This light was provided by Banggood for review purposes and can be bought here.
Banggood has provided a 20% off code for this light, CLV4A
After a long wait of 2.5 months (not Banggood’s fault, Canada post had a customs delay of over a month because of Christmas postal volume) this light finally arrived.
I like this light because of its 4AA design which is a neglected form factor, i don’t know why exactly, it only needs a linear driver like those used in our popular 18650 lights. The tailstanding ability of this light is amazing, its completely stable, as if the body was designed to tailstand. The box it came in is simple (the foam being designed for a standard non wide tube light) and the manual is short and succinct, though i wish it explained things a bit better.
This light uses an XP-L HI chip, has a better throw than a C8 from a ~35mm reflector (owing to hte XP-L HI chip) and runs on 4AA at 3.6Amps at maximum brightness and a parasitic drain of the electronic switch at 0.77mA which Djozz pointed out will drain the batteries in 3 months, so be prepared for this (i would store it without batteries installed unless you use it regularly). Crelant claims 1095 lumens (likely LED lumens) but there are losses from the reflector/glass leading to a tested output of 880 max lumens and 20 lumen minimum (thanks Djozz). The lens is not AR coated. According to posts below the driver is not linear but direct drive and the light dims as the batteries are drained with no constant brightness
This light only has two modes unlike the three we are used to and has hidden strobe and SOS which are well hidden (thanks Crelant). In fact i can’t figure out how to get to SOS mode!
The ability to reprogram the modes is rather unique to this light, instead of the High-Low-Off modes it comes from the factory with one can choose the brightness in each mode by holding the switch while it dims to minimum then brightens to maximum and letting go of the switch when the desired brightness is reached. This can be done in both modes so one can choose the brightness of both modes. The light remembers these selections until the batteries are removed which is kind of annoying, it would be nice if it remembered the custom modes while changing the batteries.
The ramping is not completely smooth, from minimum it jumps a bit then ramps to maximum then blinks letting you know its at maximum. There is no corresponding blink for minimum which takes some getting used to.
When you change the batteries the light keeps turning on on High while your trying to screw the end cap on the light which is annoying and the threads are not especially smooth even after generous flashlight lube its something you get used to though. This light eats batteries for breakfast, about 1/2 hour of (cumulative) use and the eneloops are drained, but eneloops are very hardy, more cycles then li ion and i can keep them fully charged without losing capacity. Fortunately i have a good smart charger as well.
I had an interesting experience with this light, when replacing the eneloops after recharging and reprogramming the modes (they reset to factory each time the batteries are removed) the low went down to moonlight (maybe 1-2 lumens) and maximum went down to about 300 lumens. I can’t explain how or why this happened, when i took the cover off and replaced it the light went back to normal.
The pill has a poor heatsinking path as shown here (thanks Nicolicous)
credit ENEDED - #166 by Nicolicous
Overall this is a good light with some flaws, 4AA which means eneloops which are far more durable then li ion. The throw is mighty impressive for the small reflector, thanks to the HI LED chip used. The biggest improvements i would ask for is better heatsinking, lower parasitic loss and 3 modes factory programmed for low-medium-high.
Pros
Runs on 4AA batteries
Both modes are easily programmable
Amazing tail standing ability
Doesn’t use a separate holder for the batteries, less damage to the batteries from insertion/removal and less voltage loss/wearing out
Cons Low is not as low as i would like Modes reset when batteries are removed, but easily fixed after battery replacement Running for long periods on higher output can potentially fry the LED/circuitry, i have not tested this but always be aware of it when using the light. I don’t know the lifespan of the electronic switch which would make repair difficult