Review: Tank007 E09 3-mode 1x AAA/10440

raccoon city wrote: [quote=raccoon city] Yesterday I got my second Tank007 E09 from DinoDirect. [/quote]

Today i got my fourth Tank007 E09 copy from DinoDirect. quick comments: The tail looks different, not just a single bore but more like Fenix LD01's tail (and i will add pictures of it in my review). The 2 sealed parts of the head arent screwed on 100% flush, so it's easy to tell (with this specimen) that the head indeed consists of 2 extended parts. I've tried to unscrew the parts but my hand power failed here. Hopefully they improved the insulation layer so that i wont need to take the head apart ("unseal"). The beam profile is not too nice, as expected. This unit has a small starry hotspot with some frayed fringy corona artifacts. Minor corona asymmetricies may indicate an eccentric LED .. yet the LED looks very centric (although it isnt, obviously). The problem of the unclean and beautiless hotspot is due to the teeniness of the reflector .. and if you pay little money for this product how would you dare to complain? ( Thanks to DD's discounting system i paid (converted) 2.70$ for this sample as part of a 20$+ cart, tsss.. amazing. )

you get premium beam profile with premium tint when you pay premium price for premium brand flashlight products. The best of the best AAA keychain light *is* the Fenix LD01. The LD01 and E09 differ in size, dimensions and weight .. but believe me, in practice this doesnt matter. The E09 is super light(!) and really small .. and so is the LD01 (in practice). The LD01 is never on sale and the least you must pay is ~35$ shipped (ebay, ..). The E09's list price is 19.95$ but street price is more like 13$, and if you're an experienced DD customer then you can buy it for much less than that from them.

For a quick comparison of leading AAA keychain lights, check out the comparison table.

You'll see that the E09 has it all .. except for a beautiful hotspot/corona. As i said, it's my 4th copy already -- and i surely prefer 3 or 4 copies of the E09 (in case i need a gift for someone or in case something breaks after the Tank007 warranty period) instead of 1 expensive LD01. If the LD01 ever breaks on you (e.g. after the Fenix warranty period), how likely are you to replace it with a new LD01? Again 35 bucks? You sure??

Interesting "note" (and i cant confirm this info personally), CNqualitygoods lists the Tank E09 with XP-G R5 emitter. It's also interesting to note that they carry only this particular Tank007 product in their sales program (Why, wtf?), 13 bucks plus shipping. comment: XP-G R5 or not, this doesnt matter. The E09 is already bright. Very bright. (because of the current draw, minimum 1.6A!!!). XP-G R5 tend to be greenish, and i've got my share on greenish XP-G R5's. The purplish tint of the E09's XP-E R2 is nice and very welcome. It makes the light look brighter. And even with an XP-G R5, the main problem with the E09 is its beam beauty. And with a larger emitter (the dome of the XP-G R5 is bigger than the XP-E R2!) things do get worse if you have a teeny reflector (E09!) and a SMO reflector (E09!). So my personal advice is, go get the E09 for much less than the 13$ and you'll be a thankful happy camper and will never waste a thought on the lacking beam (i.e. hotspot + corona) beauty. Actually, only few AAA (or AA) flashlights do have a beautiful hotspot+corona. Very few.

The Lumintop Worms (great torches otherwise!!) are other examples with unsuccessful beam perfection. So you're in good company!

God save the Queen