratched anodizing possible on 75% of the light
As long as its good quality thick plastic i think this is a good thing, and the head is aluminum for heat shedding, and the handle won’t get as hot as a 980 lumen convoy m1 or s2
This is correct. Also the light may have next mode memory, I’ll double check when I get into the office tomorrow.
That 2:15 runtime on high is the good old ANSI FL-1 standard at work. Remember that no 4AA light is thermally capable of running at 880 lumens for long. So I would guarantee that there is a timed stepdown.
I don't know about the throw on the E40 I assume it has more throw .Is that what you're looking for ? I really think the LD40 has plenty of throw .
What ?? (sarcasm added for effect).. it's a discontinued model !!!???
I just found out the cars I bought were discontinued too ..I keep getting screwed ..I want my $15,000 back...I knew I should have bought a Hyundai .
Yeah... the Ld41 is the newest model
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?342925-Fenix-LD41-Beamshots-compared-to-LD40
If you can stretch your budget, Sunwayman D40A is $54